Don't Miss It- Jesus

This powerful message confronts five critical barriers that can separate us from experiencing the fullness of Jesus in our lives. We're challenged to examine whether church hurt, flawed leadership, or disappointing experiences with religious institutions have caused us to reject Jesus himself. The sermon draws from Matthew 17, where a father sought help from Jesus after the disciples couldn't heal his son—reminding us that imperfect people don't invalidate a perfect Savior. We're invited into a 'come and see' faith, echoing Philip's invitation to Nathaniel in John 1, where preconceived notions nearly caused him to miss the Messiah over a two-letter preposition. The message emphasizes that we may have been raised with a 'six-year-old theology' that doesn't fit adult realities, and we're encouraged to read the gospels for ourselves to discover who Jesus truly is. Perhaps most liberating is the reminder that Jesus stepped into a world far more brutal than ours—filled with corruption, misogyny, slavery, and injustice—yet offered hope anyway. When John the Baptist doubted from prison, Jesus didn't condemn him but understood his struggle. The resurrection becomes our anchor point, the event that brought scattered disciples back and can stabilize our faith through every storm. We're reminded that God's silence doesn't mean His absence, and that apart from Jesus, there is only pain without purpose and tragedy without redemption.

Pastor mentioned that we often miss Jesus because of church hurt or flawed leaders. How can we separate our disappointment in people from our relationship with Christ himself?

The sermon emphasized that we were all raised with a 'version of Christianity' that may need to mature as we grow. What childhood beliefs about God have you had to deconstruct or reimagine as an adult?

Jesus took people's stories into consideration before judging their behavior, as with the woman at the well and the woman caught in adultery. How does this challenge our tendency to judge others without knowing their full story?

The message states that 'God doesn't get his will most of the time' since it's not His will that anyone perish, yet people do. How do you reconcile God's sovereignty with human free will and the presence of evil?