I AM Week 6

Welcome to the North Iron Church podcast.

Our mission is to take the gospel from the upper peninsula to the ends of the earth.

We pray this message will inspire and encourage you in your faith journey.

Enjoy week one of our I Am series, where we look at Jesus' character in the Gospel of John.

Good morning, everyone.

It's great to see you on this rainy April morning.

Praise the Lord.

Hope it's raining across the UP.

Would you welcome everyone that's watching us across the UP in Wisconsin, Minnesota, the North, around the world.

We get requests from people throughout the UP and the United States around the world.

They're a part of North Iron.

We're glad that you're here.

What a movement God is creating.

I love sitting in the back listening to you all uh worship God and declaring who he is.

It's pretty awesome.

And uh I always have a little dance party back there if you're wondering what I'm doing.

And uh by the way, my name is Pastor Mark.

I'm the lead pastor here with Jennifer and I.

I want you to grab your Bibles.

We're going to be in the last portion of the series called The I Am, Jesus Claiming to Be God.

That's significant for you.

If you need a Bible, raise your hand.

We have a great version for you.

We're gonna be in John chapter 14 this morning.

John 14 · chapter mention

And if you're new to God's word, you just need to look in the table of contents in the front.

No shame in that.

Uh, you're looking for the Gospel of John, that's the first part of the Bible or the New Testament.

Sorry, not the Bible, but the New Testament.

It's past the Old Testament, it's towards the end of your Bible.

And if you hit first, second, third, John right in front of Revelation, you've gone too far.

Same author, different book.

We're in the Gospel of John, chapter 14, and we're gonna dive into in just a moment.

John 14 · chapter mention

This year's theme, uh, that we just felt very clear direction from God.

Uh, in January, I spoke about this.

We we called it planting with purpose.

You need to understand that we don't gather together as a social club.

We're we're a movement with a conviction that Jesus is who he says he is.

And every week we display that, we preach that, we declare the gospel.

And if you've been here for any amount of time, maybe you're like, Pastor Mark, I don't even know what the gospel is.

It's the good news of Jesus Christ, what Jesus taught as he came in a new form, a new revolution, can I say, of grace that turned the world upside down.

We're a byproduct of that.

Still, he is still changing lives this morning from Jerusalem all the way up to the UP.

Pretty amazing and incredible gift.

But with that, there is a demand on our lives as he's created us with a purpose to accomplish, not just to be religious and come in and check my box.

And I'm I'm gonna, I'm just gonna, you know, I'm just gonna show up on Sunday, do my bit, throw a couple bucks in the offering plate, and I'm good morally.

I should be okay.

No, he created a family.

That's what a church is.

Church is not a building, it's a gathering of people on purpose with a conviction to further the kingdom of God.

And with that comes a revelation and a healing in your life with a purpose to change the world.

Now we take that very, very seriously.

For over a hundred years, there have been people who have taken on that mission here.

The reason you're able to sit in the seats that you're sitting in, the reason that we're able to plant churches across the UP into places that there are no viable or healthy churches, man.

I'm just telling you, that's that's important as you step into maybe this family.

Maybe your first time was Easter, and and so you're you're no longer a guest, you're not a visitor, you're a part of this family, and the Lord's doing something in your life.

But you know, I just want to give you the heads up.

We just don't sit and do nothing here.

We have a purpose and a plan to make sure that everyone, not only in the UP, in our Jerusalem, if you will, know who Jesus is, but across the world.

We're we're active in that.

And so if someone asks you, man, what what what is North Iron about?

We've been known as the Viking Church, as the Star Wars Church, as the Pirate Church.

No, those were just those are those were just methods.

They weren't the message.

The message of North Iron is Jesus first, and we are a church planting church.

We plant with a purpose.

Now, I said all that because the Lord is directing us, and I want to, I want, because you're a part of the family, I want you to be in the know of what's going on.

We are in the process of planting a church in Marquette.

We have been there for a while, and uh so thankful for all the men and women who have dedicated their lives to making that happen week after week after week.

Maybe you don't understand the amount of of work and sacrifice it has taken us to do this.

This is in God's plan.

And yet you need to understand when we plant something, put a church in a community, even the statistics uh from outside the church, sociologists will look at uh what happens when a church comes into a neighborhood, everything goes up except for crime.

Crime goes down, businesses go up, families stay together.

It's the spirit of God that comes into your not only your family and everything changes, but in your community, community, everything changes.

That's that's the spirit of God, everyone.

That's the spirit of God.

And so we're excited.

We believe maybe in the next couple months, two, three, we're we're we're working on things.

We're trying to figure it out with with our government when we're gonna get occupancy there.

But it's very, very close for us.

And so uh for sure this year it's happening.

I just want to kind of prep your heart, prep your thinking a little bit, that with this, there's going to be a lot of change.

And so that's something that we've just always done here at Northiron.

The Lord directs us, we change things, and He continues to bless us and bless us and bless us.

And so there's always some growing pains.

There, when you I think you moms will understand when there's the birth of something, there's some labor involved in that.

There's some pain.

But on the other side of that thing, it's a beautiful, beautiful, beautiful thing.

So I just want you to understand that we're we're about to move into Marquette.

That means our our service times are going to change.

That's something that's coming.

We'll let you know when that's coming ahead of us launching into the Marquette campus.

We're wrapping things up.

We're gonna be asking for people to come in and clean on a regular basis.

Like our making of dirt is is ending.

Uh, and so we we just need our space to be cleaned.

You can see with the the worship, not just the worship, but hosting or having the sphere of hospitality uh in Marquette is something that we're gonna work on.

We're gonna need volunteers.

And I I think I heard them say we have over 20 volunteers.

Like we have a lot of volunteers, even at Ishbing and Lance and Antonogden, you guys using what you have in your hands, your gifts and talents to move the kingdom of God forward.

And we just know God's gonna bless this.

So there's a lot of change coming uh for we're almost to the halfway mark of the year, and with that, there's gonna be a lot of change in the the last you know, six, seven months of this year.

And so I just want you to be semi-prepared for that in your heart and just give lots of grace to everyone as we organize, especially give grace to me because I'm a bit of a moron.

Okay.

Last week we had just an incredible Easter, record attendance across all of our campuses.

Just love all the work.

I think we should just give the Lord a hand in that.

Thank you, Jesus.

Glory goes to God and God uh God alone, God's doing something special in the north.

We're moving into camp season.

Listen, everyone, summer is coming.

The rain is a declaration.

It might be snowing in Antonogden baby, but it's raining in Ishbaming.

That's all I gotta say.

And we're just very thankful for the Lord and everything that he's doing.

And it's all about him, no one else.

All about him.

And don't ever get that wrong.

Don't ever think that it's anyway about me.

I better move on to preaching God's word.

We're at the last section of uh our series in Jesus using and evoking uh the high name of God, calling himself God.

This is what's going on when he uses the term I am.

We've looked through that for the last six, six weeks.

There's actually seven times, but you need to understand that in John chapter 15, Jesus says, I am the true vine.

John 15 · chapter mention

I decided that I'm not gonna preach about that because I already preached about that in the sermon series in January, planting with purpose.

You should go watch that.

We uh dived into that in a in a deep, deep way.

So I'm gonna bypass that one and we're gonna talk this morning about Jesus very clearly stating something that I think a lot of us get wrong in misunderstanding.

And we find that in John chapter 14.

John 14 · chapter mention

Jesus says this I am the way, the truth, and the life.

No one comes to the Father except through me.

And let me give you a little context about what's going on here.

This is the last night before Jesus goes to the cross and goes to the grave.

He's he's on this timeline, nothing's gonna stop this thing.

This is the reason that he came to bring grace and mercy and forgiveness to you and to me.

And so he's trying to give his followers, they're hanging out, having supper together, and he's trying to give them a little bit of an indication that he's about to leave.

And of course, this confuses the disciples.

If you, if you if you read the gospels, it always feels like the disciples are not in the know.

And yet they they they don't really understand Jesus' being clear, but sometimes he uses imagery instead of just really stating what what what he actually means.

And so they're confused with, I am the way, I am the truth, I am the life.

Hey, this is what I want you to do when I'm when I'm I'm about to leave.

And this discourages them, it confuses them, and it doesn't really say it, but what they're feeling as disciples, they're like, man, have we made a mistake?

Is Jesus not really the Messiah?

Have we made a wrong choice in who we've followed?

I thought you were gonna come in at Jesus as a Messiah, because there was all of these, these maybe misunderstandings of who the Messiah was going to be and what he would accomplish when he was here.

They were thinking more of a political leader and a king, other than a savior that was going to ultimately save them from the sin of their lives.

And so they were they were wondering, they were confused about this.

And so Jesus says, as he sees this in their hearts, he says this to them listen, don't don't be freaked out, don't be confused, don't let your hearts be troubled.

Believe in God, believe also in me.

In my father's house are many rooms.

If it were not so, would I have not told you?

I go to prepare a place for you.

And if I go and prepare a place for you, listen, I'm gonna come back again, and I will take you with me to where I am.

You may be also, and you know the way to where I am going.

And so, of course, Thomas speaks up and says, Jesus, dude, I do not know the way.

I'm not even sure what you're talking about, Jesus.

And yet we find this in the next portion of scripture.

Thomas says, Lord, we don't even know where you're going.

Like in his mind, he's probably thinking that Jesus has a bat cave or some kind of hidden hideout somewhere where they're gonna eventually go and then they're gonna launch out of there and uh upturn the oppression of the Romans and see Jesus as as King of Jerusalem.

That's that's their idea.

So Thomas is saying, Jesus, I don't know if you have a bat cave or a hideout somewhere, but I don't know where that is.

And how can we know the way?

And Jesus says, Thomas, I'm the way.

I'm the refuge.

I'm the way, I'm the truth, and I'm the life, and no one comes to the Father except through me.

What's typical of not only Thomas or humanity or us at North Iron is, man, Thomas just wanted a physical map.

That's all.

He just wanted a map that worked.

In in 2009, seven, eight, or nine, I I I I get my timeline mixed up.

Uh, we were missionaries in Russia and we were having a tough go at it, actually staying in Russia when Putin came into power.

One of the things later on that he changed was the the uh missionary status of foreigners in Russia.

And so he made it very, very difficult for us to stay in Russia.

We actually became very, very nomadic.

We we we we wanted to be in Russia, our ministries were going.

God was doing a lot of great things within the Russian church, and yet we had to leave every three months uh to leave Russia and go into some country somewhere to find a Russian consulate that would give us a visa to get back for another three months, do ministry.

It was like a cycle.

We just lived in our lived in our car.

The first time that that happened, it was it was uh kind of shattering for us.

We didn't know what we'd do.

We had to leave Russia very, it was very quick.

We had to leave Russia.

We gathered our kids, we packed some clothes.

I got in my my my my uh my my my Nissan patrol and big kind of land lover cruiser, and we we just headed west.

And uh we grabbed at the time, there was no Google, there was barely internet uh in in Russia, and we um we didn't we didn't have Google maps.

I just grabbed an old Russian map of the Ukraine, and one of the things about Russia is they were so nervous that America was going to come in and attack them and take over their country that they would produce maps that were wrong.

So you couldn't even trust a map.

There was no street signs, there were no no no indication of this is the right way.

Even if you looked on the map and said, Oh, I hit this town, you didn't know how to get out of the town or what road to take.

And and so it was very confusing.

The roads were haven't hadn't been fixed since World War II.

It was just a brutal trip of us bouncing across the Ukraine, and we would have we were definitely lost the whole time.

We just had to push through the Ukraine, and the only way that we actually got through the Ukraine was that we we had a compass.

And I would just say, Jen, I don't know where to go.

I'm just gonna keep on heading west.

I kept on heading west.

If I started to go north, I would try to switch and find a road that would went west.

Eventually, after like 36 hours of our making our way through these villages and rural parts of uh of the Ukraine, we we hit the border of Hungary.

And that was such an incredible relief for us.

And and so we we crossed into the border of Hungary, and I'd been driving for like 36 hours.

There was nowhere safe at that time for us to.

We were just just hammering across the Ukraine trying to get across, lost the whole time.

If we had not had our compass, I would have been in Poland or I would have been in Turkey.

Who knows, Bulgaria?

I don't even know where I would have ended up.

And yet when we crossed over to Ukraine, I it was early, early in the morning, just this kind of sigh of relief came over Jen and I, and and we're like, okay, we're we're we're almost in a way into Europe.

You know, Hungary at that time was still very, very Soviet.

And I said, Jen, just go get some food.

I stopped at a little Purdukti, a little store, and I said, Jen, get in there and get us some food.

And so, and then ask is there any place that then we can just sleep as a as a family?

There's got to be something in this village, someone that I we can pay just so I can lay down and and go to sleep.

And she went in, she came back, and and and for breakfast we had yogurt and sausage, sausage, cheese, and kvass, which is like a a almost like a it's a fermented raw old rye bread that they make into a drink.

You're that's disgusting.

We loved it.

Anyway, I don't know why I told you that.

She said, There, there's a there's a building and a house down the street, they said that you can maybe go talk to the person that has um the the ownership of that, and maybe you can pay to have a room in this.

And I was like, Oh, thank you, Jesus.

We had no plans, we had no reservations, we just showed up in this village and said we wanted to go.

And we prayed, Lord, we need somewhere to land.

We have to regain so we can move on farther into Europe.

And so we arrived at this place.

A little old woman came out of Bubushka, and and um, we didn't speak Ukrainian so much, it's very close to Russian, but the farther west you go, the more Ukrainian it gets.

And she motioned us into we we paid very small price.

She walked us, it was very, very gaudy.

This building, broken down, but very, very gaudy.

And she walked us into this room, and there was all kinds of people moving around, all kinds of women, women.

And uh, I walked into the and everything in the room was red, everything the curtains, the walls, the bed, everything.

And I I looked at Jennifer and I said, Jen, I said, This is a brothel.

And I said, I don't care.

And I walked over and I laid my hands on that red bed and I said, Jesus, whatever was done in this bed prior to us coming, I need you to heal it in the name of Jesus.

And I just went over there and collapsed and went to sleep.

The Lord provides.

But there's something about there's a nervousness of being lost.

I think we all have felt that in some way.

But what's even more nervous is you're on the wrong road.

Not that you're lost, you're on the wrong road, you're on the wrong destination, you're you're on the wrong path.

And this is what Thomas is saying.

He wants a physical map.

Jesus, show me the road.

Jesus, show me the ritual.

Show me what I need to do to gain this righteousness.

Jesus, give me a one, two, three, four.

And Jesus responds with, man, it's about relationship.

It's not a there, it's not a destination, it's not a path you can obtain, a physical one.

This whole thing is built on relationship.

And another disciple hearing that, he he pipes in and asks a similar question, but uh another kind of need that we often have as humans.

Philip says to the Lord, Well, Lord, forget about the map.

Show us the Father, and that'll be enough for us.

And Jesus says to him, Man, I've been with you, Philip, for a long time, and you don't even know me yet.

Whoever has seen me has seen the Father.

What Philip wanted was an intellectual map.

Can I say it that way?

Lord, if you'll just reveal the mysteries of the world to me.

Lord, if you'll just give me the knowledge and open the door of knowledge and understanding, because it's a human condition.

We love to know and we want to control, and we want all the mysteries of the world to be unfolded to us.

That's why most of you spend hours on TikTok.

Including myself looking at conspiracy theories.

I want to know if Bigfoot is real.

And it's true in the theological world.

But you need to understand that the whole Christian experience is about a relationship with Jesus.

It's not about the rituals, it's not about the practices.

Now, those things are important.

Don't get me wrong.

Those things naturally are a byproduct of God's word and his promises and the identity he has for you.

But you also need to understand that he is the way, he is the truth, and he is the life.

It's not a destination for you to obtain.

So let me kind of walk through what Jesus means when he says the filled, buddy, it's about a relationship.

Because this is a new concept.

You understand Jewish people are very ritualistic.

They had over 6,000 rules in how to follow God.

So this is like turning them upside down a little bit.

A relationship.

So let's let's unpack this a little bit.

The Christian life from start to finish is about a relationship with Jesus.

Again, it's not about Christian practices.

Those actually come into your life as the Holy Spirit kind of yanks on you and says, Listen, I want you to live differently.

We can read God's word.

We can read the absolutes of God.

Do not do these things.

But you really, our relationship with Jesus is this intimacy with him that will lead us to a heart change, not just a physical, mental change or a physical change, but a heart change.

That's what Jesus is interested in because a lot of times within church, maybe you grew up in a religious home where there was this moralistic God that you served.

It wasn't God the Father or Jesus or the Holy Spirit.

I'm serving a moralistic God.

And if I'll check off these righteous good deeds and these kind things, I'm going to be okay.

Listen, salvation isn't about something you earn through a theological scorb or collecting gold stars and Christian practices.

It's found in knowing and trusting a person.

In Matthew 7, Jesus nails this on the head by stating one of the most fearful scriptures that not only is misunderstood, but also, more importantly, ignored, and the church doesn't speak enough about it.

He's speaking to followers of Jesus or those who profess to be Christians.

Maybe that's a better term in Matthew chapter 7, verse 21.

Matthew 7:21

Jesus says this not everyone who says to me, Lord, Lord, will enter the kingdom of heaven.

Many will say to me, Lord, Lord, you need to understand in the Greek when it double Lord, Lord, that means that person is passionate about that thing.

And Jesus is saying, Many, many people will say to me, Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name?

Lord, Lord, did we not cast out demons in your name?

Lord, Lord, did we not do mighty works in your name?

And Jesus responds, He says, Then I'm gonna tell them, I never knew you, you workers of lawlessness.

This scripture, my whole life, is scared of beevies out of me.

They knew all about him.

They just never knew him.

They never knew him.

Charles Spurgeon, who was this incredible preacher in the 1800s in London, probably the greatest of all preachers.

Billy Graham-esque, maybe even to a higher standard of I don't even know how to judge that, but he had an incredible impact on the world in Europe, in the Americas.

He says this about this scripture.

Oh, but Jesus could never say that to me.

I never knew you.

For he has shown me for years, for he has known me, sorry, for years as the beggar at his door.

Lord, when I was broken, you know me because I I relied on your your forgiveness to bring life into me.

Lord, when I was weak in some way, I looked to you for strength.

Father, listen, I I always chased you.

Lord, in my brokenness, whenever you would open up the altar or your presence was around, Lord, I ran to your presence.

I didn't run away from your presence.

Lord, I ran to you with my brokenness, Father.

I ran to you with my issues in life.

There's never a way that you could not say that you know me, because all that I do, Father, is running into your presence.

I threw myself at your altar.

I grabbed onto your horns of mercy in my life.

Lord, my attitude is I would worship and ask for your will in my life.

I'm not perfect.

I say things I shouldn't say, but I always ran into your presence and never away.

Is that true of you?

Or have you just dived into your pride?

Or you've walked away from the opportunity to put yourself in the presence of God.

I can handle this.

Well, do you actually know Jesus?

Are you intimate with him?

There are a lot of people, everyone, who have all kinds of degrees, from pastors to Bible school students to lay people, who know all kinds of things about him.

But they do not know him.

Getting a PhD in theology is not, I'm not saying it's wrong, but it's not your ticket into a right relationship with God.

I know a lot of people with doctorates on the wall.

Matter of fact, in Bible school or even amongst pastors, there's this kind of um unsaid thing.

I'm not gonna reveal it to you.

Don't ever repeat it.

Okay, just us.

Pastors who have a master's or doctorate's have the smallest following.

Because it's a knowledge thing, not a heart thing.

Not not all.

I'm just saying it's a little joke pastors say to each other, not to lay people.

You're in the end now.

Like when I walk into the room of a large gathering, I know immediately where Jennifer is in the room.

She can change her hair color, it doesn't matter.

She can shave her head and it doesn't matter.

She can change up her clothes and it doesn't matter.

Why?

Because I intimately know who she is.

I know what her touch feels like.

I know what she smells like.

I know how she's gonna answer in a conversation before she does.

I know how she laughs, I know what her breath smells like.

I know everything about her.

And when someone, for the first time, maybe I'm introducing myself, I say, Hey, do you know my wife Jennifer?

And that person doesn't.

I typically just give them, I don't say, well, just go find her, her breath smells like this.

That's weird, right?

Right?

Okay, I just want to make sure it's weird.

Uh, but I say, well, she has dark hair, she's very beautiful, she might be dressed like this, right?

Because they don't intimately know her.

So you always always go with outside references with people, things that honestly do not matter in the relationship with someone, but that's typically, and so let me ask you this how do you how do you explain Jesus in your life?

Well, he's this kind of tall dude, brown hair, he's probably in a white robe and he's wearing sandals, if that's an indication that you're you're not intimately involved with who he is.

So, how how do you develop intimacy with Jesus?

Well, it's not the warm fuzzies, guys, but it's being in his presence, reading his word.

You even get to know Jesus by hanging out with other fellow believers who act like him.

You should find those people.

Not everyone in church acts like Jesus, and it just takes patience and time.

It just does.

Consistently running into his presence instead of walking away from his presence.

That's where healing and understanding and intimacy happens in your life, and so for you to run away from the very thing that you need in your life not only is foolish, but it's it's crazy, everyone.

Run towards him, not away from him.

Eventually, you're going to figure out, you're gonna figure out what the core and the heart of Jesus is.

You hear me say it all the time.

Being godly or a Christ follower is actually loving the things that Jesus loves and hating the things that Jesus hates.

And the more that you follow him in that, and sometimes that's that's against your the way you were raised.

Maybe your mother said something flippantly that has changed your view of the kingdom of God, or your father didn't live the way he should live.

So that changed how you you you you develop this culture around the church and the presence of Jesus.

But eventually, if you're a true follower of him, it just naturally happens.

It's a byproduct of following and hanging out in the presence of God and listen, understanding who he is, God's word.

It's a unique mixture.

You can't have the knowledge of God without the presence of God.

There is a balance you need in your life.

There are Christians who just run after experiences with God, they don't understand God's word even a little bit.

And then there are a bunch of old grumpy law-driven people who just understand the knowledge of God and no experience.

There's a balance.

Following Jesus gets easier at your cadence, or let me say it this way, I'm gonna mess it up.

Following Jesus gets easier as your footsteps match his cadence.

Secondly, knowing him is the way, the truth, and the life.

So let me just really quickly break that down with Jesus saying, I am the way, you need to understand.

I hope I made this clear, it's not a destination.

It's it's not a level, it's not a place.

Because a lot of us think in these terms, how can I live my life that ends up in the right place?

And what I mean by right place, I mean how am I going to be happy?

How am I gonna be successful?

How am I going to be safe?

This is what the disciples are are thinking and wondering.

And Jesus is saying, no, none of these places are found in a place.

I'm sorry, none of these feelings are found in a place.

They're found in me.

In 1976, my dad took a group of Royal Rangers, the men of our church.

Uh, it was I I remember it because it was bicentennial year.

I was probably seven or eight.

And it was my first time backpacking.

And we uh my dad pastored in Wisconsin, and so we went up into the porcupine mountains.

There's probably 40, 50 of us on this backpacking trip.

Pretty incredibly awesome.

I was just a young boy amongst many, many boys.

And so as we started backpacking along the shores of Lake Superior, I always wanted to be with the cool boys.

They were the older boys, they were they were teenagers, they were tough, they were uh bound with muscle.

I mean, these guys are the guys, you know, boys look up to.

And I just I when we started, I was with them for about maybe a quarter of a mile.

But I'm seven, and I I can't keep up with these guys, they're just hammering, they're trucking, they got the same pack I do, but I'm just I'm just I'm this little skinny, skinny kid, and I wasn't able, I wasn't the lazy boys who were in the back who were throwing things off their backpack, so would they would have to stop so my dad could pick those things up.

There the I didn't want to be a part of them.

And so what I tried to do is I tried to stay with the the older boys and and I just couldn't.

And so I I fell back.

I was in the middle with no one with me.

Of course, the trail was very clearly marked.

It's not my first rodeo.

I've been in the woods all my life, and so I just I just kept on going.

No, that I'm I'll get there.

I'm not gonna be the first, but I'll be in the middle.

That's better than the last.

And so I just kept on going and I got no indication of where the campsite was.

It was just off the trail.

And so when the first group of boys got there, they went off the trail and they landed their backpacks there, it's kind of tall grass and trees, and they went swimming in Lake Superior, and I just kept on trucking past, didn't even know they stopped.

I don't know how long I hiked, but it started getting dark.

And I'm like, man, I should already be at this campsite.

I don't know what to do, I don't know what to do.

I heard nothing about anything other than the bears of the UP and Porcupine Mountains.

They were there.

I knew they were there.

And so I I simply just sat down in the middle of the trail and I started crying.

Crying, crying, crying.

I'm gonna die out here.

My dad doesn't love me.

My dad got to camp, and with all the hustle, bustle of feeding all these boys and men, and eventually he was like, Where's Mark?

Well, we thought he was with you.

No, no, no.

Is he out in the water?

Is he going to the bathroom?

Is he setting up why isn't he eating with us?

And so my dad went around and couldn't find me, and he's like, Oh, my boy's lost.

It wasn't maybe long, it was dark, dark.

And this flashlight comes around the corner, and it's my dad.

And I jump up and I ran and I hugged him.

I said, Dad, I thought I was gonna die.

And I'm just weeping.

Like, Mark, stop crying.

You're not gonna die.

Dad, I I didn't.

He said, Mark, listen, I I've already prepared you.

What?

Well, what am I gonna eat?

How am I gonna start a fire?

Mark, listen, you're you have food in your backpack, you have matches in your backpack.

Dad, where was I gonna sleep?

Where's my my my tent?

Listen, Mark, it's all in your backpack.

I've already prepared you.

And he said something pretty, pretty crazy to me.

He said, Mark, listen, I'm never gonna leave you.

I'm always gonna be with you.

You don't have to freak out about anything.

I've already prepared you.

We walked back.

We got in our tent.

And I just remember my dad putting his arm around me.

I wasn't so nervous about dying.

I just wanted to be safe and with my father.

That's all.

That's happiness, that's protection, that's provision.

I wasn't really scared.

I was just a kid and I'm reacting, but he wasn't there to tell me so much the way to those things.

I understood he wasn't the example for me.

He was the way.

Be like me, Mark.

This is what Jesus is saying when he says, I am the way, no one comes to the Father except through me.

He's also the truth, everyone.

And knowing Jesus, when you get connected to the truth, not your truth, there's no such thing.

Not the world's truth, there is no such thing.

There's only one truth.

And Jesus says, I am that truth.

And when you come in connection with that, it's it's gonna give you a whole new version of not only yourself, but your belief system and your culture and the understanding of this purpose he's given you in your life.

That's what that truth does.

It it displays something that we all need to stand on, his promises.

There's an interesting story, a crazy story.

In Matthew, we find that John the Baptist is who's the herald of Jesus' coming.

He's preaching about Jesus coming, the Messiah, and Jesus shows up.

It's this power, powerful, powerful moment in Matthew, and and and John baptizes him, and then God the Father uh speaks this incredible miracle audibly uh over Jesus, and Holy Spirit comes down as a dove and and and and and it starts Jesus' ministry.

And Jesus, I'm sorry, John the Baptist sees all of that, but now he's in prison because he's preaching the gospel.

He's in a damp, unbelievable, damaging place, and he is at his not only his wit's end, but the severity of his circumstances is making him doubt who Jesus is.

And so John has followers like Jesus has followers, and so John's followers are with him in visiting him in the in the prison.

And so John the Baptist says to his followers, I want you to go find Jesus.

Man, we're cousins for all goodness sake.

Why hasn't he gotten me out of this pain or this circumstance?

I don't think I'm gonna last long in here.

I want you to go ask Jesus this question, and we find that question: Are you the one who is to come, or should I look for someone else?

Happiness, security, success, those are not as important as the relationship you have with Jesus.

Faith is not this.

Blind leap into the dark.

It's not.

It's jumping into the arms of a person we can trust.

Jesus responds in a loving way, John, you know the truth.

John, I know you're going through pain and you're suffering, and you're not safe, and you're probably not happy, but you know who I am.

And Jesus says, the blind see, the lame walk, the dead rise.

And John, you have an intimate relationship with me, so you just have to trust me.

When you jump like that into faith with Jesus, it's kind of like jumping as a child, or for the very first time, you probably don't remember it, but you've mimicked that moment again and again where you jump towards your dad and he catches you every time.

Some of you, maybe your dad didn't catch you and it shows.

But it's not a blind leap of faith.

You're you're jumping into the promises and the claims of Jesus.

Jesus also says, on the life.

Powerful statement.

That life you are so desperately, and I'm so desperately trying to create.

That life that has always just failed us over and over and over.

I got the new car, I got the new wife, I got the new job.

And it just fails and fails and fails and fails because it's not rooted in the life.

It's not rooted in the life.

So let me jump to number three.

My last point.

Jesus is the only way.

The only truth.

The only life.

Everyone will rail against that.

They'll come up with their own plan.

There's many paths to God.

Even Oprah, Oprah, Oprah Winfrey.

One of the biggest mistakes people make is to believe that there is only one way.

Actually, there are many diverse ways leading to what you may call God.

That's a lie, everyone.

Isaiah, the prophet of God, years before Jesus would show up, said this about God.

I'm sorry, says this about the Lord.

He says in this scripture, a couple scriptures put together, I am the Lord.

Matter of fact, when you ever see capitalization of Lord, it's actually the name Yahweh I am.

I am the Lord that is that is my name and my glory.

I will not give to another.

I'm Yahweh, and beside me there is no other Savior.

Exclusivity is not cruel or unloving.

Matter of fact, throughout this portion of scripture, I don't know if you can see how Jesus is using the imagery of being married.

That's what he talks about.

I'm gonna go to my father's house and prepare a place for you.

That is a conversation that a young Jewish boy would have with his soon-to-be girlfriend.

You know, uh sometimes there's a misunderstanding of Jewish culture where everything was arranged.

It was, wasn't there, there was a boy who saw a girl and he kind of liked that girl, and so he's smiling at her.

Maybe she was a great, a great, uh, grape crusher.

I don't know.

But she smiles back at him and they have glances.

He's interested, so he goes to her father and says, Father, can I, you know, can I can I court your daughter?

And so the father of the girl creates this big party.

And during the party, we find that the young man will take a glass of wine and give it to the girl.

And if she drinks it, it means like the engagement is on, the marriage is on.

If she doesn't drink it, then the party kind of loses its flavor.

She's saying, I'm not interested, I don't want to marry you, and then the band starts playing a Taylor Swift breakup song.

Shake it off, shake it off.

Is that how it goes?

I'm not sure.

If any of you are confused about that, talk to Pastor Arlen and Pastor Aaron.

They're known Swifties.

That's what they call them.

But if she says yes, then he he'll go to his family home and he'll start building a house in their compound.

She doesn't know when he's going to return.

It won't happen till until the father of the groom says, it's not the young man, because all young men are really interested in one thing.

I'm just gonna put a couple boards together, put a LeBron poster up, get some milk crates for furniture.

I'm gonna go get this girl and comp uh make that marriage thing happen.

It's the father of the groom who says to his son, hey, it's time for you to go get your bride.

That's why Jesus says in scripture, like no one knows the day and the hour of my return, only the father knows.

And you need to know that he's that he's coming back, he's coming back for his bride, who's prepared, who's intimate with him.

One of the coolest parts of even Jesus' name, it's really a combination of the God, God's name, and what Jesus is going to do.

We use the word Jesus, but it's Yeshua.

Ye means Yahweh.

And Shua means Jesus is the savior.

Jesus, I'm going to save you.

I'm going to be in right relationship with you.

Jesus is Yahweh the Savior.

Yahweh the Savior.

We've talked about this.

If you're spiritually hungry, Jesus says, I'm Yahweh, the bread of life, John 6.

If you walk in darkness, Jesus says, Yahweh, the light of the world.

You need refuge, Jesus says, I'm the door.

If you're feeling the sting of death, Jesus says, I am the resurrection.

If you're spiritually thirsty, Jesus says, I'm the true vine.

Do you know God intimately?

Jesus says, I am God.

I'm the way, the truth, and the life.

Do you need safety?

Jesus is the good shepherd, everyone.

So I want you to stand with me.

Again, the presence of Jesus is here.

There's a multitude of needs across this auditorium, but your greatest need, and I'm going to say it softly, your greatest need is being in the presence of Jesus.

Wherever Jesus is, there's life.

He brings dead things to life, everyone.

Over 40 times in John, he brings dead things to life in a multitude of ways.

So in the moment, Andy's gonna worship Alan.

We have worship across all of our campuses.

We're gonna open up, we call this an altar area.

What I'm calling it is you all need to move into the presence of Jesus.

You don't need anyone to pray with you.

You just need to move.

Chase after the presence of Jesus.

Well, Pastor Mark, people think I'm crazy.

I love the story of David who danced undignified in the presence of the Lord, and people complained about him.

Oh, he's undignified.

He's crazy.

I'm just I'm here to tell you from my own experience and because of the God's word that there is healing on all fronts when you move towards Jesus and chase after him, it'll transform your mind, your heart, your spirit, physically, mentally, socially, spiritually, wherever the presence of Jesus is, is healing everyone.

So I don't care if you've been a Christian since day one, or this is the first time you walked into the presence of Jesus.

I'm telling you, following means movement in your life.

Let me pray with you.

Jesus, right now, your Holy Spirit is here.

You promised through your word.

Whenever we gather together, Father, Lord, you would be there, Jesus.

And so, Lord, we look to you in all things.

We don't really even have an answer.

We don't even need a place, Lord.

Our place is with you, abiding and being in your presence, chasing after you, not running away, but chasing after you.

So, Father, we ask all of this as we move into your presence, Jesus.

We ask this in your mighty, mighty name.

Thank you for joining us for this message.

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