Episode Transcript
[00:00:02] Welcome to the Karma Chaj podcast.
[00:00:10] You know, he really is the main event, his beautiful presence amongst us.
[00:00:17] Never get tired, never, never take it for granted that the presence of God whenever we meet together would be amongst us and that Jesus would walk with us.
[00:00:31] I want to talk a little bit about checking our dials and aligning our lives with him and I in the age of gps. I guess most of you don't use a compass.
[00:00:45] You know, actually, if you have an Apple watch or an iPhone or probably some of the other phones, you actually do have a compass.
[00:00:53] You've just probably never used it. And on my watch, my compass tells me where I live and where I park my car.
[00:01:01] Now, I don't need to know where I live. I can find my own way home. But you'd be surprised how many times I need my compass to find where I've parked my car. And it leads me to the way. And sometimes, sometimes I'm driving, using my sat nav. Sometimes I'm away worshiping. Sometimes I'm just thinking about things and I'm going somewhere. And the truth is, I have no idea what direction I'm going in because I'm just following the map. Whereas in the olden days, we would need to know where north and south and east and west were before the days of satnav map, we use maps. In fact, sat nav might have saved Juliet and my marriage, because I'm the kind of person I would just jump in the car, okay, let's just go. And I would just hand her a map and she'd go, what am I going to do with this?
[00:01:56] And so we'd be rowing as she's trying to give me directions, and I've paid no attention to where we're going to go. So with the influx of satellite navigation, it has saved our marriage. But I remember one time we were going for. We were going to go to London for dinner with some friends. We were living down south and they'd come to visit, they had kids, the guys, we all went to a skate park, the kids went skating, and the girls said, oh, we'll just come along later. We don't want to do that. So we drove into London ready for our dinner, and there was no sight of the girls. And we're like, look at them watching it. It's like an hour, an hour and a half. And we did have mobile phones in those days, and so we could, where are you? And they said, we have no idea where we are. We're completely lost. And we're like what do the signs say? And they said France.
[00:02:51] So and what had happened was they were coming from south end where we were living. Instead of taking the M25, they took the road to Dover and they were just nattering away and talking amongst themselves until, you know, they started picking up signs for Channel crossing France.
[00:03:11] They had no idea which direction they were going. Their compass was off. You see, even with the wonders of gps, you still need to know what direction you're heading. And a compass needs to be set.
[00:03:28] The compass of our lives needs to be set.
[00:03:33] You may not know, but there are two norths.
[00:03:37] Do you know that there are two nodes? There is true north and there is magnetic north. Now they're pretty close.
[00:03:43] True north is where the earth, the geographical place of the earth axis, okay, Magnetic north is where the magnetic poles are now that the magnetic north can move a little bit.
[00:03:58] So it's really important. And I asked, you know, my third best friend, ChatGPT, and there are actually settings on your phone that you can choose whether you want it to magnetic north or true north. And mine is set to true north.
[00:04:14] So if you were navigating precisely and your compass is at magnetic north, not true north, it may look like you're going in the right direction.
[00:04:30] But if you keep on going and you keep on going, you will veer off ever so slightly and it might only be 1, 1 degree off.
[00:04:41] And this is significant in our Christian lives because, you know, one degree off after maybe a year and you're, you know, even if you were walking every day of the year, you might only be 30 miles out.
[00:04:56] But what about after five years you could be nearly 200 miles out and if you go your, you know, 30 years, I was going to say your whole life, you're going to last longer than that. But you could be a thousand miles off course just because you were a little bit of a degree out from true north to maybe magnetic north.
[00:05:21] So it's so important to set our lives in sync with Jesus now. And you know, it's the little things that we let slide now that when we look back in 30 years, we go, how did we get here? We were heading here, but now we're here.
[00:05:39] So grab your Bibles, find John, chapter 14. With this term, we're going to go through some of the teachings of Jesus. And this is a passage you will know. Why don't you stand again? And we will read God's word, the reason again, just in case you're new. The reason we stand here for the word of God is This is God's word. And my words are here, okay? My words, I hope will be helpful, and I hope the Holy Spirit can anoint them. But this is God's word. This doesn't change.
[00:06:15] So John 14, verse one, Let not your heart be troubled. You believe in God, believe also in me.
[00:06:23] In my Father's house are many mansions. If it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. Just pause a moment.
[00:06:33] Jesus is heading to the cross, but he's telling them about the future. He's saying, what I'm about to do is going to prepare a place for you. So he's thinking ahead.
[00:06:47] And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to myself.
[00:06:53] That where I am, there you may be also.
[00:06:57] And where I go, you know, and the way you know.
[00:07:01] Thomas said to him, lord, we don't know where you're going, and how can we know the way? Jesus said to him, I am the way, the truth, and the life.
[00:07:09] No one comes to the Father except through me. Grab a. Grab a seat.
[00:07:21] Jesus says, don't be troubled.
[00:07:24] Put your trust in me. I'm going to prepare a place for you. Do you realize God created this whole planet in seven days?
[00:07:36] Okay, Jesus has been away 2,000 years.
[00:07:44] In the words of Keith Green. Does anybody here know who Keith Green is? Oh, phew.
[00:07:50] Keith Green was a Christian musician. He died way beyond his. His time in the nineteen nineteen eighties, probably. Yeah, seventies, eighties.
[00:08:02] And he talked about this. He said, you know, it took God seven days to create this incredible world. Jesus has been gone 2000 years preparing a place for us where. The place where we are going will make this look like a rubbish tip because of what God has prepared for us.
[00:08:23] Jesus has a plan. And the reason Jesus came and gave his life for us was for eternity. So he has been preparing a place.
[00:08:36] Oh, did I. I did a.
[00:08:39] Oh, there it is. Look at this. This is. I. I was talking to Chat GPT and I said, tell me what New Jerusalem is going to be like. Now, I know there's a lot in the news about AI may wipe out the planet. Trust me, at the moment, we're safe. Because the conversation I had about this, we've got two Jesus. Jesus is on the throne. He's down there. It's all over the shop. I'm not sure Chatgpt and I are reading the same Bible, but so I'm talking with it and I'm going, well, where's the tree of Life? Which I think Is that one there with the Christmas lights on? It's gonna look a lot better. All right. And you've got the marriage feast of the Lamb at the bottom, which is gonna be a whole lot bigger.
[00:09:23] What Chatgpt has done is he's put communion in the Last Supper, not the marriage feast, but it's hard work, but. And what the angels are doing, who knows, they're going to be. They're way busier than that. All right, but what I'm trying to do is this is where we're going.
[00:09:41] And actually one of the things that was helpful a number of months ago, I was just reading the Bible and I asked it questions. I said, how big is New Jerusalem?
[00:09:51] New Jerusalem is the size of Australia coming down from heaven. And it's literally a square.
[00:10:00] The Bible in Revelation, we get the measurements, it's the size of Australia, but it's not only the size of Australia in area, it's also in height.
[00:10:09] And it literally opens up the heavens to earth. That's the picture that John sees in Revelation. And you see Thomas says, lord, we don't know where you're going. How on earth are we going to get there?
[00:10:27] And you know, Jesus, how do we follow you? And from that question, we have one of the most famous, but for our society, most offensive statements of Jesus.
[00:10:39] He says, I am the way, the truth and the life.
[00:10:43] No one gets to the Father except through me.
[00:10:49] And I was a young church planter, I was about 28, and we were preaching in a pub and it was fun because you couldn't see through the smoke to see the people.
[00:11:01] You were allowed to smoke in pubs in those days.
[00:11:04] It was the dark ages.
[00:11:06] But we were preaching in this pub and I remember at the end, this guy comes up to me, he's red faced, he's really angry and he just points at me, he says, you are the most arrogant young man I have ever met.
[00:11:21] I was thinking, you don't get out much, but what do you mean? He said, how can you make that statement?
[00:11:29] How can you say that Jesus is the only way? What about all the other religions? What about all the other paths of God? And I'm saying, I haven't made that statement. He did.
[00:11:39] The one who came from heaven to give his life on earth said, there is no other way to the Father except through me.
[00:11:50] You see, the teachings of Jesus are not designed to make you feel good.
[00:11:57] They're to change your life and to change the world. In fact, if you actually read the teachings of Jesus and they make you feel Good. You're probably misunderstanding them.
[00:12:09] Jesus is the Word, and when he teaches, it's designed to pierce our hearts and to change the way we live.
[00:12:17] That's why he taught. And this is what he says. Oh, my goodness.
[00:12:22] Right, we're going to move fast. I am the Way. So you want to set your compass to true north. Jesus says, I am the way. You see, the early Christians were known as the Way. We were not called Christians until Antioch, which is about 15 years after the resurrection of Jesus.
[00:12:40] Why the Way? Because the early Christians had reset their compass and they were on a journey, if you like. It was like the train tracks. They were on a new train track. They were heading towards Jesus and it was clear to see. And so people described them as the Way because they had found the way to God. Who is the way? Jesus.
[00:13:05] And the remarkable thing about this statement of Jesus is he's not giving us a roadmap. That's what Thomas was asking. What Jesus says, I am the way. He's calling us to himself.
[00:13:17] You see, the way is following Jesus. The way is knowing Jesus. The way is relationship with Jesus. So as he comes into our lives, there is a compass reset.
[00:13:28] You see, you're not called to follow a set of rules and beliefs. You are called to the person of Jesus.
[00:13:37] Jesus says, I am the way.
[00:13:40] And this is why here we spend so much time in praise and worship because we want to gather around the person of Jesus.
[00:13:51] He is the one who gave his life. He came for relationship. And we believe that as we came gather together and worship and praise, his presence is manifest.
[00:14:02] And it is that presence that changes and transforms our lives.
[00:14:07] So that's what we're trying to do.
[00:14:11] So many years ago, I set my compass by Jesus. I didn't want magnetic north. I wanted true north.
[00:14:19] His book and his person searching this book because this is his word. It's a manual for life and keeping close to his person by the Holy Spirit. And as I did that, I found the Way to be the most amazing adventure you can encounter. So the first thing I'm saying is set your compass towards Jesus. The second thing I want to say is he says he's the truth. He's the true north.
[00:14:49] He's not a moving north.
[00:14:52] The word of God doesn't move.
[00:14:54] And what you've seen in our culture is drift and crazy. Drift from truth to your truth.
[00:15:02] And if everybody has their own truth, there is no truth. But what God says is there is a truth and it is Jesus.
[00:15:11] And one of the problems is we've gone because we want to love people and we want to be nice to people and they're saying stupid things and we go, oh yeah, yeah.
[00:15:20] But actually real love will actually go to people and go, you know, you're quite mad, right?
[00:15:26] You listen to what some of the things that people believe in. You go, this is craziness, this is crazy. There is a truth.
[00:15:34] And when I accepted the call of Jesus, the volume, the truth was I was a sinner.
[00:15:39] That was the truth. I was 13 years old. And if I kept going, even though I was a nice kid from a nice family, my destination was not good.
[00:15:51] My compass was odd off. It was odd as well. And so I asked for the forgiveness of God and He came into my life and he changed me. I remember as a 13 year old kid, we were kneeling on the floor and somebody said to me, steve, you're not a Christian. I know. And they said, you've got to confess your sins. And as I went to confess my sins, the spirit of God came on me and I sobbed like a baby. I'm not a crybaby.
[00:16:15] I sobbed and sobbed because I was undone. In the words of Isaiah, I was a man or a kid of unclean lips living amongst the people of unclean lips. And I needed Jesus in my life. And when I encountered Jesus, I saw the truth because he is the truth of who I was and who he was.
[00:16:37] And it gave me a lens, you know, to see through.
[00:16:41] You know, if I can't see, I can't read my Bible. Unless I have my glasses, everything is blurred. And so I came to him and he gave me a lens or a worldview. Before Jesus, I felt abandoned, condemned, alone. I felt failure. And the truth is, if God exists, he's forgotten me. So I had to make it myself.
[00:17:04] But the truth God gave me was who I am and who he is. And this is really important. Christian identity is received, not achieved.
[00:17:16] You cannot work your identity. The whole story about Jesus is he gives you a new identity.
[00:17:23] It is something you receive.
[00:17:26] So at every hurdle of life, I've tried to use his lens.
[00:17:32] You know, the world says, let's eat, drink and be merry for tomorrow we die. But Jesus calls me to eternity, not to tomorrow. He wants to take me there where he is his rule and reign.
[00:17:47] And so the truth started. He started to speak truth to me as a new Christian. What do I mean? Well, firstly, we're born of God. Whoever believes that Jesus Christ, that Jesus is the Christ is born, born of God. 1 John 5.
[00:18:03] You know, we've been given the right to become children of God through the blood of Jesus. You are now a child of God.
[00:18:14] We are children because of the Father's love. The Father isn't cross somehow. And Jesus begging, oh, Father, don't beat them. Don't beat them.
[00:18:23] So often, that's the picture portrayed.
[00:18:26] For God so loved the world that he sent his son.
[00:18:30] Do you see? So it's what is. What is the truth?
[00:18:33] We are adopted into God's family.
[00:18:36] You know, you might be adopted here today and you might think, oh, you know, my parents didn't want me, but the people that adopted you chose you.
[00:18:50] I mean, parents don't get to do that. We're having lots of babies at the moment. They come out all shapes and sizes, some of them all shriveled up. Some of them look beautiful, some look like a ferret.
[00:19:01] I mean, we never say that to them because they look and they go, oh, they're the most beautiful. And you're thinking, really?
[00:19:08] I hope the skin scratches a bit.
[00:19:11] Okay? But God saw you and he says, I want you.
[00:19:16] You're chosen.
[00:19:19] He wasn't landed with you and has to raise you. God chose us. Does that make sense?
[00:19:25] That's why adoption is such an important deal in the Bible, that the Holy Spirit bears witness that we're God's children. So when he comes into our life, he's speaking all the time, you're one of his kids. God loves you. You're heirs, and you're joint heirs with Christ. All the riches of heaven. We are heirs to it. We're going to inherit.
[00:19:45] We're no longer slaves, but now we are sons and daughters in the kingdom of God. We are loved by the Father. We are known by God. We are forgiven. There is condemnation for those that are in Christ. That's the truth that Jesus brings into our life. We have peace with God. You know, there's so much anxiety in the world at the moment, you know, jobs and money and uncertainty. But the peace comes from knowing that we have peace with God, the God that made this, the God that came to earth for us. We have peace. We're his friends.
[00:20:25] And that peace comes upon us. And we learn to live life.
[00:20:33] We have access to the Father. We are new creations. You're a brand new person. When you come to Christ, you're a brand new person. He's not just trimmed you up and washed you down. You are a new creation. He lives in you. Your body is now a temple of the Holy Spirit. That's why my body looks so good.
[00:20:54] I don't know what you're laughing at. It's not funny. But, you know, we carry, you know, once there was a temple where God dwelled, but now he dwells in us through Jesus. So our bodies are at this temple and we walk around with Him. So we treat our body well.
[00:21:13] We don't hate our body. You're wonderfully made. The scripture says you go, yeah, but I look in the mirror and I see this, or I feel this and know the truth is you are wonderfully made and you are a temple of the Holy Spirit. And God has chosen not only to adopt you, but to dwell in you, the living God. And you start to go, oh. And so the truth starts coming through. God works all things together for good, for those that love him. God disciplines his children. You know, a good parent disciplines their children, otherwise they go crazy. I've got to really go fast. You know, we have eternal life. We're raised with Christ. We, we have an inheritance kept for us. We will be with Jesus. And perhaps the great summary is 1 John 3, 2, beloved now we are children of God.
[00:21:59] The truth.
[00:22:02] You see, the truth is Jesus becomes the true north.
[00:22:11] By which when I, you see, it corrects what I feel.
[00:22:18] My feelings are all over the shop when my circumstances appear to say something else. When other people say something about me. See, my identity is received, not achieved.
[00:22:32] And the Christian life then isn't trying to make these things true. It's learning to live in the direction what God says is already true.
[00:22:40] So I'm not trying to make these things true.
[00:22:42] I'm learning to live in his truth.
[00:22:46] That's why we need the Holy Spirit in our lives. That's why we pray for you. We call you forward for prayer.
[00:22:52] Why do you need more Holy Spirit? Well, I leak.
[00:22:56] He fills me and I leak.
[00:22:58] The Holy Spirit is way more like a river flowing than God flowing through us. And so it's a constant refilling. But we need him in our life. Otherwise we err from the truth.
[00:23:13] And then the last thing, the last thing I want to say is, he says, I am the life.
[00:23:18] You see, I could spend lots of time preaching against all the rubbish the world tells you, but I don't need to.
[00:23:26] Fifty years ago, I set my compass to the true north.
[00:23:32] And that is what I encourage you to do, set your compass on Jesus.
[00:23:39] Because I have found life as I've walking in the way and experiencing the truth. I set my life on his track and I'm experiencing His truth, what he says to me.
[00:23:54] You know, some of you have asked me about some prophetic words that are out on the Internet at the moment.
[00:24:00] And some of them are coming from really good, strong, solid people. I'm not criticizing the people, but one of the words they've seen is prepare for war.
[00:24:11] You know, Russia will invade, Iran will invade.
[00:24:15] I just want to say I don't know about this. Jesus says at the end you'll hear of rumors of wars and there'll be wars, and this is just me, but I'm not preparing for war.
[00:24:29] I'm preparing for a wedding feast.
[00:24:33] That's my.
[00:24:34] You know, I'm preparing a great banquet when Jesus presents his bride pure and spotless. I can't control what the world does, but I can set my compass. I can set my sights on what Jesus says.
[00:24:54] See, even at the exile, Jeremiah tells the Jews, God is for you.
[00:25:01] If war comes, God is for us and his promises don't change.
[00:25:08] I'm just not willing to hang up the towel on this nation yet.
[00:25:11] You know, following the way doesn't mean every road is comfortable.
[00:25:17] Believing the truth doesn't mean every circumstance makes sense.
[00:25:21] Receiving the life doesn't mean we avoid suffering.
[00:25:26] It means wherever Jesus leads, life can be found.
[00:25:32] And sometimes we spend so much time asking God to get us out of Babylon that we fail to hear that God is telling us how to live while we're in Babylon.
[00:25:46] You see, the exile was real. Disappointment was real. But Babylon didn't have the authority to cancel God's promises for his people.
[00:25:56] The difficulties and craziness in this nation at the moment doesn't negate God's promises.
[00:26:04] Jesus doesn't merely promise us life when our circumstances become favourable. He is life in the middle of circumstances that we might never have chosen.
[00:26:16] Wars will happen. Don't be terrified.
[00:26:20] Persecution will happen. Bear witness. Nations will be in turmoil. Preach the gospel. Enemies will rise. Love your enemies.
[00:26:31] The kingdom will spread.
[00:26:33] Make disciples.
[00:26:35] What am I trying to say this morning? It's really simple. Jesus sets our direction.
[00:26:40] He's the way the Holy Spirit leads us into all truth because he comes and makes his home in us. And we find life in the Father because the Father is calling us to Himself.
[00:26:53] All this is now. But look where we're heading.
[00:26:58] Look where we're heading. This isn't it.
[00:27:01] This is why Jesus came.
[00:27:04] Paul says this for our light affliction, which is but a moment, is working for us. A far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory.
[00:27:16] While we do not look at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen. For the things which are seen are temporary, but the things which are not seen are eternal. And I guess what I want to do just say to you this morning is set the compass of your life.
[00:27:37] Check your dials.
[00:27:41] Jesus says, I am the way, the truth, and the life.
[00:27:45] No one finds the Father except through me. And he calls us to Himself. It's a personal relationship with Jesus, and that's the adventure each one of us are called to. I'm done. Why don't you stand up?
[00:28:04] Thanks for listening to the Chroma Charge Podcast. If you enjoyed this message, you can like and subscribe. You can also join us in person or online every Sunday at Cromer Church. For more information about us, including our ministries, events, worship, and how to donate, visit our website at Cromer Church.
