Thesis
Pastor Jeff argues that what people are truly searching for — peace, contentment, joy, and life that endures through dark circumstances — cannot be found by chasing the things that seem right to us. Drawing on Jesus' conversation with Nicodemus in John 3 and the Old Testament story of the bronze snake in Numbers 21, he shows that all of us are 'snake-bitten' by sin and separated from the life God intends. Just as the Israelites were healed by looking in faith at the snake on the pole, we are born again and given eternal life by looking in faith to Jesus, who took our sin upon Himself on the cross.
Key points
- 1
We are often searching for the right things but looking in the wrong places, missing what is right in front of us.
- 2
Jesus told Nicodemus that unless a person is born again — a spiritual birth prompted by the Holy Spirit — they cannot enter the kingdom of God.
- 3
Eternal life is not merely living forever; it is 'Zoe' — life found in God, the life the Creator intended, experienced despite one's circumstances.
- 4
Like the Israelites who were snake-bitten after rejecting God's provision, all of us are poisoned by sin and cannot heal ourselves by being good enough.
- 5
God did not take away the snakes; He provided a snake on a pole so that anyone who simply looked at it would live — a foreshadowing of looking in faith to Christ on the cross.
- 6
To be born again simply means to look away from your own plans, admit you have run the wrong way, and look to Jesus — just as the verse 'I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me' means trusting Jesus through every circumstance, not getting whatever you want.
- 7
Putting your faith in Jesus may not change your situation, but it will change you and empower you to go through it.
Outline
Introduction: What Are You Looking For?
Pastor Jeff opens by asking the congregation what they are really looking for this Christmas and uses a moonwalking-bear awareness-test video to illustrate how we can miss the obvious answer when we are focused on the wrong thing.
The Conversation with Nicodemus
Pastor Jeff walks through John 3:1-16, showing that the spiritually minded Nicodemus was like someone counting passes and missing Jesus' core point: you must be born again through the Spirit, and eternal life — Zoe, life as God designed it — comes only through faith in Jesus.
The Bronze Snake in the Wilderness
Turning to Numbers 21, Pastor Jeff explains the Israelites' grumbling and snake-bite as a picture of all humanity's rejection of God's provision and the deadly poison of sin. God's answer — a bronze snake on a pole that healed anyone who looked at it — was the very illustration Jesus used to explain the cross to Nicodemus.
What It Means to Be Born Again
Pastor Jeff connects the bronze snake directly to the crucifixion, explaining that Jesus became sin, taking our poison, and that to be born again simply means to look to Jesus in faith — trusting Him rather than our own plans.
Illustration: Pastor Jeff's Son and Philippians 4:13
Through a personal story about his son's school anxiety, Pastor Jeff illustrates how shifting from looking at fear and frustration to looking in faith at Jesus — anchored by Philippians 4:13 — changes not the circumstances but the person walking through them.
Invitation and Closing Prayer
Pastor Jeff invites anyone who has never looked to Jesus to pray and be born again, leading a prayer of faith and calling those who prayed to raise their hands, celebrating that this is the true meaning of Christmas.
Memorable moments
Jesus was born so we can be born again and
All of us are snake bit. We're all filled with a poison called sin
He is the snake on the pole. He became sin, meaning he took all the poison
it might not change your situation, but it'll change you. It'll empower you
That is the Holy Spirit talking to you
you're counting passes when you should be looking for the moonwalking bear Which is Jesus
Application
Pastor Jeff's call to action is direct and personal: stop counting passes — stop pinning your hope for peace, joy, and contentment on the next relationship, job, or improved circumstance — and look to Jesus. Just as the bitten Israelites were healed not by removing the snakes but by looking in faith at the pole, you do not need your situation fixed first. You need to turn from trusting your own plan and look to the One who was born, took your sin to the cross, and rose again. That single act of looking — of faith — is how you are born again. And once you are, the promise is not a shortcut around the hard moments but the presence and strength of Christ through every one of them, beginning right now.
