DEC 25 2022 | Isaiah: Messiah S1E6 | Isaiah’s Messiah

Sea Change Church · Isaiah: Messiah S1E6 · "Isaiah's Messiah" · December 25, 2022
Automated transcript. Not reviewed for accuracy.

Hello, my name is Kalina Wilson. I will be reading scripture for you guys tonight on Sundays. I am with the second through fifth graders and the fellowship hall and then on Wednesday nights, I lead worship for the middle school and high school. So if you have those aged kids, I probably see them once or twice a week. Today's scripture reading is from Isaiah 53:1 through 12.

Who has believed our message and to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed? He grew up before him like a tender shoot. And like a root out of dry ground. He had no beauty or Majesty to attract us to him. Nothing in his appearance that we should desire him. He was despised and rejected by mankind a man of suffering and familiar with pain.

Like one from whom people hide their faces, he was despised and we held him in low esteem. Surely he took up our pain and bore our suffering yet. We considered him punished by God stricken by him and afflicted. But he was pierced for our transgressions. He was crushed for our iniquities. The punishment that brought us peace was on him and by his wounds we are healed.

We all like sheep have gone astray. Each of us has turned to our own way and the lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all. He was oppressed and Afflicted yet. He did not open his mouth. He was led like a lamb to the slaughter and as a sheep before it shears his silent so he did not open his mouth. By oppression and judgment he was taken away yet who of his generation protested?

For he was cut off from the land of the living for the transgression of my people. He was punished. He was assigned a grave with the wicked. And with the rich in his death though, he had done no violence nor was there any deceit in his mouth? Yet it was the Lord's will to crush him and caused him to suffer and though the Lord makes his life in offering for sin. He will see his offspring and prolong his days and the will of the Lord will prosper in his hand.

After he has suffered. He will see the light of life and be satisfied by his knowledge. My righteous servant will justify many. And he will bear their iniquities. Therefore I will give him a portion among the great and he will divide the spoils with the strong because he poured out his life unto death and was numbered with the transgressors for he bore the sin of many and made intercession for the transgressors the word of the Lord. Once again, Merry Christmas to you and I just got to experience an incredible Christmas our church has a partner over in Scotland.

And I don't know if you have been to England or Scotland are Wales or Ireland or anything like that during Christmas time, but man they do Christmas. I mean, it's like Disneyland you just walk for miles in London and it just doesn't end and so we're over there. We have a church partner and we went I was too weeks there and Scotland with the team and Chris and Andrea and it snowed in Scotland. That was amazing to get some snow. I'm coming home and I call my wife I said I'm coming home.

Can I get you anything and she's all yeah. Bring me some crisp now. What's crisp crisp potato chip. All right, just so you know. And they may ever tried to bring potato chips home for 6,000 miles through like security or anything like that. No one so she asked for potato chips and I'm like, okay fair enough now I if you're wondering why that he would do that say that that potato chips in England they call crisp hit way different than here. And if you have not had British potato chips, it's a whole new level. I'm just gonna read you some of the the story and some of the flavors that they have just to start this Christmas Eve service. Let me do the first one.

Flame grilled Aberdeen Angus. All right, like that's not just your salt and vinegar. You know what I'm saying? haggis and cracked black pepper. Not just black pepper. It's cracked. I don't know who cracks it, but they do. Caramelized Red Onion prawn cocktail and here's the one that she wanted. And by the way, look at the volume in that bag are those crushed the you know hard it is to get that home turkey and stuffing you ever had turkey and stuffing right amazing.

So I'm on the plane. I'm coming back. I got two of these. One actually did get ruined and I'm sitting on the plane and I got this and I pull them out and this guy says what's got there. I said got the turkey and stuffing Mackies. I said I've got to bring him for my wife. These are Mackies of Scotland by the way can order I said I gotta bring her for my wife. He goes really me, too. I said you too he goes. Yeah. I said where you going? He says San Jose I said really go I go I got turkey and stuff. He goes. I got Smokey bacon for my wife and I'm like, I didn't even know there was an underground wife like potato chip trade that was going on over the transatlantic that was happening. People are bringing back then the stewardess Rolls by she's like, yeah, and then my husband asked for the special hummus with them and so it's just totally happening what I tell you all that. All right tell you that because it's incredibly hard to get chips home without them being broken. This is a gift.

Now imagine if you were to give the your favorite gift that you're giving this year. But before you could give that gift you had to break it. You actually had to break the gift before it could be received as you read this passage. This passage is from Isaiah. Who's Isaiah? He's Prophet. So in your normal Christmas message You're going to hear about Jesus and the foretelling of Jesus being born. That's why this message is called What Child Is This we're going back in the story. We're looking at the Shadows. We're looking at the echo that is in the normal New Testament passage.

You'll find this in the first chapter of Matthew where it says as the prophets foretold the prophet one of the prophets it was speaking about was Isaiah. This is this passage. We just read why do we read this at Christmas? Because this is 700 years before the birth of Jesus 2700 years before where we are right now that was telling about the baby who would come and this passage is called The Suffering servant. It's a different kind of Jesus. It's a Jesus that hits different than most of us.

Think about when we think about Jesus and Isaiah is saying this and this is his primary message as you look at Isaiah 53 and I you could argue but I would argue that the main message of the entire book of Isaiah for me. This is just me you could argue it would be that we have to have a broken Jesus come for the to Salvation of the world. And so that is what we say. And so Jesus is this foretold gift that was actually broken before he could be received who is Isaiah Isaiah. Like I said is this he's an influencer. He was one that went around 700 years before Jesus 3,000 years ago and the time of antiquity. He was a prophet who were told the birth of Jesus 700 years before it happened go to verse 1 if you would it's gonna be in your notes. It's gonna be on the screen as well.

And Isaiah 53 starts with the question. It's a great question. It's a great question. It says this who has believed our message not my message our message and to whom is the arm of the Lord been revealed really good question who's believed what I'm what I'm telling. And who to whom has it been revealed? I have a friend here Named Sam Park love Sam Park. He's got some of the best sleep. I think he has the best sleep tattoos I've ever seen right Harry and you got some tattoos, but I mean, he's just next level, right? So he's got these sleeve tattoos, right and it just tells a story if you look they're so beautiful and they're just he's got great skin. I'm out of getting to do crazy. But like you just looks good. They look good on he's all yoked out.

And I think about this story and I think you know if God had Love written on his arm. And he's revealing it himself. He would reveal his arm to us if we could read what was on his arm. It was a sleeve tattoo or it is the word of God actually as it was a real to whom has that been revealed and if it was revealed to you? Who's believed it? I mean the kind of Jesus that you believe in really matters.

I heard this week in a podcast. I was listening to podcast and they said this it's not what you believe. But it's how hard you believe it. Thought about that actually decided I didn't agree with the first part what you believe actually matters. But how hard you believe something even if it's not true? Really matters because you can believe in something and not follow a lot of people believe in Jesus and they don't follow it. They don't believe that what he offers is really what he offers or actually they would follow it and the kind of Jesus that we're going to follow really matters. And so when Isaiah talks about it Jesus, he's talking about it Jesus. It's a broken Jesus and it's a Jesus that hits different but you cannot I cannot we cannot the world cannot understand.

The message of Jesus of who he is unless we understand his Brokenness, right? Unless we understand as it said that God his father crushed him for a reason. He crushed him for a reason and we see that reason that is there. So I it says it's not what you believe but how hard you believe it and the kind of Jesus we believe in matters. There's a lot of different jesuses if I may and a lot of them. I don't like it one of the things I do often as I I look at pictures of Jesus and maybe and I believe like in the 15th century. I mean since the 15th century pictures of Jesus have gotten really bad like any modern picture of Jesus. I just for the most part don't like because oftentimes they sell me at Jesus. That isn't a Biblical Jesus. Let me show you a couple. I just Google search. Okay, this is a random Google search that I did. First one. Is this this is your dating app Jesus. Let's see dating app, Jesus. All right.

Really Jesus like Isaiah 53 says there was nothing in his appearance that would cause you to like look at him. I don't know if I looked as good as that Jesus, you know, goodness gracious. My life is would be different. So that's your dating. That's tender Jesus right there swipe, right? His plan cause swipe, right? That's that's Cosmo. That's Cosmic Jesus right there. Just as Cosmic Jesus. He's had.

You know like start like Captain Kirk over there on his right hand side. This is literally one that you know what this picture is entitled. Seriously, gorgeous picture of Jesus. That's what it's entitled. That was the like dot jpeg. Okay. Let's go to the next one here. This is this is don't you love this one. That's like vending machine Jesus and a lot of people sell vending machine Jesus. You asked Jesus what he wants.

He's your bro. He's your but he just there for you, bro. I got you what you need a Ferrari you need a shiny new thing. I got that shiny new thing for you in 2002. Popular Mechanics don't show it yet. Wait for the reveal Popular Mechanics made a digital image of what they think Jesus actually looked like they took a little bit of the Shroud of Turin. They took some DNA from somebody from somebody of somebody I don't know what they did whenever they make these they end up ending up looking a little Neolithic so he does look a little Neolithic but this is literally Popular Mechanics in 2002 said Jesus would have looked like just like that. I don't know why he always looks like paleo man or something like that in these pictures, but I would say that for me.

That Jesus if it would be Jesus probably looks a lot more like Jesus would than the first three that I showed you because there was something about Jesus that it says In this passage that he was just incredibly plain. There was nothing that would that would draw you to him. Matter of fact, it says that he was actually rejected.

He was despised. He was actually scorned and there was nothing that he could offer you that when you looked at him you would want to be near him. You can take that picture down the the Jesus you believe in matters. And so I want to pay in a picture. Of the Jesus of 3,000 years ago the Jesus he came 2000 years ago, but seven year 100 years before him. He was foretold in this text, which is called The Forbidden text. You can do a little homework afterwards in Google why Isaiah 53 is a forbidden Texas a text that is is not read in certain circumstances and you can check that out.

So, who are we believing in? I I would argue this that most people who don't follow Jesus. rarely know anything about Jesus There are some people that have studied and it made a decision not to follow Jesus, but the majority of people that I talked to and have I've had some of that I don't know about you but I've had some of the best spiritual conversations since covid started ever.

Granted there's all this like, you know, Twitter nonsense going on and stuff in the headlines and all the whatever but when you talk one-on-one with people, like people want to have spiritual conversations and they want to talk to somebody that's authentic that isn't going to be judgmental and just to ask these incredible questions and one of the questions I asked people I said, what do you follow Jesus?

No be like no. For one reason or another and it's usually well because Christians do this and whatever and I'm and I say, okay. Well that's that's fair. But what about Jesus like he didn't say, you know, follow, you know, this meat either this person. He says follow follow me follow Jesus. What? Can you tell me about Jesus? What about anything? He's ever. Do you know anything he's ever said.

I'm dead serious. I've never had a person yet that I've asked that to who has been able to quote me something that Jesus said like people have decided not to follow Jesus and they have no idea who Jesus is they've never looked at his Sage teachings and he was a sage. I mean he's more than a sage. He's the son of God, right? But if you just follow what Jesus says he's a good leader to follow there's a lot of good stuff, you know, if you could say I don't even believe he was a Son of God and you just do what Jesus says you will have a much better life. And so the kind of Jesus that you follow matters Isaiah points to this broken Jesus and that really matters for a reason one because when you have a Jesus Who is just so high and above us that he can never relate to us? Then we can never touch him. You see he became man kind and was broken so that he could identify with our Brokenness. We'll look at that in just a second as we go on that but we see who Jesus was. There's three.

Bits of Jesus In this passage, we've been in it for six weeks. If you want to catch up you can go back to Spotify go to our church find us on Spotify and listen to the other messages about this entire passage. I'm gonna finish this series tonight with three quick things. The first one is this is that Jesus was despised. First he was despised. The second thing that we're going to look at is he was broken and why was he broken? And then the third thing?

Is he was cellific? Salvific, I love that word. I came across that word when I was in college and in seminary actually the word salvific means to take something that is broken and to redeem it to bring it back to life to restore it to take something that has been Cast Away and to redeem it. You cannot redeem something for less than its worth.

Whenever you redeem something. It has to be redeemed for something greater. Does that make sense? So it is redeemed. So he takes something that is broken and he redeems it and makes it better. And so what we believe is that when we give him our broken lives which he can identify with because he was also broken according to the scriptures then he can redeem that and then he can give us his life that's on the other side of that Brokenness because that's why the resurrection matters right because after he identified with our Brokenness he took victory over death.

And then it says that he rose again and had life and then we can jump from our Brokenness and follow him into his life. It's look at the first one verse 3. He was despised and rejected by mankind a man of suffering never think about Jesus like that suffering just constantly suffering suffering over people's pain. Their hurt and he was familiar with pain.

Like one from people whom like one from whom people hid their hide their faces. He was despised and held in low esteem. We talked about how back in the first century if you were part of an outcast in society when people walk by They would hide their face from you. They would say you're not worthy to look upon me they would hide their face and we know that Jesus had one year of popularity, but then he started saying things that started, you know, making people wonder about this leader. He started talking about God being his father and he started causing some Division and all of a sudden people thought it's not so great to be around Jesus. He's not offering me the shiny thing because when he was popular, we all want to be with him. He's doing Miracles. He might be the next king of Jerusalem. He's gonna over, you know, overcome the Romans we believe that's why Judas is one of the reasons Judas betrayed him is because Jesus didn't give him the shine anything. He wanted he wanted to be part of Jesus cohort that would take over the Romans and be the new davidic king.

And people were following Jesus for that reason, but Jesus says no, I have a different message and I have a different mission. And that mission is to identify with the Brokenhearted because only an identifying with the broken hearted. Can they actually touch me because they can never reach across the chasm to my perfection. So I need to be broken like them. And so it says that he was despised what is despised mean?

If you look at the biblical meaning whether be in the Hebrew or in the Greek both of those words talk about this idea of being worthless. Actually has no worth. The reason that we have worth we believe the only reason human beings have worth is because we're created in the image of God. That's what gives us our worth. There's a scent there's a a thought going around in modern society today. You can just manifest your worth. So I'm just gonna manifest it. I'm gonna think that if I think it's true then it's true.

And you know how hard you believe something I guess does matter but we don't believe that we believe we have worth because we're children of God and we actually have worth Jesus was despised in the words that he was seen as useless. He was seen as worthless and why Because all of a sudden he wasn't offering what people wanted. He wasn't offering what Jesus wanted to do. I do was identify with their Brokenness and then redeem their Brokenness, but sometimes we don't want what Jesus actually offers because when we get in touch with the Brokenness of Jesus, We have to become in touch with our own Brokenness because our Brokenness can't be redeemed and healed until we turn it in and you actually have to identify that Brokenness and hand it to Jesus. It says In this passage, it's by his wounds that we are healed.

There is something about the interplay of his wounds being sacrificed for our wounds so that our wounds could be healed. And so it says that he was despised. He was worthless. He had no tangible value. I was playing basketball this week with a guy. He's mouthy on the court and I'm a little mouthy too, but not as bad as I used to be.

And he goes you're horrible. You're horrible actually said you suck. That's what he said because you suck and I'm like, okay. Thanks. He goes. No, you suck and he said like 50 times like he's just mouthy and so he played for an Olympic team at one point. He's really really good. He's really really good player. I did put up 12 in a game to 24. So that's solid. I'm like dude. I just put up 12 out of 24 points. I don't suck but he's all I'm you're not as good as me. I said dude, I know I'm not as good as you I know who I am as a player and let me tell you what I've always prided myself on because I just don't have tons of talent. All right, I have hustle and I have what we call what players who don't have a lot of talent call intangibles. Now.

What is the intangible you do? The little things one of my favorite players is Luke Walton, right? Not Bill Walton. So you're thinking oh Bill Walton Hall of Famer. You see it? No, not him his kid his kid played for the Lakers a guy that has all this value but he's offering things that aren't shiny. He's diving for the ball. He's doing all those things but in the end he want to chip in the end. Luke help, you know, you wouldn't win without Steve Kerr maybe Jordan doesn't win without.

Their players. Why do I tell you all that because with Jesus did Jesus it was being offered when he was alive on Earth. Was offering a lot of things that were intangibles. Eternality the things that are Beyond living in the tangible world because there's an entire world beyond the tangible that we're living in that is all intangibles. Right? It's all these intangibles, but it's hope it's Joy, it's Grace. It's love it is all these intangibles and this is what Jesus was offering and no one actually wanted it and so they began to despise Jesus because he was setting this super high bar.

But yet he was not giving them all the shiny things that they wanted to say. If this is a message for people that are you know, maybe testing the water if they want to follow Jesus. Understand that when you follow Jesus. Yeah, there's those moments where God steps up and you're like, whoa. God is real. Those are so few and far between for me. I mean like the big like who you know, like just that felt like a miracle. That was great.

There was just so far few and far between the moments that really are is what I'm just having a conversation and all of a sudden God's love penetrates that conversation as I'll tell you with at the end. I had a conversation with someone. We're all of a sudden you see God you just feel his presence you feel that he is there is in these intangibles. I want to say that the intangibles of Jesus even today will change your life, but he offers you more than that and he's gonna offer us more than reality but he was despised the next one. The second one is this he was broken go to verse 4 if you would Surely he took a bar pain interesting. Imagine him Gathering up your pain.

He bore our suffering. Yet we considered him punished by God stricken by him and Afflicted, but he was pierced for our transgressions. He was crushed for our iniquities the punishment that brought us peace was on him and by his wounds we are healed. I truly believe right now that we are living. In a generation that future Generations will look back at and say this is one of the most evil Generations that has ever walked the face of the earth. I thought about that for a week.

I thought am I going to say that? Yes, the answer is because I just did I spent a week thinking about that as I look at what's happening. You can even talk to people who aren't followers of Jesus. And they will tell people who are atheists will tell you that whether they want to use the word evil or whatever. They want to say that the world is broken. They will talk about Ukraine. They will talk about what is happening in Iran. They will talk about what's happening in America. They'll talk about what happening in our cities. I'll talk about what's happening in India. They will talk about all the things that are happening and you will understand whether it's the human trafficking.

All the things that are happening in the world that this is an incredibly dark generation. The question is how is that Darkness going to be erased? Romans 3:23 says yeah, there's people like Genghis Khan and and Hitler and all these other people. Yeah, they're really evil, but the scripture says that there is no one that is righteous. Not even one in Romans. 3:23 says we all have fallen Shard of the short of the glory of God meaning that there was a Brokenness and a woundedness and a darkness in each one of us. It needs to be healed. You see this Brokenness and this evil whether I'm right or not about this current generation or all the evil that's ever been in the world or that will happen from this point on needs to somehow be reconciled.

It needs to somehow be erased. And the question is can we erase it with a bunch of good works on a scale? We just put it up good works and we erase it or does there have to be a greater? Sum? The scripture says it because Jesus was perfect because he died on the cross that every sin that has ever been committed. every sin when he was on the cross and this is why he bled in the garden was and was and was anxious in the garden because every sin and we've all had sin, right we've all done. Even if you don't want to call it sin. We've all done something with we felt bad about Um all of that from every person just imagine just your own personal Darkness.

Every person's ever walked in the Earth was put on Jesus and because he was perfect and because he was fully God and fully human that he could handle the weight of that and as he was crushed for our iniquities that it was paid for and as he died now, why does that matter go to the one? I'm on broken. Why does it matter that he was broken?

This is really key. And this is the entire gospel and a nutshell. since it's impossible for us to identify with the perfect and the Eternal that is who Jesus was. God became broken. He allowed his son to be broken and despised so that he might create a path of reconciliation. Let me just draw this out for you on this side is our Brokenness our herd or woundedness on this side. It's God's Perfection. Here is a Chasm. There is no way that Brokenness even we know this can reach out and touch perfection.

In the Old Testament, if something or someone reached out and tried to touch even a mountain that God's presence was on that person would fall dead according to the scripture in the Jewish tradition. There was no way that we can go to that Chasm there. It just cannot be crossed. The only way for God to redeem to reconcile to actually have relationship with us again was actually for the thing that is perfect to become broken because the broken thing can never find a way to the Perfection. So the only way and this is why Jesus didn't come as you know, the the person who would not be broken the person you would always look at he came as someone who would be broken so that he could identify with us. Once he identified with us. He died. Why is that death? So important?

Because death is the ultimate final destination of all Brokenness anxiety ends with death depression ends with death anger ends with death murder ends with death. Whatever it is, whatever Darkness evil we call it sin in the Bible when someone dies it is the it is the hinge pin that holds everything if you can take victory over death That you take Victory or everything that is upon because death is the Cornerstone upon which all evil rides. That's why Jesus had to die. So Jesus dies on the cross and then when he raises from the dead he takes victory over the death and in so doing pulls the hinge pin and takes victory over every sin as well from that place on he takes Victory Rises up in the Life steps back into heaven on the third day and opens a door for us to say because you did that by faith. I believe you did that and I believe that you died for my sin.

I believe that you died for my darkness and that child What Child Is This is broken child that allows us to be with God. That's the gospel. That's the gospel. That is what the scripture says. He was broken, finally. Said he was despised. He was broken. He salvific verse 6. We all like sheep have gone astray. Each of us has turned to our own way.

Bible says that Romans 3:23 that all our sinned and fall short of the glory of God. I believe there's two people two types of lost people the scripture says everyone's lost but there's two types of lost people. Those that know they're lost and those that don't. I was in Mexico serving. I was at a place called shipwrecks. Biggest diver served I was scared. I'm not a big wave surfer, but I went out because I want to surf trip and the way was Triple overhead, so it's about I don't know 15 18 feet pretty big.

But it was pretty clean. So it was pretty easy to Surf but there was a big rip. I caught a couple waves and I was really happy that I caught a couple and I see this kid and he's on a board. He's on a Riptide. He's going out to the ocean and it was there's a life guard down there. You know I'm saying it's all over his churning and the the sand it actually my wife was actually there the sand had about 10 feet. It washed all this hand away. So it was about 10 or 12 feet in the and you couldn't really climb up to get out of the beach all this the beach was gone. And so you had to like throw your board up and then try to Scamp her up in between the waves coming into doing this it was crazy.

So I go over to him and he'd gone under twice and I went over to him the third time and I said, hey, he's like 15 years old. Do you need help now? He had a surfboard and he pushed his surfboard aside, which is a really interesting analogy because he had a flirtation device. Right but he pushed it aside. He was trying to swim in he'd gone under twice and I said you need help because I don't need help and he goes under I said, I think you need help and he goes under a third time and I doesn't come back up but he's on his leash still and so I go down I get him bring him back up. I put him on his board. I say hold my leash and I bring him in and make it and we finally throw our boards up and we make it up to the top. What was so interesting about that is he was dying. He just didn't know it.

He was drowning and he just didn't know it maybe he didn't know it and there was one reason or another that he wouldn't even hold on to his own board or whatever. It was. But this 15 year old kid. We saved his life ended up taking into his mom. She worked at a restaurant down in Cabo and she gave me free dinner so ready, you know say somebody's life to get a free dinner and a Mexican restaurant.

Reason I say that is because a lot of people just don't even know they're lost. And what Jesus offers is a way back home what Jesus offers is a way back to the father final story. I was in Dublin our church. We went I told you at the beginning of this full circle. We're in Scotland. I had one day off and we had a day off on Thursday before the the ladies arrived and had a great time with our team. We did a ton of missions work over there and I wanted to go do something for myself. I've been wanting to see the cure for a very long time.

So the Cure we're playing in Dublin now. I'm in Scotland. Right and I'm like, I want to go see the Cure and I just want to encourage you. This is a non sector off the message. It's a little tidbit. Okay, it's free and Do something for yourself? That's hard right? It's easy just to spend money on yourself. It's easy. I'll take myself to eat or whatever, but do something that's hard like leaving in like going to Dublin for 24 hours going through security checks getting up at five in the morning. Like it was really hard to go do that, but it's something I've always wanted to do.

So I go there was awesome and I went by myself, which was cool. Like I don't know if you ever going to a concert by yourself. It's me in 15,000, you know, Irish folk, and I'm just yeah, let's go hanging out. I'm on the way back and I'm in an Uber. And guy is from Moldova and he's a immigrant guy been there about seven years and he's playing Christian music in his Uber and I'm like, hey, man you Christian.

and he's like I'm Orthodox I said well, that's Christians Orthodox. And I said, you know, but you follow Jesus. Figuring that out is basically what he said and so he goes what do you do? I say I'm a pastor. He didn't understand it first and then later. He's like you're a pastor he goes. Oh my goodness. I never would have believed her a pastor. I said I get that from a lot of people trust me.

And I was talking to him and I said, you know I said you should think about following Jesus like like find out who he is and actually see if you want to follow him. I said, you know actually people who follow in religion whether it doesn't matter religion it is what you believe does matter, but people who are religious or 28% happier life satisfaction 28% I told him that so we drive he keeps asking me questions. I'm getting out of the car.

I left my gloves and I pulled my gloves I get ready to close my car and he goes hey, wait wait I said, hey what's up? And he goes? Hey, I just want you to know he's accent. He goes. I might be one of those 28% pretty soon. I didn't I was I didn't even know what to say. I was like All right. I just closed the door. You know, it was just this moment with this guy who was like really taking Jesus seriously and wanting to know about who God is the thing is Jesus offers you more than 28% happiness.

Jesus offers you a road to a father who loves you deeply and what I want to say to you is God loves you so much. And what I have found with Jesus is he has been so good to me. I mean, I I feel like I feel like a fourth. I'm a counterfeit most of the time. I mean, there's people in this church that are so Godly like I look at them like you should be the past or not me for some reason. God called me here.

I don't know why sometimes he's been so good to me. Jesus has been so good in the darkest moments of my life in the hardest moments of my life in my deep Brokenness. He has been there to save me and to care for me and to love me and the more I have believed the harder. I have believed. The more really is become there's a scripture that says that Faith becomes a substance faith is an intangible thing. It says it's intangible. But the harder you believe it becomes real the Greek word. There is a substance. It actually becomes real. Jesus is so real for me.

Why am I up here tonight, especially with a bunch of people two who might be you know, you don't go to church. Maybe it's Christmas, maybe your grandma invited you or something like that. I'm here tonight for a reason because I want you to know how good Jesus is. He's so good. He's better than 28% happiness. Jesus is so good.

And we want you to know who he is want to invite you to be a part just come for six weeks even say of in AA go to eight our six AA meetings to find out if it's for you when I encourage you come six Sundays in a row get involved find a community that makes a difference for people love and they hope and they have joy, we follow Jesus here.

If you don't know who he is. We want to help you find him. You can do that just by asking at our next steps table or come up and talk to me afterwards. I'll probably be at the pizza truck are doing something like that. I love you. Let's stand up you would it's time to light our candles.