Pastor Derek Berry "The Cross Changes Everything"- Sermon 4 (3/22/2026)

"The Cross Changes My Future" Week 4 of the series "The Cross Changes Everything." In times of uncertainty and anxiety about the future, Jesus offers profound comfort through His words in John 14:1: "Let not your heart be troubled." While we cannot know what tomorrow holds, we can trust the One who holds tomorrow. The cross provides the only way to a secure eternal future through Jesus, who declared Himself as the way, the truth, and the life. Heaven is not just an idea but a prepared place that Jesus is personally preparing for those who trust in Him. Instead of being pulled apart by worry and fear, we can bring our concerns to God in prayer and find peace that surpasses understanding.

Transcript

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Amen.

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Amen. Praise the Lord. Good singing. Thankful for the music time as we worship the Lord. Now I want to look a little bit deeper as we step one week closer to Easter. You know, the cross changes everything. We've been looking at that week by week, seeing how the cross has changed everything. We're walking together and seeing how we've been transformed in different ways from what Jesus did on the cross. You know, the first week as we opened this time together, we looked about how the cross changed my identity. Because of everything that Jesus did on the cross, the death, burial, and resurrection. Because of Jesus, we're not defined by our past or our failures or what others say about us, but why? Because Jesus Christ has given me a new identity. He's created me new. Then we saw the week after that about how the cross changed my past. And God didn't just forgive me, he removed my sins as far as the East is from the West. Last week we saw how the cross changed my struggles. The cross didn't just forgive us, but it actually broke the power of sin so that you and I can walk in freedom each and every day. And today I want to look at something just as powerful. And I'm going to look in John chapter number 14 because yes, the cross changed my past, and the cross changed my present, but it also changes our future. Because of what Jesus did, our future is forever changed. And when we look at John chapter number 14, we're going to look at this with the eyes of understanding fully of what the disciples were going through at the moment that Jesus stopped and gave them these verses. We're going to compare that to what we're going through in our life and the things that we see. But Jesus began to talk in John chapter number 14, verse number one about our future. And the disciples, as they were hearing this from Jesus, were afraid. They were nervous about the future. They were uncertain about what was to come. There was all kinds of uncertainty in and around them because of the events that had just taken place of the last few chapters that we know in chapters 12 and chapter number 13. And so with them being afraid, with them being nervous, with them being worried, with them being uncertain about what was going to come to the future in the days and weeks ahead, they almost felt like their world was falling apart to some degree. And there's times in our life where we feel as if our world's sort of falling apart. We're not sure tomorrow and the next week and what's going to come from this or that, uncertainties in this world. But notice because of their uncertainty in John chapter 14 and verse number one, Jesus said to them, Let not your heart be troubled. He says, Let not your heart be troubled. That's what he began, John chapter 14 with. But I want to encourage you to not let your heart be agitated, not let your heart be stirred up, not let your heart be inwardly a level of commotion. I want you not to worry. So he says, Jesus says, let not your heart be troubled. He says, You believe in God, believe also in me. Jesus goes on in verse 2, in my father's house are many mansions. If it were not so, I would have told you. And then he makes it personal here in verse number two. I, Jesus is speaking, I go to prepare a place for you. He's talking to them, he's talking to believers, talking to us. I'm going to prepare a place for you. And then he follows up in verse 3, and if I go and prepare a place for you, still personal, I, Jesus, will come again and receive you personal here to myself. And where I go, there you may also. Verse 4, Jesus says, And where I go, you know, and the way you know. And Thomas, who is asking any question that you and I may even ask, if we've heard this, not sure of where Jesus is about to go, asks this question, Lord, um, we do not know where you are going, and how can we know the way? I appreciate you letting me know I can go, but I'm not sure where you're going, essentially, is what Thomas is saying. And Jesus follows up verse number six with a well-known verse, a verse that's quoted and a verse that's known by many. Jesus responded, verse number six, I, Jesus said, I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. That was Jesus' response back to Thomas as he's trying to figure all of this out. I was reading a passage, a story in this uh article, and it made sense to me, and I hope that it makes sense to you. It sort of went with where we're going today. It was talking about a family from years ago who was getting ready to move across the country. They were packing their items, and the parents were excited about a new future, a new opportunity, a new adventure that they were going to be able to uh have as a family. But the kids were nervous, understandably so. The kids were uncertain about this move across the country, and these kids began to ask the mom and dad some questions. Simple questions that you and I might even think of and ask, if that was us, where are we gonna live? Where are we moving to? Uh can I where am I gonna have friends? Am I ever gonna see my friends again? Am I gonna like my new school? Am I gonna like my new teacher? They went on to ask, um, what if something goes wrong? What'll I do? Ask all kinds of questions. And finally, the mom and dad sat down the kids and had a simple, but I believe powerful conversation with them and said something like this to the parents, to the kids, if you you don't have to know everything about where we're going. You don't have to know everything about the future of where we're going. You just need to know that we, as your mom and dad, will be there with you. And instantly those kids settle down a little bit because their future felt a little different knowing that they were not going to be alone, but they were gonna have their parents right there with them. Now, the truth of the matter is most of us in this room, if we began to think too deep into the future, we might get a little anxious or worried or nervous. We may have health concerns. There may be something in the future that you're about to have to go, you know, a test or whatever. There's some of us that are perfectly healthy, but yet we actually worry that we might get sick. And what's gonna happen if this happens and what's gonna happen with that? There could be some in the room today that have some level of uncertain financial pressures that they feel and that they're unsure of what's gonna happen in the future. There's some of us in the house today that have family struggles of worry of what this and what that is, what happens this way and that way, and there's struggles that cause us to be overwhelmed and even unsure and somewhat nervous. There could be some in the house today that have a level of uncertainty with the future, the unknown of the future and what the future holds. Some of us are even nervous about what happens after this life. I get questions like that all the time. Preacher, what is heaven like? And I can show you from scripture of some things that it's about, and but I don't know. But I know uh that Jesus will be there. I'm excited about that, but I don't know what it'll look like. What what happens after life? If I'm gonna know you, are you gonna know me? I'd like to hope so. I don't know. And those little elements get asked, and that may be something in your heart that you're thinking, man, I'm so concerned about death and what happens after life. And I believe, to be honest with you, these disciples were sort of at that element, at that moment, in John 14, when John, when when when Jesus sits them down in verse number one and says, Let not your heart be troubled. There was some uncertainty, there was some anguish. You got to understand the that Jesus, uh, his disciples are troubled because he had essentially have told them recently that he was not gonna be around much longer. And you gotta think for years they have followed Jesus around, ministering with him and performing miracles and and leading people and doing all these wonderful things. And now Jesus is telling them he's not gonna be around much longer. I'm sure there's some level of uh uncomfort in their heart. They were afraid. They did not understand fully what tomorrow was going to hold. And so I think Jesus used this opportunity to kind of pause and maybe sit down for a moment and began to verbalize this to them. Let not your heart be troubled. He's telling them not to be worried or concerned. He's letting them know that, yes, you may not know everything about tomorrow, but I don't want you to worry about it. Let's think about this just a little bit deeper. This moments before or day before the crucifixion was to take place, this conversation is happening. He's reiterating disciples, followers, don't let your heart be troubled. Don't let it be agitated, don't let it be stirred up. You know, you think about in the chapter before, the one that we're in, chapter 14, it was in chapter 13 that Jesus had told them that there was a traitor amongst them. Now you think about these men that had gathered together, imagine how tight they were, going from town to town, doing ministry. They had every meal together. They made their tents and camped out together, they spent hours upon hours together. And now when Jesus said, Hey, we've got a traitor amongst us, and then he names Judas, imagine just under certainty, who else might be a traitor amongst us? There's some level of discomfort amongst this group. You also remember in John chapter number uh 13, Jesus warned Peter that he was going to deny him three times. So Peter, a follower of Christ, who was very self-confident, that never thought that he would ever, ever deny Jesus. Actually, Peter thought that he was going to die with Jesus and thought that maybe he might die for Jesus to some degree, is now being told that you will deny me three times. And they named Judas as a traitor. Imagine the uncertainty that these guys felt. Peter was super self-confident. You know, he thought, man, I've thought for sure I'll follow Jesus to the end. And what we learn is that Peter didn't really know his own heart, nor do we really know ours. Listen, I never intend to sin. I never intend to fall short. Every day I wake up with the best of intentions to serve the Lord with all my might, to lead somebody to Jesus, to make a great example for others to want to be like, to try to encourage somebody through the word of God. And there's days that I have fallen short, and I woke up not anticipating that. Listen to me, Peter was self-confident, thought that he would be with Jesus to the end. Never in a million years thought that he would fall and fail. And what happened? He denied him three times, just like Jesus predicted that he would. What does that mean for you and I? The cross changes my future. What's Jesus talking about? Jesus was preparing his disciples for the cross. He was getting them mentally and spiritually ready for what was about to take place. He understood the traitor, he understood the denial, he understood the uncertainty in their mind, and he did not want them to fall apart when they felt like their world was falling apart. He knew that it would overwhelm them. And that this for a moment, he might thought that they were thinking that the cross was going to be the end. So he follows this up with John 14, 1, let not your heart be troubled. He wanted them to realize that when he went to the cross for all of us, that that wasn't the end. That was the beginning. He says in verse number one, let not your heart be troubled. He did not want them to worry. He said, Man, the cross is the future, not the end. I will raise on the third day. That was what he was trying to get them to get. The cross changes our future. I want to show you three things this morning. Cross is at the end. It's the beginning, okay, of the future. Here's the first thing that I want to show you right here in verse number one. Because of the cross, we can trust God with tomorrow. Because of the cross, I can trust him. The disciples did not know the next day. There was uncertainty. There was fear. There was worry. And to be honest with you, I don't know tomorrow either. I don't know what the tomorrow holds for me. There could be anything could happen. I don't know, but I know who holds it. You understand what I'm saying? I don't know tomorrow, but I know who holds tomorrow. I love the fact in verse number one that Jesus acknowledged that they had uh troubled hearts. So when he starts off in verse number one and says, Let not your heart be troubled. You believe in God, believe also in me. He started off by letting them know that he knew that they had trouble in their heart, worry, uncertainty, nervousness within their heart. See, trouble comes by living in a broken world. Now, what I would have loved for the scriptures to say was, the second you get saved, there's no more troubles. I would love that, would y'all? Yeah, you understand? I would appreciate it if that would have been the case, but guess what it wasn't? He didn't say the second you get saved, that all your troubles escape. He didn't say that, man, the moment that you give your life to me, there's no worries and there's no fear and there's no anxiety and there's no this and there's no no, he never said that. What he did was in verse number one, right off the bat, let them know that he knew that they had trouble in their heart. So when Jesus said, Let not your heart be troubled, he never said, You will never feel troubled. Ultimately, what he is saying in verse number one, let not your heart be troubled, he is saying, Don't let your heart stay there. Don't let your heart stay troubled. Now, I appreciate him saying that, but it seems a little more difficult than just that. We've all been unglued and torn up from uncertain news or worry. But what I'm wanting you to realize is that everyone experiences moments like that. You're not alone. Everybody has faced some level of uncertainty in their hearts. Believers, you and I do not have to face it alone. Now, there may be times in your life where you feel as if there's nobody can relate to you. You're all alone, you're all by yourself, nobody cares. We've all had those moments, even by we have friends or whatever, we still feel like we're lonely. Listen to me, Jesus shows us and tells us that he sticketh closer than a brother. He will not leave thee nor forsake thee. That's what the scriptures tell us. And he's reiterating that to the disciples here in verse number one. But I can't help but to remember the Paul's writings to the church at Philippi when he says in Philippians 4, verse 6 and verse number 7, he says, uh, be anxious for nothing. Be anxious for nothing, but in everything, by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving, let your request be made known. That's what he says. Then in verse number seven, and the peace of God, which passes all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus. Now, that way that starts, it reminds me, it's almost very similar. Jesus says, Don't let your heart be troubled. Paul says, be anxious for nothing. What does that word anxious mean? The word anxious that Paul used right here in verse number six is this to be pulled in different directions. To be pulled in different directions. You ever tried to pull something in different directions to see what happened? Kids? No? Okay, I love it, man. Me and the dog will have a wrestling match, and she has her toy, and I'm pulling, and what happens? Eventually, something tears. I've seen my kids fight over a stuffed animal. Pull, pull, pull. Rips it apart. Oh, I hate, we gotta throw another one away. I hate that, you know? They got 35 more before that came from. Keep pulling them apart. We've all seen something get torn apart because of why it's pulled in the opposite direction. So when I realize the word anxious in verse number six, the definition of that is to be pulled in different directions. What I realize when I study these verses is that our hope pulls us in one direction. Our fear pulls us in the opposite direction. And when that happens, essentially you and I are pulled apart from within. And when my fear overwhelms me, I'm pulled this way. But my reading the scripture and I have hope in Jesus and I'm pulled that way, and I feel as if inside of me is getting pulled apart, it is. Because the fear is taking me this way and hope is taking me that way. He gives a remedy to it right here. He tells us to not do that, but then he tells us to pray and to thank the Lord. Now, I know sometimes we need explanations, but I have been guilty of this as a dad before by saying no. Why? No. I don't give an explanation. I'm the dad. No means no. I don't care what you say. Now listen, Jesus, our Father, okay, is saying, be anxious for nothing, but in everything, in prayer and supplication. He's telling us not to be overwhelmed with this, but to pray. And then he gives us what will happen. And when we do that, verse 7, and the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your heart and mine through Jesus Christ. Guard me. And I need my heart guarded. Because the devil will drop fear in. He'll drop doubt in. He'll drop all kinds of things for you and I to be overwhelmed with worry, uncertainty, and fear. And Paul is saying, don't let it happen. In our text, Jesus is saying in verse number one, let not your heart be troubled. He's wanting us to not be overwhelmed with the worries of this world. Why? Because the cross, the cross changes my future. And if I can trust him, I should be able to trust him with tomorrow as well. You know, I was thinking about Abraham in the Old Testament. I was reading in the book of Genesis. In the book of Genesis, chapter number 12, I could only imagine the worry that Abraham would have felt in Genesis 12. You can write it down and read it later. I'll read it to you. Jesus, uh what uh God said to Abraham in verse number one of chapter 12, now the Lord had said to Abraham, get out of your country far from your family, to a land that I will show you. Abraham was now being told by God to pick up, pick up, pack up, and leave everything that you've ever known. Now that might sound exciting to some degree. We want a fresh start. Maybe you could do that. But leaving everything that you've ever known could overwhelm just about anybody. And there's been times in my life that I said, man, Lord, if you would just open up that opportunity to go to a white sandy beach and preach the gospel of Jesus, I'll make my way. But he hasn't yet, so don't you worry, okay? With the clear water in my view, okay? Now, he hasn't done that, so I just go a few times a year to get my fix, all right? Listen to me, it wasn't like that. What did what did God say to Abraham? Pack up. Everything that you've ever known is about to change. He goes on in Genesis 12, verse 2 I will make you a great nation. He gives him a few promises. I will bless you. I will make your name great, and you shall be a blessing. And I will bless those who bless you, and I will curse them who curse you. And in you, all the families of the Earth shall be blessed. I think about Abraham because I just for a moment I start thinking about what was his future looking like in his mind. He had no idea. Now I know for a moment tomorrow, unless something drastically changes, I'll get up at 5:30 like I usually do. I'll make, I'll push start on my coffee, I'll take my dog outside to sniff around. My kids will get up around six a little after. They'll eat breakfast. I'll take them to school, and then I'll start my daily routine like I do every other day of the week. But yet, that's my tomorrow. Although, man, something drastically could change that. I pretty well figured out what I might gonna do tomorrow and the next day and so on and so forth. And but what is crazy to me in this text, and when I read from Abraham, and Abraham is now being told in Abraham in chapter number 12 of the book of Genesis, you gotta pack everything you got, and it's time to go. I'm thinking, man, God told him to leave everything familiar, and he had no idea what the destination was, but yet he trusted him for tomorrow. God didn't give him reasons or any sort of explanation. He simply just gave him a few promises. His promises, well, I'll show you where I'm gonna take you. I'm gonna bless you. I'm gonna make you, I'm gonna bless those who bless you. And I start thinking about how can I trust God like Abraham did?

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These disciples were wanting to trust Jesus.

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Look at verse two of my t of our text. In my Father's house, Jesus says, Are many mansions. And if it were not so, I would have told you. This last sentence of verse two, I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to myself, that where I am, there you may be also. What I love about these two verses is that Jesus shifts and he talks, he goes from earthly to eternity. Remember on verse number one, let not your heart be troubled, he's speaking about here on earth how we feel. He changes that in verse two and three to now looking to eternity. And he says, and makes it very personal for you and I, I go prepare a place. What I love and I read and I understand is that heaven is not an idea. Heaven is a prepared place. Isn't it? Now, listen, I I may use my imaginations to maybe visualize what it might look like, or think about what Jesus will be like, or thinking about how the streets are gonna look and the gates are gonna look, and how's it gonna look when I die and I stand there before him? And I you can use your imagination, you can use some reading in the scriptures to think about how it may look. But the truth of the matter is we know it's a place that exists. It's not an idea, it's a physical place. We know that because Jesus said in verse number two, I go to prepare a place for you. Jesus makes heaven very personal. It's a personal thing, it's a prepared thing, it's a very intentional thing. It's no different when he's physically preparing it. I'm thinking, man, I appreciate that because listen, I don't want to overlook the details here. If Jesus, the creator of all things, is preparing it, we know it's gonna be good. It'd be like a frozen dinner versus a home cooked meal. Which one's better? Well, maybe it depends on who's cooking the home cooked meal, maybe. I don't know. If you let my mom cook it, it's really, really good, okay? So, so you compare a frozen entree to a home cooked meal where somebody puts their love. You know, they call it soul food food, right? Why? They put their whole soul into it, okay? Everything they got. Didn't matter what it is. There's flavor in it, it tastes good. Listen to me, it's a prepared place, it's a personal thing made with every intention. I love a good home cooked meal. I like Thanksgiving when it takes hours to make those collard greens and the black-eyed peas. Why? Because there was intentionality behind it. You had to cook the meat with it, and you had to make all the flavors come together, and then they have to blend, and then they have to rest. There's something to intentionality, there's something to somebody preparing something, and Jesus is saying, I go prepare a place for you. I was thinking, it wasn't too long ago. My oldest kid is 15, my number two is 13. And I remember when we were just starting out, Megan and I were married, we found out we were having our first kid. And you know, back then in those days, there was no gender reveal parties. That was before that was somebody invented that. And so we figured out what we were having. It was a girl, and what happened? Preparation. She says, Derek, what color are we gonna paint the room? I don't know, blue. I don't know. No, no, we're not. It's a girl. We're not painting it blue. Okay? What's my other option? Pink. All right, we'll paint it pink. What happened behind that? When she decides, we're gonna paint the room a certain color. Then she says, we gotta figure out what kind of crib we're gonna get. We need to go furniture shopping.

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I'm like, for a baby's room? They don't care what it looks like. Oh, I learned. Young, hey men, listen to me. Yeah, let me, I'll help you if you need help with this area. So what did we do?

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We went furniture shopping. We had to go to this baby store. Oh, I'm like. Just get one. No, it's gotta be just right. It's gotta be girly. And I said, what if we have a boy next? We'll have to get a new one. I was like, I was wanting to get one that would work for all the kids, you understand? So we got two sets, a boys and a girl set, okay? So we get the girly set, bring it home and put it together. Then what happened next? I thought we would be ready just to bring the baby home. Oh no, we had to get Betty. And you just couldn't go to Walmart's and get Betty. She's like got all these swatches of y'all uh of fabric. Which ones go with what? She's getting somebody to sew it up. And you gotta get a bumper in case they bump their head. So they need to bump their head, give 'em, take them tough. No, Derek, we okay, okay. Which one do you want? Okay. Oh, I like that one also. Then we had to pick the color of the embroidery where it says her name in her bedding in the font.

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And thinking, this is gonna be a long nine months, you understand, okay?

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We painted it all up, we hung some pictures on the wall, and then she said there's something missing. I said, What is that? She said, I really think that we should paint a tree on the wall. And I'm thinking, I just painted it pink. Now you want me to know it needs an artist like to paint this tree and have these little um little leaves everywhere and a bird. And I'm like, I can paint the walls pink, but I don't think that I'll be able to paint the tree. Oh, I found somebody. Oh, praise the Lord there. So next thing I know, this guy's over there painting on the wall. And what you start thinking about it now, 15 years later. The the moment that she found out that we were having a little girl, that prepared moment, it's gonna be perfect. We're gonna have the walls perfect, the crib's gonna be perfect. I want to prepare this room. I'm not, this is not random. I'm doing it, and listen to me. Every moment that she did, even in Maverick's room, painting it the way it was, it was prepared with love, prepared with care, prepared with some level of attention, intentionality, and attention to every detail because they wanted it just perfect for her firstborn child. Listen to me, no different than any other mother has prepared the room the best way that they could. Jesus is telling you something incredible in verse number two. I have gone to prepare a place. Heaven is a prepared place where every detail was thought through. Every moment, every element was in deep was the detail exactly the way he wanted it laid out. Heaven is not just about the place, though, it's about the presence. If you notice in verse number three, he says, after he tells us that he goes and prepares a place with detail, he goes on in verse number three and says, Where I am, there you may be also. The greatest joy of heaven is being with Jesus. Now you may think about how it looks and the feeling, or am I gonna know you or are you gonna know me? Am I gonna do this or am I gonna do that? Is there gonna be cars up there to drive around? I hope there's Mustangs. We'll see. Listen to me. We don't know those details, but I know the greatest joy isn't what it is that we'll see other than Jesus Christ. Listen to me, Jesus tells us in Revelation, and God shall wipe away every tear from their eyes. We know there'll be joy, we know there'll be happiness, we know there'll be worship. We'll be at the feet of the one that created it all, Jesus, praising and worshiping and glorifying him. Listen to me, many people may fear how death will be because they're unsure of what's gonna happen. But believers, you and I have a promise. I may not know every detail of what it'll look like, but I know that I'll be in the presence of Jesus, my Savior. And that's what matters. That's what matters. Because of the cross, the best part of our future is being with Jesus. Because of the cross. Go with me to verse number four. Verse number four, five and six are going to show us our final thought that we have together this morning. Because of the cross, I can trust God with tomorrow. I can understand that heaven's a prepared place. And finally, because of the cross, there's only one way to that future. One way. Not multiple ways, one way. Verse number four, he says, Jesus says, where I go, you know, the way you know. Thomas asks a very good question. And he says, Jesus, uh, we do not know where you're going, and we sure don't know how to get there. He asks an honest question, a question that I or you would have understandably asked. And Jesus responded with one of the famous, most famous statements in all of Scripture, verse six, I am the way. I am the law, I am the I'm everything. There's no way except through me. He says that in verse number six, I am the way, the truth, and the life. One of the famous, listen to me, Jesus is the only way to God. There's not many ways. Jesus is not one way among many ways. Jesus is the only way. Acts 4, verse number 12 says, Nor is there is salvation in any other. He says that because there's no other way to get saved other than through Jesus Christ. Now I understand that the culture that you and I live in teaches that there's multiple ways. We can see it all over the internet. You can see it, listen to me. I love that the capability of being connected with people, but because of the technology and the way that it is, there's all kinds of things that are always accurate shared. And you'll, every once in a while I'll be reading or watching a reel, and something will pop up, and it will be a preacher saying something that's not biblical. And so be careful if it says anything contrary to this, if you understand what I mean. Because there's only one way to heaven. Now, our culture may teach us there's multiple avenues to heaven that might say, man, be real good and you'll get there. That's not true. Because if I don't know Jesus as my savior and I'm real good, I'll miss heaven. And that's hard to fathom to some degree. Well, he did so good. Well, praise the Lord, he did good, but he missed Jesus. You know, I may could do all kinds of good things for people and still not know Jesus as my savior. Well, guess what? My life will be known for doing good for people and not going to heaven because I don't know Jesus as my savior. That there's other religions out there that say that you do this and you'll go to heaven, and their version of heaven is nothing like our version of heaven, which is the only version of heaven. Every other is a copycat, a light version, everything that God warned us about. We know that they would try to make something similar to everything He's created, and they've tried and they've fooled a lot of people, but don't let them fool you. There's only one way. That's Jesus Christ. He says in verse number six, I am the way, I am the truth, I am the life. Jesus is the truth, and that guides us. You understand that truth is not just informational, truth is personal. And he shows you and I in the text how personal it is. I prepare a place for you. I am the way. I am the life. I am the truth. He lets it know that it's a very personal understanding. And Jesus is the life that saves you and I. That's why the cross changed everything. As I read these verses, I can't help but full sort of trying to understand, you know, this and get my head wrapped around it. I begin to think about Noah and how he built the Ark. Could you imagine living on earth when that was taking place? Some of us would have a hard time fathoming living in this world when Noah was building the ark. The comforts that you and I face. You know what? I can get on my phone and check the weather. I'll know if it's going to rain and how long it should rain. Now I'd get about a seven-day prediction, but I can be pretty close to realize, Noah, you're a wacko, man. What are you doing? And many of the world thought that he was crazy because he was following the Lord. But you think about imagining living in his day, you and I probably wouldn't make it too long.

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No air conditioning. No cell phone. Nothing. We'd be bored out of our mind.

SPEAKER_01 37:15

We wouldn't know what to do. Could you imagine living in Noah's day? Now you think about Noah's day just for a moment. God announced judgment was coming through a flood. And then he says, Noah, it's time for you to build an ark. It's time for you to build this. And God's a God of details because he gave Noah every detail that there was, precise dimensions on how to build it. And he did exactly the way God said. God, who told him that judgment was coming, made a way, a provision for all that would enter the ark to be saved. Now you think about how Noah was building the Ark. Now, listen, we understand in the world that we live in, everybody's got an opinion. And I'm sure that if somebody went today up to wherever the Ark is located up that way in Kentucky, earlier I said Ohio and I got corrected. Well, hey, I make mistakes every once in a while, you understand? I was in Ohio and went to Kentucky. That's how I figured it out, okay? You go up there, some of us are gonna say, man, that's one ugly ark. Some of us are gonna say, man, that's pretty. Some of us might say, man, we should have painted that thing blue. Or we should have painted it red, or we should have changed this dimension and that. And so guess what? We all have an opinion on what the ark would look like and if we liked the one that was built. But here's the truth: there was only one ark, not ten. Right? So God said judgment was coming, and God gave Noah the task to build the ark, one ark. And all that were going to enter that ark were gonna be saved from judgment. And so there was one ark, not two ark, not three, not ten. Um, there was not several different options. He didn't lay out and say, Noah, build which one you choose. Okay, I'm gonna go over here and get this guy to build this and this one to build. No, he says, here's the ark. If you want to be saved from judgment, you get on the ark. If you don't, you won't. Now just think about just one ark. Now, what if somebody went up to Noah and said, I don't like that ark. I'm gonna go build my own ark. You know what Noah would have said? Help yourself. What if somebody said, No, I don't much think I want to be on the ark with some of these people, so I'm gonna go do my own thing. Imagine, just imagine if that would have been said, I'm sure it was. I'll build my own raft, I'll build my own boat. Some could have said, Man, I don't feel like getting on the boat. I'm gonna climb on top of a mountain. I'll just ride the storm out. I can I can survive. Some may have just said, you know what, I don't feel like getting on that ark. I'll just figure it out as I go. Guess what? None of those plans worked. The only thing that worked was getting on the ark with Noah. Now, there's many in our world that we live in today that says, hey, I can do it my own way. It doesn't matter what the Bible says. I'm gonna do it my way, okay? That doesn't change the fact that the only way to Jesus, our only way to heaven is through Jesus. There's gonna be some that think that, man, I just don't think I should do it this way. Well, listen, if you do anything other than what Jesus says, you're wrong, he's right. And that's the truth. There's only one way to him, which is through Jesus. There was only one way to get saved from the judgment of the flood, that was through the ark. God had already provided the way of salvation, it was through the ark. The only people that survived it were the ones that were on the boat, the ones that entered in the ark, and the same way is true with Jesus Christ. I am the way, I am the truth, I am the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. Listen to me. The cross is God's ark of salvation, the cross. And there's many of those people in the world that we live in that want to go about their own way. If it will without Jesus, they're gonna miss it. There aren't many ways, there's one way. There's not multiple ways, there's one way. The cross is not just the way to forgiveness, it's also the way to your future. And that gives me comfort, that gives me peace. Every person in the room is moving towards the future. Everybody here. And listen to me, the the question is not uh not if you'll face uh eternity. The question is how you'll face eternity. You can either face it with fear or you can face it with confidence in the Lord. Now, one thing I don't want to do is live a life of fear and worry, because what happens, we get torn apart. But if I trust in him, verse number one, and let my heart not be troubled, man, I'm gonna make it just a lot easier. So the question is, is how will you face eternity, with fear or with confidence? Jesus says, Let not your heart be troubled. He, because of the cross, everything changed. Your identity changed, your past, your struggle. And honestly, now we can see that your future changed as well. But some of us have a question to answer. What's your future look like? There may be somebody here today that doesn't know the Lord is their Savior. They've never stopped and realized that they needed him. He tells us in verse number six, I am the way, I am the truth, I am everything. And without him, there's no way. Maybe the Lord's talking to you this morning. What does your future look like? Would you pray with me? God, I come to you this morning, I praise you for your word. God, I'm thankful how clear you make it. And my prayer is for all that are here, Lord, I don't know the hearts of each individual person. I don't know their relationship with you. God, my prayer right now is for them. Lord, if there's somebody under the sound of my voice that doesn't know you as Lord and as Savior, oh God, I pray that not my words, but yours get a hold of their heart. I pray not my way, but the Holy Spirit of you would draw them unto you. Oh God, I pray you'd bind Satan from this place. Bind distraction. Or that there's somebody that doesn't know you as Lord and as Savior, God, I pray in the name of Jesus that you would speak so clearly to them, they would know they need you. God, I pray they would take the first step. Allow me to show them or somebody else how they can come to know you as Lord in that Savior. Lord, have your way in this invitation. I pray in Jesus' name. Amen. Let's all stand as a time of invitation.