Jesus is Better than the Prophets - January 11, 2026

It is my privilege to invite you to today's sermon podcast.

I have made the Apostle Paul's prayer request my own.

When he states in Ephesians 6, 19, pray also for me, that whenever I open my

mouth, the words may be given to me so that I will fearlessly make known the mystery of the gospel.

May today's sermon come alive to you and aid you in your understanding of God's plan for your life.

I hope that is your prayer for 2026, that you would be revived.

Praise God. Hey, today we start something brand new, something amazing,

something I've never done before.

So buckle your seatbelts, hang on. There are no flotation devices under the

seats, so don't worry about that.

I don't think there'll be enough tears to make a flood in here,

although that could change.

But today we're going to start...

The great series on Hebrews called Better. Isn't that great?

Someone said, well, why don't you call it best? I just said,

because the best is yet to come. So let's start with better, right?

We've got good. Praise the Lord.

Let's get better. And I think once we get into this book, you're going to see

why that's the key word of the entire book is better.

You know, when we think about our life with God, we always want something better.

We always want to be better this or better that. I want to be a better prayer

warrior. I want to be better in the Word. I want to be better in ministry.

And so when we think about what it means to be better, we're going to see laid

out in the book of Hebrews, which is a New Testament book, even though it sounds

like it should be in the Old Testament.

It's a New Testament book that shows us why we can be better.

And it's not in ourselves that makes us better, but you'll discover and we'll

discover together as we go through it that we're better because of Jesus Christ.

And I think you'll see from this book, especially starting out today,

what better is all about.

And so I just want to encourage you as we start out this year,

I don't know what Bible reading plan you have, whatever you have,

stick with it, keep going.

But if you've got some extra room in there, start reading through the book of Hebrews.

You'll get a leg up on where we're going. And not just that,

if you start now, you'll be able to read through it a few times before this year's over.

Now, there's going to be some punctuated times in there where we're going to

change topic a little bit.

But it's just going to be interesting, an interesting experiment.

So thank you for being flexible.

And we'll just see where the Lord takes this, verse by verse through Hebrews.

Something I've always wanted to do, you give me the courage,

you give me the opportunity to do it. So thank you, congregation,

for the freedom to do that.

You know, if we think about today's world, we live in a time where there is

nonstop notifications, right?

Thank you, by the way, for those of you that silence your phones when you come in here.

Because if you didn't, I'm confident it would just be a musical cacophony of

all these dings, rings, ringtones, ESPN SportsCenter app. You get the Fox News app.

I mean, you'd have all these crazy things going on. But we live in this time

where it's nonstop notifications.

As a matter of fact, I looked up just an average statistic. How many notifications

do we get in an average day while we're awake?

The number was anywhere between 60 and 200.

And the younger you are, the more notifications you get Because you're better

suited to the technology And you are subscribed to more apps And so you just

get it And not only that, if you have a smartwatch, it doubles.

Based on how you have your watch set up. While I was sitting there worshiping,

my watch decided to tell me I had enough sleep last night.

Praise the Lord. I don't feel like it, but I did. It tells us stuff we don't even think we know.

When you think about the modern day notifications, think about what you get notified for.

You get notified of news events that take place, of political events.

You get notified of the sports scores, which in my opinion, that's a great thing, right?

For those early football games that are going on during church,

you don't have to skip church anymore to watch the game. You can get the play-by-play notifications.

Now, I don't encourage that, but it's better than having the little earphone

in your ear and listening to the game while the guy's preaching.

But we get all these notifications, and as we enter into the first chapter or

the first verse of Hebrews.

We get some incredible truth. And if we think about the Old Testament prophets,

because we're going to talk about the prophets just a little bit today and why

Jesus is better than the prophets, the prophets were kind of like those notifications.

The nonstop notification that we get today was kind of like the prophets of old.

They had a truth to share from the Lord that people needed to hear.

The Old Testament, they didn't have the smartphones, the smartwatches,

but they did have men and even women that would come and that would share the

word of the Lord with people.

They would say, here says the word of the Lord. And you think about the Old

Testament, how many different prophets there were, how many different messages

that God had to give them.

But it was only just a partial message. Sometimes the message was judgment.

Hey, you better change your ways because God's going to bring something great

on here, on this land, on this people group, if you don't change your ways.

Other times it was a blessing that was going to come. It was good news that

would come, but there's always just a brief message for the people, for the time.

But thanks be to God for us today that sometimes those messages had a double

reference, not just for the time, but for us today too, or for things that would happen in the future.

And so when we think about all of this, the nonstop notifications of today that

give us these little hints of messages, the role that the prophets had in the

Old Testament to bring the message of God to His people.

I think today about Hebrews chapter 1, and I just want to have you stand as we honor God's Word.

Hebrews 1 · chapter mention

Reading Hebrews 1, 1 through 3, if you're able to and willing, would you stand?

Let's hear the Word of the Lord from the book of Hebrews. Scripture says this.

In the past, God spoke to our ancestors through the prophets at many times and in various ways.

But in these last days, he has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed heir

of all things and through whom also he made the universe.

The Son is the radiance of God's glory and the exact representation of his being,

sustaining all things by his powerful word.

After he had provided purifications for sins, he sat down at the right hand

of the majesty in heaven.

So he became as much superior to the angels as the name he has inherited is superior to theirs.

Father, thank you so much for your word. Thank you, God, for this passage.

And I know I read an extra verse there, but how can you stop when you get excited by what's in this book?

And God, thank you for the excitement that you bring, how Jesus is superior

to the prophets. and next week we'll see how he's superior to the angels.

But Lord, thank you for the word that we have in Jesus.

Bless this to our life, we pray today in Jesus' name. Amen. Thank you. You can be seated.

You know, the question this morning as we think about this passage is,

as we think about how Jesus is better than the prophets, and what does this

mean for us today, the question is not, is God speaking?

Because God is speaking. Even today God speaks. But the question is,

what will you do with Jesus, God's better and final spokesperson?

What are you going to do with Jesus? And we're going to focus on him today and

some various ways that are in this passage.

Now, I'd learned this passage growing up in the King James Version,

so I might revert to it. So if you have a different translation, I'm not adding to it.

Okay, don't get confused. I hope I don't do that.

But sometimes I just revert to that which I've memorized. And the scripture

starts out in the King James, God, just God.

That's the best place to start out is what does God want? as you start out this

new year, the best way to start it out is to say, okay, God,

what would you have me do in 2026?

For some, you know, they're gonna go on a mission trip. We're gonna be praying

for them. We're gonna be supporting them.

We might not be able to go, but we're gonna send them to go as part of the representatives

of our congregation here to go and to bless others, to go and to do a mission work.

For some of you, you might venture out and you're gonna start a new ministry.

You're like, I just been sitting back, kind of checking things out,

but now it's time. I've got some gifts. I've got some talents,

and I want to see what I can do to glorify God and to bless others in my community.

And so through this church, you might start a new ministry.

Others, you've got some different ideas that are coming and going,

and you're saying, okay, Lord, help me sort through everything.

All these notifications coming at me, all these ideas, what would you have me

to do? And so we start with God.

And what the scripture said today is just so telling.

In the past, God spoke to our ancestors through the prophets in many ways and at various times.

That's how God would communicate. You see, religion has been said as it's man's search for God.

Well, God just cut right through all that. And God was reaching down his hand

to us the whole time, to humanity, to human beings, to mankind.

Reaching out, wanting to reveal himself. He did a great job in creation because

when you see the creation that we have, nature, if you will,

you see that there's this beautiful landscape and you just wonder,

how did all this get here?

And that question, how did this get here, leads you to a creator.

That's a partial revelation. Just looking at creation to say,

there's an order and structure in our created universe, so there must be someone

that put it all into play.

And so from the very beginning.

People trying to figure out what does all this mean? And who is this great creator? Who is this God?

And it's that great search for God. They've developed all these different religions

trying to seek God, but we find revealed in Christianity that God was always

reaching down and always pursuing his creation,

even put creation out there so that people would say, huh, I wonder who made all this.

When we think about this, especially as it starts out, God, in the past spoke through prophets.

Praise the Lord. We got these little snapshots, these little snippets,

but it's not until Jesus, because the scripture says, but in these last days,

he has spoken to us by his son.

You see, the prophets gave these little notifications. The prophets gave these

little snippets of who God was and what God desired from his people.

But it wasn't until Jesus that we get the full revelation of who Jesus is.

We get the full picture of who God is represented in Jesus Christ.

And it's in him that we can find that fulfillment, that we can have that need

that we've been longing to have met for so long, that relationship with God

restored. It's in Jesus that we find that, that we discover that.

Now, it also gives us some truth here. We can't pass up.

And that is God still speaks to us, but he speaks to us through Jesus, through his word.

If someone comes to you and says, hey, God just spoke to me,

and you got to hear this, and they begin to tell you something that's just cuckoo

or way off that doesn't line up with the Bible, you know that wasn't from God.

Even if a person comes and says, an angel of light came to me and told me,

revealed to me this secret book that I just want to share with you.

Hey, watch out for that.

Even Satan can disguise himself as an angel of light.

And there are some prominent religions around us and in our world that have

said those kind of things that don't line up with the scripture.

Don't line up with the Bible. So be cautious.

If I ever come to you and say, oh, I got a word from the Lord.

You say, okay, what's the word? Let me check it in scripture.

If I ever tell you something that's not in there, then I'm wrong,

right? It's okay to say, yes, you're wrong, Mike.

Maybe you already thought that. Thank you.

There's something about humility that is just rampant around here.

Keep your pastor humble.

We think about this powerful word. What does it say about Jesus today?

And what are you going to do with Jesus? because we get some truths today and

I'll try to go through them rather quickly, but they're just so rich.

You see, all of this describes these few verses that we have here just starting

out in Hebrews, why Jesus is better than the old prophets.

It doesn't discount the prophets and what they did and how they lived,

but it just says all the prophets and their message finds their fulfillment

in Jesus. And here's why it's better.

And so here's what Jesus is. First and foremost, as it goes through and describes

in verse one, it says that Jesus has been appointed heir of all things.

That's awesome. Now, I know when my dad and my mom pass away,

I've been, at least with my dad.

Going to be appointed executor. I don't know if it counts if you don't have

nothing to execute or execute or over, but I've been named that.

I'm my dad's heir to divvy out whatever's left to give to my family to cover

his final costs and expenses or whatever happens after you die.

My dad has given me authority to do that. This says that Jesus has been appointed heir of all things.

Jesus has been given the authority from the father as the son to take care of his business.

Now we know God's not dead and God's not ever going to die, but Jesus has the

authority of his father.

In Matthew 28, 18, it says, Jesus came to his disciples. He said,

hey, I want you to gather outside of town.

I'm going to go to you. And while you're there, I'm going to give you some final

instructions because Jesus was about to ascend to his father in heaven.

He still had some work to do in heaven. And so he said, hey,

guys, meet me on this mountaintop and I'm going to tell you some things.

And so Matthew 28, 18, they're all gathered and Jesus comes and he says,

all authority in heaven and on earth has been granted to me.

All authority that the Father had in heaven and on earth, it's been granted to me.

And so what does Jesus say to him? Does Jesus say, go and rule the world?

No. Jesus does say go, but he says go and make disciples.

That's what we're doing today. That's why we do what we do today,

because of that great commission.

And why are we on that? Because Jesus had the authority to send us on behalf of God to do that.

He still has the authority to send men and women, boys and girls,

to go and to make disciples. There's no age limit on that.

Go and make disciples. So we see that Jesus is better than the prophets because

Jesus had the authority of the Father.

The authority of a father to go and execute his business. Secondly,

we're told in verse 2 especially that Jesus Christ is the creator.

At the beginning of everything, Jesus was. Jesus was there creating,

carrying out the work of the Father, putting everything into place as you read in Genesis 1.

In the following chapter, seeing how everything was perfectly orchestrated.

That's because of Jesus.

We read earlier in Colossians 1.16, for in him, that is in Jesus,

all things were created, things in heaven and things on the earth, visible and invisible,

whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities, all things have been created

through him, that is through Jesus, and it says for him, for Jesus.

Jesus is greater than the prophets, more supreme than the prophets,

because he's the one that created everything. and everyone.

You can't get past it, that Jesus is the creator. He's the one that knows how

everything works and he knows how everything broke and he knows how to put everything

back together. Isn't that great?

I don't know if you've ever worked anywhere and maybe there's one machine,

whether it's an office machine or whether it was in a machine shop,

but there's always one guy that just knew how to fix this machine.

When I was going to Bible college, I lived for a semester with my brother in

Boise. We were on our own. My family had moved back to California,

and me and my brother were going to make it.

And I was going to Bible college in the morning at Boise Bible College.

And then at night, I would work at a machine shop. And there was this one lathe

that was a CNC, a computerized lathe that would make these computer parts for

this frame that would make computer chips.

I don't know how to describe it better than that.

But there's one machine that was so finicky, only one guy knew how to fix it.

And he knew how to fix it because he was involved in the production of that

machine. So he knew its quirks.

He knew if it went wrong, what to do to fix it. He was the creator.

When we have Jesus, he is greater than the prophets because he created everything.

He saw how it fell, how it broke because of sin, all of creation.

But Jesus knows how to fix it, how to make it right again.

So you can trust Jesus. He knows how you're put together. He knows how you're made.

He knows what the perfect blueprint for your life is.

More than that, He knows how to get you from where you are now to where He wants

you to be or where you're supposed to be or where He has designed you to be. Isn't that awesome?

You're not working with some newbie that just started the job that has no idea,

how the thing even works.

You're starting with the one that loves you, that created you,

that knows how intimately you're put together. So we can thank God for that.

Jesus Christ is the heir of all things. Jesus Christ is the creator.

But it also says that Jesus Christ is the glory of God.

I love this. Let me read just that part in verse two again. It says in the last

days, excuse me, verse three, the sun is the radiance of God's glory.

I love that description.

When you think about when you're in preschool and you're learning how to draw,

some of us still have those preschool skills and have never advanced past that,

and I'm the one that I'm talking about.

But I did learn when you draw a sun, you could draw these lines out from the

sun, and that is supposed to represent the radiance, the brightness of the sun.

And I'm talking S-U-N, you know, the thing in the sky, the sun rays that go out.

Scripture says that Jesus is the radiance of the Father.

He's the brightness, the glory of God.

John 1.14 that we read during the Christmas time says, The Word became flesh

and made His dwelling among us.

We have seen His glory, the glory of the one and only Son, who came from the

Father full of grace and truth.

You want to know what God's like, the holiness of God. You look to Jesus.

You look to the brightness of his life, of what he did in his life,

and how God had the spotlight put on him by his son Christ, Jesus the Christ.

The glory of God. You know, when you have a kid and they do really well at something,

dads, you know what I'm talking about, whether it's on the sports field or at

their job or just giving you grandkids, you know, you just start beaming.

It's just like you're glowing, right?

It's the glory of being a grandpa, being a dad, being maybe even just a proud

uncle or just a good friend.

You just got this glowingness about you, about your demeanor.

I'm talking about the glory.

Jesus has the glory of God all over him.

You know, the prophets in the Old Testament, there were times when they were

elevated. But when you think about being called to be a prophet,

sometimes it's going to be a hard life, most of the time.

You're going to have to proclaim some messages to people that did not want to

hear what you had to say, that would even go so far maybe as to pick up something

to kill you with because of the message that you brought on behalf of God.

There was no glory in that. We know even with Jesus, there wasn't glory in his

message that he brought as far as human beings count glory.

But because of what Jesus did, he was killed for the message he brought.

We know that glory radiates from that time that he said his last words on the

cross, where he's put in the grave until he broke out of that grave on that Easter morning.

The glory of God shone through him.

Well, it says again in verse 3, the sun is the radiance of God's glory and the

exact representation or the exact image of his being.

If you want to know what God is like, you look at Jesus.

If you want to know what God would be like if he was in human form, You look to Jesus.

How do I know that? Well, John 14, 9 and 10, we're really backing up to verse 8, says this.

Jesus had a disciple named Philip. And Philip, he was eager to study. He was eager to know.

And Philip had a question, kind of a statement in that question.

Really more of a statement than a question. Philip says, Lord,

show us the Father, and that will be enough for us.

Jesus, you say you're from God the Father. Well, show us the Father.

And here's Jesus' response to him, starting right after that in verse 9.

Jesus answered, "'Don't you know me, Philip?

"'Even after I have been among you such a long time, "'anyone who has seen me,'

Jesus said, "'has seen the Father.'" How could you say, show us the Father?

Do you not believe that I am in the Father and that my Father is in me?

The words I say to you, I do not speak on my own authority. Rather,

it is the Father living in me who is doing his work.

If you want to know what God the Father is like, you look to Jesus.

We celebrated that all during the Advent and Christmas season.

If you don't know what God's like, you look at Jesus.

Jesus lived a perfect, sinless life. Jesus reached out to heal, reached out to help,

reached out to guide and to give a message that ultimately, as I said,

would get him killed, but would bring true life to people and everlasting life to people.

So not only is Jesus the image of God, boy.

He's the exact representation of who God is. There's nothing in the life of

Jesus that goes against who God is.

That's a tall order for us to live up to as Christians. The word Christian just

means Christ-like, right? It means little Christ.

We need to live up to who Jesus is. In our own power, I don't think that's possible.

But it's only through what Jesus does in a person's life that we can maybe even

just a smidge live up to who Jesus is.

We know one day Jesus is going to make all that right. Jesus is going to take care of all that.

You know, the prophets came and they would give a message, but Jesus is better

than the prophets because Jesus was the snapshot, the exact representation,

the exact picture of who God was.

I mean, think about the prophets, if I could just camp here for a second.

Some of them had to do some crazy things to give a message to the people.

One prophet, he had to walk around in his underwear. And I use the term underwear

loosely because those were loose underwear.

But that's what God told the prophet to do. Proclaim this message and,

oh, by the way, just wear your underwear.

That'll get someone's attention. You ain't never going to see me do that.

You don't want to see that.

Thank you for the amen. That should have been a rousing amen.

All across the congregation here, except for my wife. There you go.

She says, no, I should have said amen loud.

Sometimes prophets were told

to go and do something that seemed antithetical to who God's all about.

One prophet was told, go marry this prostitute.

What? I need to teach Israel about their unfaithfulness. And so you need to

live this out. Well, thanks a lot, God.

Why don't you use somebody else for this message? But the prophet did as God instructed.

And though his wife left him many times to go back to her old life,

God used that example of his life to proclaim to Israel, look, this is you.

This relationship between the prophet and this prostitute. That's your relationship with me.

Whew, what a message. What a message. Here, Jesus is better.

Jesus comes and he's the snapshot, the image of God, the image of who God is

and what God is all about.

Well, let's move on. And as we go through verse three again,

it says that Jesus is not only the radiance of God's glory, the exact representation

of his being, but it says he sustains all things by his powerful word.

So Jesus is the sustainer of the universe.

Again, going back to Colossians that we read at the beginning of our service,

in verse 17 of chapter 1, it says, He is before all things, and in him all things hold together.

Wow. Jesus keeps all things going. We got gravity? Hey, God's still in control.

We still have some processes in this world that work right? That's because of Jesus.

Even though sometimes as human beings, we try to mess things up.

We try to see how bad things can get so God can be glorified and see how great he can fix them.

Sometimes we do it unintentionally, but sometimes intentionally.

But Jesus sustains the universe. There's no prophet that had the ability to do that.

There's no prophet that could keep everything going, keep everything in the

order, even in a broken state, keep it going.

Kind of like some of y'all's first car you ever had. You did everything you

could with duct tape to keep that thing going, and it worked for a while.

Jesus keeps everything going, everything

here on earth, everything in the universe. God is still sovereign.

God is still in control. God is the sustainer. Jesus is the sustainer of the

universe. That definitely makes him better than the prophets.

Prophets put themselves in some precarious situations that they had no control

over. And yet God still gave a snippet of a message there.

Going on, two more points here. God in Jesus, he is the redeemer of all mankind.

It says this again in verse 3.

After he provided purifications for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the majesty in heaven.

Did you hear that? Jesus provided the purification for our sin.

Jesus took your sins and he wiped them clean. Everything you had ever done has

been blotted out. It's been covered over.

Everything you will ever do, you trust Jesus with it. Guess what?

He's already taken care of those sins.

But are you trusting him? Jesus brings purification to that.

1 John 1.7 says, but if we walk in the light as he is in the light,

we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus,

his son, purifies us from all sin.

Jesus makes you pure. Like, oh, Mike, you don't know some of the thoughts that

come in my head. Well, I might or I might not.

Hey, I was a sinner just like you. The Bible says, for all have sinned and fallen

short of God's glory, the glory of God.

All of us are in need of purification. All of us. Well, who did that purification?

It was Jesus Christ on the cross.

Later on in 1 John 1, 9, verse or two down, it says, if we confess our sins,

that God is faithful and just and will forgive us of those sins and cleanse

us, Purify us from all that unrighteousness.

He's willing to take the whole list of sins you've ever committed,

and he's willing to wipe it out.

Isn't that awesome? Clean slate.

Some of you that were really bad, you're like, yes, thank you, Jesus.

But really, all of us should be that way. Thank you, Jesus.

Purifying us, cleansing us of all those sins. That's what Jesus did because he's the redeemer.

I don't care which prophet that you really admire, none of them died for your sins.

None of them could pacify the law to take care of your sin problem.

The only one who could do that was Jesus. That is why Jesus is superior to the prophets.

He provided the sacrifice.

He redeems you from sin. He redeems you from death and the grave.

Last but not least, why Jesus is better than the prophets is because Jesus is the supreme mediator.

He is the best mediator.

What does a mediator do? He goes and he settles a lot of times a legal dispute between two parties.

It says, again, let me read the end of verse three. After he had provided purification

for sins, Jesus sat down at the right hand of the majesty in heaven.

Well, why did he sit down? Well, that was the place of honor that a mediator

would sit to mediate between the king and those who would come to the king with

a problem, with a judicial matter, and those kinds of things.

It's a bigger concept than that we won't get into today.

But Jesus sat down at the right hand of the father to continue that work of

mediating on behalf of us and others.

Jesus, he's got your back. He's still watching out for you.

When you make a mistake, a big mistake, and you're like, why did I do that?

That was so stupid, especially if it hurt somebody else.

Jesus is there saying, Father, now, hey, don't strike him down with lightning.

All right? I paid the price for his mistakes, his sins.

Especially when we do what 1 John 1, 9 said, and we confess,

Oh, Jesus, forgive me. That was stupid.

Why did I fall back into that temptation again? I had victory over that,

and I didn't have to go back to it, but yet I did.

Lord, forgive me. Help me not to do that again. Help me not to keep jumping in the same mud hole.

After a while of jumping in the same mud hole, you begin to realize that there's

no point in it. It's not fun like when you were a kid.

Think about what Jesus does. He mediates. He's the go-between between us and the Father.

Not just us as believers in Jesus, but he's there mediating,

I believe, on behalf of the unbeliever, saying, Lord, no, just wait a little

bit. Look at our verse here.

He's not wanting anyone to perish, but he wants everyone to come to repentance.

Now, Father, don't strike them down.

Don't judge their sin right now. I know they're going to come and they're going

to take care of because of what I've done on the cross, Jesus might say.

Here's what it says in the New Testament. 1 Timothy 2.5, For there is one God

and one mediator between God and mankind, the man Jesus Christ or Christ Jesus.

Jesus is our mediator. He's our go-between. We can trust him.

Now, I know there were a time the prophets tried to be the mediator,

but they could not do it successfully and fully because they were not Jesus,

because they could not do what Jesus did.

They did not have access to the Father to sit on his right hand like Jesus does.

So the conclusion this morning, if Jesus is better than the prophets,

if Jesus is the full revelation of God, and again, what's the full revelation of God look like?

Just to review, he's the heir of all things. He's our creator.

He's the radiance of God's glory. He's the exact image of God.

He's the one holding your very life together.

Even if it seems like it's being held together by just a string,

Jesus is holding it together.

He's your only redeemer, and he is your supreme mediator.

If Jesus is the full revelation of God, then ignoring his voice is the most

dangerous thing that you can do.

Jesus is the full revelation of God, then trusting his voice is the wisest thing you can ever do.

Listen to what it says in James, and we'll conclude with this. James 1, 22 through 25.

James says, do not merely listen to the word and so deceive yourself. Do what it says.

Anyone who listens to the word and does not do it, do what it says,

is like someone who looks at his face in the mirror, and after looking at himself,

goes away and immediately forgets what he looks like.

But whoever looks intently into the perfect law that gives freedom and continues

in it, not forgetting what they've heard, but doing it, they will be blessed in what they do.

Jesus is a full revelation. We need to know this full revelation and do what Jesus calls us to do.

I've got a wonderful father-in-law. I hope he comes visit soon.

He needs to come fishing in some Idaho waters so we can see the bottom of a

creek or a lake or a river.

Can't see that in Oklahoma too many times.

If you ever go to a restaurant with my father-in-law, he will always position

himself in front of a mirror.

He's a good-looking guy. But sometimes when you're having a conversation with

him, you just catch him looking at himself in the mirror.

You're wondering, Lyle, what are you doing?

He admires God's creation of himself, I think.

Again, he's a great father-in-law. Am I joking on this? Is this true, Melanie?

It is true. There's a testified. The mouth of two or three witnesses have testified.

I don't think he's like this guy in James that forgets what he looks like,

so he has to always look in a mirror.

I just think he likes how God's made him.

We can ask my mother-in-law about that and see what she says when they come to visit.

We can't be forgetting what God wants us to do and what God has called us to do.

This morning, I just want to ask you a few things. For those who have never

truly surrendered to Jesus, Maybe you're here and you're like,

yeah, this is a great place to come, but I've never really given my life to

Jesus. I've never truly surrendered.

Here's the call for you. If you.

You to turn from those competing voices, to turn from those notifications you

always get from different philosophies and religions in the world,

and turn to Jesus and just say yes.

Give Jesus your yes. Quit running from him.

Jesus is the full revelation of God, and here he is for you.

You just have to say yes to him.

Trust him as your redeemer. It means admitting that you're a sinner,

but hey, if you look around this room, everybody else in here is a sinner too.

Not just you, but all of us at one time have had to say, hey,

I'm a sinner. I've fallen short of what God expects.

I've blown it. I haven't done exactly what God wants me to.

Trust him as your redeemer. Jesus said, if you confess those sins,

I'll forgive you and I'll purify you. I'll cleanse you from all that unrighteousness.

I'll get rid of all that sin in your life.

It's not just about confessing with your mouth, but it's believing in your heart

that Jesus died for you, that his blood is what purifies you from all that sin.

And so that means we need to bow to him as Lord also.

We're confessing, Jesus, you're my redeemer, you're my savior,

but I bow before you because you're also my Lord. Nobody else gave up their life for me.

Nobody else has given up their life for you, but Jesus, so that you could spend

an eternity pure and holy with God.

You confess him openly today? Maybe you just want to say, yes,

Jesus, it's time. I give myself to you.

Maybe you're here today and you're like, well, I believe in Jesus,

but maybe you know you've drifted a little bit.

Life gets busy, things happen, and pretty soon where you are is not where you want to be.

You wanted to be closer to God, but you see there's been some drift there.

So what do I want you to do?

If you want to have your best in 2026, I want you to realign your life with God's Word.

Realign your life. Line it back up with Jesus. The thing that you can do very

easily is lay down any prophet that has become the functional authority in your life.

Is there someone else that you've elevated to that spot in your life where they're

the spokesperson for you? You do exactly what they say.

For some people, that's going to be culture. You want to be hip and you want

to be cool, and so you're going to do whatever culture dictates.

For some, it's going to be politics. You're going to do whatever the preeminent

politician says you need to do.

For some, it's going to be success. You just want people to recognize you.

You want the money. You want the fame, the fortune.

For some, it's feelings. Feelings are the profit in your life,

and you just can't get past them.

And a lot of times those feelings create this anxiety, and you just are paralyzed right where you're at.

Believers, this can happen to you, but get rid of that profit and put Jesus

back on the throne of your heart and start realigning your life around Christ

and what he wants for you.

What does that mean? What do I have to do? Well, it means to recommit to Jesus daily in scripture.

Make sure you have that daily time with him, the daily time of prayer.

Respond in obedience. Center your decisions around what the word of God says.

Trust him that he will do what he says as the sustainer, that he will sustain you.

He'll get you by no matter if life stinks or not, that God's going to be with

you through the stinkiness, trying to guide you and show you the way through

it and out of it. So would you trust him today?

Would you say yes to Jesus today?

Jesus is not just one more voice in the noisy world that we live in,

but he is the final living and personal word of God.

And he demands and he deserves our response.

How will you respond to Jesus today? Will you say yes to him?

Unbeliever, believer, seeker, whoever you are, would you say yes to Jesus?

It's as simple as just saying that in your heart today. We're going to pray.

And as we pray, maybe you just want to say yes to Jesus.

Maybe you just want to say, yes, Jesus, you know, I've got some things that

I've went sideways on, but I need to get back with you.

And maybe for some, again, you're just like, well, I want to find out more about

this Jesus. He's better than the prophets? Yeah.

Say yes to him. If you need help with getting in to Jesus every day,

we've got these great, our daily breads out there, little daily devotionals.

We've got other devotionals. You can go online. I can even give you some great

tips to have a great devotional life with God, that daily time,

the daily worship time, personal worship with God.

Your life doesn't have to be where it's become, but it can be better,

and you can be better with Jesus. Let's pray together.

Father, we thank you for today And Lord, as we conclude this time from the sermon

I pray, Father, in the mighty name of Jesus Lord, that you would just speak

to our own hearts Speak to the hearts of everyone here this morning,

Lord, personally and as intimately as you do And God, as you do that,

Help some to have the courage to say yes to you To take the loudest voices that

are competing with your voice, God Your voice that was revealed in Jesus Lord,

help them to get rid of that from the throne of their life and to put Jesus right there.

Lord, maybe this morning they say yes to you. As we conclude with the final

song, Lord, maybe just in singing this final song, that is their step of faith and commitment.

So, Lord, we just want to say yes to you in 2026.

We say yes to you, God, because we want better. We want better for our families.

We want better for our faith. Lord, we want better for our communities.

Lord, we want better for the church.

Father, we want all of that. And we know we get better by first going to Jesus.

And so, Lord, help us to say yes to Jesus today.

And it's in his name that we pray this morning. Amen.

Would you say yes to Jesus?

If you do, let me know.

If you're going to say yes to Jesus, why don't you stand? I want to thank you

for joining today's sermon podcast.

You can find a copy of today's sermon, as well as other sermons,

and the sermon outlined from today on our church's website, www.mvcnaz.org.

It is my prayer also that you will seek out a church home that recognizes the authority of the Bible.