Best Year Ever | Part 1

Good morning. Well, happy New Year. Happy New Year to everyone out there. Everyone live streaming, happy New Year to you guys. It's awesome to be here. But let me let me start off the year with a question. How many have already blown a New Year's resolution? That's honest. Right? The rest of you are liars.

I did because you know what? I always think it's kinda silly. Really, what I think is New Year's resolutions to me are a little weird because as the idea that we think just because the year changed that somehow dramatically something really actually

dynamically shifted when a calendar is an artificially made thing that really what really changed between the thirty first and the first other than our inability to remember what date to write down. And

and and it's doesn't really change. Like, we suddenly think it's gonna just all of a sudden be different just because it's new. So I made a resolution. My resolution was I wasn't gonna make any resolutions, and I blew it. Yeah. This is the smartest crowd. You're the only one that some of you got what I just said.

You see, I made a resolution to make no resolution. Thereby, I violated my no resolution resolution by making a resolution to make no resolutions. So I blew it. But if you really think about it about it when it comes to New Year's resolutions, when you think about the ones you make,

let's what what are the most common ones? Lose weight. So it's about health. I'm I'm I'm gonna I need to to eat less and and move more. Right? One of those. There's usually one with budgeting, like like like money. And that usually comes around. I need to spend

less and make more. You know? It's like it's it's like or there's something else. A lot of times, it's like a bucket list thing. I'm gonna stop not doing something, and maybe I'm gonna finally do that thing I said I was gonna do. If you go down the list and think about it, here's what's crazy. We get to the end of the year. We make these resolutions that somehow the date changing is gonna magically change stuff, and then everything we resolve about in their very nature think about it. Aren't

New Year's resolutions by their very nature acts of desperation? Think about it. If I say I need to move more and eat less, what does that mean I've been doing all last year?

Moving less and eating more. If I say I need to do a better budget, it means that, hey, I need to make more and spend less. It's because I've been making less and spending more. And and and so if you think about the very nature of a New Year's resolution,

we actually have this desperate faith. Like, all year I didn't do this, and now I'm putting faith in this calendar change to all of the sudden do things completely different. The the the date changing is gonna make it the best year ever. We know when they do studies of people that make any kind of meaningful resolution,

the only people that actually accomplish it is when you don't just have a desperate act of faith in the year, but you have a deliberate steps. You need to have a deliberate plan.

So if you say, you know what? I'm gonna I'm gonna be healthier next year. It should come with, oh, you know what that means? It means this is gonna happen and this is gonna happen and this is gonna happen, then you gotta choose to go do it. And so the thing is we we walk into these new years with this with these these these desperate faith

when we really need to have a deliberate faith. And guess what? That's the same when it comes to our walk with God. And that's what we're gonna start talking about for the next few weeks. How to have the best year is what if we looked different? What if what if all those other resolutions, I'm not saying they're bad.

It's I'm not saying they're bad to have the resolutions. I I I'm just saying that what if we chose to make our number one New Year's resolution centered around our faith.

What if we decided that this is gonna be the best year ever because I'm I'm gonna have a different view. I'm gonna I'm gonna take a different approach to my faith this year, and that's what we're gonna be looking at for the next few weeks. And and today, we're gonna start off with the very first step of this. The very first step to have the best year ever when it comes to our faith is simply this. The big idea is this. Can I embrace this concept

that God wants to move me from a desperate desperate faith faith to to a a deliberate deliberate faith? This idea that God will often put us in situations

where our faith is desperate. I'm gonna explain what that means in a minute. That we have this desperate in this in our faith. I'm not saying a desperate faith is bad. It's just a starting point. It's not a finish line. But how many of us stay in desperate faith mode? Just like every year, you're making the same resolution you did last year, and nothing ever changed last year. We always get these moments, and God allows us to be in the desperate moments in order to try to move us towards deliberate faith.

And and what would happen if I chose to do that? What if I happen to to get out of desperate faith mode and move towards deliberate faith? So how we're gonna do that is we're gonna be looking through a few chapters of the book of John,

and we're gonna be in John chapter four this week, and then five next week, and six the week after. And as as as we we kinda plow through, there's a couple things I I wanna be aware of, make you aware of. First of all, we made kind of a New Year's resolution as a church, And in our desire to have us, hey, let's move towards our faith, we wanna encourage you that are coming here to actually get into your Bible and and open your Bible. So we're not gonna put the verses on the screen.

And and so I'm gonna encourage you to to bring a Bible. And and you know what? You could bring a physical Bible. You can use your Bible app. God knows if you're playing Candy Crush or watching your team get crushed if you're the Seahawks fan. If

truce is over by the way. Best thing about my New Year is I at least can rest in the solace that the Cardinals and the Seahawks won the same amount of playoff games this year. Anyways,

you can you could go on your phone and and and and look, god knows what you're doing and or not doing or saying, you know, I do Twittering. I tweeting. I hate this guy. He's ripping on the seahawks. Why does he always do that? What's next? Cats? You know, whatever.

But the reality is I I I want us to bring a Bible. And if you're new to this whole church thing, don't have a Bible. We have Bible. We'll give you a Bible.

And and so I just want to encourage you. We're going try something different. Like like, let's get used to opening the Bibles and and bringing one and learning where it is. I'll try to tell you, like, we're gonna be in the book of John. If you have a Bible with you, you're not familiar, it's way, way, way pretty far through. There it is. It's not far through my Bible. It's it's page eight sixty four will be on in my Bible, but but it's it's near the end. Matthew, Mark, Luke, John is the the fourth book. And to help us dig in deeper,

we've made these these these study journals that have some background information on the different chapters and the different stuff we'll be going through, some place for sermon notes and and to and to dig in and have different days of the week. You can read certain scriptures and and study through it. The guided kind of a thing for you. These are free. You can pick em up out there but you know what? People got there you here's the problem by waiting till 11:30 on the last day. They're all gone in this print. So, there's two things. You can go on Rock Point IO and there's PDF format. You can can print some of your own or we're ordering some more and we hope by next week, we'll we'll have more of em. So, you can print up this week's and come back and get it. So, that's the encouraging thing but we're going to be in the in the book of John and we're gonna be walking through some encounters that Jesus has in

this book because a little background of the book of John is is is is John the disciple John, one of the 12, wrote it and he wrote it as an older man. He's the last disciple left alive And and he wrote this different than the other gospels. There's Matthew, Mark, Luke.

They talk about a lot of things that John talks about different things. John gets much more intimate in some of these moments. John's trying to to land a purpose, and that purpose is who is Jesus.

Because by the time John was older, was starting to get passed around, was, oh, Jesus is a good guy. He had a lot of good ideas. He talked a lot about God. He was a prophet, but but he really wasn't God. So what you gotta understand going in, teaching moment before we dive in, is that the point of the book of John

is is is he's trying to show that Jesus is the great I am. God almighty. And matter of fact, there's seven different miracles that happen, and that's gonna come up because one of them is what we're gonna read about today where god he does his signs and wonders, but he describes

why God does these miraculous moments. And this is critical to understanding what we're gonna talk about, these different signs, but he just does seven of them. And they're linked, that we'll see in a later on series, to to to these seven statements of I am. And when Jesus says I am,

it's ego, I mean, in the Greek. It's referring back to when when Moses saw the burning bush and said, who do I say that you are? What's your name? And god spoke through the burning bush. I am that I am and basically, what we translate Greek in the in the English, I am is a way of saying, I am all that was,

all that is, all that ever will be. I am period. I am existence. So when Jesus says I am, he's saying he's god. And that's critical

because that's what we need to embrace. If we're ever gonna have a deliberate faith instead of a desperate faith, we're gonna have to understand who Jesus is. So that's by way of Seth. So we're gonna look at some of these encounters that Jesus has. And what I wanna do in John chapter four, the first encounter is the one I wanna skip over. It's much more well known. It's an encounter he had with a woman at a well that he wanted to take her from a distracted faith to a more deliberate faith. I don't wanna touch that because our college pastor preached on it just a not too long ago, and I did not too long before that. I wanna jump into the second encounter and and and see what happens in this encounter because we're gonna see Jesus

take this man, and more than him, from a desperate faith to a deliberate faith, and see if we can learn from that ourselves. So in John chapter four, starting at verse 43, it says, at the end of two days, Jesus went on to Galilee. He himself had said that a prophet is not honored in his own hometown.

Yet the Galileans welcomed him for they had been in Jerusalem at the Passover celebration and seen everything he did there. So he's saying, hey, do you typically wouldn't be honored in your own hometown? He's like, he's not the carpenter's son and all that stuff. But they they were following him around, and it's important to remember because he said they saw the miraculous things he had done.

And so they're they're following him. That's gonna come back up here. And then in verse 46, as he traveled to Galilee, he came to Cana where he had turned the water into wine. There was a government official in nearby Capernaum whose son was very sick.

When he heard that Jesus had come from Judea to Galilee, he went and begged Jesus to come to Capernaum to heal his son who was about to die. Here's a man in a desperate faith situation. He's definitely like I said, desperate faith is not a bad place to be, but it's not the place we're supposed to stay.

And and and so his son is dying. He's in Capernaum. Cana is about 18 miles away. It's about a one day's journey. He probably would have heard of Jesus because Jesus' home base when he's in the Galilee region was Capernaum.

And and so they that so he would have known about him, heard the things. Being an official, he had some wealth. He had some opportunity.

Most likely, he probably already brought the doctors of the day to see his son. He's already tried everything else. And now out of desperation, he's like, well, that Jesus guy seems to have a good resume of having done some things. I hear some things. Maybe he can help. So he runs and finds Jesus, and then he begs him, I need you to come with me.

I need you to come with me. Now that that's kind of the definition of a desperate faith.

See, when I say what's desperate faith, it's it's an okay place to start, but you don't wanna stay there because when I stay there, what happens when I have a desperate faith is I tend to have this idea that I'm more focused on the what than the who. I'm more focused on my plan. I have a plan, the what,

that I need the who, Jesus, to come and make happen. You ever prayed that way? That's what happens. Desperate prayers always start that way. God, I need this. We are the ones with the plan. We just want god to bring the power to it. Right?

And and so we get there. And that's important to remember because what Jesus says to him is sounds kinda harsh at first because he's trying to take him from this view of about the what and get him to see the who.

Because because here's what he says. He says he begs. His his son is dying. He wants him to come. He's begging. And Jesus in verse 48 asked,

will you never believe in me unless you see miraculous signs and wonders? Wow. This guy just came and shared his heart. My son's dying. Will you come? He's like, are you not? Do you only believe in me when you see miraculous things? Now, what we have to understand here is Jesus does this a lot. He's in a crowd.

I told you the Galileans were following him because of the miraculous things he could do. You'll see later on in John, they they followed him. They they wanted to be the the king. They wanted to force him to be their king, the burger king because he fed 5,000 of them or more, and they wanted him to follow. And he's like, hey, you don't get it. When he started to explain what he really came to do, they started to fall away. Go read John six. Tons of people, Galileans, they stopped following him when they realized he wasn't here just to empower all their hopes and dreams and their plans.

So when he says this, he does this often. Jesus will say something to someone, but he's also saying something through them to the whole crowd. He's trying to say, listen, here's the problem with where you're at. You're saying the only thing that happened, you're coming to me with your plan,

and you're not gonna be satisfied unless I go and do what you want me to do. There's a problem with having that kind of a faith, that desperate faith,

and that's what he had mentioned. He goes, you only believe because of signs and wonders. You only believe when this miraculous thing comes and bails you out or does something for you. He goes, what happens when the sign doesn't go your way? Because what if my plan's not your plan?

Here's how I put it. If if you have a faith that's always looking for signs and wonders, if you're always looking for the sign, you're gonna always end up being left wondering.

If you're always just looking from one side, this is the problem in life. God, I need this. You need to do this. You need to change this. It needs to happen. That needs to do this. This needs to happen. This is gonna happen. If you're always looking for the sign, you're gonna be left wondering. Because what happens when the sign is not the sign you wanted? What happens when what God wants to do is not that? You now are left wondering, does he love me? Does he care? Or if it goes on long enough, is he even real?

So Jesus is trying to say, if you just keep this kind of a faith, if you stay in your desperate faith moment, you'll eventually be so discouraged you probably won't have any faith either. That's what happens in John chapter six.

When they realize you're not gonna get all the signs and wonders you wanted. I'm not gonna get rid of Rome. I'm not gonna fix your world and make it a perfect utopia. But what I am here to do is to declare who I am and prove that I am the Lord God Almighty, and you need to believe in the who, not so much the what. Instead of coming to me, the person with your plan, come to the person who has a plan.

That's what he's trying to say here. Now you can clap. It's pretty cool. Yay, guys. And and and so we gotta understand that we get stuck in our desperate faith moments. Some of you are discouraged right now. Well, I've been praying and praying and praying. What have you been praying?

I'm not saying you don't keep praying for something. Don't get me wrong. But it should be prefaced with the idea of God. I just whatever you need, where where are we going on this? And so he asked this question, and it's like basically, I need you to get off the what to see the who. And I think about this. We

took a tour group with a bunch of us in search to Israel this last year. Is anybody here that went with us? Okay. Get ready for PTSD flashbacks. Sorry.

Well, we went. We all had hopes and dreams. It's so exciting. But when you traveled Israel, it's kind of a, you know, it's a it's it's a long kind of distance thing. You gotta fly about six hours to the East Coast. Then you gotta head out overnight. It's about a ten to twelve hours, depending on headwinds, flight to Tel Aviv. So so it's a pretty good haul anyway. So if you don't like lots of flying, that's kind of a pain. Well, we flew, and we had to land on the East Coast in that garden spot, Newark, New Jersey, and so we land there, and when we get there, our hopes and dreams started to get weird because we had this plan. We're gonna go, you know, we're basically, yay, we're going to we're going to, you know, religious Disneyland,

Israel. Yay. You know, and and and so we get there, and all of sudden, there's this whole freakish storm moving through the whole Northeast. And all of a sudden, we start hearing about airports closing down, and we start watching the flights ticking off in our airport. Canceled. Canceled. Canceled.

Canceled. Canceled. You know what we did? We did what any good Christian that's wanting to, you know, love Jesus and go to the holy land is. We started praying prayers of desperation.

I'm not saying they're bad. It's just sometimes if you stay there, you're gonna get really disappointed. We started praying our plan for God. God, you know when supposed to get there, so you need to supernaturally make sure our flight doesn't get canceled.

That's where we started. We were so focused on the what that we're getting frustrated. What are they doing? They're not telling us stuff. What's happening? And then finally, it gets later, and you start to see there's not very many flights left. And we're, like, we're gonna get canceled, but, God, we know what you want to do. We need you to do this. So we're praying and believing so hard, and then they start telling us you better go through the second security. I don't if you've ever traveled to Israel, but you get through airport security. Israel wants extra security.

So they take some of those gate areas, you know, the seating areas are always too small, and they put out portable dividers,

and they divide off a section, and you have to go through another whole security check right there. So they started going, everybody get in here. We're heading in here, and you don't want to go in there because there's not enough room for everyone. So you wait till the last minute, and then they acted like it's gonna happen. So we we cram in there, and we're sitting there. No one can sit. Hardly anyone can sit. We're standing there for like hour, hour and a half.

They finally got on line. Okay. Here's what we're doing.

We had to get another plane because the plane we were trying to with our plane need to be de iced, and we're pulling another one out of the the whatever. They they realized somehow they had another plane somewhere that didn't need to be the ice. I'd why didn't they realize that two hours ago? I don't know. But they pull in this plane. So then we're like, okay, maybe it's gonna happen. And we watch and then we're waiting and standing and waiting and praying and yay. Jesus gonna do exactly what we told him to do. Awesome.

You know, and and and we see the plane pull up, and they go, all we need to do is load the food and your luggage. We start seeing the food go in, the luggage go in. Oh, this is gonna happen.

And then we wait and wait and wait. And then finally about thirty minutes later, they're gonna, okay, guys. Get ready. In about five minutes, we're gonna board. Yes. It worked. We told Jesus what to do, and he did it. Man, and we're sitting all excited. Four minutes after they said five minutes later, I watched we watched the whole crew walk off the plane. You know, the captain, the copilot, the navigator,

the the the flight attendant, the head flight attendant, the goofy flight attendant, the stowaway they found in cargo,

everybody just walks off. And they were just walking up to say, hey, guys. Sorry. We're they had their little overnight thing that's all packed up, and they went. Started moving fast. Like, they know what's about to happen, and they don't wanna see it.

And I go, that can't be good. How are we gonna get to Israel? And they go, we're sorry, folks, but due to FAA regulations, our crew timed out, and there's no other crew. Flight canceled.

And we're all crammed in there, which by now, it makes no sense we're crammed in there. Every flight's canceled. We're the only ones in the airport.

Why couldn't they move a divider and let us at least sit down? I don't know. But now they did. They pull all the dividers away, and they go, and by the way, because of every other play plane being canceled, there is no hotel rooms in the area available. So you get to stay here, but here's some airplane pillows

and blankets and some stale sandwiches. Good luck. Turn off the lights when you go to sleep. And they and everyone left, basically. And we just got locked in. We sat in there staring at a plane that had our stuff on it.

We're still worried about the what. So everyone gets all worried and arguing and fighting and it's like, well, you know what they're gonna have to do. That plane's sitting there. In the morning, they're just out of flight. In the morning, they'll get a crew. We'll all just get on the plane and we'll go. Right? Yeah, Jesus. That's what you're gonna do. We need you. We're begging them. Do that. Do that. Do that. He didn't do that.

They get up and they go, I don't know how it works, but it you that work at Airblade, you know exactly what it they can't do that. It's not that easy. Oh, we'll just throw an extra flight in there. You know, it's like they couldn't. So they basically no new flight.

And the airline says here's what we're we're responsible to do. We will help you find travel arrangements on already scheduled flights to where you need to go. The best we can, we'll get you there. You had an entire plane. We had 60 people in our group. There's not a flight with 60 seats. Everything was full,

and we're all panicking. The what's not gonna happen, but into the what stepped a who? Monica Wilson,

our missions director, who wasn't in charge of any of this stuff. But she got up there. She figured out what was going on when everyone was talking theories, and she camped out by the customer service desk and got up there first, found someone that would work with her, and said, listen, this is gonna be difficult because it's not just me getting a flight. I need to get 60 people to Israel and you need to help me. And they had to start looking on the community. They started, you know, because they they'll use other airlines and crisscross and that. Next thing you know, everybody instead of worried about the what, start asking who. What does Monica think? What does Monica? She was so good. She got us all organized, lined up, and she started having this thing like working with this customer service agent and saying, alright. I need 10 people. 10 people. Alright. You guys are going to Belgium.

And and then then boom. They took off. You're leaving in an hour. You gotta go to this gate. Get your stuff. Here's how you do it. Here's what you need to do. Go do it. Go to Belgium. Then you go here. You go there. We had a group. Went to Switzerland. That was the last group out. That was the group Isaiah and Monica, we waited for everyone else. We got on the last plane out. We headed to Switzerland. And and so I'm sitting there looking at the Alps going, I was heading to Israel. Now I'm sitting here in the sound of music. What's going on here? And then and and then one group, god bless our where does any of you go to San Francisco?

There you go. That's the p. We had a one group, a bigger group that had to fly from Newark all the way back to San Francisco to then get on a direct flight to Tel Aviv. They crossed the Continental United States three times in the air before they saw the Atlantic Ocean.

It didn't happen anything like what we thought, but we all got there. We all got there because of Monica. And here's the crazy thing. The flight to Newark was the first time Monica had ever been on a plane. Needless to say, she's in charge of all of our trips now. See, it became about the who. The what ended up happening,

but we just needed to trust the who.

That's what Jesus is trying to do here, just to see. So when he asked that question, it seems tough. But then what the guy does, this official does, he does exactly what I would usually do and you would probably do. We'd probably do especially if we have a child involved here that's really sick.

He ignores what Jesus just said, and he goes right back to his plan. Right after he says that, the official pleaded, Lord, please come now before my little boy dies. It's like he didn't even hear what Jesus said. He just went right back. And so then here's what Jesus says. Then Jesus told him, go back home.

In the in the Greek here, that's in the imperative. The Greek is the imperative. It's not a suggestion. It's not you may. It's he basically commanded him and probably in a pretty rough voice because he interrupted and he kept saying, no. You have to come with me now. Don't you understand it's not about the signs of you need to come now before he dies. And he goes, hey.

Go home. He tells him to go home. What? Sometimes when we plead with Jesus, what he tells us to do seems mean, confusing, and makes no sense. Now we know the story, and right after he says go home, he says your son will live. Well, then he did. He did what he wanted. He goes, you don't understand.

He had to live in in this culture. Even today, we still think this. But in that culture, if it was a doctor, a faith healer, a miracle worker, Harry Potter, Gandalf,

bones from Star Trek. It doesn't matter who it was. They had a very strong understanding belief that the only way you healed someone, a healer can only heal someone, if they were in the presence of the person afflicted. So for him to say, go home, your son will will live, would have been very contradictory to everything he understood of how it works. He's basically saying, you need just need to trust me.

Why would he do that? What did I say the purpose of John was? To point to Jesus as God, Lord God Almighty, the creator of life, the controller of life. This guy believed in a Jesus who had some kind of power, but he needed him to believe in Jesus as Lord of all. Because what Jesus wants to do is bring a much deeper healing

than just a temporary physical healing. He wants us to have a permanent healing and a permanent relationship with him, and we get stuck in the now. But think about it.

I can't bring this kid up here to share his story. I can't bring his dad up here to share his story. You know why? They died a couple thousand years ago. Everyone died in the story. Even Jesus died. He came back, but even he died. So if the point was just the healing, you missed the greater point.

And just think about it. If Jesus' goal was to just heal and feed people who are starving, if that was his goal, he was terrible at it.

Come back next week in chapter the next chapter. We're gonna be going through this healing at this Pool Of Bethesda. I've been to the the Pool Of Bethesda's. They believe that the angel would stir the waters and bubble the first one in and got healed. So it was pretty crowded. That's kind of a weird system because the first one that could get in is probably the person the least needing of healing. But still, and and in this area would hold, like, hundreds and maybe even thousands of people. They would always be there. Jesus, you're gonna see a story. Jesus shows up and heals one person. Do you realize he probably had to step over people that were dying

to heal this one guy? And then he left. If it's all about just getting the physical healing, if your signs and wonders and you're sitting there dying, what is your view of Jesus at that point?

Jesus healing people and feeding people and doing these miracles was not just for that person. It was for the grander scheme. He wanted something even more critical for him. He wants us to have this eternal life,

this healing of our brokenness and our sin and our being far away from God and something that transcends just the moment. And, yeah, he'll throw in the blessings of every now and then. He does the miraculous awesome thing for us right then and now.

Where is your faith? Is it in the desperate mode all the time? That if Jesus doesn't come with me now, all is lost? Because that this guy was faced with a dilemma. G said, go, your son will live. And he had to turn away from everything that made sense to him and head home without Jesus.

And what he does, this is the definition of deliberate faith. You want the best New Year's resolution? Take the desperate faith moments and let God move you to a deliberate faith. Because here's what he says.

And the man believed what Jesus said and started home. See, this why I want you to bring your Bibles. If have your Bible, underline believe and started. That's what deliberate faith is. He believed what Jesus said, and he started. It's believe and start. Believe

and start. How many you go, oh, I believe Jesus. And he says, well, I want you to go this way. No. No. That's not what I want. I believe Jesus. Okay. You want your marriage to live?

So many people, your marriage is struggling. And and he says, well, then you need to actually sacrifice and love the other person, especially guys.

The Bible, you you might have a tough marriage right now. And the Bible says that you husbands are to love your wife like Christ loved the church. What did Christ do for the church? He goes crucified for the church. By who? By the people he loved. He was willing to be crucified

for the people he loved in order of that. That's what he says for us to do. So you're like, I'm just so frustrated in my marriage. Are you a desperation person? God, change your heart. God, change your attitude. God, change your actions. God, change your address. I don't care.

But change her when maybe what Jesus said, go home. If you believe me, husbands, sacrifice, surrender, and love your wife first and see what happens. But we're like, no. No. That makes no sense. It's unfair. That's not right. That's not what I got. Okay. That's weird. Sorry.

Same with money. God, money's resolution. I hope we keep our eyes. It's so tough financially. How am I gonna do that? And God says, here's what I want you to do with your money. No, that's my problem, God. I don't have enough, and you want me to be generous. Believe me and start home.

See, now that kind of throw punches us, doesn't it? Because that's what he's talking about. Desperate faith gets us to cry out to God. Deliberate faith is am I gonna believe him?

And am I gonna head in the direction he tells me to head even if it seems like I'm going without him? And even if it seems like I'm going without what I asked for. Because God has a bigger perspective, a bigger plan, and it's about the who, not the what. It's about the who, not the what.

Because here's what happens. Here's what happens when we go from desperate faith to deliberate faith. He could have camped out and kept arguing with Jesus and not gone home, not trusted him, and walked away from this whole situation.

But he believes and he starts. He believes and he started. And in verse 51, it says, while the man was on his way,

some of his servants met him with the news that his son was alive and well. He asked them when the boy had begun to get better, and they replied, yesterday afternoon at 01:00, his fever suddenly disappeared. Dude, this is powerful.

Verse 53, then the father realized that was the very time Jesus had told him, your son will live. You see, in their day and age, a healer had to be present. The only person that could just declare someone well without being there is god. Hence, the point of what Jesus was trying to do.

He needed this man not to just have belief in a healer. He needed him to connect and have a relationship and belief in God, his savior. And you know what happened because of that? Instead of just getting his son to live longer, when he realized that, the craziness of that story, it says, and he and his entire household

believed in Jesus. And that believed in wasn't we believed he had the power anymore. It's a believe in putting their faith in. He is Lord of all. He is savior. They became followers of Christ.

In a in a official of this day and age, your household was not you, your two kids, your dog, the cat you don't like very much, and and that's it and maybe a a mother-in-law that lives in the back part of the house. That's not what it was. A household for an official like that was probably 30 to 70 people.

So instead of just one kid living a few more years and then this guy going, wow. That guy had some cool abilities. 30 to 70 people found eternal life through Jesus. What is God saying to you about something you're stuck on? He says, Stop. Believe me and start in that direction, that you've resisted starting in that direction.

Where are you at on that? Have you ever had moments like that? Because what it's saying here is when we have when we let a desperate faith turn to a deliberate faith and God shows up, it makes the debt next desperate faith moment easier to become a deliberate faith moment.

We get better at it because have you ever had that time when like, oh my god asked me to do this. This makes no sense, but I'm gonna trust him through it anyways.

I never thought it was gonna happen that way, but it happened. So the next time it happens, it doesn't make it any less scary or less hard, but you're like, I think I know what's going on here. Maybe I'll trust. That's why he says signs and wonders don't work. Because if you just look for the sign, when the sign doesn't go your way, you're wondering. You don't wonder anymore. You go, I I wanna see the wonder of what God's gonna do in this situation, and it builds your confidence to do it.

So how about you? Where do you need to believe Jesus? And start. Because it builds your confidence. Because you'll see God work bigger wonders in your life. And maybe they're not your plan, but it's about the who.

Because you know what? We got back from Israel, and my wife went mean, we went before with another

group to scout it out, and my wife didn't wanna go then, and everything worked fine on our flights. And she's like, that was brutal. I hated that flight. She'd never been on a flight that long. I went over the Atlantic down there. And so then when I said, you wanna go back? She's like, fine.

I'm going at least I'm going with people I know and friends. So we we go. And then when we flew into Newark, I don't know about you. You're probably like my wife. It's gotta be in your top five. But for her, that is what getting stuck in an airport. We were stuck in there for twenty seven hours.

The group that had to fly back to back to San Francisco and then over one of the last groups to get there. There was sixty hours from the time they left Phoenix till we got to to Israel. And I go, that is what my wife's nightmares are made of.

And so I thought, she's never gonna go anywhere that this is gonna be why do you think this last year we went a a road trip? It was like but you would think that she would never get on a plane again. Do you realize just two months after we got back from Israel, she goes, hey, would it be alright? You you wouldn't mind if I go to Bali. Right?

Bali? What what? You going? Yeah. We we we

a missions there. I got and and and she had a chance to go be a part of seeing what's going on and and and do all that. I'm like, wait, wait, You're willing to go to Bali. You realize that just one sec. There's three flights to go to Bali and just one of them is seventeen hours.

And I go, and now you're gonna do this after that? I can't you know, but wait. When we had a chance to go two years ago to Bali for the same reason and I was going and wanted you to come with me and someone volunteered to pay and let us stay an extra week at a resort on the beach after we're there,

and they gave they put it first class tickets, you said no. You wouldn't go to Bali with me, your husband, right around it was right around our our anniversary.

And and you said no. And now you're just two months after this, you're gonna go? Why on earth do you wanna go to Bali? She goes, don't wanna go to Bali. They go, then why are you going? She goes, because Monica asked. Monica asked me to go.

She wasn't saying yes to Bali. She was saying yes to Monica. You'll travel to worse places through tougher times with someone you trust, and she believed. That's what this whole story is about. That's what the beginning of best year ever could be about, is don't get so caught up on the plan. Say yes to Jesus.

Just say yes to Jesus and see what happens. So what I wanna do here is I'm gonna pray here in a sec. And those of you that have known Jesus for a long time and and all that, ask yourself this question. Where am I having a desperate faith kind of conversation with God that maybe I can stop

and say, I'm gonna believe you Jesus. Where do you want me to step? Where am I supposed to just go anyways? Instead of getting stuck desperation. Just let him talk to you. Holy Spirit's good at that. But for some of us here, I wanna I wanna give us a chance to to to literally

do this and start your year in the most amazing way. You can literally step into a deliberate faith, and that is with baptism. You see, over the Christmas services,

I know there's some of you here that raised your hand to say yes to Jesus. That's a desperate faith kind of thing when you reach out to Jesus. I've come to the enemy. I need Jesus. We had 452 people say yes to him. Actually, 20 or so were on the livestream. So

there are some people here that you've come to know Jesus and you haven't been baptized. There's also some of that have known Jesus for a long time, and for whatever reason, you have not gotten baptized.

And and and and so I wanna give you an opportunity to to to say yes to that, to have an active deliberate faith, because baptism was a command by Jesus. Just like they say, stop. Go go home. Jesus commands us to be baptized.

Now what is baptism? It doesn't mean that he doesn't love you if you don't get baptized. It's kinda like my my wedding ring. It's like, oh, man. I ate too much food over the holiday. And that's this is even one of those stretchy kinds. It's my it's my fat pants wedding ring. And

if I take that off, does this mean I'm single now? No. This is just an outward sign of an actual inward commitment. And God asked us. Jesus says get baptized as an outward sign, like, just to to represent, say, I'm identifying with my faith in Jesus. Because Jesus came,

he died on the cross, he was buried, and then he resurrected. And I have new life through that. Where I get eternal life from is putting my faith in that, not in myself. And he died for my sins, for my brokenness, and all that, and how I have life is through that. Baptism is me choosing to declare

publicly that I identify with that, and the baptism is a symbolic act of you go down under the water, the death and burial. You come back up. It's the resurrection

to your new life. Just like what Jesus did, he resurrected us to a new life. Our old life is gone. That's what he wants. That's the healing he wants for all of us. Because even if God miraculously heals you of any ailment you have, one hundred percent of people eventually die. Lazarus, he raised from the dead,

and he died again. And in something, times I'm thinking, is he dying again? Going, wow. This sucks. I wish I would've just went out the time and went to heaven because now I gotta do this again. We all talk about, oh, he got to live again. He got to die twice.

He wants us to have the eternal life. That's what baptism is, and it's this act that embraces. It's not for God. It's for us. It's a deliberate faith moment that builds our faith, and a lot of us refuse to do it. Why? Some of us is because we believe a lie. I'm not mature enough as a follower of God. I'm a mess.

I believe in Jesus. I know he died for me, but man, I'm not living right right now. So you think you have to get it right before you get in the water. You actually think that I have to mature before I get baptized. Do you realize baptism is not the act of a mature person? Baptism is an act that helps us mature.

Matter of fact, if you feel unqualified, but you believe in Jesus,

one of the acts that's gonna help you trust Jesus more is to get baptized anyways, because that's the whole point of how amazing God's grace is. The way you feel like, man, I don't deserve this at all. I probably shouldn't do this. The way I'm living is in line with it. Exactly. That's the point.

And that's why in the Bible, you pretty much became a follower of Jesus and got baptized right away. So what's stopping you? What's stopping you? What's stopping you, Braden Ferguson? I know you're in here. Maybe Jesus wants you to get baptized, and not because of this elaborate plan. Just say yes to Jesus.

And what we've done is we have a tent set up out there. You guys got it the easiest. It's beautiful out now. We've had 30 people already get baptized in the rain and all that. They came in. They already got sprinkle baptized. They might as well finish it off with immersion.

We had a tent set up. We had heaters. It's actually hot in there. The water's been warmed up. I I won't promise hot tub water but it there's no reason And what a cool story. Just go out there. We have shirts you can wear, but just go out there in your street clothes and just do it. Just have Jesus say, stop.

Believe me and go. That's an act of deliberate faith. How cool would that be to start your year with that? In every every service, I've seen so many people bawling, and usually the person crying the hardest is the person that's been praying for them the longest. It's awesome.

So I'm gonna pray, and I'm gonna invite you to go out there, and I will baptize you right now. So let's pray. Father God, I just thank you, Lord. I thank you for how you do love us and you care for us. And, Father, I just pray that right now

that all of us, no matter where we're at, could maybe start this year with allowing you to take our desperate faith and move it towards a deliberate faith. May we believe you and start. May we believe you and start. And Lord, I specifically pray for some of the people in this room that need to do that by walking out here

and just getting baptized in your name because you asked them to. And just see what that does on the other side in their life, Lord. And God, I also pray that there's anyone in this room that's like, hey, I've never even said yes to Jesus. I don't know what that means.

The Lord, you give them the courage to walk out there and ask somebody in line, what does it mean to know Jesus? Because then they can come to know Jesus. They and and and put their faith in him by just declaring, you are Lord and I'm not. And they too could get baptized. But Lord, I just pray that this becomes

our best year ever. Because it's the year we make it about who, which is you, instead of what, which is about me. I pray this in the mighty name of Jesus. Amen.