Take Me to Narnia: Discovering Jesus through C.S. Lewis | 09/21/25

All right, welcome back. If you're watching online, glad

that you are here with us and we want to invite you to come and

be with us in person. Come and worship with us at 115

E Main St. in the heart of Gaylord.

It's kind of the old historic part 9 and 1030 are services.

So we look forward to seeing you.

So this morning we're going to do something very different.

And this morning we're I want to talk to you, oddly enough, about

CS Lewis, which might seem like CS who?

CS who? How many of you have heard of CS

Lewis? Wave at me if you have, if

you've never heard of CS Lewis, wave at me too, right.

If you haven't, OK, Some of you haven't.

OK, Very good. OK, I'm excited then to tell you

about CS Lewis, CS Lewis. OK.

And so this is different than most weeks, but the reason we're

doing this is because many in our church band this past

weekend on Friday night did a concert at the Great Lakes

Performing Arts Center as the CS Lewis Festival house band.

And there was ACS Lewis Festival that happened Friday night and

then all day Saturday that we got to be part of.

And my daughter Gabby came in from Minnesota.

Her and I are like Narnia nerds. We call ourselves and.

And so it was really fun and. Then there was me.

And then, OK, so watch this, Jason's gonna tell you this is

like her love language to me is going to the Lewis Festival with

the year after year. My life for somebody I love.

But here's what happened. So I'm going the first week and

I really love the people there. Like the people are great, OK?

It's just the subject. That's a hard thing.

People come in from all over the world.

They fly in from around the country to sit it for a couple

days and talk about the writings of CS Lewis.

I love it. She loves that I love it.

And I love the people. And you love the people, the

first song we're going to do. How many of you are familiar

with the Narnia story? Right.

OK, if you haven't read it to your kids, parents, read Narnia

to your children. It's so profoundly beautiful,

and I'm grateful that I got to read it to my kids and

particularly my daughter, who's 22, Gabby, who came in from

northern Minnesota and was here for the festival.

It's so sweet. I'd been wanting to write a song

for some time based on the story that happened with her when she

was just like 5 and I was about to read her the story.

I had a friend say, whatever you do, don't ruin the story by

saying, Gabby, did you know that Aslan is Jesus?

You know, don't tell them. Let them come to the revelation

themselves. Just let them discover it.

And when they discover it, it will be the most beautiful

moment. So I remember just reading it

and holding my tongue and not giving her the the the ending

right, so to speak. I just let her find it.

And so one night I was reading to her and out of nowhere, she's

like Daddy, Daddy. I know him.

Daddy. The lion's like Jesus and I was

like, yes. And the fact that she discovered

it herself and then it was so profoundly wonderful.

So the the, the, the picture that Lewis paints of Jesus in

the Narnia stories, Aslan being not an allegory like, you know,

line upon line and precept upon precept.

But Lewis said he wrote it to be like, suppose Jesus was like a

lion, what would he be like? And so it's so beautiful.

So this is song is intended to be like a story of me reading

the Gabby and her asking me to read to her and how she

responds. Take me to Narnia.

Just one more page. I'll try to stay awake.

Take. Take me to Darnia, the book with

the wardrobe. Come on, let's go.

Went. Tell me of your seat.

She opened the door. She climbed through the coats,

went in to explore. And then tell me your veteran.

Sadly, the Brat Circus Delight took him down the wrong path.

Take, take me to the army. Just one more place.

I'll try to stay away. Take, take me to the army.

Hold the book with the wardrobe. Come on, let's go and sell me of

Susan. The motherly.

Soul, the voice of caution though brave with her bow.

Then selling of Peter King Magnificent, the oldest of the

siblings, with his sword so courageous.

Say take me to Narnia. It's just one more page.

I'll try to stay away. Say, take me to Narnia for the

book with the wardrobe. Come on.

Let us go. Oh, and poor Mr. Thomas.

Was. Scarfing with tea, terribly used

and then tricked by the Queen in the wound.

And Beavers, the Pavenzi's perfect guide who helped find

the lion who's day dressing lime day.

Take me to Narnia. Just one more page.

I'll try to stay away. Say take me to Narnia.

Hold the book with the wardrobe. Come on, let's go.

And all the wicked Jesus they call her White Witch made it

always winter and Merry Christmas.

Really famous line in the Narnia story where the kids are asking.

About. Aslan and they say, is he safe?

And the answer is he isn't safe. No, he's not safe, but he's

good. The idea is that like if you're

looking for safe, don't look for it in Jesus, right?

Jesus isn't safe, but he's good. So this is Aslan's verse.

Tell me of Aslan. He's not safe, but he's good.

From Floyd. He made everything just by

roaring a tomb. Gave his life on the table.

Then he cracked it half. Then he broke the deep magic,

the Kuwait. The witches cry.

Say take me to Nah here. Oh, just one more thing.

I'll try to stay away. Say, take me to Narnia.

Yeah, the book with the wardrobe.

Come on, let's go. I wisely never told her it was

so earth wait when she stopped me from reading.

She. Had something to say, she said.

Daddy, I know him. I get it.

I see the lions like Jesus. He's like Jesus to me.

I'm grateful I suck my little girl the Narnia.

Oh every single page. I'm glad I stayed awake.

I'm grateful lights hurt my little girl to Narnia.

Oh, the book with the wardrobe. It was so worth to go.

OK, So what I want to do part of this morning is I want to, I

want to like inspire you to go and watch YouTube, do a Google

search, do whatever you wherever you find your information, use

chat G whatever. And and in start, I would

encourage you get to know the writings of CS Lewis.

So you need to know this. CS Lewis born in 1898 and became

a an atheist at a young age because of the death of his

mother and World War One was very troubling to him.

And so here he kind of grown up in the tradition of

Christianity, but he walks away from his faith, becomes a very

staunch, hard nosed atheist, highly educated.

He's teaching at Oxford and Cambridge as a young man.

And then in 19, I had it in my notes, but it's like 19, let's

say 36 or so, 1936 within a couple years of each other.

He, he becomes, in fact, I want to give in 1930.

He accepts that God is there. He becomes a theist.

And maybe, you know, people that are theists, in other words,

they, they believe that there's a God out there, but he can't be

known. But I guess there's a God

because philosophically, the world does not add up without a

God. So his first step in leaving is

atheism is like, OK, I guess there's a God.

I can accept that. He becomes a theist.

You know, people that are theists, they know they're like,

OK, I guess there's a God, but they're not submitted or

surrendered to Jesus. And you can't have a discussion

with them if they don't believe the Bible to prove the Bible.

You can't use the Bible to prove the Bible if they don't believe

the Bible. And so some of you you're trying

to witness to people and say you need to Jesus is real.

Look, John says this and certainly the Bible is amazing

and astounding and and inspiring, yes, but if someone

is staunchly opposed to the Bible being true, then you can't

start there right. So Lewis, what he, what he did

is he started in, he started it philosophically to say, listen,

I admit there's no, there can't be all of this without Aegon.

So in 1930 he becomes a theist, but then in 1931 he converts to

Christianity and he comes to see Jesus as truth and true.

And there's a movie that you can watch right now.

It's either on Netflix or Prime, Amazon Prime, whatever it is,

it's called the most reluctant convert.

Think about that. The most reluctant.

He believed that he was the furthest from God.

He was the last person that would ever come to Jesus.

The most reluctant convert. He said this.

He later described this moment of his conversion as being the

most dejected and reluctant convert in all of England.

He thought he was the last one that would ever believe.

And yet he becomes one of the most greatest apologists of the

last century, building the truth and and saying, listen, Jesus is

real, God is real. And he builds it upon this

philosophical background. OK.

And so in 19 during World War 2, he's doing these radio

broadcasts in England from London while the Germans are

bombing England and the Nazis are bombing.

And so so he is doing these radio broadcasts that become

this book called Mere Christianity.

If you've never read read it, it's a great book.

You can go listen to it on YouTube.

Just go somebody it will read it to you on YouTube, right?

If you don't enjoy reading, just listen to it on your way to work

for a little while, right? And it's but it's a great way to

get some ideas on how to present the truth of God, the gospel to

your friends that are atheists or theists.

And it's from a philosophical viewpoint.

And some of his arguments are so beautiful and so profound.

So I want to just kind of whet your appetite for it.

Go and and maybe listen to me or Christian or even give a

summary. You could go to like chat GB

whatever and say give me a summary of Mere Christianity and

they will give you. Want to do that?

There you go. Just a summary is good you go.

Yes, there you go. So so he writes that and so

watch this. So then he I'll tell you about

in fact, I'll tell you he gets married at later in life, like

in 1956. OK, I'll tell you about his

marriage to Joy when we get to the song Help me to believe.

OK, but for the sake of this, where we are is that watch this

for Lewis, who was a he was an unbeliever, he was an atheist.

He gets the point. He's like God created everything

and watch this. He said this.

He said it's in your notes. He said no philosophical theory,

which I have yet come across is a radical improvement on the

words of Genesis. Genesis one one that says in the

beginning God made the heavens and the earth.

He's like, there's no better explanation for what is around

us than that. So watch this if you're if

you're witnessing to your. That studied it, right?

This is somebody who studied profusely like on what evolution

explanation is dead. He exhausted every other

possible possible explanation for what is here.

And he says after all of his education, all of his

philosophies, and he's like, really the what?

What makes better sense for this around us than Genesis?

Fun one in the beginning, God made the heavens in the earth.

So you might be around some folks that are they believe in

evolution. They're atheist.

Like, OK, here's what I here's where I start philosophically.

Give me something better. And there's so many holes in

evolution and other explanations.

So Lewis gets to the point. He's like, there's no

philosophical better explanation for what's around us.

So he believed that God was a great creator.

And in the halls that he walked in at Cambridge and Oxford where

he taught, I'm sure people like really Lewis got to believe in

God creating everything, really. But he stood for it.

He wrote a lot about it, right. And then I won't read them all,

but they're in your notes. Go home.

And I would encourage you to read the other things that I

grabbed. He said because God created the

natural, invented it out of his love and artistry.

It demands our reverence. So from that I have a song

written called Great Creator. Here we go.

Great creator, you are God. Great creator you are awesome.

When I look around 6 progress away and I extend all they said

all you is faded, all you is faded.

Great creator. You painted shows around the

oceans, gave life to the land and sea.

You touched the valleys and carved the.

Mountains that in your image created me.

Great creator you are God. Great Creator, you are awesome.

When I look around these, my breath, the way I stand amazed

at all your fate and all your fate.

Great Creator, Lord, you have created all things for your

fashion dancing. It's treasure most purity.

Great creator you are God, great creator you are awesome.

When I look around, takes my breath the way I send a Mason

All you made and all you made hell you made.

All. Right.

We're going to do. Until then, can I share a little

bit about this? Yeah, you can.

Sorry. Yeah, Kurt and I wrote this song

right when we got married, probably about 12 years ago.

It's called Until Then and it truly is one of my favorite

songs. I think we Co written together

and it talks about and you have some things to share about what

CS. Lewis said, you know, again, the

idea that Lewis was a atheist and now he believes in Christ

and he's like dealing, he's proclaiming God's the creator of

all things. And then watch this, he's

amongst people that don't believe in an afterlife, they

don't believe in heaven. They think it's silly.

And all of a sudden Lewis becomes this bold proclaimer of

there's life after this and we're intended to live with

Jesus for forever. And he writes a lot about it.

And watch this, but from a again, if you use Scripture to

prove that, but he used just this basic idea, it's a

philosophical idea, he says. If I find myself in myself a

desire which no experience in this world can satisfy the most

probable explanations that I was made for another world.

And he's talking about this in the context of heaven and the

afterlife. And he's just saying, hey, just

the fact that I have this desire and I feel like, man, I'm made

for something more. I'm made for like something in

another world. He's like, yeah, you are.

You're made for eternity with God.

That's what you're made for. It's a great starting point if

you're trying to explain Jesus. You can say to people, hey, that

feeling in that you have inside that there's more like you're

made for something that's like another world, like it's there

by design. God put it there because you're

made to experience them after all that you endure on this

life. One day all things will be made

new and I won't need daily forgiveness for the things that

I do. Someday all tears will be wiped

away and my failures will be but a distant memories.

But. Until then, until then, I will

depend on your mercy every morning, every morning.

But. Until then, until then I will

live some my eyes to and then when my.

Home comes from until they. One day your wrongs will be made

right. There'll be no more wars, no

taking of innocent lives. Someday, the hungry will have

their. They'll be healing for the

orphan, then the widow, and the hopelessly.

But until then, until then, I will depend on your mercy every

morning, every morning. And.

Until then, until then. I.

Lived on my eyes too, and then when in my home comes.

From up to rain. The world, it's not here, but

it's meant to be. But soon as this darkness will

give way to the light of eternity, and there will be

heavenly, but until late. Until then I will depend on your

mercy every morning, every morning.

And until then, until then, I will live from my house to then

where my home comes from, where my home.

'Cause unto them, Oh, hold us unto them, Oh, strengthen us

unto them, give mercy and grace unto them, unto them.

OK, so this one is set up. Let me set this up with you this

way so we can develop a habit of honoring God in the highs and in

the lows. And let me tell you to make

sense of what I mean by that, Lewis says, and his writing

letters to Malcolm. He said, we are at least I shall

not be able to adore God on the highest occasions if we have

learned no habit of doing so on the lowest.

He says at best our faith and reason will tell us that he is

adorable. God's adorable, but we shall not

have found him so by the. Way I never.

Made sense of that word. Adorable, right?

Like, did you guys know that that's what it means to adore

something Like I didn't know that.

Like I always thought it was like, you're so cutie patootsie

little pie thing. That's what I thought.

Anybody else with me? Because we go, oh, you're

adorable. Look at you're adorable.

Adorable, but like me, something is worth adoring.

Yeah, something worthy of adoring is adorable, right?

So you can find God adorable at best, but is that the depth that

we're looking for? So he says the best.

Our faith and reason will tell us that he is adorable, but we

should not have found him so not have tasted insane.

Any now watch this. This is so profound.

Any patch of sunlight in a wood will show you something about

the sun which you could never get from reading books on

astronomy. So watch this.

Let's say you're deep in the Pigeon River Forest and it's

really dark and you're in a place of great state and all of

a sudden a little light shine saying like, oh, light, that's

light. Well, it's like you see it, you

feel it like now you could go read a book about astronomy.

The sun is out there and this is the physics of it, which I don't

understand. And this is the size of it.

It's like you don't really know the sun until you see it, even

if it's a little patch light coming through the trees.

So he's like that. Sometimes it may be all you'll

see of God is just a little ray of light coming through the

trees. But even that can lead you in

that place to like have deep, meaningful worship and adoration

of God. He said any patch of sunlight in

the wood will show you something about the sun which you could

never get from reading books on astronomy.

These pure and simple spontaneous pleasures are

patches of God light in the woods of our experience.

And then he said, let me see here.

Then he said it comes the very moment you wake up each morning,

all your wishes and hopes for the day rush at you like wild

animals. And the first job each morning

consists simply and shoving them all back and listening to that

other voice, taking that other point of view, letting that

other, larger, stronger, quieter life come flowing in.

He's talking about the life that comes in God and so on all day,

standing back from all your natural fussings and frettings

and coming out of the winds to find God in the heights and the

lows. It's like.

Yeah, talk to us in English. Yeah.

So, OK, so the idea is that is that if you, let's say you're

like, oh, I can worship God when everything's great, but he's

like, hey, wait a minute. If you'll learn to worship him

when it's just a little tiny ray of light, it's all you're

saying, just a little speck of light.

If you learn to worship him in that moment, then when the sun

is shining radiant on you, it will be more meaningful.

If you only worship him when the sun and the light of God is so

prevalent and so glorious, well, then you'll, you'll, you'll

never get to the real depth of worship.

That's a. Good word for winter.

Coming up, yes, it is a good word for winter.

It's like so. We need.

This. So the idea is it's like, OK,

when when you're anxious and you're like, it feels like all

hope is gone in that moment because oh God, things seem so

hopeless. I can barely see you.

God, where are you? And you finally like, OK, God,

even in this place where it's like man, very little light is

getting through, but God, I'm going to honor and worship.

I'm going to declare your goodness.

I'm going to declare your words. I'm going to find you.

I'm going to adore you. God, you are worthy of

adoration. I'm going to adore you.

Then watch this when the sun shines radiant again and all of

its glory, that worship on the heights, the highest places will

be even the more meaningful. Learning to have the habit of

worshiping God. When things are great, you're at

the heights of just beauty. And when you're at the most sad,

difficult, hopeless moment, you'll find that in that moment,

it might be the most meaningful worship that you'll ever have in

your. This is called learning to

adore. And the.

Anxious whisper. And the lost and restless night.

And when sunrise shouts look everyone there is light.

And in the humble moments when the heart just can't get still,

Then when beauty overwhelming is a winter restless vessels.

You want to know what I am learning?

I am learning to adore God found in the highest, having found in

lost soul in the low, in the low.

It can become a habit, learning to adore.

Yeah, the lowest places will give them more of the meaning to

God. In the highest, the highest the

highest. Find the joy in small.

Things get that great. Joy get it strong when the

morning wakes us with the dark before the dawn just to be most

sunlight in a forest. Darkest shade adds A rhyming

reason over reason for our faith.

You want to know what I am learning how you're learning to

adore God found in the highest, having found him also in the

low. In the low.

And it can become a habit, learning to adore.

Yeah, the lowest places will give more of the meaning to God.

In the highest, the highest, the highest.

We'll do this all. See, there is such power and all

the spontaneous glimpses of our God who made us for adoration.

He made us for adoration. So in the surprising spaces and

in sweet and bitter tastes, we find balance between the

majestic and the mundane, seeing moments painful and then in

others too pleasant to be explained.

Times of great grief and seasons of uncontainable things.

We know that his heart as it may seem and his heart as it may be.

I am learning to adore God found in the highest, having found him

also in the Lord and the low and he can become a habit.

The learning to Adobe Yeah, the lowest places will give more of

the meaning to God in the highest, the highest, the

highest. All right.

We got one more song, guys. So, you know, usually I give you

like 2 or 4 pages of like notes with like lots and lots of

scripture. And this week maybe go to some

friends and say our pastor this last week, he's on with this guy

named CSI. Wish you ever heard of him.

He was an atheist and wow, he came to faith in Christ and you

know, he was at Cambridge and Oxford.

And so maybe it'll be a conversation starter for you.

We're going to end with this song called So Help Me God.

And it's based on this book that Lewis wrote after his wife Joy

dies. So his wife Joy, they're only

married just a few years. She dies three years after

they're married. And here he is like one of the

greatest Christian thinkers of the 20th century, so strong in

faith, writes the narniest stories.

He writes surprised by Joy, the screw tape letters, just all

these brilliant books, you know, that have his faith overflowing

in them. The four loves all these great,

great, great books, right. But then when his wife dies, he

has a crisis of faith. Any questions?

Is God really there? Which is shocking.

So I love to give the book a grief observed to people going

through grief. And it's a great book to see.

I mean, how did he get through it?

How did he work through it? And and watch this, what he says

in the midst of this great grief.

He says, this is so profound. He says not that I am, I think

in much danger of ceasing to believe in God.

The real danger is of coming to believe that such dreadful

things about him. He's like, I'm not worried I'll

stop believing that there's a God.

I'll believe there's a God. But what he's saying, what if I

get to the place where I believe dreadful, horrible things about?

God. What if I believe God isn't

good? Maybe God's mean, maybe God's

not loving. That's what he's wrestling

through. The conclusion I dread is not so

there's no God after all, but so this is what God's really like.

Deceive yourself no longer, Sam. What good surgeon would stop in

the middle of a surgery because it hurts right with with God.

So it's like sometimes in the middle of the hurt, God just

keeps going, just keeps operating.

If he yielded to our entreaties, in other words, if God hurt, if

God said when we go, it hurts God and God went, oh, OK, well,

I'll just stop then. If he stopped before the

operation was complete, of all the pain up to that, all the

pain up to that point would have been useless.

But is it credible that such extremities of torture should be

necessary sometimes for us? Wow.

I wanted an idea. Sometimes life just brings

things that are so hard to get through.

And that's what he's saying about his wife, Joy.

I'll let you read what else he said there.

But so the idea of this song is that we wrote.

It's based on his idea. It's like, sometimes it's like,

God, I need you to help me to believe that.

I don't want to just end up believing that you're there.

I want to believe in your goodness, so help me God.

Help me, God, not just to believe, but to believe in who

you really are. God help me to see it.

And my prayer, God, is that the challenges of life won't

diminish our view of who you are.

Holy, good, merciful, gracious, loving, help us to continue to

see it. One 1. 2/3.

I'm going to sing this as if I'm CS Lewis, OK?

So you can kind of hear him to maybe with these ideas.

I'm not. Given to be cheated, I've grown

to be a man of faith. I dealt without the use and I

was steadied out of the state. But here I am in crisis, the

world in this reign. Everything I've.

Grown to know. Is being.

Challenged by this fake. And I'll fear.

I don't worry that I can cease to believe.

In the fog I sensed a danger. I admit I'm wrestling.

I fear I might come to believe him.

Dreadful. Losing sight of what he's like.

So help me God. Oh, not just to believe.

I want to hold fast. To meet old fast.

See, you are good. Yeah, you were good.

So help me God. I'm not just to believe.

I want to hold fast. Tell me to hold fast.

See, you are good. Yeah, you were good.

In the midst of all this anguish, I'm so convinced that

God is there. I'm hanging on to hope and I'm

still calling him Creator. The storm and lost in grief.

This trial, it has me best. It will not last forever, and I

won't always fight for rest. I'll fear our fear that I could

cease to believe. As soon as that's the danger,

I'll admit our wrestling or fear I I might come to believe him

dreadfully. Insight of what he's like so

help me God oh that is to be the I want to hold fast.

I'll be the whole fast. You are good yeah, you're good.

So help me God. Oh that is to be the I want to

hold fast. I'll be the whole fast.

See. You are good.

Yeah, you are good.

I'm not forsaken. I am not feeling when I'm

afraid. When I'm afraid and I pray, so

help me God. Oh, not just to believe, I want

to go fast. So be the wolf fast.

So you are good and you are good.

So help me God. That is to believe.

I want to hold fast. So you are good and you are

good. The church will sing this

together all my life. Cause all my life you have been

faithful. It's all my life you have been

so so good. With every breath I am able

guess I will sing of the goodness.

My life, Here we go. Ready.

So my life, you have been faithful, you know my life, you

have been so, so good with every breath that I am.

Able. Oh, I will see of the goodness

of God. Oh, I will see of the goodness

of God. Amen.

You mean, let's all stand together.

I encourage you to go and try to start some conversations with

some people about what you've learned today.

Maybe this would be a great starting point for some of the

people you work with or some people in your family.

Hey, did you know about this, this atheist, this guy who had

no faith in Jesus? And wow, he came around and look

where he ended up. And it was it's JRR Tolkien,

right? Who I don't know if you know the

the guy who could witness to to Lewis was the guy who wrote The

Lord of the Rings. Did you know that?

How about that interesting part of his story?

You might be like a Tolkien type in someone's life.

Before you go, I want to send you out with a blessing if

you'll prepare your heart to receive this blessing.

And now may the Lord bless you and keep you, and may he make

his face to shine upon you. And may the joy of the Lord that

is unspeakable and full of glory made abound to you.

And may the peace God, the past is all understanding may

surprise you in the midst of all of the challenges and

disappointments that life brings.

And then may the mercies of the Lord, in other words, the

forgiveness of God that is new every morning.

May it be especially new to you now and your mornings to come.

And now may the Lord Jesus Christ guard your heart and your

mind. You were salt and you were

light. Go now and be salt and light,

and to the world. You are blessed.

We'll see you again sometime soon.