I AM Week 3

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.

Welcome everyone.

Glad that you're here with us this morning.

My name is Pastor Mark.

I'm the lead pastor here with my wife Jennifer.

It's my privilege to have one of our missionaries here.

She has been a missionary for years in the Congo and now Togo.

And we're excited, Gloria, tell us a little bit about what God is doing in the African continent.

Yes, thank you.

Thank you, first of all, so much for all of your support, all of your prayers.

I can't do it without those.

God is amazing.

God is faithful.

Amen.

In this last term, actually, I have moved to Lome Togo, which is in West Africa now, and much different than Congo and much smaller.

God has given me the opportunity to give me the position of a provost in a doctoral program called Pan Africa Theological Seminary.

Never, never in all of my dreams did I ever think that I would be in charge of a doctoral program.

But when God wants you somewhere, he'll make it happen.

Amen.

Even when it takes you to have to get a doctoral degree to do it, I did it.

Amen.

And I survived.

And I just thank the Lord because now I'm on a continent where now we are serving and we are training men and women from all over Africa to better themselves in education, but also to get doctoral degrees, to give them credibility, but also to help their Bible schools improve even more.

So many of you are giving Kingdom Forward to people that are leaders in their countries that are making a difference.

And it is so much easier for them to be able to bring the gospel to their context than someone like me that would just show up and come in and not know the culture or the language or the culture or the customs, but they themselves know we get to spend lunches with them, we get to spend meal times, um, classroom times with them.

And so this is a whole new experience for me, but God is doing a great work in Togo.

And many of these pictures that you're seeing are many events that we've had taken place there.

We have students from Liberia, from Ethiopia, from Lesotho, from uh Ghana, from all over Africa.

Even in France, we have someone from France that's coming to study because we just started a French program in 2023.

And so we have a lot of francophone Africans that are now wanting to get their doctoral degrees, and so we're excited about what God has.

It's always uh as a former Assemblies of God missionary, our executive pastor Mike Murray.

Also, um, we we have this kind of understanding when you go into a country, it's important that not only we go into places that have not heard the gospel and preach the gospel, but just as importantly that we would raise up leadership to ultimately they would tell us leadership would tell us, hey, you need to work yourself out of a job.

That's exactly right.

And it's important, uh, may it be in the UP, may it be across the world on the African continent, that God would raise up biblical sound leaders that um that can be used to further the kingdom of God.

And you're at the the apex of that, and it's just a powerful thing for not just not just the country where the school is, but multiple nations sending their very best to be able to uh educate themselves so they can go out and and preach the gospel.

We're so thankful.

How many years have you been a missionary?

So I've been a missionary 20 years.

20 years, yes in and apportioned in in Belgium, but mostly in Congo and Togo.

So that um and that's so powerful, uh consistent.

The Lord uses you in a powerful way, and uh, we love that you're our missionary.

Let's give Gloria a hand, guys.

Appreciate you.

Thank you.

Yeah, it's it's so powerful, everyone, to see how God uses people.

And uh Gloria has been uh a part of missions here for uh so many, so many, so many years.

And we love how God is using her uh in difficult places, everyone.

Difficult places.

And yet God is the God that we serve, that takes care of us, that leads us, that brings us through difficulties so that we can grow and be able to move the kingdom of God forward.

That's that's true for you also.

And so I want you to grab your Bibles.

We're in the middle of such a series uh called uh the I Am or the Great I Am, however you want to say it.

We're looking at Jesus in the book of John.

And so again, grab your Bibles.

If you need a Bible, raise your hand.

We have a great version for you.

You can find all my notes on the Church Center app uh uh under notes, sorry.

And uh, but better yet, I would rather you have a physical Bible.

It's free to you, it's a great version.

We're gonna be in the book of John.

If you're new to God's word, that's really cool.

I love it.

You're gonna find the book of John.

Don't confuse it with the the latter part of your Bible, first, second, third John, also written by the same author.

But this is the the disciple of Jesus as he coins himself, the beloved of Jesus.

Uh John uh liked to say that Jesus was his best, best, best, best friend, and uh which is interesting, but we're not gonna get into that.

Uh we're going to be in chapter 10.

Now we've been walking through uh much like God uses this high calling or name in the book of the Old Testament and serving the people of Israel.

He called himself the I am that was applied to their greatest weakness and their greatest brokenness.

Likewise, Jesus is doing the same thing in the book of John.

He is throughout seven times, he references himself to this very powerful statement that everyone he said it to understood what he was saying.

He was claiming to be God.

And the first week we talked as Jesus, after some incredible miracles, we find that Jesus proclaims himself, I am the bread of life, a a powerful, powerful claim.

And then in in chapter nine, we saw that Jesus stands before a, can I say, a dead temple and declares that he is the, I am the light of the world, an auditious, uh, powerful claim.

And we're going to be in chapter 10 this morning, right off the bat, actually following chapter 9, obviously, but all that was going on with the healing of the adulterous woman, the the healing of grace with the adulterous woman and the healing of the blind man, we find that the religious people or even the Jews had a problem with Jesus calling himself God.

They were okay with him being a prophet, they were okay with him being a teacher or a good man, but they were like, ah, Jesus, you know, we'll pull back a little bit on this God thing.

And yet we find that Jesus at the beginning of chapter 10 likewise evokes the I am name and he says this, I am the door.

And if anyone enters by me, he will be saved and he will go in and out and find pasture.

I want to kind of dive into that.

If you have your Bible here and you're really, really smart, you should underline that I am the door saved, going in and out in pasture.

And I'm gonna kind of walk us through that.

That's a powerful, powerful statement.

Just the idea that Jesus was calling himself the door, the entrance, the gate.

If you know anything about God's word, that doors were kind of a big deal.

You find it referenced throughout God's word.

Just let me give you a few instances of that.

At the Garden of Eden, we find that God creates a gate or a doorway after Adam and Eve have sinned, God casts them out of the garden.

And so at the entrance to the Garden of Eden, he creates a doorway or a gate and he places some angels there with flaming swords.

We find with Noah's Ark that there was just one way into the ark.

All the animals and even Noah and his family enter through the ark.

And then we find, as everyone is inside the ark, that God shuts it.

He seals it up.

And then even with the Holy of Holies in the temple in multiple ways, we see that there's only one way into the presence of God.

Really, one way into the altar, or one way into where the Ark of the Covenant is.

Interesting enough, again, two angels there on the Ark of the Covenant.

And then even we find that Jesus in the New Testament says, narrow is the gate to life.

And what's going on here, and these are just a few instances.

It's an incredible study if you want to look at all of that, but you need to understand that that Christianity, this is the big statement, but it deals with what's going on in our culture today.

Christianity is exclusive and not inclusive.

Well, you would say, well, Pastor Mark doesn't the Lord want everyone to be a part of the family.

God get it, I get it.

There's there's some nuance here, but you need to understand that that the way that Jesus is saying this is what he's saying is there's only one way into the presence of God.

The reason that there is a gate in Eden is because that's where the presence of God was.

Because there's a door on the Noah's Ark, there's there's salvation for for the earth or Noah's family through this gate to get to the altar of God or the presence of God, there's just one door.

And Jesus very famously is saying that if you want to reach eternity or life with with with it happens within me, I am the narrow gate.

It really has to do with the presence of Jesus, everyone.

So Jesus, in response to the Pharisees and all their grumbling and the Jewish people, he launches into this right after he heals the blind man.

We find that Jesus begins to teach about this concept of the door, and ultimately it confuses people.

But I want to unpack that for you, and we'll just kind of roll through these scriptures, very powerful.

Jesus says, in truth or truly, truly, I say to you, he who does not enter the sheepfold, that's a sheep pen, we'll talk about that in a minute.

He who does not enter the sheepfold by the door, but climbs in by another way, that man is a thief and a robber.

But he who enters by the door is the shepherd of the sheep.

To him, the gatekeeper opens, the the sheep hear his voice, and he calls his own sheep by his name and leads them out.

And when he has brought out all of his own sheep, he goes before them, and the sheep follow him, for they look at look at this, they they know his voice.

A stranger, they were they're not going to follow.

But they will flee from him, for they do not know the voice of strangers.

This figure of speech Jesus used with them, but they did not understand what he was saying to them.

And so Jesus again said to them, Truly, truly, let me clear this up again for you.

I say to you, I'm the door of the sheep, and all who came before me are thieves and robbers.

He's speaking to the Pharisees right here, everyone.

He's speaking to the religious people.

All who came before me are thieves and robbers, but the sheep did not listen to them.

Jesus says, I am the door.

And if anyone enters by me, he will be saved and he will go in and out and find pasture.

What you need to understand about this word picture that Jesus is using, and he uses this this metaphor for a herder of sheep.

You find this throughout scripture.

Matter of fact, the root the reason that I am called a pastor is because I'm a man of the field.

A pastor is someone who shepherds, he's a leader of sheep.

Now, don't take that wrong, anyone.

I know some of you like I'm a bull, Pastor Mark.

I get it, I understand that.

Right.

I'm not, let's not fight in the four-year afterwards.

Okay.

You're tough.

I know it.

But Jesus uses this throughout scripture to teach us something about ourselves.

And so he's using this sheepfold idea.

And he's speaking to the Pharisees and the Jewish people, and then those who he has just got done healing.

Because there's a big contrast here between Jesus' heart for the people that he surrounds himself with, the lost, the hurting, and the broken, the needy, in contrast to what the Pharisees see, or the heart of the Pharisees, which really ultimately religious people are about themselves, their goodness, their righteousness, not the righteousness of Jesus.

And don't get, if you're if you're new here to North Iron, don't get don't get wrapped up when I use religious in a negative term, because religion is man's way to God.

We're interested in what Jesus says, everyone.

We're not interested in man's plan.

I'm interested in Jesus' plan.

So I'm going to try to show you.

So the difference between, and Jesus uses two different illustrations here.

At the first, he's talking about city sheep pens.

City sheep pens, and you even find them now if you go to Jerusalem, they're in ruins, but they're they're quite large.

They're usually made of stone.

And uh when the shepherds would come out of the fields and they lived in a city, they would deliver their sheep, a multitude of sheep, to these large sheep pens.

They wouldn't watch them at night, but they would they would pay someone else to watch kind of a security guard, and then they would go home to their family or they would go out somewhere else to stay.

And then in the morning they would come back.

And you're probably wondering, well, if there's multiple, multiple, multiple flocks inside of there, did they brand them?

Did they they color the sheep?

How did they know whose sheep were whose?

And so what would happen is the sheepherder or the shepherd would come and he would gather his sheep by his voice.

Now there were times where people would try to come in and steal sheep and they would dress like the sheep herder and then maybe even try to talk like the sheep herder.

But sheep, here's the thing sheep are blind and stupid.

But man, can they hear?

And their survival, their survival is recognized by their incredible healing or their ability to hear their shepherd's voice.

And so the shepherd would come in and he would speak to their sheep, and they would all gather and he would walk them out.

Only his sheep.

Isn't that amazing?

And this is what Jesus is referring to when he's talking about the Pharisees.

You're like the thieves and the robbers who are who are trying to dress like me and sound like me, but you're not getting any reaction from what is going on around me because my sheep know my voice.

It was kind of a dig at the Pharisees.

And then, secondly, Jesus was referencing the the country or out in the wild as they would go out.

They were too far from the city.

And so they would create a temporary, uh, a temporary uh pen.

And the thing about that temporary pen is it would gather the sheep, but ultimately it wouldn't really be able to protect the sheep.

There really wasn't even a gate.

The shepherd actually slept at the doorway.

He slept at the door.

He was the the the protection that we'll talk about in just a moment.

And Jesus is saying, no one can get to my sheep unless I allow them in.

Even if robbers and thieves tried to get over the fence, which probably wasn't really difficult because it was just simply uh temporary.

And if they grabbed a sheep, that was the difficulty because sheep are fat and they're cumbersome.

And to lift a sheet over that uh a temporary fence in some way just isn't going to happen.

And you know, the sheep would bellow, you know, ah, bad man, you know, that kind of thing.

Right?

That's bad.

Usually I keep stupid jokes for second service because it's not tape.

That's where all the corny people come.

Second service.

Um, so let me let's walk through some of the claims of Jesus as he's talking to um to not only the Pharisees, but the people who are accepting him as Lord.

There's a big contrast here that's going on.

And I just want to walk through some of those as chapter 10 shows us, uh, being saved, being able to go in and out, and then eventually moving into God's pastures.

Those those are important, important beliefs and rights of you who are who are sheep and followers of of Jesus.

The way of salvation is something even today that that is messed with.

There is a multitude of ignorant, foolish thieves and robbers who are trying to dissect, unbuild what God's word says, and the theology, which is just simply the study or the belief of God and how he functions here within his kingdom and in the universe.

And again and again and again, I see people who are led astray, or as this kind of uh popular term, Pastor Mark, I'm just dissecting my belief system.

I'm restructuring what I actually believe, and and you see it on social media and on podcasts and TikTok, and you name it all these foolish.

I would, as your pastor, say to you, you need to be very, very, very careful about who you listen to and who is speaking into your life, everyone.

You're dealing with the greatest, you are dealing with the greatest cause and purpose and mission and future when it comes to you.

There is no greater question than what am I going to do with this life that God has redeemed?

And so when you start and begin to mess with that and believe in a certain way, that again and again we find in scripture in the New Testament that the apostles would say there are there are wolves and sheep clothing, they sound like they're religious, they sound like they're good, they sound like they're they're righteous, but listen, they're they're peddling lies to you.

You need to ground yourself in God's word.

It hasn't changed for thousands and thousands of years, everyone.

And just because some punk 18-year-old thinks that he's figured things out with giants in the book of Enoch, you're a fool to listen to that stuff.

Write that down in your Bible.

Don't be a book of Enoch punk.

All caps.

Jesus says, I'm the way, I'm the truth, I am the life, I am the resurrection, I am the door.

No one gets into the presence of God except through me.

Because there's this, again, this idea, I hear it constantly, the culture that says that there are many paths to God, like God is a mountain, and if you you start on the west or you start on the in the north, or or you start in the east or the south, you can eventually ascend.

May you be Mormon or or a follower of Jesus or a Buddhist or Or you you you you grew up in the Islamic faith, eventually you can all rise to the apex of consciousness and Godhood, and you'll be able to find God.

All paths lead to God.

There is no greater lie.

It is contrary, it's demonic, it is antichrist.

There's only one way.

Just like there was only one way in the ark.

Just like there was only one way in the Holy of Holies, just as Jesus very boldly said, narrow is the gate.

There's only one way, everyone.

And that's Jesus.

And Jesus is proclaiming this to his people.

Christianity, again, is exclusive, not inclusive.

And that leads us to this claim that he is who he says he is, and there is only one way.

Jesus says, I am the door, not a door, but the door.

The door.

This bothers people.

Mostly because they want to be God.

Now, sometimes I come across people who are ignorant, may not understand God's word.

Maybe they're maybe you're new here and you're kind of kicking around the tires.

You're trying to figure this thing out.

You come faithfully and you sit in the presence of Jesus.

He opens your mind.

He takes off the scales of blindness that is created by your rebellion and disobedience and sin.

And you'll you'll begin, your heart will even change.

You won't even know it.

And you'll find yourself six months from now saying, Man, I understand this all resonates with me.

I can see where I misstepped, and I can see the decisions I made in my past where I didn't do what I knew what was right, because there's this even this internal idea within us that God places that even though we choose selfishly or we choose wrongly, we still know that there is a God who loves us and desperately wants to be a part of our lives and has designed us in a powerful way.

Jesus says, I am the door, not a door, but the door.

And yet people on a regular basis walk away from the Lord.

Again, very, very few because of ignorance, mostly out of rebellion.

Well, Pastor Mark, I just want to do my thing.

I I see your path.

I'm not sure if I want to.

Pastor Mark, I have a very small window to get married.

And this boy is interested in me.

And I have no other prospects.

You mean I gotta trust the Lord to bring the right kind of man into my life?

I'd rather play God and sleep with him and solidify this relationship.

I'll deal with the after effects later.

That's you playing God.

Pastor Mark, I just I have an opportunity to be an NFL, MBA, H A K, I don't know, sports.

I thought I could go through them.

I can't.

I'm sorry.

I was gonna really impress some of you.

I have them all written out in my notes.

I only made it to two.

I got a shot.

I can't be fully surrendered because I got to be a part of that culture.

So I'm not gonna trust you in my desires and passions and my future.

I'm going to play God.

Pastor Mark, I have this incredible business opportunity to make millions.

Pastor Mark, when I make millions, maybe it's coming your way.

But for me to make millions, I got to be a part of this demonic culture at this point.

So I'm going to choose that instead of you.

That's just simply you playing God.

And I could go on and on and on and on because I'm faced with this stuff all the time, but you need to understand that he is the I am because I am not.

That's the first recognition of wisdom in your life, where the Lord has opened up your eyes.

I talked about a little bit about this last time because it feels like, doesn't this kind of feel like, well, this is definitely antichrist, anti-biblical, this idea where it's all about me.

And when you come to the realization it's not about me, that I don't have what it takes, that I'm sinful, and I have a depraved mind and heart, man, you're the scales and the illumination begin to almost come into your life.

And that sets you on a path.

And let me tell you, sometimes it happens instantly, where the conviction, and that's what that's what conviction is when your spirit tells you you're not right.

It's not shame, it's not guilt, but an understanding that Lord, I'm my heart is far from you.

I'm not God like, meaning I I don't love the things you love and hate the things you hate.

But I'm about me.

And when you come to that realization, I'm telling you, your eyes are open.

I don't have what it takes.

Mark Broberg does not have what it takes to lead all of you.

And until I can come, until I can destroy any kind of sham that makes me think maybe my pride or ego or or even insecurity to think I can lead you.

You're you you're you're on the wrong path.

So I I very confidently understand that I don't have what it takes.

It doesn't mean I don't work hard, it doesn't mean I don't take risks, but I I lay all that stuff at Jesus' feet.

Lord, I only want to walk where you want me to walk.

I don't care if I'm popular, I don't care if I'm successful, I don't care if people like me.

What I'm interested in is that you love me and that you're leading me.

So I want to be on your path.

May it be difficult.

That's okay.

You know, one of the greatest things about God's word that ultimately even a lot of people don't have or didn't have in the past is this understanding to be able to look at what fellow believers walk through and how God used those things to change and build them.

And it wasn't always happiness.

It wasn't always it, can I say it this boldly?

It never was happiness, and it was never comfort.

But there was this supernatural joy that came with that.

It was like this assurance and confidence, no matter what I experience, Lord, in following you, it's it's it's of you.

There is an exclusivity because Jesus says, I'm it's not arrogant.

What's arrogant is saying, no, there's many paths to God.

What's arrogant is saying, no, God, man, I love you in this portion of your life, but you can't have this section of my life.

That's arrogance.

So we need to understand that Jesus claims to be God.

He is God.

You can't walk throughout the Gospels into the Gospels and read them without that understanding.

Even obviously in John, Jesus is clearly stating in a very bold way that he is God.

Matthew, Mark, and Luke, he does it in a lesser way, but it's still there.

There's still that understanding.

And you can play with it all you want, but but Romans says, man, that that there are people, and this moves to my next understanding, this insight to conversion, that that this gets a little bit messy.

But Romans says, you need to be read the book of Romans, everyone.

The book of Romans, written by the Apostle Paul, says that because of their desires and their passions and their hopes of happiness and comfort, he gave them over to their insane, deprived minds.

So we wonder, you know, why people don't come to the saving knowledge of Jesus Christ.

That's like an insight to this whole conversion thing.

In order to recognize the voice of a true shepherd, God has to open your ears.

God has to give you ears to hear.

That's important for you to understand.

Could you hit that next slide for me?

In order to recognize the voice of the true shepherd, God has to give you ears to hear.

Let's look at at chapter 10 again.

The sheep hear his voice, and he calls his own sheep by name and leads them out.

A stranger they will not follow, but they will flee from him, for they do not know the voice of strangers.

So you gotta honestly ask a really hard question that deals with the sovereignty of God, that honestly I have no right to talk about because I don't understand it.

I'll show you that in a minute.

But why do some people not recognize the voice of Jesus and others don't?

Or why do some people recognize the voice of Jesus and others don't?

We know in scripture that everyone has this opportunity to come to the Lord, but why do some choose not to?

I spoke a little bit about that just in Romans chapter one.

It's the choice of the small things that lead to the large things in our life that push us away from the realization that we even need God, and pride and arrogance walks into our lives and destroys this ability for us to hear, to hear from the Father.

So, where do the ears come from that we need?

It's a great question.

Some of you are like, well, if if God if God's the only one that draws us, and we'll look at that scripture in just a moment, and you can only, in First Corinthians, Paul says, you can only say Christ is Lord or Jesus is Lord through the power of the Holy Spirit.

We'll look at that in just a moment, then how is it possible for us to have ears?

It seems like, Pastor Mark, you're saying that we don't have free will, that God destines people and only those people come into the saving knowledge of Jesus Christ.

But that's not that's not what I'm saying.

Let me let me see if I can explain it this way.

If you, and this is not a real story, but uh an example.

If there was a guy who believed himself to be Spider-Man or Superman, like 100%, he was insane, and he believed to be uh himself to be Spider-Man and he's on top of a skyscraper and he's walking toward the edge.

He wants to, I don't know, understand superhero stuff, but I think webs come out and then you can you can swing around.

I think that's what Spider-Man does.

So he walks to the edge.

He's like, I I I believe I'm 100%.

I can believe I'm a Spider-Man.

I got this this web ability, even though he has not really even tested it.

And he walks towards the edge.

And he, if he believes it 100% with his mind, he in the in a way he's insane.

He's gonna walk off that edge, he's gonna choose to walk off that edge and end his life.

But say that you're up there, and in some way, the same kind of situation, he's walking towards the edge, he's about to take that step off of the skyscraper, and you come up behind him and in some way make it up in your mind.

You come with a truth serum and you inject it into him, and he comes to his right mind.

He comes to his right mind and he says, and you say, please don't, you're about to walk off that edge.

Don't walk off that edge.

You're not, you're not Spider-Man.

You're not Spider-Man.

And I want you to turn around and I want you to walk with me to the elevator and let's go down to the let's go down to safety.

He still has a choice.

He still, in both cases, he still has a choice to walk off that edge.

I don't know if that helps you or not.

It's messy, everyone.

I get it, but scripture, I'm telling you what scripture says we need supernatural illumination, supernatural illumination.

Again, uh the the uh uh John, the writer of this, says that that you can only come to Jesus in chapter six.

No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him.

Or we find in First Corinthians the apostle Paul likewise says that no one can say Jesus is Lord except through the Holy Spirit, and yet we find instances in Matthew 23 where Jesus is standing outside of Jerusalem and his heart is breaking.

His heart is breaking for the people who are rejecting him.

And he pleads and he says, Oh Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the city that kills the prophets.

How often would I have gathered your children together as a hen gathers her brood under her wings, and you were not willing.

Now, one of the things you need to understand in this sovereignty thing, uh, which is really deep and oftentimes messy, is that you always have the opportunity, but there are people who choose not to have that opportunity.

And I don't understand it.

It's not that he was not willing, but you weren't.

Again, the sovereignty of God is messy, a messy, messy thing.

And anyone who acts like they understand it is lying to you.

So, what does that mean for me?

Man, that means I preach Jesus to everyone.

I preach Jesus, I plead with God, I pray with God, Lord.

There are times where I get out of my car and I'm going into Target for fluffy pillows and scented candles that Jenna sent me on.

And I'm like, Lord, redeem this time.

Set me up, God, with someone in an aisle smelling candles.

I mean, I'm not I'm not joking.

I know we're laughing, I'm making fun, but I'm not joking.

Lord, I don't know who you want to connect me with as I walk through the masses at Target or Walmart.

But I I I plead for spiritual or I pray for spiritual illumination in their lives.

I plead every time I preach that you would walk towards Jesus and stop walking towards yourself.

I preach Jesus, that's how I deal with the sovereignty of God to everyone.

To everyone.

I I got a call from a couple people at this church.

They they um they they had a a I don't know what you would call it, a coffee shop, general slore uh store.

They they called it the flying moose.

Do you guys remember that?

And so they they were they they they called me.

His name was uh Jeremy and um the only Jeremy and Melanie Polk.

And some of you know who they are.

Jeremy called me, said Mark, get down here.

I don't know what you're doing.

Get down here to the store.

I have an arborist, and I had to say, Well, what's an arborist?

He said, Well, basically he's a tree hugger and killer.

But um come down here, he's down here, and I've been I've been telling him about Jesus, but I'm not doing a really good job, and I need you to come down here and do something about this.

Like, I think this guy's um closely accepting Jesus.

So I I jumped and got in my car and I went down and I met this young man, and and we we kind of had coffee together, and and I I started to tell him about Jesus.

Jeremy was kind of already prepped him, and the young man, the young man kept on referring to, hey, listen, I I believe in Jesus, but I I also believe in Muhammad, I also believe in Buddha.

I just think there's many different ways to to God.

And I said, man, no, you you you've been bamboozled, you've been blinded.

Jesus is the creator of everything, and I'm here right now because someone spoke the name of Jesus to you, and I'm here right now to explain what salvation is, and that you need to turn from your blindness to see that God's giving you a moment, and I'm just telling you, like the Holy Spirit was there.

I grabbed his hand at the end of our talk.

It was we had a great conversation, and it wasn't super long, it really wasn't.

I just laid out the plan of salvation.

I said, Man, you I want you to make this decision.

God's here, I'm here because of God, and he's transformed my life.

I want that for you, man.

I let me pray with you.

And I grabbed his hand and just very I didn't even close my eyes, I didn't get all super spiritual, I didn't call down the Holy Ghost, anything like that.

I just said, Lord, would you reveal yourself to this young man?

And from all that I know, he walked away from that.

And sometimes I just don't understand, but it's my responsibility to share, to love, maybe sometimes even to correct.

And yet, for whatever reason, people walk away, there is an exclusivity to what Jesus is saying.

I'm the only way, I am the door, and when you walk, let me take this a little bit farther.

When you walk through the door into the presence of Jesus, you need to understand that it demands something of you.

He pastored here, and then I think in '93, '94, he left this church and went to Kyrgyzstan.

Mike Murray, our executive pastor, worked with my dad.

Uh Mike Haryu, some of you know, worked with my dad in Kyrgyzstan.

My dad tells this story uh right when the the wall came down.

Kyrgyzstan was an old Soviet bloc country, very far from God.

The the history was not only Christian, it was uh for a number of uh a number of years before Islamics came in uh with Genghis Khan and uh took over that country, and it's rooted in Islamic understanding and nationality, can I say it?

And then the Soviets came in and took them over for about 50, 60 years.

There's a lot of atheism and uh what we call folk Islam.

My dad said that one summer a very famous evangelist came and he was holding a huge evangelistic uh event in one of the soccer fields.

Maybe Mike remembers this.

And so my dad decided that he was going to go there and just watch and see what was going to happen at this as this this man from the Americas came and began to preach and preach Jesus, and people were getting saved, and then he moved into a time where he was.

Calling people forward to be healed, and there was a long line.

And he said very distinctly, for whatever reason, I saw this babushka, which means grandma, and she came on crutches and she was limping, and and and they brought her up on the stage and they laid hands and asked Jesus to heal her.

And my dad said she was healed.

And my dad said it was a miraculous thing.

And she picked up her crutches and just walked right off, like she was a 20-year-old girl, right off that stage.

It was it was an it was a miracle.

She walked into the presence of Jesus, and Jesus, because of his love for her, healed her of this ailment.

She probably maybe had her whole life.

Who knows?

And after the crusade, my dad was kind of just thinking, thinking about that.

He was driving home in a in a taxi.

And he saw her just trucking down the sidewalk with her crutches in her um in her arm.

And um he says, Oh, I gotta, I gotta have a conversation with this lady.

I don't even know if she really knows what just happened to her.

So he pulled over and said, Grandma, um, may I give you um may I give you a ride home to whatever village or wherever?

Of course, she's going to say yes.

And so she um she got inside the taxi and and my dad took her her crutches and put them in the trunk of the taxi, and they sat together.

And so my dad struck up a conversation with her.

He said, I I noticed that you're not needing your crutches anymore.

Did something happen inside of the uh evangelistic service that you don't need your crutches anymore?

And she said, she said this.

She said, Yes, Jesus healed me.

And so my dad's response to her was well, because he healed you, and you know that Jesus is God, then of course you're going to become a follower of Jesus.

You're you're gonna you're gonna follow him.

You're you're not gonna be Muslim anymore.

My dad said she looked at him and she said, of course not.

I am Muslim, and I will always be Muslim.

My dad said, but Jesus healed you.

She says, I know, but I cannot turn from my Muslim faith.

I don't understand sometimes.

Why and how people can walk into the presence of Jesus and their lives be radically changed, and then we walk away.

Sometimes it's shame, sometimes it's fear.

Sometimes it's pride, sometimes it's arrogance, sometimes, and I think eventually, though we've walked into the presence of Jesus, we've experienced his redemption in our lives.

Eventually we get to the cross.

And everyone, the cross is hard, the cross is brutal.

This is why Jesus very importantly says, to be a true follower of me, you have to pick up the kind of cross that I was on, and you got to carry it daily.

And yet sometimes we just want to return to whatever that brokenness was or that shame was or that guilt.

Can I say to some of you that you grew up in chaos, and so for you, chaos is home, sweet home?

And yet we find that when Jesus says to go in and out and find pasture, not only to be saved, but he uses this word, you'll go be able to go in and out and go to the pasture.

That in and out is freedom, and that pasture is abundance.

That is what he's offering you.

Sometimes our freedom gets a little warped.

I love C.S.

Lewis's idea that a fish by design is freest in water.

Would you all agree?

And yet, you know, I want freedom.

And so the fish jumps out of the water and he's flopping around.

Right?

He's finally cast off that that water.

He doesn't need that water, he can make his own path.

I'm gonna live my own truth.

And yeah, we know that's death.

God created you, he created you specifically, and you find your greatest freedom in that design.

And there will be thieves and robbers who will come in and try to steal that from you.

Try to warp the truth of your freedom and redemption.

And this is what Jesus is saying to the Pharisees.

These Pharisees act religious, they look religious, but they're just thieves and robbers because they're pointing you to something other than me.

It's a miracle in itself that the adulterous woman's eyes were opened.

The physically blind man's eyes were opened mentally, socially, spiritually.

This confused the Pharisees.

And Jesus says, they don't hear you, they hear me because I'm the true Savior.

I'm the door.

No one comes to the Father except for me.

And yet we oftentimes, and maybe this is you, you've chosen a different path because of your desires or your passion, maybe your shame or your chaos.

And he wants to move you into the richness of his pasture with freedom and abundance.

So Jesus says that you would live through him life abundantly.

And oftentimes we walk away from that.

I I read a really sad story the other day.

A journalist, his name's Nicholas Kirov.

He for years has written, he writes for the New York New York Times, and he's wrote about uh global injustice and the sex trafficking trade that's in multiple, multiple countries, including our own.

He said I came, I was in Cambodia and I was writing about the sex trade there, and for whatever reason, I came across these two prostitute, very young girls.

And I just had this thought, what if I just I just buy these girls from the the brothel?

What if I just boldly would go up and say, I want to, how much for this little girl right here?

And so he said, I just decided to do it.

And so I went up and I said, I want to buy this girl and this girl.

How much for for this girl?

And the the woman who was in charge of the brothel said, I want$150.

He says, Done.

Here's$150.

He says, How much for this girl?

And he was assuming it was going to be$150.

But she figured out, oh, this is an American and he's got money.

And so there was some haggling, he says, that went on.

And eventually they got to the price of$203.

I love the$3 thing.

And he says, I was happy to, I was happy to pay that, but this was like spontaneous.

I had not thought this through.

How am I gonna get these girls out?

What am I gonna do with them?

I just hand over the cash.

Like they gave me a receipt.

I own these girls.

What am I going to do?

And the first girl, no problem.

The second girl says, I I can't leave because I don't have my cell phone.

I had to pawn my cell phone, and I need$55 to be able to go home with myself.

I'm not going to leave without my cell phone.

And he's like, What are you talking about?

I just bought your freedom.

You can you can leave this lifestyle of abuse and shame and guilt, and you can come with me.

I'll return.

No, I gotta have not only my cell phone for$55, but I also pawned some jewelry.

I'm not leaving.

And even the madam of the brothel says, Girl, listen, he just bought you.

You need to get out of here.

This is dangerous.

If the mafia boss finds out that this American's in here buying girls, you're not gonna make it out.

And Nikolai said, she became hysterical and she ran and she locked herself into her room.

Nikolai said, I didn't know what to do.

I thought, not only are these girls in trouble, but I'm in trouble.

And he said, hesitantly, I just went and bought her cell phone back and bought her jewelry back, and I got her out of there.

I I re had the privilege of taking her, these girls back to their village.

And their families, he said, were overjoyed, and of course, there they thought their daughters were dead and how they're alive, and so they're loving on these girls and accepting these girls.

And he just writes all about this.

And the sad part about that article, which is just this incredible story, is a year later, the girl who couldn't or wouldn't leave without her cell phone was back at the brothel.

Because she chose it.

She got into more debt, didn't know how to pay for that debt, and so she voluntarily walked back into that lifestyle of shame and fear and abuse.

That's a great example of my heart and your heart, where Jesus just wants to redeem you and save you.

Because of insecurities or fear or just addiction, rebellion, we just walk back into shame.

We walk right back into fear.

Jesus says, I don't want, and we'll talk about this next week.

He says, I'm the good shepherd.

You want me to lead you.

I created you, I'm redeeming you, I'm setting you up.

I have only good for you.

But you have to choose.

Jesus is the way, the truth, the life, and the resurrection.

Says all those things in John 11, 14 and 14.

He has the power of resurrection.

And he'll take your brokenness and your rebellion, though you're here at Ishbumi, Marquette, Republic, Lance, Antonagden.

But listen, here's the stipulation.

You gotta walk through the door into his presence of healing, forgiveness, redemption.

Some of you have just you're ignoring that.

And by that, you're you're choosing, and God's going to allow you to choose, and you're gonna find yourself far from God.

So this morning, I'm going to pray with you, and I'm going to ask you, and to walk through the presence of Jesus, whatever is ailing you, whatever is an obstacle in your life.

Some of you just aren't thinking right, some of you have been lied to, some of you are far from God.

Some of you just need to surrender that portion of your life.

You're keeping secret from everyone but God.

And the only healing you're gonna have is if you walk through the door, through the narrow gate, into the presence of Jesus, where his altar is, ultimately, everyone, where the cross is.

And you can only do that by surrendering yourself.

He is, and I am not.

So would you stand with me?

Lord, you're spoken.

Your Holy Spirit is moving in conviction and love.

Lord, you're the healer of not only us physically, Lord, you're the healer of us spiritually, which is more important.

And so, Lord, we drop who we are.

We drop our junk, we drop our funk, our sin, our rebellion.

Lord, the abuse of not only us but others, Lord, and Lord, we walk into your presence, we walk into your forgiveness, Father.

We kneel at your feet and surrender our lives to you.

And Jesus, as we call your people forward to move through Father, things, Father, that they don't understand or can't control, but Lord, you can.

You are the creator, you are the healer.

So Jesus, in Latinog and Latin Ishman Marquette, wherever people online, Father, their hearts go out to you.

They move into your presence, Jesus, and we ask this in the mighty name of Jesus.

Thank you for joining us for this message.

For past discernment, a giving link, and more.

Check out the footnotes below or visit our website at northiron.church.

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