The Jesus Way Pt. 1 | Chris Gross | Radiant Life Church

We are starting a brand new sermon

series today called the Jesus way. And

we're going to be looking out of John

John 14 · chapter mention

chapter 14. And in fact, over the next

uh couple few months, we're going to be

looking at John 14 all the way through

the end of that chapter. But today,

we're going to be looking at John 14 1-

7. Now, when I think about what we're

about to talk about, when I think about

the world that we live in, uh, I think

about people that might feel a little

like the disciples and we're going to

look at, but maybe there are hearts that

are troubled. Uh, another way way I

might be able to say it is maybe people

that uh, have some anxious times in

their life that things are difficult.

They're not sure where to go or what to

do. Maybe you could relate a time or two

in your life. A a mind that is racing, a

heavy heart, uh thoughts that are

spiral, spiraling, you know, trying to

sleep, but maybe all that happens is

things are running through your mind,

whatever it might be today. Uh I think

we can sometimes relate with the

disciples, the thoughts of what if this

falls apart, what if I fail? What if God

doesn't come through? And the disciples

in John chapter 14 uh are following

John 14 · chapter mention

obviously 13. And in 13 Jesus tells his

disciples that he is going away. Now if

you can just imagine you've been with

Jesus three and a half years, you're

ready. You're like, "Woo, this is

awesome." You believe he's going to be

the reigning king, which he is, but in a

different way, right? And he says, "Hey,

I'm about to leave. And not only am I

about to leave, but you can't come with

me." And all of a sudden, all of the

feelings came for them. They must have

been troubled. They had to have been

confused. They were afraid. Their whole

world was shaking.

In fact, the future that they envisioned

for themselves was uncertain.

Jesus had announced that he was leaving.

Their protector, their leader, their

miracle worker, their hope for the

future kingdom.

And I can't go. we can't go along on the

journey that he's taking.

In fact, not only that, but we also just

saw that he predicted that one of them

would betray him. He predicted and

truthfully that Judas would leave and he

left and then he would betray him. That

Peter was told that he would fail.

Everything that made sense to them was

crumbling to the ground. And that's when

in John chapter 14 verse one, he gives

John 14 · chapter mention

some words that maybe some of us need to

hear today. He says, "Let not your

hearts be troubled. Believe in God,

believe also in

me." Woo! All of the things of life, all

of the things that are happening, all

the things that are shaking the very

ground, it would feel like that they

were walking on. And Jesus comes and

says, "Let not your hearts be troubled."

Today, as we jump in and this message

today, thinking of stop the spiral. How

do we stop when it seems like things are

out of control? when it things like we

can't do anything maybe in our culture

or world or politics or just looking

around or if you watch the news we

probably shouldn't but CNN or Fox News

or whatever other one that you would

watch all of a sudden we look and it

seems like things are spiraling out of

control and what do we do we listen to

the words of Jesus let not your hearts

be troubled

as As we think of this, the first thing

I want us to look at today is that worry

it lies. But Jesus leads. The things of

life all around us, the worries, the

fears, the the loneliness, the stuff we

do not understand

can feel so incredibly loud. But I want

someone to hear today that just because

something is loud doesn't mean it's

true. Just because something is loud

doesn't mean it's what we should

embrace. Just because it's the loudest

voice in the room doesn't mean it's what

is right and what is true and it's not

necessarily of the Lord. In fact, worry

would say you're alone. Worry would say

you can't make it. Worry would say God

has forgotten you. Worry would say the

future is dark or even the future it's

over. What was going to be is no longer

possible.

But when we look at Jesus, that is not

the word that Jesus would give to you.

He says, "Don't let your heart be

troubled."

Now, in this moment, he didn't say that

no trouble would come. He didn't say

that you wouldn't have problems or that

you wouldn't have tribulations. He

didn't say that there wouldn't be

persecution or there wouldn't be

sickness. He did not say those words.

But he said, "Let you not your heart be

troubled."

Why? Because trouble doesn't get to rule

your heart. If Jesus is Lord of our

life, then trouble and worry and anxiety

and sickness and whatever else you want

to throw in cannot come to the name of

Jesus. The stuff of the world must come

underneath of him. And maybe you're here

and you say, "So is faith this thing

that when we say,"Lord, would you move?

Would you speak?" I want you to hear

today. It's not denial. It's not saying

that there aren't bad things, but faith

is saying that I'm going to transfer the

troubles of my life, the worries of my

life, the weight of my life. I'm going

to transfer that. You move weight from

your shoulders to his. You move the

weight from what you have to carry and

you give it to Jesus. and you let his

hands carry what you cannot.

We don't defeat worry or trouble or

anxiety just by thinking harder. If I

just do a little more, if I think a

little harder, if I I think stronger,

then I'll be able to kill these things

in my life. You that's not how we defeat

it. You defeat anxiety and worry and

trouble by trusting deeper, by trusting

Jesus. You realize that worry it lies

but Jesus leads. You realize that worry

will defeat you if you let it. But if

you let Jesus lead, then you will always

be victorious.

Let not your heart be troubled. Believe

in God. Believe also in me.

There's something about this walk,

walking the Jesus way. There's something

about following him and moving in him

and finding strength in him, following

the one that leads. And we're going to

come back to verse 2 and three in a few

moments, but first I want to read verses

4-6. And it says, "And you know the way

to where I am going." Thomas said to

him, "Lord, we do not know where you are

going. How can we know the way?" Jesus

said to him, "I am the way and the truth

and the life. No one comes to the father

except through me. And what do I hear

when I when I listen here? When I think

about what Jesus said, he says, "You all

know the way." And Tom's like, "No, no,

we don't. I don't know what I'm supposed

to do. I we don't know how to get

there." And what does he say? I am the

way. What I think Jesus is telling us

and I think it changes us and molds us

as he's saying he is the way. He's

telling some folks in the house today,

you don't need all the details. You

don't have to understand everything

that's coming. You don't have to have it

all pieced out and put in place because

sometimes that's not how life is. But

you don't need all the details when you

know the way, when you know the Jesus

way, when you know the word of God. When

you are following him, the details you

might be a little fuzzy on. You might

not be able to see what's next or what's

next month or what's next year, but all

you need to be able to see is Jesus. I'm

following the way, the truth, and the

life. And when I can stay connected to

you, anything is possible

because faith is walking with a person.

Faith is walking with our king and our

savior. It's letting him lead us and

guide us and direct us. But it's not

controlling a plan.

Sometimes, if you're like me, we want to

have all the pieces and the parts and

the understanding. We want it all done.

We don't want to start something until

we know that it's going to go how we

want it to go. And you find through the

word, you find through life experience

that so often he gives you a step. And

the question is, will I be obedient to

take the step that he has, the Jesus

way? Will I be obedient to step into his

life and his truth? Or will I wait and

have to control and understand and make

sense of it? Because church,

that's not what we're called to. That

will build anxiety in our life. That

will be build worry and trouble. I don't

know the way to go. And Jesus says, "I

am the way. Come to me. Walk with me. Be

led by me."

The other night we were at our young

adult gathering and uh we were at our

house had some great young adults there

and one of our young adults Cole Brandon

who sat right over there during our

first service uh we were talking about

this and talking about the flesh and

sometimes it's easier to do the things

of the world over the things of the

spirit. And he just gave this great word

picture and talked about the fact that

when you're in the woods and you start

going through a place that's never been

walked through and there may be brush or

there might be high grass and you start

to walk that path and you start to clear

it out and make it good. And the more

that you walk on it, the more that you

prepare it, the more you continue to go

that same way, the more that what was

difficult all of a sudden becomes the

easy path. It's ready. It's clear. and

our walk with the Lord. When we realize,

I don't need to worry. I just need to

follow Jesus. When we realize, I don't

need the details, but I need to be on

the Jesus way. We're hacking away at the

worry and the anxiety. We're hacking

away at the stuff that we're not made to

carry and to hold. And instead, we're

giving it to Jesus. And what seems so

difficult becomes the path that we

understand. It becomes the path that is

the Jesus way in our life. And what was

hard is now easy. And in fact to the

point where now I'm like where I used to

be and the things of the flesh and of

the world. I don't have any desire. I

don't have any want. That's not even in

my life anymore. And all of a sudden

what was so easy has become something I

am uh maybe even ashamed of. I don't

want it anymore. But where the way of

Jesus is becomes life becomes truth. And

all of a sudden I'm able to give to the

Lord. Lord you take it. Lord Jesus, you

take the troubles of life, the

persecutions of life, the hardships, the

things I've failed in, you take it all.

You take it upon yourself. I don't have

to understand. But what I need, Jesus,

is I need relationship. What I need,

Jesus, is I need your word. What I need,

Jesus, is tell me where to take that

next step and give me faith to take the

step one after another after another.

Anxiety

and trouble breaks when we realize that

worry demands certainty, but faith walks

with Jesus anyway. And sometimes our

minds want certainty. Our minds want

clarity. And sometimes we just are in a

place where we say, "Lord, I trust you.

And I walk with certainty in you and in

your power and in who you are.

I can take off the stress and the weight

of life because it's not me that has to

carry it, but it's my God, my savior,

the one that goes before me, the one

that died for me, the one that sits at

the right hand of the father and

intercedes today. It's the Jesus way,

church. That's what we need. The Jesus

way. In fact, could we say the Jesus way

uh all together? Three, two, one. It's

the Jesus way. Come on. That's what we

need.

You know when we look and I skipped a

few verses uh verse two and three and I

want to go back now and look at those

verses

says if it were not so I would have told

you that I go to prepare a place for you

and if I go and prepare a place for you

I will come again and will take you to

myself that where I am you may be also.

And you know, when I think about

troubles and worries and anxieties and I

think about all of these things, my past

and think about what I've done or maybe

what people have done to me, when I

think about worry and ah, it's so hard

to get rid of and it's so hard to not

have to worry about the details.

I think the thing that we have to

understand before all is this right here

that the God of the universe who came to

heaven or came to earth from heaven to

die for you and for me. He goes to

prepare a place for you. And not only

does he want you to walk with him, not

only are we on a path leading towards

him and towards the things of God, not

only does he keep us from the stuff that

will hurt us or hurt others, the sin of

the world, but he prepares a place

because he wants you there. And I want

someone to hear today, he wants the

person on your left and right there as

well, of course. But it's not only about

them. He loves you and he wants you to

be with him. He wants you in heaven. He

wants you in eternity. He wants the

place that he builds for you, you to

inhabit that. And church, one day when

death comes upon us when we fold down

the tents of our earthly body, that's

not the end. That is only the beginning.

That's only the beginning of no de tears

or death or sorrow or sin. The place

that he prepared for us being there with

Jesus as face to face. I'm pretty

excited about that moment. And I want

you to know when we live our life for

what is to come instead of living our

life for what we see right here, then

all of a sudden we can say, "Jesus, I

don't need those worries anymore in my

life. I'm going to trust you. It's your

way, Jesus. I don't have to understand

all of the things. And I I might want

sometimes a little more clarity, but

Lord, I don't need clarity. I need you.

And if you're clear before me, I can

walk in you and your power and your

grace and your mercy in my life. And

church, everything looks different.

Jesus prepares a place for you because

he loves you.

And he doesn't love you because you're

perfect. He doesn't love you because

you've got everything figured out or

because you've never messed up. In fact,

the word of God says that he loves you

so much even while you were yet sinners.

He dies for you. He died for you. He

loves you in your sin, in your pain, in

your worry. He comes and gives you

himself.

Says this world is not the final

chapter. Your story is going to end in

the father's house. And that means

today, church, you can take the backpack

of all of the worry and the stuff and

the control of life. You can offer it to

the Lord. Let him be the leader of your

life. walk the Jesus way and know he's

prepared a special place for you.

And I want to say it one more time. He

of course loves the people next to you.

But today, this isn't for them. This is

for you. He loves you. He's got you. He

holds you. And he doesn't want you to

live with the anxieties and the worries

of the world. Let him carry those for

you as you say, "Lord, I'm going to take

the next obedient step before you. And

I'm going to walk in peace. I'm going to

walk in purity. I'm going to walk in

your power. And Lord, when I mess up or

Lord, when I I I let things get in my

mind that shouldn't be there or Lord,

when I struggle, Lord, you love me. And

Lord, I'm going to jump back on the path

of righteousness, the path of your

goodness." He loves you.

He's so good.

You know when we look at this and we

look at these these words in verse 7 the

last verse today it says if you had

known me you would have known my father

also from now on you do know him and

have seen him

and if we come to the father through

Jesus and if Jesus shows us the father

we can know him and through his word

church our whole life is transformed and

the spiral that we can put ourselves in

the spiral that it may feel like our

world is in. What does the world need?

What do you and I need? We need Jesus.

We need to know the father. And we have

to know Jesus to know the father. And

today that's what our call is is come to

me all you who are weary and heavy

laden. I will give you rest. He says do

not be troubled. Don't let that be where

we live.

And today I believe God is speaking to

some folks. Don't live in the trouble.

Don't live in the difficulties. There

might be difficulties, but don't live in

those. Live in the power of Jesus. Live

in the Jesus way.

All you have to do is come to Jesus.

Give everything to Jesus. Open your

heart up to Jesus. worship team, if you

want to make your way on up here as we

are going to close with a time of prayer

and a time around the altar today. But I

want to give some challenge while the

worship team comes. And I I think I've

got three words that some people in the

room need to hear,

just closing this up, wrapping this up.

The three things first today is you

don't have to fix everything. The first

one, you don't have to fix everything.

God is the one that restores. God is the

one that makes new. And we get to trust

him and rely on him and put ourselves in

his hand. The second thing is you don't

have to know everything.

Some of you looked at the person on your

right or left there. That wasn't very

nice.

You don't have to know everything. God,

he's the one that leads. He's the one

with all knowledge. He's the one that

will give you what you need. He's the

one that will give you the strength.

He'll lead you on his way.

For a third group, you don't have to

carry everything.

You don't have to hold it. You help

people. You walk through situations.

You've been through situations. But the

Lord today would say, "You don't have to

carry those things.

Let me take those things and walk with

me. Walk in my path. Walk in my plan.

You just have to come to Jesus and live

the Jesus way. You don't have to fix it

all. You don't have to know it all. You

don't have to carry it all. Let him do

that and watch him do something mighty

and powerful in your life as we give him

control and say, "Lord, I I know many of

us, probably all of us, we want control,

but Lord, we want and we choose today to

live your way, which means it's not my

control. I don't have to lead it. I

don't have to fix it. I don't have to

carry it. Lord, I give it to you. Every

part of who I am. And Lord, I'm thankful

that I don't know why, but Lord, I'm

thankful that you want me. You want us.

Everyone in this room, everyone online

that ever hear this word. Jesus wants

you. He loves you so much. He died and

now he prepares a place for you. And

church, if you're living in any other

reality than that, it's time to come

back to the truth of the word of God. He

died for you. He loves you. And he's

waiting. One day, we're going to all be

in heaven together if we just live his

way and give our lives to him.

He loves you so much. And don't be

discouraged. You mess up. We all mess

up. Don't be discouraged. You sin. Yeah,

we don't want to sin, but get back up.

Get back on the path. and his grace is

sufficient for you. Don't let the devil

tell you that you're not good enough.

Don't let him tell you you can't

accomplish it. Don't let him tell you

that the Lord loves everybody else but

not you. It's a lie. The word of God is

true. And he says, "Don't be troubled."

He says, "I go and prepare a place for

you." He loves you. And today, as we

close this time, I'm going to invite our

prayer team to come to the front and

we're going to pray. And maybe you need

a healing in your body. Maybe you need

something. You need God just to show up

in might and power. We believe in the

power of prayer cuz his word says by his

stripes we are healed. His word says

we'll do even greater things than he

did. Which is mindblowing.

But church, that's what he said. So

what's that mean? We're going to believe

today that he's going to heal and

restore and set free and make new.

Church, we're going to believe and ask

him to do something special. And maybe

today you're in one of those camps that

you naturally have that feeling. I have

to fix it. I have to know it. I have to

carry it. And you say, I need to get

those and give those to the Lord. And I

would invite you, this room is going to

be a place of prayer. Maybe come to an

altar and kneel. Maybe come and agree

with one of these this morning. Let's

give uh the God the the glory and the

power and believe by faith that he will

make new and restore. And we're going to

sing a song and worship him. But before

we do, I want to give one more

opportunity.

And if you'd say today, I've never made

Jesus the Lord of my life. I've never

offered him every part of me. You have

never I said, Lord, forgive me of my

sins. I repent of the past. I make you

the Lord for the rest of my life. Today

is the day. I believe. And if he's

knocking on your heart's door, I

encourage you, don't miss this moment.

In fact, as a church, if we could just

bow our heads, close our eyes, which you

don't have to do to pray, but just to to

pray. Let's pray right now. Let's begin.

But if you say, "I've never made Jesus

the Lord in my life." Right now, all

over this room, I want to ask you if

that's you, would you just raise your

hand? Would you say that's me? I want to

see you when I catch your eye. When I

see your hand, you can put it back down.

Anybody in this room, it's the greatest

thing we can do is say yes to him.

That's why we exist as a church. That

one more would know Jesus. Anybody in

this room? Maybe you're at home today.

Maybe you're online or watching on

YouTube or Facebook or a podcast later

on. If you need Jesus, all you have to

do, Lord, forgive me. I give you my

life.

I repent of my sin. Be the Lord of my

life for the rest of my life. And it's

not about the words, but you pray. You

give him your heart. And all of a

sudden, we say, "I'm going to live your

way." The Jesus way. The word of God is

real and powerful. that will transform

your life. But if you're able this

morning, if you can, can we stand to our

feet together? We're going to worship

him. We're going to praise him as we

close this time together. But we're

going to pray. And if you need the touch

of God, the power of God. Maybe you've

never come to the front before. I

encourage you. The word says where two

or three are gathered and we have at

least two on each prayer group and you

make three. So, anything is possible

when we come together and believe. So

let's let our faith arise,

Lord. Let us live your way. I don't have

to carry it. I don't have to know it. I

don't have to fix it. I just need to

live for you, Jesus. And watch him do

something special. So Lord, right now,

we ask you to pour your spirit out in

this room. We ask you to heal, to

restore, to make new, fix things in our

lives, fix things that are hurting or

wounded. Lord, things that are troubled.

Maybe we just don't understand. Lord,

today, would you make us new and whole

and powerful in you? Not because of us,

but because of your strength and your

goodness.

Let worry be gone in the name of Jesus.

Anxiety or depression must flee in the

name of Jesus. Having to do it and carry

it all, Lord, we give it to you, that

must go in the name of Jesus. And we

pray healing and wholeness and people to

be set free and made whole in this place

today. So Lord, we come believing. We

come with faith arising. We come today

and submit to you, Lord, as we sing this

song. Heal, restore, make new, and

change our lives. Jesus, we give you all

of us. And we say we will live the Jesus

way. Come on, let's worship him.