00:00You know, constantly when I'm getting these talks together for you, I have to
00:05remind myself, Doug, you're overthinking Jesus. You see, I believe that there's a
00:12quiet battle that happens in the mind long before it ever shows up in a
00:17person's life. It doesn't announce itself with thunder or lightning. It doesn't roll
00:24in with drama or spectacle. It slips in like a whisper, almost too soft to notice.
00:32And before you know it, your mind is spinning, your heart is tightening, and
00:38faith begins fighting for space inside a whole bunch of noise. I deal with that all
00:45the time. And you know, then I think, Doug, you're overthinking Jesus, but to many that
00:51may sound strange at first. But I promise you, if you sit with it for a moment with
00:57me here, it'll start to sound painfully familiar. Because if we're honest, most
01:04people aren't struggling with Jesus himself. They're struggling with the
01:09metal knots they've tied around him. You know, somewhere along the faith journey,
01:14faith stopped being a relationship and became a religious formula. People started
01:23believing that God's love requires decoding. They began thinking they needed
01:29spiritual credentials before they could pray a simple prayer. And in the process, the
01:36beauty of Jesus, the simplicity, the directness, and the immediacy get buried under a
01:44rubble of overthinking. But Jesus has been very clear on this. He said, come to me once
01:54you've figured out how I work. He never said that. He never said, follow me once you
02:01understand every doctrine. He never said that. He never said, believe in me once your
02:08mind stops wrestling. But what he did say, clearly, come to me. Not come to me once
02:17you're perfect. Not come to me once you're spiritually mature or when you
02:23understand me like a religious theologian. Come to me as you are right now. As you
02:31really are with everything you understand and everything you do not. You see, the
02:40mind hates simplicity. It wants something to dissect. It wants steps, formulas, flow
02:48charts, proof. The mind says, I need to know where this road leads. But the heart, the heart
02:58says, I need someone who will walk it with me. And Jesus did not wait for your intellect
03:06to catch up before he offers presence. He meets you exactly where you panic, exactly where
03:14you hesitate, and exactly where you just can't seem to figure things out. Let me talk about
03:22this a little more plainly. I have a problem overthinking Jesus. And sometimes that
03:30comes from fear, not faith. I come out here and speak to all of you every day. And, you
03:37know, inside I have a fear of getting it wrong. I have a fear of not being enough. And you
03:45know what? Sometimes I worry about disappointing God. I have fear of stepping out before I
03:52understand the outcome. Fear of failure disguised as spiritual caution. Fear disguised as wisdom.
04:03Fear disguised as being careful. When in reality, it's just paralysis covered in religious language.
04:13It's a writer's block. A lot of people deal with it. I just tend to disguise it as a bigger
04:21thing because I'm talking about Jesus and God. And you want to get this right. I'm not an educated
04:29theologian. I'm not an educated doctrine expert. I'm Doug Vandegraaff. And I believe in Jesus
04:37Christ. And I'm sharing what I'm inspired to share. You know, when you read scripture closely,
04:47and I mean really closely, every person who encountered Jesus stepped into the miracle
04:55before they fully understood it. Peter didn't overanalyze water molecules when Jesus said,
05:03come. He stepped because the voice that called him was stronger than the fear that paralyzed him.
05:13He didn't need to calculate the buoyancy to obey. He just needed to trust. If I step out of this
05:23boat,
05:24the water is going to become solid enough to hold my weight and keep my feet above it.
05:31Now, even when he began to sink, Jesus did not lecture him. He reached for him. And that's what grace
05:41looks like. God reaching for you even when you second guess the very faith that led you toward him.
05:50The woman with the issue of blood did not stop to ask if touching a rabbi during a crowd was
05:58theologically appropriate. She didn't ask whether her ritual impurity would disqualify her.
06:05She didn't overthink the moment. She didn't give herself time to talk herself out of it.
06:13She reached because breakthrough often belongs to those who move before the mind can argue.
06:22The blind man Jesus healed, he didn't say, let me process this first. When mud was placed on his eyes,
06:33his sight was restored. The lepers didn't wait to see results before walking toward the priests.
06:41The disciples didn't demand a research summary before dropping their nets. Overthinking is not the
06:49birthplace of miracles. Faith is. Movement is. Simplicity is. And here's the heart of it,
07:00and I have to remind myself of this. When I overthink Jesus, I remind myself that Jesus is not complicated.
07:09We are complicated. We bring our doubts, fears, questions, insecurities, past scars, mental noise,
07:18and emotional baggage, and then wonder why we can't feel clarity. Because Jesus never required you to
07:27untangle every knot before stepping toward him. He specializes in meeting you in the very middle of
07:34your confusion. He did not ask Thomas to pretend he didn't have questions. He invited him to touch his
07:43hands. He didn't require Mary Magdalene to explain her trauma. He called her by name.
07:51He didn't demand that Zacchaeus resolve his past mistakes. He simply said,
07:59I'm coming to your house today. And that's the Jesus people overthink, I overthink. Jesus is not a distant
08:11judge. He is not a theological puzzle, not a spiritual equation. Jesus is a savior.
08:21Jesus is a savior who shows up in the ordinary, in the messy, in the unsure, in the places where
08:28life feels
08:29too complicated to be holy. So let this settle into your spirit, because I remind myself of this every
08:40single day. Overthinking Jesus will always keep you standing at the edge of grace without ever stepping into
08:49it. The enemy doesn't need to destroy your faith to stop you. He just needs to distract you long enough
08:57for hesitation to become your habit. Because overthinking is simply delayed obedience dressed up as caution.
09:08But Jesus calls you gently. But Jesus calls you gently out of that clouded space, and not with force,
09:15with invitation. If you look throughout the New Testament, what does Jesus say to us?
09:23Come to me, follow me, trust me, and walk with me. Now those are not philosophical riddles.
09:35They are relational invitations. If you're waiting until you understand everything before you act,
09:44you'll miss the very moments God designed to build your faith. Some clarity only comes after movement.
09:53Some peace only arrives after surrender. And some breakthroughs, they only unlock after you stop
10:03thinking and start stepping. So today, let's take the pressure off of our minds. Let's let our hearts
10:12breathe. Let's let our spirit exhale. You do not have to be a spiritual expert.
10:23To walk with Jesus. You do not have to be a theologian to say yes.
10:32You do not have to be perfect to be chosen. You don't need to complete understanding to take an incomplete
10:42step. Because Jesus does not transform people through analysis.
10:48He transforms people through encounter. And that begins when you stop trying to solve him like a problem.
10:58And start letting him hold you like a savior.
11:04So friends, let's step out of the mental maze today.
11:09Let's step out of the fear that says we must earn what Jesus has already given us.
11:16Let's step out of the pressure of trying to understand everything right now.
11:22And let's step into the simplicity of grace. The kind that calls your name without requiring you to
11:29over explain why you need it. Stop overthinking Jesus. Let him be who he already is.
11:39And when you do that, watch how the moment where the noise begins to lift, the weight begins to lighten,
11:51and the road in front of you begins to open in ways your mind never could have engineered.
12:00I'm Douglas Vandergraaf, and I believe in Jesus Christ. God bless you, my friends. Bye-bye.
12:11God bless you, my friends.
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