Are You Still Amazed at Jesus?

Intro:

Good morning everyone!

My name is Nate Goad. I am JR’s nephew and I was greatly honored at the opportunity to come and share with you all today.

A few things about myself:

I am 22 years old and just recently graduated from Liberty University Online. My degree is in Business Leadership. I live in Buchanan with nearly my whole family (parents, one of my sisters, along with her husband and 3 babies). I currently serve with the youth group down in Buchanan at CommUnity church. And I also work as the assistant manager at Twin River Outfitters.

Things have especially been rather busy down by the river these days. In fact the water levels are rather high right now. Yesterday the water gauge was showing close to 6ft. It started to come down over the day and then we got all of that rain last night! So water levels are high right now. And this naturally makes me think of a story of my family and I many years ago paddling the James River.

The water levels were probably close to 5-5.5 ft. And we loved paddling the 6 mile stretch from Buchanan to Arcadia. I had done this particular stretch a few times. I was probably around 11-13 years old or so at this time. I can’t remember exactly when.

But before I go any further, I need to go ahead and admit that this is a humiliating story to share and it embarrasses me every time!

So we know the water is up from normal, but we still wanna paddle and even enjoy the faster moving water with the better waves.

Few minutes into the trip, my dad forgets his keys…Bruce and him go back. We are supposed to wait, but we decide to keep going.

We are having a blast! Until it feels like we have been on the water for too long and haven’t seen the pullout....Well, it must be further down cause we haven’t seen the rope swing or the public pullout yet.

We keep going....and going....and going.

Next thing you know, the sun is beginning to set and we pull up to Jelly Stone Campground. We stop to ask some people how much further we have until the pullout...”Oh, you are almost there. You have just a few more miles to go!” Surprised that we hadn’t made it yet, we listen to them and keep on paddling. Well sunset has now become nearly dark! My sister and I are tired and scared, my mom is yelling for us to keep paddling, stay in front of her, and START PRAYING! Not too much further after that, we see a little gravel beach area on the side. My mom has us start paddling over to stop. Next thing you know, 2 men start to walk out of the woods. These men look like Grizzly Adams standing on the shore and waving us over.

We stop, and nervously approach them to talk to them. They inform us that we have paddled wayyy to far! Our 6 mile trip turned into 20 Miles. Wow! We were left speechless! The men invite us to walk up to their camp to get their cellphone for us to call my dad. My mom is very nervous at this point to be taking my sister and I into the camp of two wild looking men.

However, we follow them up and they give us their phone. They also share with us that they normally don’t have their phones or cell service. But their wives wanted them to have service for their annual trip which they have done many times. So they switched their service to verizon and brought their cellphones for the first time. Wow! That was amazing!

We call my dad and make contact with him. He had made it to the boat landing a long time ago and already called the police and had search and rescue on their way to help us. If any of you are familiar with this part of the river, we are right at the mouth of Balcony Falls (class 3 rapids). So, after awhile, a search and rescue team consisting of volunteers shut down the railroad and find their way across the river from us. They send the team across in a raft. Once they reach us, they realize that they didn’t bring enough helmets and one of them was broken. So we loaded up and we crossed back over the river.

Once we reached the bank, we were tossed this thin rope which we had to use to climb this very steep bank. We all shimmy our way up, go through a few processes to ensure that we were safe and uninjured, and then we were finally able to return home! Wow! We were blown away in amazement at all that had just happened…and I’m not even going to begin telling you the story of how we returned to retrieve our kayaks later on! hahaha

The ironic part of all this, is that 10 years later, I am now the assistant manager at Twin River Outfitters, and I give classrooms of people orientations and briefings on how to run this very section of the river.... and how to make sure you pull out at the proper location. hahaha

Well, all this being said, me, my mom, and my sister Ellee had experienced something that left us in amazement and disbelief....

You know, I have recently been humbled by God as He has taught me a few things about my life.

You see I have become super busy at work, with the youth group at my church, with responsibilities at our property, with the different relationships of people around me. I have become BUSY. And I’ll tell you, I have tried to be consistent with my time in the Word, with my prayer life, with serving. And I was doing these things with good desires.

However, by God’s grace, He has shown me that I have fallen into a routine and one that has become a checklist to mark off each day.

I was allowing the business of life to keep me from experiencing the full sense of intimacy with Christ that it should be!

One could even say that I was was not daily looking to see Jesus show up and show off in my life. In the big things and in the little details!

Had I lost my Amazement at Jesus?

I want to share a handful of scriptures with you today, all which will help drive me to the main points I want to communicate with you all.

What DID Jesus do to Amaze OTHERS?

Luke 2:47 (ESV)

47 And all who heard him were amazed at his understanding and his answers.

Luke 5:9 (ESV)

9 For he and all who were with him were astonished at the catch of fish that they had taken,

Luke 8:56 (ESV)

56 And her parents were amazed, but he charged them to tell no one what had happened.

Mark 1:27 (ESV)

27 And they were all amazed, so that they questioned among themselves, saying, “What is this? A new teaching with authority! He commands even the unclean spirits, and they obey him.”

Mark 2:12 (ESV)

12 And he rose and immediately picked up his bed and went out before them all, so that they were all amazed and glorified God, saying, “We never saw anything like this!”

Mark 5:42 (ESV)

42 And immediately the girl got up and began walking (for she was twelve years of age), and they were immediately overcome with amazement.

Mark 6:51 (NASB95)

51 Then He got into the boat with them, and the wind stopped; and they were utterly astonished,

Mark 9:15 (ESV)

15 And immediately all the crowd, when they saw him, were greatly amazed and ran up to him and greeted him.

Matthew 12:23 (ESV)

23 And all the people were amazed, and said, “Can this be the Son of David?”

I hope after those handful of verses, that you have picked up on the main word I want to discuss today...

What is it?

To be Amazed/Astonished

Are you.... like all of these people, still amazed at Jesus?

Now I do want to clarify what I mean by this. When I say are you amazed at Jesus, I do not mean: “Are you surprised that God answered your prayer? Are you surprised that God brought healing to your family member? Are you surprised that God showed up in your life and helped you?”

This is not the type of amazement I want you to have at Jesus. WHY? Because if you are being surprised in these ways, then you must not have much faith in the God to begin with.

Don’t be caught surprised that God:

- Does or answers the very things that you prayed for

- Or that He kept a promise that His word says He will accomplish

Rather I want you to see glimpses of Jesus in your every day life that leave you in awe and wonder at the character of who He is.

I want you to often be reminded of the things He has done and look for the things He is doing.

When you catch God on the move (which by the way, He always is) but when God allows you to see some of the things that He is doing, be amazed and left in a heart that is wanting to praise and worship Him! To get excited and passionate about what He is doing. And when we are excited about things, we talk about it with others! So be amazed and tell others what God is doing in your life!

I believe that this is a healthy and good way to be amazed at God!

Never ever believe that you have exhaustively learned everything there is to know about God. That in some way you have put Him into the box of your brain…as though you have completely understood Him. That there is nothing new to experience from Him on this side of Heaven.

I love this quote by Fredrick Faber… it says:

“We can exaggerate about many thing; but we can never exaggerate our obligation to Jesus, or the compassionate abundance of the love of Jesus to us. All our lives long, we might talk of Jesus, and yet we should never come to an end of the sweet things that might be said of Him.”

Guess what Church… His mercies are new every morning! We always have the opportunity to be left in awe and amazement at the character of Jesus!

Now I think that its only proper that we take into perspective a timeline of the movement of God in our lives:

What HAS He done

What WILL He do

What is He doing NOW

What HAS He done To Amaze US?

The most significant thing that we can look backwards and be amazed with is Jesus’ crucifixion and resurrection. This is the payment for my sins and the defeat of death and grave!

I want us to take a quick look at my favorite book of the Bible: Hebrews!

Hebrews speaks so much about the past and present work of Jesus in the lives His followers.

Hebrews 1:1–4 (NASB95)

1 God, after He spoke long ago to the fathers in the prophets in many portions and in many ways,

2 in these last days has spoken to us in His Son, whom He appointed heir of all things, through whom also He made the world.

3 And He is the radiance of His glory and the exact representation of His nature, and upholds all things by the word of His power. When He had made purification of sins, He sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high,

4 having become as much better than the angels, as He has inherited a more excellent name than they.

Jesus did the work God had appointed for Him and died the death we all deserve to die! Through His death on the cross, we now have forgiveness of sins and the ability of a restored relationship with God!

Did you notice that little phrase used to describe what Jesus did after His atonement for sin? It said He “sat down”…as in “mission complete!”. The work was accomplished!

Isn’t this Amazing?!?!?!

His sacrifice and pain means our salvation, our freedom and our joy!

What WILL He do To Amaze US?

1 Corinthians 2:9 NLT

9 That is what the Scriptures mean when they say, “No eye has seen, no ear has heard, and no mind has imagined what God has prepared for those who love him.”

God has prepared something so wonderful for us to enjoy with Him for eternity! In fact no person truly understands or can fathom what all God has in store for us when we reach heaven.

If you believe that your eternity in Heaven looks like you floating on a cloud like one of those baby angels, then you have an entirely skewed understanding of Heaven. Entering Eternity means no more death, no more tears, no more physical limitations, always getting to enjoy the presence of God, doing good work that is not toilsome, worshipping Him, exploring His new creation and getting to spend every day learning new things about the greatness of God!

And all of this God says is not even a full understanding. 1 Corinthians 2:9 - “no eye has seen, nor ear heard, nor the heart of man imagined, what God has prepared for those who love him”.

What IS Jesus doing now To Amaze YOU?

Let me tell you what! It is pretty easy to be left in amazement when I think about Jesus’ sacrifice on the cross, His resurrection, His defeat of death and sin, and trying to imagine the greatness of eternity. These things leave me amazed at the greatness and grace of God!

We have talked about what He HAS done and what He WILL do....But...what about right now? I think that we as Christians forget about the “right-now”. We act like we just have to push through until we one day will get to enjoy our salvation.

Oh how wrong we often are! Eternity with Jesus started the moment you asked Him into your life. The moment you trusted in Him as Savior for your sins! Eternity started then and lasts forever! Isn’t that good news church? Eternity has already started for you!

So why don’t we act like it?

I think thats why this was such an important topic in my heart to share today!

Too many Christian are “too busy” and failing to see the goodness of God in their daily lives! This is the way that Satan likes it! He likes us distracted and discouraged.

But let me tell you what!

Several things would happen if you would earnestly looked for God every day and seek to see and hear from Him:

God would be glorified

God will be a greater priority in your life

You would experience greater Joy because your focus is on Him

You would see Him and be AMAZED

You would share what you discover with others!

Lets watch a video real quick and see if it will help challenge you to seek God more in your everyday life!

***Watch video***

Are you still amazed at His grace in your life church?

I think back to the story I shared with you earlier. There were many things which I encountered that changed me and left me speechless and amazed. Some of them more serious than others.

I was amazed at how far and fast we had traveled.

I was amazed at some of the foolish decisions we had made to keep paddling.

I was amazed that when we were ready to pull off the river, we just so happened to choose the one location where there were people camping (they were our angels in Grizzly Adams’ disguises).

I was amazed at the story regarding their cell phones.

I was amazed when we made it back to the car after all that had just happened.

I was amazed at how dumb we were - hahaha

All this to say, when you encounter a significant event or challenge or person, you can be left in complete amazement of what happened.

Let me tell you something!

There is no way that you can truly have an encounter with the almighty God of the universe and be left unaffected and un-amazed!

So I ask you again…Are you still amazed with your Savior Jesus Christ. With the work He HAS done, WILL do, and IS DOING?

Let this be your challenge this week:

- Pray each morning and ask God to reveal more of Himself to you through His Word and through Your everyday life! God is not in the game of playing “hide and go seek”.

He is ready to be found!

As A.W. Tozer says it: “We need never shout across the spaces to an absent God. He is nearer than our own soul, closer than our most secret thoughts.”

Put on your “God-goggles” and buckle up! Why? Because Amazing things happen when we look to God and desire to have more of Him!

Pray

(***Mention in prayer: Maybe you have never been amazed at God before! Maybe you don’t know much about God at all. Yet you hear me today telling you and promising you that when you know Him, you will be utterly excited and amazed at Him.....)

Church, I hope that next week you will have a list of things to share with each other. And ohhhh!!!!! It would absolutely be my joy to hear that you go up to JR sometime this week or next Sunday and tell Him.... “Pastor, Pastor....I have got to tell you what God has done in my life this week!”

That would be my Joy to hear about!

May God bless you all!