Share Your Story |06.21.26|Blessed to BLESS pt.6
Thank you very much, Drew. I am very excited to be here on Father's Day with all of you, to all the dads in the room. I love you. I'm proud of you. I'm really glad that you're here today. And I want to kick things off today with a poem, not in honor of the dads at all. This is just a really great poem that has meant a lot to me, and I want to share a portion of it with you.
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I fled him down the nights and down the days. I fled him down the arches of the years. I fled him down the labyrinthine ways of my own mind. And in the midst of tears, I hid from him(...) and, under running laughter,(...) up visit hopes I sped and shot, precipitated, down titanic glumes of chasmed hears. And from those strong feet that followed, followed after, but with unhurried chase and unperturbed pace, deliberate speed, majestic instancy, they beat. And a voice beat more instant than the feet. All things betray thee who betrayest me.
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Has anyone ever heard this poem before? It's called The Hound of Heaven by Francis Thompson. It was written around 1870.
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No one's heard this one before? Terrific. I'm so glad that I got to introduce you to that. That is only the first stanza of probably about an eight or nine minute poem. I'm not going to read all of it. But just to introduce you to it, because this is the story of Francis Thompson's life. The story of a life of loss and addiction, futility, until he was at last rescued out of the gutter, literally, by a Christian husband and wife in England who helped him get sober and then helped him publish his poetry. He gave his life over to Christ because of their kindness and their encouragement. At the end of the poem, he describes the moment he stopped running from God. And these words, though written more than 100 years ago, remain packed with powerful images and revelations for us today. These words and images have inspired songs, memoirs, political speeches, even modern film and television characters and plots, all of which happened decades after he died. He never had any idea the impact that his words would have. And even as I read them, I read them again for probably the 50th time this last week, I still was like, dang it, that's me.
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I am the one that he pursued(...) like a hound(...) of heaven.
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Today, we are wrapping up our Bless series with the second S of our Bless acronym,(...) which is Share Your Story. And the whole system goes like this by Pastor Dave Ferguson. It says, "Begin with prayer, listen with care, eat together, serve selflessly, and share your story."
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Share(...) your story.
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I love that this is the last part of the method for two reasons. For many, this is the most intimidating part of the process. We feel pressure to have a huge, exciting story, right? Recovery of sight, a broken addiction, rags to riches kind of story that Hollywood keeps And we think that our testimony has to be huge and persuasive like that. But our life feels(...) pretty normal, right? Pretty mundane, pretty ordinary, not interesting, no big deal. It doesn't matter.
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But it does matter(...) because you matter.
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Your story matters because you matter. And the second reason I'm glad this is at the end of the process is because if you're like me, you might be too eager to tell stories. I love telling stories and drawing out morals and applying it to everyday life. If I'm ever asked a question or in a conversation, I immediately start thinking about a time that I felt similar or thought similar. Or I might think of a character that I read about or a movie I saw. My wife constantly has to put up with me doing movie quotes and storylines. And she just goes, mm, mm, nice.(...) And she's patient, and she lets me finish. And then she moves on with the more important thing that she was talking about. But(...) I do this all the time. And I very often forget to(...) begin with prayer and to listen with care and to take time to eat together in all those great habits. I want to skip right to the end and share this really fun story I heard. But we first begin with prayer and listen to the person in front of you. Eat together, serve them, and at long last share your story.(...) And I'm certain you have questions about, well, how do we do that? And we've been trained to ask for the five W's, right? Who, what, where, when, and why. And don't forget the sixth wheel, how. So I'm going to attempt to cover those today as we're going along in our Bible story. If you'd like to take out the Bible that's under the seat in front of you, or if you brought your own Bible, awesome. I hope that you(...) take time to write in the margins if it's your own Bible. If it's that seat back Bible, I encourage you to write in that one as well. Take it home with you and think about these things later. Truly, we have more. If you don't have a Bible, take one. It is very important. So we're going to look at John chapter 9 verses 1 through 25. While you're finding your way there, I just want to give you a quick recap. At this point in Jesus' ministry, He has chosen His 12 apostles. And they're doing their public ministry. They're traveling around to different cities. And Jesus has had multiple face-offs of Jewish leaders in different groups. One of those groups, which is heavily featured in this story today, is called the Pharisees. They were a very strict group. They demanded everyone follow every rule, including the rules that they made up to go along with the rules that Moses wrote. And Jesus said of them, "They tie up heavy burdens, hard to bear, lay them on the shoulders of others, but they themselves are unwilling to lift a finger to move them." So Jesus' problem with the Pharisees was that they just weren't fair. You see?
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That's my one and only dad joke today. For all the fathers in the room, you're welcome.(...) And for the rest of you, you're also welcome that I only put one in there.(...) All right, so if you would please rise with me as we read our scripture this morning, as you are able, please join me(...) for John chapter 9.
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"As he walked along, he saw a man blind from birth. His disciples asked him, "Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind? Jesus answered, "Neither this man nor his parents sinned, he was born blind, so that God's works might be revealed in him.
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We must work the works of him who sent me, while it is day. Night is coming when no one can work, as long as I am in the world, I am the light of the world. When he had said this, he spat on the ground with the saliva and spread the mud on the man's eyes, saying to him, "Go wash in the pool of Siloam," which means sent. Then he went and washed and came back, able to see. The neighbors and those who had seen him before as a beggar began to ask, is this not the man who used to sit and beg? Some were saying, "It is he." Others saying, "No, but it is someone like him." And he kept saying, "I am he." But they kept asking him, "Then how were your eyes opened?" He answered, "The man called Jesus, made mud, spread it on my eyes, and said to me, "Go to Siloam and wash." Then I went and washed and received my sight. They said to him, "Where is he?" He said, "I do not know."
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Now, it was Sabbath day when Jesus made(...) mud and opened his eyes. And the Pharisees also began to ask him how he had received his sight. He said to them, "He put mud on my eyes, then I washed, and now I see." Some of the Pharisees said, "This man is not from God, for he does not observe the Sabbath." Others said, "How can a man who is a sinner perform such signs?" And they were divided.(...) So they said again to the blind man, "What do you say about him? It was your eyes he opened." And he said, "He is a prophet."(...) The Jews did not believe that he had been blind and had received his sight until they called the parents of the man who had received his sight.
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And asked them, "Is this your son who you say was born blind? Does he now see?" His parents answered, "We know that this is our son and that he was born blind, but we do not know how it is that he now sees, nor do we know who opened his eyes. Ask him. He is of age. He will speak for himself."
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His parents said this because they were afraid of the Jews, for the Jews had already agreed that anyone who confessed Jesus to be the Messiah would be put out of the synagogue. Therefore, his parents said, "He is of age. Ask him."(...) So for the second time, they called the man who had been blind and they said to him, "Give glory to God. We know that this man is a sinner." He answered, "I do not know whether he is a sinner. One thing I do know that though I was blind, now I see."(...) This is the word of the Lord. Thanks be to God. Amen. You may have a seat.
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It is a powerful and amazing story. And again, you may be thinking, "Yeah, but my story is nothing like that." From your perspective, that may be true. But we can all learn a lot from paying attention to how this man shared his story. What were the steps? Let's look back, look at it again, and see if we can use our five Ws along the way. All right, starting in verse 13. "They brought to the Pharisees the man who had formerly been blind." Right now, we got two of them. Who?(...) Man who had been blind, right? And where?(...) Anywhere. They started in the streets. They started by his house. And now it's with the Pharisees, maybe the synagogue, maybe it's still in the city market, we don't know. So the where is anywhere. It could be anywhere, okay?
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And John informs us it had been the Sabbath when all this happens. That sets up the controversy. And then the Pharisees also began to ask him how he had received his sight. And he said to them, "He put mud on my eyes, "and then I washed, and now I see."(...) All right, so when?(...) When you are asked. We don't have evidence that this guy was running around the city going, "Do you know why I used to be blind?" He just was going about his day, and people observed him, and they asked, "Wait, aren't you the guy who used to be blind?" He's like, "Yeah, I'm the guy.(...) "I'm that guy." So when? When you're asked.
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And the Pharisees ever tried to turn this into a philosophical argument. Well, this man isn't from God. He doesn't observe the Sabbath. That's a rule, right? He doesn't follow the rules. He can't be from God. And the others say, "Well, how can a sinner "do what he did?" And they're divided on it. So they asked him,(...) "What do you say?" It was your eyes. And so this man says, "He's a prophet."
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There's our what. What do you believe? What is your testimony?(...) Well, they don't like that answer. So now they try to prove that he's a big fake. Oh, I doubt he was ever really blind at all. So they get his parents to come in, and they say, "Is this your son? "Was he really blind? "How can he now see?" And they say, "Well, yeah. "I mean, he(...) was, you know, because he was there, "and now he's here." And well, you know,(...) ask him. He's an adult.
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I'm willing to bet that that father did not have a world's best dad, Toga, in his closet at home. Just judging, just saying, it didn't look(...) like that was likely. So verse 24, "For the second time, "they called the man who had been blind, "and they said to him, "Give glory to God. "We know this man's a sinner, right?" And he said,(...) "I don't know.
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"I don't know. "One thing I do know, that though I was blind, now I see." Why would he keep saying that?(...) Because the truth matters.(...) That's our why.(...) The truth matters.
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And the truth is,(...) you matter.
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And I want you to know, another element that makes us afraid to share our testimony is that there will be a challenge or a question, and we don't know the answer. Please hear me when I say this. I do not know(...) is a perfectly acceptable response.
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Because you are not called to be the judge, or an arbiter, or a lawyer, you are called to be a witness. Jesus said, "You will be my witnesses." What does a witness do? They tell what they saw. What did you see? What did you hear? And anything more than that(...) would be inadmissible in a court of law.
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All you can do is tell(...) what you know, what you heard, what you saw.(...) And good news is always better than good arguments. Your story matters,(...) because you matter.
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We tend to think of the people in the Bible like the random dropping characters in a TV show, right? They pop up, and then they fade away, never to be heard from again. But these people were real people.
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There was nothing extraordinary about them. They were regular people living their lives until bam, they encountered God, and they were changed. And it's the same for us. Sometimes that moment is a near-death experience,(...) or perhaps the death of a loved one. Sometimes it's a song on the radio.(...) Sometimes it's a meaningful conversation around a campfire, or in the comfort of your home, or even in a cold vehicle that's frozen and stuck on the side of the road. It could be anywhere. Or it could be a book, or it could be a movie, or it could be anything. But it meets you where you are, and it changes how you see the world from that day forward.(...) I was blind, and now I see.(...) And that's what we're talking about, your testimony. My life before Jesus, how I met Jesus, my life since Jesus.(...) That's all it is. I want you to go home this week and see if you can scratch out a couple of bullet points just like that. Doesn't have to be a novel,(...) or an epic poem, or even a full sentence right now. But what did life look like before Jesus?
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Was there a moment in your life where Jesus became real, or perhaps more real, and how has that changed you now?(...) Or maybe this helps if I do a bullet, a speed through the five W's. Who? You.
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Where? Anywhere.(...) What? Your testimony.
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How? Life before? A moment with Jesus? Life since Jesus. When?(...) After? You have built a relationship with this person.(...) Don't jump to the end.
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First, begin with prayer, and then listen to them with care. Eat with them, serve them, because people won't care what you know until they know that you care.
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Have you heard that before?(...) People won't care what you know until they know that you care.
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And why? Because the truth matters, and the truth is,(...) you matter too.(...) What makes me sure that you matter too? I'm gonna come at this two ways. First, scientifically, and then I'm gonna attempt to come at this relationally, okay?(...) Did you know that one drop of water,
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when it turns into steam,
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expands 1,700 times its original volume?
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And some of you are like, "Danny, whoa,(...) way too nerdy."
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I get it.(...) I get it. I read that while I was training to be a fireman several years ago, that was like 13 years ago, and it stuck with me ever since. I read it on one page one day, and I've always remembered it. A drop of water when it expands into steam expands 1,700 times its original size. Drop of water about a millimeter. If that expanded, it would fill about a 2 1 1 half foot by 2 1 1 half foot by 2 1 1 half foot box. The box that you do not want to carry up the steps, because you can't see around it. Little drop of water gets that big. So for me, I don't deal in millimeters, Danny. I'm like, "Okay, okay." What I did, I went out to the garage here, and I cut this one inch block,(...) roughly. I was a little more concerned with keeping all of my fingers and making sure this was exactly one inch when I cut it on my miter saw, but this is it. One inch block.(...) If this one inch block was to expand the same way a drop of water does, we would have 1,700 one inch blocks.(...) That would be enough to fill a box that(...) is four feet wide, five feet deep, and seven feet high.
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This box(...) is four feet wide, three feet deep, and three feet high. I didn't have a box big enough just lying around. I apologize for that. So doing the really quick, probably not entirely accurate math, but pretty darn close that I do in my head.
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This one block, I'm very confident to say,
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would fill up three of these.
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That 1,700 blocks would fill up three of these. I did the math on the patio for like two hours last week, so it's fascinating for me. That's all I'm gonna share with you. Now why is that important? How does that relate to our soul? Well, if God cares that much,(...) if God can do that much through one little drop of water,
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how much more can he do through you?
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He who is living water, living inside of you,
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with a story to tell(...) through you, his amazing work. How much more could he do? I did the math, like I said, for two hours, and I am still absolutely dumbfounded how this
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could expand enough to fill up three of these. Like it does not make sense. This is a tiny box. How about this? Any football fans in the room?
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Got some football fans? Okay, if you took this guy and put it on the goal line of your favorite football field, and it expanded 1,700 times, it would reach all the way to the 47-yard line.
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How ridiculous is that?
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And we say, oh no, my story,(...) the work of Christ in me,(...) can't possibly be of any importance. If God cares that much about a drop of water, how much more does he care about you? Jesus said, if God cares so much for the grass, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, how much more does he care about you?
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He loves you,(...) and he has put you here for a reason.
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Hold on,(...) we're gonna get through this. All right, he put you here for a reason.(...) He has brought you through life, and I know most of it has been junk.
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It's been boring, it's been mundane. A lot of it's been tragic for a lot of you. I know your stories.
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It's been hard,(...) but God has brought you through(...) because he loves you,
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and you're one little drop in the bucket across the whole world,(...) but you're one little drop that matters to God,
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and he's put a story in you to tell.
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And I know that because in our story today, it doesn't stop where we stopped, it keeps going.
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Indeed, the man likely lived beyond the pages of the Bible, and even though we never learned his name, but I'm gonna call him Mike, because I'm tired of saying that guy, he acts like a Mike. So it's either spit guy or Mike. So we're gonna call him Mike for the rest of this here. After Mike definitively says, I was blind and now I see, the Pharisees try to have him tell his story again from the beginning, and Mike is like, I've already told you twice, and he didn't believe me. You wouldn't listen to me, so why should I bother again? Are you maybe trying to become his disciples? You see what I mean? He talks like a Mike.
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The Pharisees don't like that.
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And then he goes on to say even more, the Pharisees really don't like. You should read it for yourself in the rest of the chapter. It's very saucy, it's a very good read. But they're like, get out of here. They cast him out, they say, never ever come back. You're dead to us. Well, Jesus hears about this, and Jesus goes and finds Mike. And he sits down with him, and he has a conversation with him, and he reveals to him,(...) Jesus says, I am he(...) who gave you your sight.
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So Jesus didn't just do this for the show of it. He didn't do it to impress his disciples. He did it because he cared about this guy. This guy mattered to him.
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And Jesus went on from there, and he went to the cross to die for our sins because he could see all of time, and he knew that you mattered to him.
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He endured the pain of death on the cross because you matter to him. And he's brought you here to this place with a story to tell because you matter to him, and he wants to work through you because there's other people that matter to him, and he wants you to reach them. (Sighs)
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The man born blind in Jesus' day had no expectation that his story would go beyond this city,
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or that we would still be talking about him 2,000 years later. Francis Thompson had no idea that his poetry would have an impact beyond his lifetime, or even the shores of his island home in Britain.
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And a frantic teenage boy from nowhere, Idaho, (Sniffs)
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Sorry.
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We're gonna get through this. A frantic teenage boy from nowhere, Idaho, who thought strongly about ending everything(...) at 16.
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Had no idea.
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The incredible life that was waiting for him.
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Far away in Illinois,(...) the lives that would impact him, that he would be blessed to bless, and not to mention the beautiful wife, an incredible son he would get to call his very own.
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That's me.
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And I will gladly tell my story, warts and all, because my story is the power of Christ to save,
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and he can save you too.
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Because God so loved the world that he gave his only son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish,
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but may have eternal life. And indeed, God did not send his son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him, John 3, 16 and 17.
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God has proven himself faithful in my life, and he will in yours. It hasn't always been easy, it hasn't always been fun.
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There are days that I couldn't imagine(...) the next day being worth it,(...) but it always has been.
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Because I'm mad at Jesus,(...) and you matter too.
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So let's do this in New Life Church.
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Let's step out into the world,
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given what we got, because what we got(...) is a gift from God,
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and there were one drop in the bucket.
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He who loves you can do so much more.
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Let's do it,(...) amen.
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(Audience Applauding)