A Better Story |Part One| Dave Crosby

MESSAGE TRANSCRIPTION: 

Has anyone ever had a day where it just seemed like everything seemed to go wrong? Anybody ever have a day, show hands? Anybody had one of those days? 

I had one of those days a couple of days ago, on Friday. And, you know, Becca was out all week at a women’s leadership retreat. And so I’m like taking care of three teenage boys all by myself. Trying to work and run a church and write messages at the same time. Make sure kids get dropped off at school, picked up from school on time, make the piano lessons, band and marching band, and doctor’s appointments. Just… you know how it is. It’s just crazy. And I finally made it to Friday, and I knew Becca was coming home Friday night. Reinforcements were on the way, and I just wanted to end, you know, the school week as best as I could with a big flourish. And so I said, “Boys, tomorrow morning we’re getting up early. I’m going to make a big breakfast. I’ll take you to school, and we’re going to just go into the weekend really strong.”

Well, I overslept a little bit, and so did the boys. And I got downstairs to put breakfast still together. And I was out of eggs. I was out of bacon. I was out of milk, I was out of time. 

And I said, “Okay, boys, we’re going to make the best of this. Everybody gets in the car. We’re going to McDonald’s.” All right. Mickey D’s on the way, right? So we all jump in the car. And, you know, I got the music going, and we’re, you know, we made it over to, you know, the golden arches. And there was nobody in the drive-thru lane. I was like, “Thank you, Jesus, you know?” And so because, you know, we’re trying to make it to school on time, and I pull up to the deal there and I place the order and silence, like silencio. I mean, it was just like crickets. 

I’m like, “Hello, is anybody there?” You know, have you ever been there? Like, you’re going to be listening to me. 

And finally, this voice comes on, and here’s what they said. “What do you want?” 

I was like, “Hey, good morning, McDonald’s, you know, how are you today?” Apparently, not too well. So I placed my order again, and then all I could hear was (mumbling noises). 

And I’m like, “I’m so sorry. I can’t understand what you’re saying to me. You know, let me just give you the order again.” The thing on the thing wasn’t working, and I couldn’t see what the order was. And so finally, I just pulled around, and I make it up to the window. And there stands the McDonald’s employee who just looked at me, didn’t say a word, not a good morning. Your bill is… Nothing. And I was like, okay. So I just handed them my credit card and handed it back to me. Still not said a thing to me. And I got the food and I said, “Okay, before we pull away.” And there was nobody behind us. “Guys, I have no confidence that this order is right.” 

And, you know, one of my boys is celiac. So I had to make sure I ordered, you know, two pieces of sausage. It’s like a homestyle breakfast, but without the pancakes, you’ll understand that. What does that mean? Don’t put the pancakes on it. Right? Two pieces of sausage, two eggs. So everybody, you know, the one boy, his is right, the other boy’s his is right, And my boy with celiac, he’s got pancakes on his. And, you know, if he eats anything with gluten, it’s terrible. I don’t want to come to school. 

So I grabbed this little thing, and I handed it back to the employees, “Ahem. So sorry. You must have been able to understand me, but I can’t have any pancakes. My kid’s celiac.” She just grabs it out of my hand. And then walks away. 

I’m like, “What the heck is going on? Do I have something on me?” They literally come back like a minute later, right? And just hand me this exact same plate of food. I said, “Oh, let’s try this one more time.” And so I raise my voice because obviously, they can’t hear me. 

As soon as I raised my voice, my boys, sensitive as they are, start to go, “Dad, don’t yell at them that way.” And, you know, they’re starting to get upset. I was like, “I’m not yelling. I’m just they can’t hear me.” I don’t want Will to get sick. And I’m trying to protect my kids, and I’m frustrated, right? And I’m late, and I’m tired, and I miss my wife. And I’m just like, “please!” 

I was like, “please, just take the pancakes and get me another one. Pancakes, if they touch it’s terrible. You got to… just all I want to be the sausage, two eggs, that’s all!” 

They grabbed it out of my hand, “You just got to pull up and blah, blah.”

I’m like, “There’s no one behind me. There’s no one here but me and you.” My boys are now, two of them are crying, and they’re all upset, thinking I’m yelling at this person. I’m upset. My kids get to go to school without any food. And I just… I just pulled away. I mean, just. And then I felt terrible. I felt like a failure as a father. I felt like a failure as a pastor. I’m like, “oh, God, what if this person goes to church and they think I just yelled at them.” Which has happened, by the way, more than once, and not the yelling part, but the people that wait. You know, it’s just a small town, okay? It’s a small town. 

Have you ever just had one of those bad days where it just seemed like everything seemed to go wrong? Like you’re late for a meeting, you jump out of the car, and your car is on empty, right? Or maybe you have to send a really important document via email, but, you know, your Wi-Fi is down. Or maybe like you rather just sleep in instead of going to church because the sermons are boring and some of the people there don’t even like you, and you’re not sure you even like some of them, but you decide to get up and go anyway because you’re the pastor and… Was that too much information? 

Friends, we’ve all had bad days like that, haven’t we? We’ve all been there when we feel frustrated and anxious or irritated or depressed. And, you know, sometimes we just go through times. Are we just we’re just (growls) or we doubt our faith. We worry about maybe a family member or something’s going on at work. And, you know, you just wonder in those seasons like, “man, is there anybody up there? Is there anybody listening to my prayers?” 

Like when, you know, sometimes you have a bad day it’s just very mundane stuff. But other times, it can be like monumental stuff, like when your teenager tells you they hate you or when your spouse says, “I think it’s over.” Or when the doctor sits down on the bed and says, “I’m so sorry. There’s nothing more we can do.”

 The reality, friends, is we all need a better story because we all go through bad days. And I believe that Jesus knows this, and I believe that Jesus is willing and able to write a better story for your life whenever you are willing to give him the pen. 

So over the next few weekends, here’s what I want to do. I want us to look at a few scenes from Scripture that give us an eyewitness account of the life of Jesus. And these words were written by a man named John, and his book is oftentimes referred to as the Gospel of John. And I feel this is a really important book, if you’re not familiar with it, for you to begin to get familiar with it. Because when you read it, you’re reading it from an eyewitness account, somebody who lived, walked, and journeyed with Jesus. Because also when, when regardless of where you might be on your journey of faith, it would be a really good book for you to begin to read and familiarize yourself with. Because when John writes this book, he actually tells us exactly why he writes it. He gives us the purpose. And it says this in John Chapter 20. It says in verses 30 and 31, “Here’s where. Here’s why I wrote this book.” John says, “Jesus performed many other signs in the presence of his disciples. So he did a lot of that, a lot of miracles which are not recorded in this book.” So I didn’t write it all down for you. “But these that are written that you the written that you make what’s word believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have say with me life in his name.”

So John is saying to you, “if you’re a doubter today, I’ve written down these accounts. Eyewitness tell stories of what I saw Jesus do, signs and wonders and miracles and who he was and how you interact with people so that when you read it, you may move from doubt to belief.”

 For the maybe cynic or those that are skeptical today with organized religion and church. John says, “I’ve written this down so that when you read this, you may. Have life. In Jesus name.” 

You know, Jesus himself said “The enemy of your soul has come to rob, steal, kill and destroy. But Jesus said, I have come.” John 10:10, “that you might have life, life to the full.” 

Jesus wants you to have life. And John wrote this book so that you could believe in him and experience life. Here’s what I believe, whoever finds God finds life. Whoever finds God finds life. God wants to speak life into your heart and to your soul, to the He wants you to have life, life to the full. In other words, Jesus is saying, “I have come. So that I can write a better story for your life.”

Next weekend, I want to talk to you about how he can write a better story, even when you’re disappointed in life. And we’ve all been there, right? We want to talk about how he can write a better story, even when you’re going through disappointments in life, even disappointed with God, even when you’re experiencing maybe some insomnia and you’re not sleeping really well. We’ve all been there, where we’re laying in bed and just staring at the ceiling, having those ceiling staring, you know, sessions to the wee hours of the morning. Those times, we were so preoccupied with something, it just keeps us up at night. And I want to talk about that next weekend. 

But today, I want to kick off this series “A Better Story” with a theme, as we study together, this book of John, that comes from John Chapter Two. And it’s a story about what to do when something in your life goes wrong. And the setting for this story is a wedding. How many of you have been to a wedding? Right. Lots of us. Almost all of us have been to a wedding. I performed hundreds of weddings over 30 years of ministry. You’re thinking 30 years? Yeah. I started when I was ten years old. I did my professor… do the math. But here’s what I know. Here’s what I learned after doing and being part of a lot, a lot, of weddings. At weddings, sometimes things can and will go wrong. If you don’t believe me. I brought a few clips to show you how things went wrong at a wedding. Let’s watch it together. 

(Reacting to video) Oh, no. Oh, no. Oh. Oh, no. That wedding is on fire. Oh. Oh. Oh. Oh. Hey. Terrible. Oh, no. Oh, no. That’s not going to. Oh. No. No. Oh. Oh. What is going on? Oh. Oh. Oh, cool. 

Things can and do go wrong at weddings. So here’s the scene from a wedding in John Chapter two. Let’s look at it together. It says “The next day there was a wedding celebration in the village of Cana.” So this is near where Jesus grew up. That’s close to the town of Nazareth, and it was in Galilee. So Jesus’s mother, Mary, she was there. And Jesus and his disciples, they were also invited to the celebration. So there’s this wedding. Jesus is there. His mother, Mary is there. The disciples are there. And we know it was in Cana where he grew up, and it says “the next day…” Now, from the context of John chapter two, we can know that this day that the wedding took place “the next day” was actually on a Tuesday. So that seems like a really weird day to get married, right? Like who gets married on a Tuesday? Well, back in those days, a Jewish people believed that Tuesday was a really special day, like the best day to get married. And here’s why. Because if you go back to Genesis and the creation account, when God was making the the world the universe in seven days. Every day, it says after he created for that day, God said it was good. But on the third day of creation, which was a Tuesday, God said after creating the, you know, the seas and the vegetation and all the stuff, he said it was good twice. It’s the only time in the creation narrative that God said it was good twice, and it was on a Tuesday. So many Jews back then believed that Tuesday is a great day to get married because Tuesday is a double blessed day. 

All right. So it’s a Tuesday. Everybody’s there. And this is what happens. Next verse… maybe. It says, “the wine supply ran out during the festivities. So Jesus’ mother told him they have no more wine.”

So here’s the deal. On the first day of the wedding… and by the way, a wedding back then, it was a celebration. It took a whole week. They would take the bridal shower and the bachelor party and the wedding and then the wedding reception, and it would happen over the course of an entire week. So everybody’s there. All the family, all the extended family, Jesus, Mother, Mary, and the disciples. And it says on the first day of the wedding. They ran out of wine. Not good, right? On the first day of a weeklong celebration, they ran out of wine. 

And while, you know, this would be socially awkward, socially embarrassing for the host. Right? It’s still like not the end of the world. Right? It’s not the end of the world. But they did experience some social embarrassment from running out of the wine. And it’s really interesting to me that, of all the miracles that Jesus performed during the course of his three-year ministry, this one is the first one when he turns water into wine. Just let that sink in a little bit. I mean, of all the other miracles that Jesus did, that John writes down for us, some of them that he even left out. I mean, like, this isn’t like a big showstopper, like walking on water, right? This isn’t like, you know, making the blind to see, the deaf to hear, the lame to walk. I mean, this is not him standing at the grave of Lazarus saying “Lazarus come forth” and resurrecting him from the dead. This isn’t him on the boat with the disciples in the middle of the storm and getting up and speaking to the winds and the waves and saying, “Peace be still,” and the sea becomes like glass. 

This is like he’s at a wedding, and they run out of wine. This is… of all the miracles that he did, this is, like, not the most spectacular. It’s just somebody running out of wine at a wedding reception. There’s no big deal when you really think about it. But what does this miracle tell us about Jesus? 

Here’s what it tells me. Jesus cares. About the little stuff. And your life. And my life. Who cares? I don’t know why it is that we oftentimes don’t bring the little stuff to Jesus. His mother did. Sometimes we feel like he only cares about the big stuff. But I want you to know Jesus cares about the little stuff too. 

So I would ask you today what’s too little that you can’t bring it to Jesus? What’s too small in your life that you can’t come to Jesus with it? Well, the story goes on. Oh, well, actually, it says this in the book of Philippians says, “do not be anxious about anything.” But in what? “Everything.” The big stuff and the little stuff to. “In everything by prayer petition. Present your request to God. I want you to know Jesus.” Aren’t you thankful Jesus cares? Come on. About the little stuff too. 

And then it says, and I love how Mary, his mother brings this to Jesus’ attention. As the story goes on in verse three, she says this “The wine supply ran out during the festivities. So Jesus, his mother told him, they have no more wine.” Hey, Jesus, son, they have no more wine. And notice she doesn’t say, “And by the way, son, here’s what you need to do about it.” Because I don’t know about you, that’s what I do. “Oh, and God, here’s the problem. And you got, like, three different options I came up with of how you can fix it.” Anybody else talk to God like that or am I  the only one? “You can change him, you can change her. You can do this. You can do that.”

But she doesn’t do that! She doesn’t come with a list of solutions or ideas. She just brings the problem to Jesus. “Jesus, they have no more wine. I mean, here’s the need Jesus. You can do with it whatever you want to do. I trust you with it, Jesus.”

 You know what I wonder today for you in your life, maybe where you are today. What is your. No more wine. Statement in your life today. What have you run out of in your life today? What are you running out of in your life today? What would it be for you? 

Maybe it would be. “Hey, Jesus. There’s just no more patience. Dealing with him, dealing with her, dealing with this or that. I’ve had it. There’s no more patience.” Or maybe for you today, it would be. “There’s there’s just no more love. In this marriage.” Or maybe it would be for you today. “Jesus. There’s just no more joy. Or Jesus. I’ve been fighting this addiction for so many years. Jesus, there’s just no more strength. To fight another day.” I don’t know what you’re no more today is, but I do know this. Jesus wants to write a better story in your life today. 

And here’s here’s the key, I think that Mary teaches us. And if you want to write this down, you can write it down, “When things go wrong, go to Jesus.” No matter how big, no matter how small, no matter how seemingly insignificant. “When things go wrong, go to Jesus.” I mean, that’s what Mary did. That’s what you and I should do. And I think this first miracle that Jesus performed is. Jesus is saying to us, “Listen, you don’t have to be in this huge, like, big life and death situation or scenario just to get my attention.” I think Jesus is saying to you today and to me, “That I care about everything that’s going on in your life. I care about all the details that are going on in your life, no matter how big or small.” 

Jesus cares. So, Mary, she goes to Jesus and she says, “Hey, Jesus, there’s no more wine.” And Jesus then says this in response in verse four, “Dear woman. That’s not our problem.” Jesus replied, “My time has not yet come.” You know, it’s kind of a strange reply from Jesus, isn’t it? Like, “You know, Mary, why are you bothering me with this sort of in our wedding? It’s not even our party. And by the way, my time has not even come.”  

But you have to remember something about Mary 30 years prior to this experience. She turns up pregnant, as a virgin. And an angel Lord comes to her and says, “Listen, you’ve conceived this child by the power of the Holy Spirit, and the child that is growing with inside of you will be the Son of Man, the Savior of the Earth, and his name shall be called Jesus.” Well, first, she just couldn’t wrap your head around all of that. And she didn’t believe. But then she comes to understand that with God nothing is impossible. And so for 30 years, Mary has been waiting for that promise to be fulfilled in her lifetime. For 30 years, she’s waiting. Is this the time? Is this the time? Maybe back when, you know, he was a kid and he scored the winning touchdown at the Friday Night Football game. Is this the time, Jesus? Or maybe it was when, remember, she and her husband Joseph lost him. They forgot him back at the temple for three days. He thought you were a bad parent. You know, this is the mother, Mary! They go back to the temple and they find him. And she says and he says, “Where else do you think I’d be doing my father’s business?” And to which I think she must have been thinking, is this the time for the promise to be fulfilled, for Jesus to step up? Or maybe it was when Joseph, her husband, died. Some point. She thought maybe this is the time where Jesus will step up and this promise will be fulfilled. Or maybe Jesus is like, “Uou know, Mom, come on. It’s not my party. It’s not your party. I don’t want to intrude. I don’t want to just be a big old Buttinski. You know, I don’t want to, you know. Let’s just. Come on. Let’s just hang back.”

But if you ask me what I believe is really going on here. I think it’s most likely. When Jesus says my time has not yet come, he acknowledges that if he would perform a public miracle like this, it would put him on a collision course with the cross. He knew that if he would perform this miracle, it would even speed things up for his own crucifixion. But yet, I still love how Mary just seems so confident that Jesus is going to do something. And in the next verses says this, “But his mother told the servants, Hey, just do whatever he tells you.” Can you say that with me? “Just do whatever he..” Come on. Say it like you believe it. “Just do whatever he tells you.” And I just love that. Just do it! 

Mary turned to the servants that were there, working the celebration in the party, and she just simply says after. He’s like, “my time having it come and let’s not burden.” She just, “Look.” She’s “Okay. Jesus. Okay. Hey, guys. Just do whatever he tells you to do.” 

The story goes on to verse six starting to get really good. “Standing nearby, there were six stone water jars used for Jewish ceremonial washing. Each could hold 20 to 30 gallons.” So it was customary in a Jewish home near the entrance that you’d have these, you know, depending on the size of your home, the size of the party, these these massive water jars each that would weigh about 50 lbs empty and they would hold water so that as the guests would come, they’d wash their guests feet. And then as they would sit down to enjoy a meal together, they would wash their hands before they began to eat, and then they would also wash their hands in between each course that was served during the meal. 

So you have these six stone water jars there and the story goes on and it says this in verse seven, Jesus told the servants, “Fill the jars with water.” Now, as I said, you’ve got these six massive, you know, water jars each 50 lbs. You put 20 to 30 gallons of water. They would weigh about 250 to 300 lbs. each. And Jesus looks through the to those servants working the party and he says, “I want you to take these jars and I want you to fill them up with water.” Could you just imagine being, you know, those servants? Like, what is Jesus thinking? What in the world, you know, is there? They’re carrying these heavy jars to whatever the closest water supply is a well, outback or something like that. And then they’re thinking, you know what in the world? What is Jesus thinking? What good is this going to do? Why are we doing this? 

Well, the story goes on. It says this in verse eight. The rest of seven and eight says, “When the jars had been filled, he said, Now dip some out, take it to the master ceremony. So the servants followed his instructions.” I mean, come on, guys. This makes no sense at all. But they were just doing whatever Jesus asked them to do. You know, they must have been thinking, “You know. You know, this is just this is just crazy. We’re going to dip this water out of this jar, and we’ve got to give it to the master of ceremonies. I mean, it’s going to taste awful.” It’s going to be like that mad dog you used to drink back in college for $9.99. You all got that, didn’t you? Man, I thought I was in the right church anyway. And they must have been thinking this is. This is going to be so embarrassing. This is going to taste, like terrible. 

But friends the best advice that I think I could give you to do today. Is this? That when things go wrong, go to Jesus and just do. Whatever he asked you to do. Even if it doesn’t make sense. Even if you don’t see an immediate resolve. Even if it just takes a little faith. Even if it takes you to take a little bit of a risk. Even if there is like, it just seems absolutely crazy. When things go wrong, go to Jesus. I mean, if you really want to see Jesus work and move in your life, your marriage, your family, your relationships and in work and whatever’s going on in your future, when something goes wrong, just go to Jesus and just do whatever He asks you to do. 

You know what? If that’s filling a heavy jars with water, just do it. And if that’s staying faithful in a broken marriage, come on, do it. If that’s forgiving someone so that you can be set free, even though they’ve hurt you, just do it. If that’s getting up and going to work in a really difficult work environment, just do it. I mean, if that’s getting into a small group and beginning to, you know, grow in your faith and make some new friends, just do it. Listen, if you want to see Jesus, do something special in your life, when everything goes wrong, go to Jesus and do whatever He asks you to do. You know, if that’s investing in your spiritual journey right now, regardless of where you might be in your faith, just do it. If that’s stepping into generosity and beginning to trust God with your resources, do it. If that’s staying patient while you’re waiting for, you know, the man or the woman of your dreams, then wait patiently and while you’re waiting, work on becoming the man or the woman that God has called you to be. Don’t get weary and well doing. Don’t quit. Don’t give up. Just do whatever Jesus asked you to do. Because with Jesus, he can write a better story. Jesus wants to write a better story in your life. 

So the service just did what Jesus asked them to do, and they go and fill these water jars and they take them, you know, maybe somewhat reluctantly, to the master of ceremonies. You know, like this Somalia. The one in charge of everything to make sure everything looks right, smells right, tastes right. And they dip some of the water in the jar into a glass and they give it to the master of ceremonies. 

And this is what happens, “When the master of ceremonies tasted the water that was now wine,” Not knowing where it had come from, though, of course, the servants knew. “He called the bridegroom over. Listen to this. Go to the next one. A host always serves the best wine first, he said. Then when everyone has had a lot to drink, he brings out the less expensive wine. But you have kept the best until now.” Oh, in that good. Little did the guests know. Little did the servants know. Little did the host know. Little did the master of ceremonies know that when they ran out of wine that day, they thought the party was over. But the best was still yet to come. 

And friends, this is a principle for your life that when God is trying to write a better story in your life, when you look at your life, where you look at your current circumstances, what you need to understand is that with Jesus, the best is always yet to come. Come on, if you’re going to give him praise, you better do better than that. That was Jesus. The best is always yet to come. And this principle is all throughout Scripture that the best is yet to come. My Bible says in the Book of Psalms, the weeping may endure for a night. Joy cometh in the morning. The best is yet to come with Jesus. My Bible says that I know the plans that I have for you. Says the Lord plans not to hurt or to harm you. A plan to give you hope for a future. The best is yet to come. My Bible says that those who go out sowing with weeping will return. Come on with joy in their heart, because the best is yet to come. The Bible says, for our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us and eternal glory that far outweighs them all. Come on. The best is yet to come with Jesus!

 Let’s wrap it up as the band comes with this final verse says this here in verse 11, this miraculous sign it came in Galilee was the first time Jesus revealed his glory. It’s a first miracle that He performed and he never did miracles to show off. He did miracles to prove, to validate, to authenticate who he was. He was no ordinary man. He thought he was God in the form of a man. Jesus revealed his glory and his disciples. What believed in him. See Jesus when he performs this miracle hears. And yeah, it wasn’t the biggest showstopper. I mean, it was pretty cool. Now, some of you might think, do it again, Lord. But… It wasn’t the most spectacular of all the miracles that he performed. And here’s why I believe he started with this, because he knew he needed to deepen the devotion of his disciples to believe in him before he would take his message and his miracles to the masses. He needed a foundation of people around him that truly understood who he really was, that would be there for him to strengthen and encourage and and come around him and help him fulfill the mission that the father had put him on. And it says they believed in him. 

You know, I just want you to know today, no matter what’s going on in your life, maybe everything seems to be going wrong. Here’s what I want you to know today. From the bottom of my heart. God is faithful. And when everything goes wrong, just go to Jesus and just do whatever he says. Because, listen, God is faithful. 

You know, I love that song we just sang earlier. “Your promise still stands great is your faithfulness. I’m still in your hands. This is my confidence. You’ve never failed me yet.” You know, that song is just kind of a newer version of an old song we used to sing when I was growing up in church called “Great is Thy Faithfulness.” If I ever hear that song? 

You know, when you when you’re at a church service where they sing Great is Thy Faithfulness. You know, you can look around the room, and I do that as a pastor and. I want to see who’s really worshiping and who’s not. No, no, no, that’s not true. I’ll look around the room just to kind of feel read the room. What’s the Holy Spirit doing? And sometimes when you sing Great is Thy Faithfulness. You see some kids kind of just standing there picking their nose, whatever, you know, you’ll see some younger teenagers or young adults, you know, they’re just kind of mouthing the words. It’s just another song to them. You’ll look around the room, you’ll see some some people with a little bit of tread on their tires of life. Some people who’ve been through some stuff. You’ll look around the room. As they sing Great is Thy Faithfulness. And you’ll look at them. And you will see something you will not soon forget. You’ll see some white haired folk, some no haired folk. With their hands up towards heaven. Singing Great is Thy Faithfulness, “All I have needed thy hand to hath provided. Great is Thy Faithfulness Lord unto Thee.” See, because they’re singing from a perspective where they can look back over their life and on days where everything went wrong and they didn’t realize how they were going to make it through that day or how they were going to make it through that season. But they’re they are still standing with hands raised up and acknowledging that with God, he’s a faithful God, that he hasn’t failed us yet. Never will he fail us. Yeah, he’s incapable of failing his people, for he is faithful to a thousand generations, Great is thy Faithfulness. And some of you, before you leave, you need to spend a little time remembering. That the God you service is faithful. 

Some of you today, I understand you’re just maybe exploring some matters of faith and you’re just kind of kicking the tires on the whole church and Jesus thing. And I get it, and I’m just really glad you’re here. But you might be skeptical about this Jesus and whether you believe him or not. And I understand that. So I want to finish where we started. 

The exact purpose of why, John, gave us an eyewitness account. And he wrote these things down. He said, “Jesus before many other signs in the presence of His disciples, which are not recorded in this book. But these are written that you may believe. But Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God. And that by believing you may have life. In his name.”

For those of you that are just exploring your spiritual journey, I’ve got a little bit of a homework assignment that I’d like to give to you today. This week I’m going to ask you to download or get your hands on a readable version of the Bible. I read the Navy and the New Living Translation, the New International Version. I preach a lot from those two versions, and I would just encourage you to get your hands on a Bible that you can read. And beginning this week pick up and read John’s eyewitness account. You say, Well, how much should I read every day? I don’t know. 5 minutes. 10 minutes? A chapter a day? I don’t know. But begin to familiarize yourself with this book and Jesus and read it and see what happens. My prediction is that over time, you two will come to believe in Jesus and experience life in his name. 

That’s my prayer for you. Let’s pray together with you about your head. 

You know, friends, there’s a reason that Jesus went to the cross and died 2000 years ago. And the reason is that Jesus wanted you to have a better story. Friends, Jesus has a better story for you. Whether you’re in charge of drinks at a wedding or a classroom of kids at work or. Some two year old at home or business that you’re growing. You can continue to write your own story or you can surrender your life to Jesus and let him write a better story. You can go to Jesus when things go wrong and just do whatever He asks you to do. And if that’s you today, I want to pray for you. I wonder who wants. Today to surrender their life to Jesus. To have your past paid for in full, so that you can move into a better story in the future if that’s you today. With every eye closed, I’m going to ask you. Just to boldly throw up your hands towards heaven. Just throw up one hand right now. I want to pray for you as you surrender your life to Christ today, the forgiveness of your sins so he can write a better story. Hands going up all over this place. 

Thank you God for what you’re doing. So many lives being changed right now. I see your Henry here in the front as well. God bless you. God bless you. God bless you. God bless you, sir. I want to pray for you, and I want to bless you. You can put your hand down. God, I just thank you for those that have lifted their hands and their hearts to you today. What a day. And if that’s you that lifted your hand, would you just silently pray this in your heart? 

You could say something like this. “Jesus. I ask you today to take the pain of my life. And write a better story. I put my faith in you. I choose to follow you. To obey you. You died for me, now I want to live for you.”

For everyone else in the room. “Jesus. I just thank you that we can run to you when things go wrong. Father. I thank you for our friends that are here today. I thank you for the new friends that we’re going to meet. I thank you for those that are going to begin to open up the Book of John. I pray that you would speak to them this week. Today we declare that you. Are a faithful God. That Great is Thy Faithfulness. I pray to God that you would keep your hands on this series, on our lives and on the life of our church. And all God’s people said, Amen.” Amen. Can we celebrate? Come on. What God has done even.