Search for Teddy | Joe Dobbins | Twin Rivers Church

I'm gonna share an unusual title for this message. It's called The Search for Teddy. So many times in life, we do not fully grasp the significant moments when we're in them. In 2014, Kayla and I took our then four-year-old son, Sawyer, to Build-A-Bear to pick out the form of some kind of stuffed animal to fill it and then pick out all of the wrappings with it. And he, on this day, picked Teddy. Now, I didn't realize what a significant thing this was. I thought it'd be something he threw into a closet and forgot about, but no, him and Teddy set off on a journey together, not unlike Andy and Woody do in Toy Story. And, I mean, everywhere Sawyer went, Teddy was there. They're inseparable. I mean, he ate with Teddy, slept with Teddy. He would vacation with Teddy. Everywhere we go, Teddy's gonna be there. Sawyer's commitment to Teddy was unwavering. There was once where Ellie, she was only two, she picked up Teddy and threw him, and he got caught on the top of a lamp in our living room. His synthetic hair started to sizzle as the lamp heated, and Kayla quickly grabbed him. And though Teddy looked like Darth Vader, Sawyer still loved him, you know? And honestly, I thought it would pass, but it didn't. It lasted for weeks and then months,

and then eventually years. I mean, to the point that I told Kayla, I'm concerned. I said, you know, this is cute when he's six, but when he's 16, I mean, I'm, you know, I just pictured like his prom picture. It's like Sawyer, his date, and Teddy, you know? And then I'll never forget, though, the day of infamy. I came home, and Sawyer was very upset. Kayla was very upset. And they told me in the hustle and bustle of the day, they had lost Teddy. They looked everywhere, but they couldn't find him. It was a rough night for Sawyer, and for the next few weeks, he searched and searched and searched, but he couldn't find Teddy. Now, though we come from different spaces and places and experiences, something that unifies us is that we're all searching for Teddy. You say, what do you mean? Well, obviously, I don't mean you're searching for a stuffed animal. See, for Sawyer, Teddy represented the concept of happiness. For Sawyer, happiness was found in some stuffing and fur. For you, it's found in something else, but nonetheless, we're all searching for it, to the point that if I were to sit with you, at some point in the conversation, when if I asked you, what do you really want out of life?

Here's what you'd say. Well, I just want to be happy. And this happiness search has infiltrated all of our lives, and, you know, but we're not doing very well at it. It seems to be missing. If you look at the data, we are using antidepressants at a 400% increase over the previous decade. People who are married, 60% of them say they're unhappily married. 50% of people say that they are living in a state of constant or chronic stress. And I don't know how you measure this, but for most people, they're crippled in a never-ending cycle of comparison, because when I'm unhappy with my life, you know what I do? I see how happy you are with yours. And it's not because we haven't tried. That's what's really alarming. I mean, the truth is, we have searched near and far for happiness. We've tried to find it in people. We've said, if I could date them or marry them or partner with them or work for them, and we have, but we're not happy. We thought if I could obtain it in a position, you know, I mean, we know better than ever how to climb the corporate ladder or how to build our own brand, yet we're not happy.

And then we've, most of us have tried at some point to purchase it. I mean, we've Amazon and Ozympt and traveled, and we have TikTok shopped until we have got so much, and yet we feel so empty. And at the end of the day, it's concerning, because we have more experiences, more stuff, more education than ever, and yet we are seen as the most unhappy people who have ever walked this planet. And it almost seems like it's a modern day issue, but the truth is it's a human issue. As a matter of fact, it's not just us who are struggling with it. Even our heroes are struggling with it. A couple of years ago on 60 Minutes, they sat with then Pro Bowl quarterback, Tom Brady. He had just won the Super Bowl. He was married to his supermodel wife and had millions of fans and dollars. And so Steve Kroff, the correspondent, steered the conversation towards satisfaction, asking Tom if he was truly satisfied. And here's what Tom said. Why do I have three Super Bowl rings? Now he's got six. And still think there's something greater out there for me. I mean, maybe a lot of people would say, well, hey man, this is what it is.

I reached my goals, my dream, my life. Me, I think, God, it's gotta be more than this. And Kroff looks at him and asks, what's the answer? And Tom Brady looks at the camera and says, I wish I knew. Now, for most of us, we would assume if we had all the things Tom Brady had, we would be happy, yet Tom Brady's unhappy. So there must be something we're missing in this whole happiness thing, and lucky for us, one of Jesus's most significant conversations is on this very topic. He has it with the Bible's version of Tom Brady. And I wanna read it to you, it's Mark 10, verse 17. As Jesus started on his way, a man ran up to him and fell to his knees before Jesus, and said, good teacher, what must I do to receive eternal life? Why do you call me good, Jesus answered. No one is good except for God. And then Jesus said, you know what the commandments say. Do not murder, do not commit adultery, do not steal, do not bear false witness, do not cheat, honor your mother and father. And then, teacher, he said, I've obeyed all these commandments since I was a boy. And Jesus looked at him and loved him, and said, yeah, you have, but you're still searching, aren't you? You're missing one thing. Go and sell everything you have,

give the money to those who are poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come and follow me. And the man's face fell, and he went away sad because he was very rich. Now, you probably don't see it in the immediate reading of this, but in this, Jesus actually gives these solutions to our searching for happiness. And I'm gonna give them to you, but before that, I need to acknowledge something, and it's this, that in order for you to truly get what this text offers, you have to open your heart, not just hear with your ears. I actually believe with all my heart that you're not here today by chance. I don't think you're here because you just needed to check the box for Easter, or that you, you know, your mother invited you, or that, you know, someone else just said, please, please, please, please, please, and you didn't wanna tell them, no, I think you're here because God orders steps. He aligns lives, and he orchestrates things that you don't even honor him aware of, and somehow, out of his desire to love you, he has seen your searching, and out of that, he's decided to bring you to a moment, to a place to address this search you've been on because he has what you're looking for,

but here's the thing, you can't just hear it with your ears, you have to open your heart. And so I'm gonna give you the three things that kind of ultimately pull out of Jesus's conversation in this moment, and maybe it would give you a little bit of direction for what you've been looking for. Here's the first thing, happiness is a spiritual problem. Now, chances are, if you have a physical Bible or a digital Bible, there are subtitles on different passages, and on this passage, there's a subtitle, and here's what it reads, The Rich Young Ruler. Now, this tells us that this guy that came to Jesus is not just some faceless, nameless, this guy has quite a bit going for him. As a matter of fact, the fact that he's called rich, historians tell us that he is very rich, incredibly wealthy. I mean, Jeff Bezos, Taylor Swift, wealthy for their time. In addition to that, it says he's young. Now, that doesn't just mean his age, it also means his appearance. I mean, he's got smooth skin, full hair, and because he's got cash, he dresses to the nines and stands out in this crowd. In addition to that, it says he's a ruler, which means he's accomplished. This isn't just somebody who got their daddy's money and has an empty suit, this guy knows how to rule things, and the fact they put a subtitle there

tells me he is well-known. He's got a claim that he's got a lot of followers, maybe he's an influencer, definitely when he walked in, people took notice. Now, I say all that to say this, he's got everything we think we need to be happy. He's got the money, the looks, the acclaim, the accomplishment, everything we want, everything we pursue, everything we think will make us happy, yet he's not happy, because none of those things make us happy. And I can prove it. A few months ago, I was here with my kids and I was studying and they do what pastor's kids do, they went and got into every closet and drawer we have in this place, and they decided on this particular evening, they were gonna go through the lost and found, okay? Now, I'm gonna time out to the message. You all leave an enormous amount of junk here. I just, okay? And I'm just saying, we got your stuff, okay? So come get it before we have a yard sale, okay? Now, back into the message. At the bottom of the lost and found, you'll never guess what they found. Teddy, I mean a miracle. Seven years lost, and yet they found Teddy in his singed hair. Listen, on a side note,

I'm not sure that Toy Story thing's fake, but nonetheless, here's Teddy. They found him, and it was so funny because Sawyer just was starting to go down memory lane and his sisters, I remember, and Kayla's tearing up because she's. She's got this, you know this, uh, you know, there's all these memories of her little boy and this this I mean It just it was this beautiful moment And listen, don't think I can't preach that what you're looking for can't be found at church in just a second on the side No, but nonetheless, but let me let me just say it was it was this crazy moment. We found teddy Okay, so then later that evening we go home and um, and I ask now 15 year old sawyer. Hey sawyer. Where's teddy? I don't know car, I think Is All these years you've been looking for him and now you don't even care where he's at Because what you once thought would make you happy now that a little time has passed you realize is not the key to your happiness And the same experience there's something in your life 10 years ago You swore if you had it you saw if you worked there you swore if you bought it you swore if I lost that much Weight i'd be happy 10 years forward. You've achieved it. You've accomplished it. You've acquired it and guess what? You still ain't happy because you are coming to the conclusion that sawyer discovered that the rich young ruler discovered which is this Happiness is not found in anything external. It's an internal issue Now now let me let me say that i'm gonna let you in on a secret. You are more than a body and a mind Now you put disproportionate amount of interest in your body and focusing of your mind But you are more than a body or mind. You are also a spirit It's the endless invisible eternal part of you that connects with god And it must be addressed in your life because it is the thing where you and I are searching from and and what this he's figuring out is i'm rich i'm young i'm accomplished people know me and i'm still searching because My spirit is where this whole happiness question is actually answered now Let me just say this what he's come to the conclusion of is I can't address happiness without addressing god Now that's where the train comes off the track for us because if we're honest enough

Here's what we believe god and fun do not go in the same sentence I grew up in a church where people were very dedicated to following god, but they also made me think everything was a sin I mean, it was just you know, good music sin pretty girl sin breathing sin like just everything was a sin And they made me believe god and fun. Those two things don't go together And what's funny is I believe that as a kid most adults still believe that You know, they believe if I if I was truly going to follow jesus i'd have to sell my boat I'd have to get rid of my friends. I'd have to stop going there. I'd have to start participating that I just have to go read the bible 23 hours a day move to a foreign country serve an impoverished group of people That's what it means Okay. Now, let me just tell you That doesn't make any sense Because who do you think created your ability to have pleasure? Who created your taste buds Who created the concept of dopamine being released in your brain Who created art and music? friendship and sex food Who you think came up with the idea of swinging a golf club to hit a golf ball? Who came up with the idea of skiing down a hill who came up with the idea of a hot shower or cool pool? See One of the first beliefs that you have to understand after you recognize this spiritual problem is god's not in way of your happiness He's the way to your happiness And and trying to be happy without engaging god's like trying to get wet without getting in the water It's like trying to see the light without the sun You have to recognize just like he does in this moment that happiness is not away or separated from christ It is actually held in christ And what he's discovering in this moment is you can't buy it. You can't trade for it You can't achieve it. It can only be found in christ because it is not of natural means that you're unhappy It is of a spiritual problem that must be addressed Now here's the second thing. Um is the fact that it is a spiritual problem

I need to acknowledge this that religion is not the solution This guy had tried money. He had tried power. He had tried to claim. He also tried religion Because remember jesus says to him have you kept the commandments now jesus wasn't referring just to the ten commandments He was saying have you tried living up to the jewish law 613 different laws, uh that prove spiritual vitality And he the bible says he's very sad and says yeah I've already tried that and it's left me still searching because religion always leaves us still searching You see religion is the construct that um, we can do things that ultimately cause god to favor us Religion is this idea that I can earn my way into god's blessing that I can earn my way into his favor It's the idea that if I perform well enough god will bestow upon me happiness The problem is is none of us ever perform well enough. We can't keep enough rules. We can't dress the right way We can't act the right way. We can't do it the right way and ultimately religion just leaves you more unhappy Which by the way, I want you to notice jesus. Jesus did not invite him into Jesus did not say hey, I need you to memorize this I need you to to go and be a part of this and then I need you to go through this class. Here's what jesus said Come follow me Let's go on a journey together. Let's have a relationship. You see, one of the biggest misnomers is this, is most people think Jesus came to establish a new religion. Jesus did not come to earth to establish a new religion. He came to fix a broken relationship between you and your father. And if you were to take all of Christianity and sum it up into one word, it's not ritual, it's not religion, it's the word relationship. And it's so subtle though. See many of us think we have a relationship with God, but the truth is, here's how you discern them. Do you know about God or do you know God? Many of you know about God because you've read, you've heard a couple of sermons, you listen to a few podcasts, or maybe someone else's experience has told you about God, but do you know him?

You say, well, how would I know if I know him? Simple, simple. Here's the acid test. You ready? It's the word time. Time is the one thing that appears in every significant relationship you have, which means if you're kind of only address God on Christmas and Easter, you probably have settled for religion and not experienced a relationship. Now let me pause here and kind of not let the text get away from us because I think this is worth it. Did anybody else notice Jesus is kind of like very confident in his claim? Like he looks at this guy and goes, you're, he doesn't say you're missing several things. He says, you're missing one thing implying it's me. Jesus looks at a man and says, I'm what you're looking for. I'm happiness contained. You will not find it anywhere else. I mean, that's a pretty bold claim, and it's something that Jesus does multiple times. There's a pattern where he has, where he doesn't say, hey guys, there's multiple things you could do, or hey, I could point you to a few options. Jesus stands in front of people and goes, if you're spiritually hungry, I'm the bread of life. If you're spiritually thirsty, I'm the fresh water you're looking for. If you're looking for a way, I am the door. He doesn't say I know many doors. He says, I'm the door. He doesn't say I can turn on a light. He says, I am the light. I mean, he makes these audacious claims that he and he alone can be what you're looking for. And the reason he gets to do that is found in one word, and here's the word, resurrection.

Listen, we are celebrating today the resurrection of Jesus Christ. And that is important for you to understand because it is the thing that separates him from every other spiritual leader, good teacher, or compassionate figure in all of history. Only one of them got in the grave and only one of them got out of the grave. Listen, the resurrection sets him aside. And this is not like a fairy tale. It's not something that we're reading out of like Peter Pan or Cinderella. The resurrection is the most scrutinized, investigated, and substantiated reality that you could ever look at when it comes to the Christ, the substantiation of Jesus Christ. And here's why. Here's why. If he doesn't get out of the grave, then all the rest of it doesn't matter. For example, Lee Strobel, years and years and years ago, his wife got converted to Christianity. Lee was an atheist and he hated the changes that had made in her and her priorities. And he decided that he was going to disprove Jesus's validity and the resurrections. He was an award-winning journalist for the Chicago Tribune. And so he decided, I will put the resurrection and life of Jesus Christ up to investigative journalist standards. I'm not going to look at it through faith. I'm going to say, this is a fable and I can prove it. So he set out for two years. He traveled across the country, met with medical experts, ancient text experts, theologians, historians, anybody he could talk to that was an expert, that it could be substantiated. And he put it through nine journalistic tests for investigation. Well, the more he got into it, the more he realized this is more substantiated than I thought. For example, when he looked at all of the manuscripts, the quality of them and the quantity of them, he noticed that there are more that substantiate the life of Jesus Christ in the New Testament than there are for other historical figures we never questioned like Caesar, Plato, and Alexander the Great.

What he also noticed was, is that he believed that Jesus faked his death or fainted under the stress of the crucifixion and then later was revived. He talked to medical experts who said no single human being could ever endure what Jesus endured and keep their life. If they had too much blood loss, they absolutely would have had to die. In addition to that, he also could not get past how Jesus' followers changed after the resurrection. I mean, these guys hid and wanted nothing to do with Jesus the moment he was arrested, but somehow claiming that he was, they had seen the resurrected Lord, they began to publicly and boldly declare his name. Well, for the first 300 years of Christianity, it was illegal to follow Christ, meaning that they were willing to give their lives for this. And he said no one would give their life for a lie. And so with a mountain of evidence at the end of two years stacked around him, here's what Lee Strobel came to the conclusion of. It takes more faith to remain an atheist than to ignore the historical record of the resurrection of Jesus Christ. And Lee Strobel ended up surrendering his life to the very Christ he set out to disprove. Because when Jesus looks at a man and says, I'm the key to contentment, I'm the satisfaction, I am the way he is not just making a claim. It is through the resurrection. He says I'm the way I'm the truth I'm the life It's what sets him apart from every other leader at some point you should look into the investigate and do your own investigation into the Resurrection of Jesus because it is what sets him apart from everyone else now Ultimately Jesus looks this man says I'm look I'm what you get me you get it all Reminds me of a story. There was a wealthy man who had a wife and a son and They'd masked this wonderful estate particularly art they had a wonderful art collection and Then tragedy struck their family his wife died of a terminal illness and just a few months later His son was in a accident and died at a very young age The man was stricken by grief and ultimately ended up losing his own life Just suffering and they had no nobody to pass on this estate to

They were very well known for their art and memorabilia collections. So per the will they held an auction and People flew in from all around the United States to come in and bid on the art that was offered They set in the foyer of this beautiful estate and Their hustle bustle everybody was ready to get the auction started the auctioneer steps up and says the very first piece will auction off is This and it was a painting that was done of the the owners young son. It was in a very Common frame nothing extravagant and he opened the bidding and no one showed any interest whatsoever They were there for the more famous pieces the more well-known and the more Prestigious and so he opened the bidding again. Anybody want this picture of the man's son? Nobody wanted it a third time. He offered it. No one showed any interest Finally in the silence of the room an elderly gentleman in the back raised his hand and asked a question of the auctioneer He said if no one wants this painting may I have it? I don't have the money to purchase it, but I would like it the auctioneer inquired. Why would you want this painting? he said well, I was the groundskeeper for this family for many years and I Just I remember that little boy and I would love to have that painting if you're willing to let me have it the auctioneer Offered it again for bid. No one showed any interest ready to get on to the more prestigious pieces So then he awarded it to the groundskeeper. The elderly man came forward picked it up. Look at the picture Brought back memories and then he just went back to the back of the room People settled back in the auctioneer picks up the gavel slams it down and says that is the close of our auction today People start to stir. What do you mean? It's the close of our auction. We haven't even seen any of the pieces We want to see he says per as stated in this will The one who is awarded the picture of the Sun is the one who receives the entire estate People start to push back. No, we flew in here. I came to travel. I want this. Yeah, I wanted to see this piece He said ladies gentlemen, let me make it very simple for you. He who has the Sun gets it all This is the exact same claim Jesus is making when he looks at this man he who gets me gets all the contentment all the Satisfaction all the peace all the joy there is not a way to add me to your life you get me and I'm the source of Life, it's in me that happiness is found. And then the last thing maybe the most important thing is this is that you would understand that Happiness has a single requirement Jesus says

Now in the book flourish the author says there are five steps to happiness the director of science at Stanford University says there are six keys to happiness and Live happy magazine, which is an actual publication. They say there's ten practices for happiness Jesus and his bestseller the Bible says there's one And it's the word surrender He looks at this man and he says here's what you need to do go and sell everything Give it to the poor and then come follow me now Let me let me say this is such an such a strong claim that we can get lost in the details Let me say this is not about money Jesus did and we know it's not about money because you can follow Jesus and have a lot of money This is not about poverty or philanthropy. That's not what Jesus is getting into See ultimately what Jesus is addressing and we know that because he never gave this instruction to anyone else To sell everything and follow him what Jesus is saying to this man is this and it's more important that you get this he's saying stop pursuing what cannot satisfy and Instead pursue me as the only one who can satisfy It's it's Jesus Claiming and requiring exclusivity. He's saying you can't follow you and me at the same time There has to be a moment where you recognize that's not going to satisfy me because only you can and that is tough Which is why the Bible says the young man went away sad. I Mean, it's tough to realize you can't just add Jesus to your life that you can't just you know, come in on You know Every once in a while kind of get a blessing and then go back and do your own thing that that it actually requires surrender and what surrender looks Well, it means that, you know, he's now in charge. How you parent comes from him. How you think starts to develop from him.

That your character is given to him. That your past wounds are offered to him. That he now becomes the one you're following and you can't follow him and something else at the same time. It's tough and it's still what's required today. So I've got a couple things that may help you with that very difficult decision. Here's the first one is that it's easier to surrender when you're certain that the other person has your best interest in mind. There's a part of this verse, this whole story that gets lost sometimes, and here it is. It's Mark 10, 21. Look. Looking at the man, Jesus felt genuine love for him. So before Jesus ever gives him instructions, we're told how his heart is toward him. Now if I were to ask you today how God looks at you, most of you would probably say, well, somewhere between disinterested and disappointed. But can I tell you that's not true? With the same eyes that he looked at this man and the same heart that he had towards him is the same eyes and heart that he has towards you. He loves you. And everything he's ever done is out of that love. And you say, yeah, but pastor, if you knew me, if you knew the mistakes I made, you knew what kind of life I lived, if you knew what kind of guy I was, you knew what kind of lady, you just know. Here's the best thing about Jesus. You don't have to be lovable for him to love you. And it's proven, not just claimed through the cross, 1 John says that he proved his love for us or demonstrated it by dying on the cross. So before you ever took a breath, Jesus said, I want to make it a historical fact that I'm willing to die for them. Now the other thing that I want you to know is this.

With God, surrender never means subtraction. You're not giving up by surrendering and taking on a lesser life. As a matter of fact, the rich young ruler was not just invited to be friends with Jesus. Follow me was a rabbinical invitation. It was a teacher inviting a student. It was an exclusive internship. It was the acceptance letter to the school you've always wanted to get into. This isn't, Jesus didn't say, hey, let's just hang out. He's saying, come follow me. It's the same invitation he gave Peter and John and the other 12 disciples. And so he's inviting him to be one of the disciples. And most historians believe that Jesus understanding Judas's heart, knowing that he would betray him, was inviting this man to replace Judas. Now catch this. Jesus is saying, stop pursuing all of this stuff that you're not even going to care about in 10 years. And I'll give you purpose and an experience for an eternity. You're never getting less when you surrender your life to Christ. That's not just true of the rich young ruler. I think it's true of my life, but I wanted you to go one step further. It's also true of a friend of mine who attends the Jefferson County campus. His name's Josh. I'd love for you to hear his story. My story is filled with a lot of pain that started in my childhood. Never really met my dad until I was about 10 years old. My mom, you know, she's a good woman, but she struggled always looking for the love of a man. And then she was with an alcoholic for years, come home drunk, and he'd take his bad day on on me. I always felt like if he was beating on me, at least he wasn't beating on my mom.

So I thought to myself, you know, why does God allow these things to happen? For years I searched for happiness in many things, drugs, addictions, any ways to escape. So I did something in my childhood that, one of the Ten Commandments that I thought was unforgivable, and I held onto that for the majority of my life. All the way up until last year, I had happy moments in my life. I was happy, you know, when I married my wife. I was happy when I had my kids, and those were moments of happiness, but I didn't know what it was like to be truly happy. I don't think it was an exact moment that I knew that anything needed to change. I think it was multiple things in life that had been happening, and my family knew a different side of me, but everybody else knew another. Eventually I just got sick and tired of being sick and tired. I've known Jeff White for probably 15 years now. A few years ago I started to see a change in him, and from time to time we would talk about life and faith at his shop. You know, he asked me that day, he goes, if you die today, where are you going to go? And I go, well, I'm going to hell. I know that for sure. Jeff had been asking me to come to church for at least two years, but I finally, he asked me toward the end of May of 2025. I remember sitting there during the message, thinking it felt like Pastor Joe had a camera inside my house. It felt like everything he was saying was directly related to my life. When we committed to the three-week challenge, I gave my life to God. You know, what's funny about it is I didn't notice so much of a change as everybody else around me started seeing a change, and I started having people come up to me and ask of me what was different. Just like I was asking Jeff. The more I started diving deeper into God's Word and Pastor Joe's sermons, I could feel the pain in my past washed away week after week.

Me and my family had made the commitment to go ahead and get baptized, and I actually asked Pastor Derek to baptize me at a river, you know, away from everybody. So I talked to my daughters about it and seeing what they thought. My youngest daughter said, No, Dad, we said we were going to get baptized together. I want the world to see it. Very powerful, very beautiful moment in our lives. Actually I text Pastor Derek the day after our baptism. I told him, I said, I've always heard a picture is worth a thousand words, but I think this one can be summed up in very few. Joshua 24, 15, As for me and my family, we will serve the Lord. I'd always heard people talk about being born again. I never really understood it at all. Although I appear the same, I've got the same name, I feel different. I feel truly forgiven. I'm finally living a life that I can be proud of. For a long time, I thought I knew where happiness was supposed to come from, but happiness didn't come from trying to find the right thing. It came when I surrendered my life to Jesus. That's searching for Teddy. But at some point, you have to recognize maybe Teddy's not going to deliver what you thought. Instead of keeping searching, you've got to take a step of faith. And that step of faith basically says, Jesus, you are who you claim to be, you did what you claimed to do, and I'm going to give it a try of letting you lead my life. I want to surrender to you. And it's out of that little bit of faith that we find what we're looking for.