“There’s More Than Meets The Eye”

A human eyeball weighs just an ounce.

But we rely on these two ounces of jelly in our skulls to know what reality in life is.

The main function of the eye is to convert light from the outside world into electrical nerve impulses, so our minds can take in the outside world.

Our eyes are one of the main organs that help us to perceive, understand and interact with the outside world.

If you really think about it the way our eyes work is almost miraculous.

Here is all that’s happening right now in order for you to see me...

1. The light bounces off me and into your pupil.
2. The light crosses your lens and the images of me gets focused.
3. The image of me turns upside down and at shines on your retina. Your retina contains two types of photoreceptors called rod cells and cone cells. They help you to see colors and sharp details.
4. Then, your optic nerve carries the picture of me you see and the message goes to the brain.
5. The first thing your brain does after the message goes there is turns the picture of me right side up.
6. The second thing your brain does is figure out what you’re seeing and what you should do.

All that is happening right now as you look at me! It’s crazy isn’t it!

Charles Darwin in his famous work on evolution called “Origin of Species” admitted that the eye is so complex that saying it could have been formed by natural selection is pretty absurd.

Our eyes help us in so many ways in life it’s hard to imagine living without them.

But have you ever thought how they limit us?


Let me show you how with an example from the animal kingdom…

“An African impala can jump 10 feet high and cover a distance of more than 30 feet. But do you want to know what’s strange? These amazing animals can be kept in an enclosure in any zoo with just a 3-foot wall. You want to know why? These animals won’t jump if they can’t see where their feet will land.”

Impalas stay trapped because they refuse to go where they can’t see!

So many times in life we’re the same way! We won't go in a direction in life where we can't see.

Today, I want to talk about how following Jesus on the journey of life means we need to learn to see beyond our sight – see the invisible - the not yet.

Turn with me in your Bibles to Hebrews 11:1-2

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“A Better Way To Live Life"

I heard a story about a guy who was sitting in a hotel lounge listening to a life-or-death struggle going on just a few feet away.

He could hear a small fly burning out its short life’s energies in a futile attempt to fly through the glass of a window pane.

The whining sound of its wings told the story of the fly’s strategy: try harder.

But it wasn’t working.

The frenzied effort offered the fly no hope. It was impossible for the fly to try hard enough to succeed and break through the glass.

But, the little insect had staked its life on reaching its goal through effort and determination.

The fact is that this fly was doomed. It was going die there on the window sill.

This is the ironic part…

Across the room, 10 steps away, the door is open. Ten seconds of flying time and this little creature could reach the outside world that it seeks.

With only a fraction of the energy that was being wasted, it could be free of its self-imposed trap. The breakthrough possibility was there and it would be so easy!

So the question is…

• Why doesn’t the fly try another method? Something totally different?
• How did it get so locked into this idea?
• What logic is there in continuing until death, to try and see a breakthrough, with just doing more of the same?

We’re taught in our culture that if you want to succeed, then you need to work hard. You have to be disciplined. You have to go out there and do it on your own.

Some of us have tried to take these same ideas and apply them to our Christian walk.

We’ve tried living for God for years and when we’ve failed our only thought is… “I must not be trying hard enough. I just have to try harder.”


But can I tell you something?

These “try harder, do-it-on-your-own” methods might be true to some point in business or in school, but it’s NOT the way to succeed in following Jesus or becoming all God created you to be.

And you know what?

When we’re doing something the wrong way, then trying harder just doesn’t help.

I found some pictures online of some guys who are trying hard, but there methods aren’t so great.

Click here to see them.

These guys really need to try something else instead of just trying harder!

If these guys aren’t proof enough that trying harder isn’t always the best plan…

On a website called DumbCrimminals.com I found this story…

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Police in Virginia Beach, Virginia charged a 19 year old man, with bank robbery after he made a series of dumb mistakes. After handing the teller a note of demands, hegrabbed the money and began to flee.

When he realized he forgotten the note, he ran back to the bank and grabbed the incriminating evidence.

Once he got the note he ran back to his getaway car and he discovered that he had left the keys at the bank. He ran on foot and somehow made his way home without being caught.

But there was another problem, he had to tell his roommate, whose car he had borrowed, that the car had been stolen.

His roommate was so upset he called the police and reported his car stolen. Less than 20 minutes later, an Officer spotted the car just a block from the bank.

The officer retrieved the keys that had been left at the scene of the crime and when the keys fit the car, the officers went to the address the car’s owner had given and arrested the robber.

Sometimes trying something else is better, than just try harder!
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Many of us who have been trying to live for God are like that fly. We’re pushing against a wall using a method that will never move it.

What if there was a better way for us to live our life for God?

That’s what I want to talk to you about today. Turn to Matt 11:28-30.

I want you to listen to an invitation Jesus gave over 2000 years ago.

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