Why Do We Need Jesus Today? | Ruben Valeny

Everyone is looking for something to trust in. But when life feels uncertain, where do we turn?

This week, Pastor Ruben Valeny shares a powerful message on the name of Jesus - the name above every other name. You’ll discover why Jesus is more than just a figure from history, but the living Savior we need today.

🙌 Connect with Us:

• New? – hopecity.ca/new

• Stay Connected – hopecity.ca/weekly

• Following Jesus – hopecity.ca/life

• Giving – hopecity.ca/give

• Follow us on Instagram: @hopecityyeg

• Visit our Website: hopecity.ca

• Follow us on TikTok: @hopecityyeg

🙏 Need Prayer?

Please leave a comment or reach out to us directly.  We’d love to connect with you!

🙌 Connect with Us:

• New? - hopecity.ca/new
• Stay Connected - hopecity.ca/weekly
• Following Jesus - hopecity.ca/life
• Giving - hopecity.ca/give
• Follow us on Instagram: @HopeCityYEG
• Visit our Website: hopecity.ca
• Follow us on TikTok: @HopeCityYEG
• Find other ways to listen to the podcast: hopecity.ca/podcast

🙏 Need Prayer?
Please leave a comment or reach out to us directly—we’re here for you!

Transcript

0:16

- Hey, this is Phil Kal, lead pastor at Hope City Church. Thanks for tuning into our podcast. My prayer is that this helps and encourages you, gives you some practical ways to live out your faith and ultimately fills you with hope. Enjoy the message- Bigger.- Well, hey, I wanna ask this morning, anyone here in the room, um, movie watchers or movie lovers, audience participation's? Okay. Uh, anyone with me on that? Okay. I just wanna make sure I'm not the only normal one in the room. Um, now when you watch movies, you can quickly, um, you know, start to categorize people who watch movies, right? We, we have those types of personalities in our midst. You know, the first category is pretty straightforward. They're called the movie nerds. Now, this is not meant to be offensive to you. If that is you own your lane. That is the one that is like, you know, analyzing and dissecting the character development and the Easter egg frequencies and the cinematic point of view. Nah, man, for me, just make me laugh. Make me cry. Get me outta my seat. I'm a simple man. It's another category. And that is the naive questioner. You know, one of those, maybe you're married to one of those where like you're watching a movie and that person pipes up beside you. What's going on,- ,- Where are they going? What's she looking for? And everything inside of you. Calm and collective's like, I don't know, I'm watching at the same time as you- ,- But then there's the interrupters. Yeah, gonna say it. Not a fan of them.- ,- They interrupt. They're annoying, they're frustrating.'cause all I wanna see is the, the car from fast enough here is fly over the military tank and land in time to catch the girl. That's all I wanna do without you interrupting me. When I was younger, I, uh, I went to go watch a movie with my cousin in Toronto and, and you know, we're going down and it's a large auditorium theater. And this is really exciting for me because, you know, as a, as a young boy teenager, it's the first outing on our own. And so we go and we're excited and we buy our movie ticket and you know, we're watching Spider-Man, I don't know, 18, there's so many of them. Um, but we go and we get our ticket and we get ready and we sit down in this movie, theater, snacks, drinks, ready to go, lights, dim action. We start the movie. And not even 30 minutes into the movie, all I hear beside me is just a, ugh, it's my cousin. I don't give it, I don't give it two seconds, I thought. But it starts to continue, it gets louder. And now he starts to add words to it. Like, oh, this is so fake. That is not even real. The CGI is so bad. And I'm like, are you kidding me? Really right here, right now. And I was so mad and I'm so secondhand embarrassed and I, I said, yo, pull up your ticket. What does it say? It's Spider-Man. You know what it's about? It's about a boy who gets bitten by a radioactive spider and now he's swinging across buildings with a line of web and kisses girls upside down. Tell me, is any of this real ? Never, never again have I watched a movie with him. But as juvenile as that story may sound, we almost kind of feel like that. Not to the point where we want to slap the person beside us while watching a movie, but the idea of receiving a hero and that hero have the reality to rescue us. We looked to the marbles and we looked at the dcs and we use our imagination and ask the question, what if, what if there was someone beyond our scope of humanity that can come and rescue us and save the depravity of humankind? See, over the course of the summer, we've been in a series which is a, a, a collection of talks under the theme of the names of God We've been going through the names of God and names speak volume, you know, names, speak, clarity, understanding. They speak, um, intention and they speak relationship. And the names of God speak exactly that. And so by the end of the series, our prayer is that you would grasp those truths, that you would know that God wants to bring clarity to you. He wants to understand that everything he does is intentional. He wants you to understand, uh, about his character and through the names of God that he wants to solidify a relationship with you and lets you know that he is the hero to your story. This week we have probably one of the most popular or most pivotal one in our lives today. Um, the name of God is Jesus, which means the Lord saves, the Lord saves. I got this topic, I'm like, great, how am I gonna fit this in half an hour? This is fantastic. But when we hunker down and try to understand the name of Jesus, which translates to the Lord, saves they one of the most pivotal verses that can really summarize the intention of God is found in John three 16 and three 17. It says, but this is how God loved the world. He has one and only son. So whoever everyone who believes in him will not perish, but have eternal life. God sent his son into the world not to judge the world, but to save the world through him. Why is this such an important verse to know and understand? Well, because this is the crux of our religion, of our salvation, of our relationship with God the Father. And even though this is the type of verse that you find mostly on t-shirts and you know, coffee mugs and Instagram bios, this verse is jam packed theologically and would open up our hearts, minds and souls because this is the gospel. This is the gospel. And we could go all over the place in the Bible to find some verses that would support our message today. But I wanna, I wanna double down and, and uh, read a story or a piece of scripture that can really give us some really great, um, takeaways and understand the heart of God in sending Jesus. I'm reading from John chapter 14, the first 14 verses. This is what the Bible says. It says, don't let your hearts be troubled, trusting God and also trust in me. Don't let your hearts be troubled. Trust in me. There is more than enough room in my father's home. If this were not so would I have told you that I'm going to prepare a place for you. When everything is ready, I will come and get you. So you'll always be with me where I am. And you know the way to where I'm going. We don't know the Lord. Thomas said, we have no idea where you're going. So how can we know the way? I love Thomas like doubt. Doubting Thomas gets a bad rap, but honestly he's a realist like I relate to him the most. Like Jesus talking and cryp language and riddles and parables and stories and all the disciples are faking it. They're just like, yes Lord, so good Jesus. But Thomas is like, actually, I don't know. I don't know where you're going. I don't know how you're gonna get there. I could just picture the other disciples be like, yeah, us two. But Jesus told them in in verse six, I am the way, the truth and the life. No one can come to the Father except through me. If you had really known me, you would know who my father is from now on, you do know him and have seen him. Philip said, Lord, show us the Father and we will be satisfied. Jesus replied, have I been with you all this time, Philip? And yet you still don't know who I am. Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father. So why are you asking me to show him to you? Don't you believe that I am in the Father and the Father is in me? The words I speak are not my own, but my father who lives in me does this work through me? Just believe that I am in the Father and the Father is in me. Or at least, uh, believe because of the work you have seen me do. I end off with this. I tell you the truth, anyone who believes in me will do the same works I have done and even greater works because I am going to be with the Father. You can ask for anything in my name and I will do it so the Son can bring glory to the Father. Yes, ask me for anything in my name and I will do it. So when we look at the name of Jesus, which translates to the Lord, saves it sounds great in all. But I think the question we're all pondering is like, how does that affect my life? Not in a consumeristic type of way, but how does it affect me in my life? Lord saves, you're probably sitting there like Reuben, you're off to a great start. This is a great motivational speech, decent Ted talk. But how does all this affect me? The Lord saves, but he saves me from what? Well, I broke it down very simply for you in four different categories with the first being he saves us from sin. He saves us from sin because of God sending his son Jesus. This is the Lord's action to save humanity. The Lord saves because whether we believe it or not, the world is broken, the world is full of flaws and gaps and frailties. And we're always so quick to point the finger on who to blame for all of this. And I believe the first person, the first one who would always get our frustration is God. But may I propose to you this morning that we are the ones who actually made the world broken. God is the one who is intending to fix it, right? There's a chasm between us and God and the problem compounding. The problem is that not only our sinfulness was the one that causes this chasm, but our sinfulness prevents us from bridging the chasm ourselves. See, we are not just down friends, we are down and out. We have dug ourselves a grave too deep for us to climb out of. But God knows this. So enter grace, take note of the kindness of God. He loves his children, but even though we would deserve wrath and death, he refuses to give us what we deserve. But here, here's what I'm saying, there's a problem with that because God's righteousness demands justice. He cannot let the guilty go free and unpunished because in Romans 6 23, he says, for the wages of sin is death. Further on in Hebrews 9 22, it says, for without the shedding of blood, there is no forgiveness. And so we learned that there is a blood debt that is owed. We have fallen short of the glory of God. That's what sin is, that we've missed the mark. We've, we've fallen short of his standards. And this shortfall must be justified if God were to retain his sovereignty. So we got that. Now enter Jesus. This is the gospel. The gospel is where God's kindness and wrath meets. This is where heaven and earth collides, but let's get something straight. Jesus and Him dying on the cross was not some sort of surprise to God. Like this wasn't plan B or a plan B option. You know, rather, this has been developed within the trinity since the beginning of time. Theologically, God's response to the belittlement and mocking of his name has always been the death and sacrifice of Jesus Christ on a Roman cross. It's so important for us to know, to understand because it says in Genesis 1 26, let's make men in our image, our image. So the cross of Jesus has casted its shadow across eternity since the beginning. And this is the greatest news, this is the greatest love story ever told. This is the reason why we can get up in the morning and not be like a wake work, eat, sleep, repeat cycle, but to wake up in the morning being drawn to something bigger than all of us combined. So the question is, if Jesus came to save us from sin, have you actually let him, have you actually let him? Or are you still trying to kick it, trying to bridge that chasm all by yourself? Second thing that Jesus saves us from is the trouble in our soul. Our soul is important and we all have this ache within us. There's just something in our soul that like groans when something bad happens in this world, right? Like scroll social media, watch the news. Every time you see a a, a shooting happen or a child being kidnapped or a diagnosis ends terminally, there's just something inside of us that wells up and thinks like there's something wrong with this world that's on purpose. Because in the book of Ecclesiastes, God writes that he has planted eternity in the human hearts that's on purpose. And so there's something inside of all of us that feels like our hearts are a puzzle with that one missing piece. You know, I hate doing puzzles, but I did it once and come towards the end we realized there was a missing piece before Jesus. I had anger issues, I was ready to punch the walls. You know, I'm ready to call the manufacturer. I would make my own piece to finish the puzzle. Because here's the thing, there's nothing more satisfactory than to put that last piece in the puzzle and be like, look at me now. Right? The satisfaction and so and so. Why is it that for all of us, the more we accumulate however many trips that we go on, no matter how many things we buy or the places we go, or the followers we get, or the amount of people that we sleep around with, that all we, we feel like there's always one last missing piece of the puzzle left. Because no one goes to the bar and gets drunk and thinks, Hmm, good for the rest of my life. No, there's always a drop because there's a difference between instant gratification and soul satisfaction. Why is it that we always try to chase the next hit, the next dopamine hit, or the next high or the next thing that we have to show off to our friends and families? What are our hearts and all of this? Friends, our hearts are troubled, troubled. The scripture we just read right from the get go. Jesus says himself, don't let your hearts be troubled. Troubled in original language means to to be turned up or agitated or very afraid. See, Jesus' promise to you is to always get you to the other side. There's a story in Matthew chapter 14 where Jesus sends his disciples on a boat and he says, I'll meet you on the other side. And then he kind of scurries off and then the disciples go into this massive storm. And what do you, what do you, what do you feel in this moment? Well, the answer to their fear is actually found in Jesus' original instructions. Jesus says, Hey, I will see you on the other side. He never said Go die in the middle of the lake. But when they're in the storm, they're feeling like I'm gonna die in this middle of the lake. Jesus. We learn that to never doubt in the shade what Jesus tells us in the sunshine. And the human heart could get so freaked out and emotional and make permanent decision based off of temporary circumstances. And Jesus come to remind humanity that Jesus is the same in the storm as he is in the sunshine. An emotional rollercoaster that we often get on is found. The answers found in Jesus, the feelings that we get when a family member passes away or the school shooting happens, or that work deadline that comes up, we can feel our hearts become troubled, agitated, and very afraid. But Jesus reveals in this piece of scripture and the story of the disciples in the storm that our hearts can feel troubled. Yes. But Jesus is the one that can bring rest to that soul, to that troubled, that aching heart. Jesus is saying, I'm the answer to the ache within Max Lucado, a great leader, uh, when said the greatest calamity is to not feel far from home when you are, but to feel right at home when you are not friends. Like, we're not made for this earth. We were made for a place and we were made for a person. We were made for heaven, we were made for Jesus. And until we fully understand that and believe that we're always gonna be scrambling for that missing piece of the puzzle and it'll cause us to consistently feel troubled. So my question to you friends is what's the missing piece that you're always trying to find that will finally satisfy your soul? Or what would it look like to give that ache over to Jesus? He saves us from sin. He saves us from the trouble in our soul. Third, Jesus saves us from the death. From death itself. This is huge because for us as believers, death is not the end. You have a body and a soul. But I think for most of us, we feel like our physical bodies are the truest sense of life. But a better way to look at this is that you are a soul. You currently have a body. So if this is true, then death is not the end of the road. It's just a bend in the road. John 14, two says, as we've just read, there is more than enough room in my father's home. If this were not so would I have told you that I'm going to prepare a place for you? He says, I wouldn't be telling you all these lies about eternity. If all this life on earth is what you got. So the question isn't friends, will you live forever? The question is, where will you live forever? Because Jesus says, Hey, there's two roads. One's a broad one that leads to destruction that many are on. And the other is a narrow road that leads to everlasting life. He's making it plain and simple. Folks, it's black and white. It is heaven or hell. It's life or death no matter which one you choose. Death is not the end. There's always something more. But for the one who puts their faith in Jesus grief, when death comes is momentary because friends, we're not leaving home. We're going home. Jesus is there saying, welcome home. But it's only possible because of the price that was paid. That's why Jesus says, I'm preparing a place for you. Jesus doesn't create with hammers and nails up in heaven. He's not in a rush trying to get you ready for heaven. Like when we do, when we have people coming over for suffer, we're like sweating, vacuuming and cleaning the bathroom. And when they come over they're like, wow, what a beautiful home. It's immaculate. And you're like, oh my gosh, thank you so much. Sorry. It's a mess. We just got home. We know who you are, . He's prepared a place for you. He's prepared a place for you. And what is he talking about? He's talking about this hanging from the cross. Hanging from the cross is the way he's prepared for us to usher us into freedom. He's allowed himself to hang there on the cross and allow all the way to the world, including all of our sin upon him. He prepared a wave for us today by dying and rising. It's paid for in advance. And there's not a cent remaining on the payment. All that remains is for us to finish the good work and then we will get to enter into the joy of our Lord as well. So he saves us from sin. He saves us from the trouble of our soul. In our soul. He saves from death itself. But what about two He saves us from, but he also saves us two, and he saves us into heaven. Heaven. A question I think all of us ask or worth asking is, what is heaven going to be like? I think in this passage, it gives us a really good insight into where we'd be going after we die. Because again, look at verse two. It says, there was more than enough room in my father's home until the translation says in my father's house are many mansions. Mansions. Yeah, sounds good with me. He says he uses words carefully because mansion, um, you know, it speaks obviously to the aspiration of it because who doesn't wanna live in a mansion but also to its permanence? If you live in a mansion already, that's great, but it's nothing in comparison to the one in heaven because heaven is always an upgrade. See the earth so beautiful, even with this brokenness. You know when you are, we have those moments where we're kind of like in awe of the things here on earth. It's beautiful, but it's also kind of sad. It's like the moment you're in awe watching a sunrise or sunset, it's the view you have right after that hike. It's the fireworks show with your friends and families close to you on Canada Day. It's the moment you look at the Christmas tree right before you go to bed on Christmas Eve as a kid. All those things are beautiful and it's awestruck, but it's also kind of sad because you have to walk away from it. You get to experience it, but it only comes and goes, but a vapor of a second. But in heaven, in heaven, we get to experience that beautiful, comforting jaw dropping awe sense of wonder forever. And it will never compare. Picture the most beautiful thing on this earth. Think of it, what would it be? Maybe it's to see the earth from the top of Mount Everest, seeing the movement of the animal kingdom right before your eyes, maybe seeing your son or daughter's room fully cleaned. Who knows? packed out Oilers arena in game seven and they actually win. Uh oh, sorry. Paul in second Corinthians says that he got to see a glimpse of heaven. And he says, imagine the best possible thing in the world. And he follows it by saying, it's far better. It's far better. 'cause here's the thing, we live in the world that's crumbling around us. There are sicknesses and diseases and cancers that are taking our loved ones way too soon there. There is hate and greed and pride and lust in every human heart. So why is heaven so desirable to go to? Well, it says in Revelation 21, and this is a glimpse into the future. It says, I heard a loud shout from the throne saying, look, God's home is now among his people. He will live with them and they will be his people. God himself will be with them. And then get this. He will wipe every tear from their eyes and there'll be no more death or sorrow or crying or pain. All these things are gone forever. That's what we get to look forward to. Friends as Christ's followers. So the story of the gospel's very simple. Jesus went into that grave to get you out. And that resurrection represents the true name of Jesus. He saves. He saves you from sin. He saves you from the trouble in your soul. He saves you from death itself and he saves you into heaven. The resurrection and saving moment isn't for some event one day. It's a reality to change your today. Resurrection is not what he does, it's who he is. It's not some event that he's going to get to one day, like that's how we treat our faith. Sometimes some of us have accepted Jesus because of some sort of catastrophic insurance. But no, when you're in a relationship with Jesus, resurrection is what he's constantly doing. He doesn't want to resurrect your eternity. He wants to resurrect your journey here on Earth right now. And what does that mean? Resurrection means he brings life to it. Resuscitates it saves it. God wants to resurrect your relationships. He wants to resurrect the hopes and dreams and the joys in your life. Whatever you have considered death in your life, he wants to bring it back to life. He wants that potential to blossom again. And so the vying question is that we're all asking Jesus, save, save. Yes. And does he care about me and my personal life? Friends, I'll take you one step further. He doesn't only care about your pain, he's gone through it. He's gone through it. It says in the Book of Psalms that all of all of creation will declare the wonder of the Lord. The book of Isaiah says that there are angels who surround God singing Holy, holy, holy as the Lord God Almighty 24 7. In the book of Philippians, it says, at one point, every knee will bow because of the splendid captive nature of who Jesus is. So what does that tell me? It tells me that even though I'm lost, even though I'm broken, even though I'm wandering, even though I feel like I'm in a valley and just crawling through, what does that tell me? Tells me that God I serve wins. Period. He remains on that throne. He remains undefeated. And eventually when he goes onto that cross and says, it is finished because of the choice that he has made on behalf of you and me, your worry is finished, your anxiety is finished, your brokenness is finished. Your your past is gone. Death has died. Jesus locked the casket and threw away the key and says to you and I, I rule. And I reign now and forever. Now and forever. So, so now what? Now what? Well, for the one in the room that maybe has not put their faith in Jesus, I would love to present you with the opportunity to accept him for the very first time. Maybe it's clicking and maybe it's like, wow, this is something I want to give my life to you for the one in the room that maybe you have already accepted Jesus into your life. It's time to get to work, right? I don't know lots, but all I know is that time is short. There's so much more to live for. Heaven is waiting for the person you love most. So let's go into the world. Let's be, as Jesus puts it, let's be about our father's business. Let's work hard at your job. Let our marriages testify. Let's shine our lives. Let's be generous. Let's be sacrificial. Let's live our lives actually knowing that Jesus saves us from sin, from the trouble in our soul, from death and into heaven. Heaven, God bless you, hope city, I'm gonna invite you to stand. I would love to pray for you in this moment. Like I mentioned before, I would love to pray for the one. Maybe you are a Christ follower and I hope the message could at least maybe give you a breath of fresh air that I can be maybe win in your sales. Maybe you're a Christ follower and you've come into this place and you're kind of like tired. You know, I've all been there. I've been there. Maybe your soul's jaded. Maybe you're grown bitter. Maybe the passion and the flame in your heart has grown a little dim. My prayer is that that flame will be reignited once again for the one in the room that want to accept Jesus for the first time. Lemme tell you, it's a beautiful thing. We believe in our church that the best decision we can make is to follow Jesus. But let me also tell you something, is that when you follow Jesus, I'm gonna come at you and tell you that life's gonna be easy. Life's hard. It's inevitable for everyone, whether you're a Christ's follower or not. But I believe that when we accept Jesus, we get up to wake up in the morning on purpose for a purpose. I lead young adults. All the questions they ask me kind of revolves around like, God's so good. Why is bad things happen? Okay, if I were to give you a cheat sheet and a formula sheet of why all those things happy, will that appease your soul? The answer for the most part is no. Because the most important thing that we want is comfort and love and peace. And that warm body that's just like right beside us, you know? And that's what Jesus offers to hold your hand through every area of life. So with that being said, I'd love to pray for us right now. So, Lord, we just thank you for our church and our community. Thank you Lord for the work that you are doing and our church, but also in every individual lives. Well, we pray for the one that's just tired. They're a Christ follower, but they just like realize that man, life is just getting mundane now. It's becoming routine. They've lost their sense of awe and passion and maybe coming to church and lean their families. And, and maybe just following you individually, God, I pray that you would restore health into their souls once again. God, would you bring life once again? Would you resuscitate and, and and resurrect the things that have gone, uh, dead in their lives? Lord, I pray that they would have wind in their sails. And Lord, I pray that they would leave here and get outta these doors a changed person, that they'd be transformed and beyond that Lord, that he would go out and bring that, that, that, that, that glory, the gospel that's inside of them, to be a role model in a spinning image of who you are to the people in our city that desperately needs it the most. I pray for those Christ followers to embody that. I pray Lord, for the ones who may want, maybe want to accept you for the very first time. And so we pray all together, Lord, we invite you into our lives. We confess and believe that you are the Lord of our lives. We're not just this good teacher, but you are the son of God. And from this day forward, all our actions and words and our thoughts belong to you. May you be the Lord of our lives when we put our faith and hope in you and you alone. And so God, overall, I just pray for our church. I pray for, um, the things that they go through. And I pray that as we leave here, that you'll go before them. That you would, uh, we pray for protection. We pray for anointing and blessing, that we would take the things with us and go out into the world with it. Thank you for what you're doing at Hope City and thank you for what you're doing in every individual lives. We pray all this in Jesus name.- Amen.- If you prayed that prayer of salvation for the first time, thank you for that. And we don't wanna leave you hanging. And so right behind me, there's a QR code. If you wanna scan or on a card, uh, behind some of the seats in there. It's just like a landing, good landing page for resources, um, equipping you with ABCs of Christianity and also giving you a chance to, uh, get connected with a pastor. If you need prayer for absolutely anything whatsoever, I would invite you. We have, uh, our staff and prayer team right here at the front and my right, your left. You can come forward for any prayer requests whatsoever. Other than that, guys, we're so excited to finish off the series for the rest of the month and the summer. Um, God bless you everybody, and we'll see you again next Sunday morning.