Latest / Time with God with John North / Together We Are Stronger Pt. 3
Transcript
- 0:05Speaker 1: Good morning. As we head into this day, keep your
- 0:09Speaker 1: mind focused on your relationship with God, the most important
- 0:13Speaker 1: relationship there is in your life, and build your life
- 0:17Speaker 1: around your time with God. Don't just sort of try
- 0:20Speaker 1: to squeeze some time with God in here or there
- 0:23Speaker 1: at the beginning of your day or in between some
- 0:25Speaker 1: other activities so you can get on to the real
- 0:27Speaker 1: business of your day.
- 0:29Speaker 1: Give it a place of priority in your life. Make
- 0:32Speaker 1: it the first thing, and then.
- 0:36Speaker 1: Build walls around it to protect that time with God
- 0:39Speaker 1: because that time with God is what builds your relationship
- 0:44Speaker 1: with God, and your relationship with God is what matters
- 0:48Speaker 1: more than anything else in your life. Your whole life
- 0:52Speaker 1: revolves around what God is doing in you.
- 0:57Speaker 1: Well, that's what we try to build into your life
- 1:00Speaker 1: a little bit each day with these spots, and we're
- 1:03Speaker 1: looking this week at the theme of together we are stronger.
- 1:08Speaker 1: What a powerful theme this is all through the Bible.
- 1:12Speaker 1: We see it in Jesus' own life and ministry.
- 1:17Speaker 1: You may remember in John chapter 4 in the Bible,
- 1:21Speaker 1: Jesus encountered the woman at the well, that Samaritan woman,
- 1:24Speaker 1: probably an immoral woman, and, uh, the disciples had been
- 1:29Speaker 1: in town getting food, and they came back with their
- 1:32Speaker 1: food and saw Jesus finishing up his conversation with this woman,
- 1:36Speaker 1: a deeply spiritual conversation that impacted her life in an
- 1:40Speaker 1: amazing way. And they got back and they said to
- 1:44Speaker 1: Him in verse 31, Rabbi, eat.
- 1:47Speaker 1: But he said to them,
- 1:49Speaker 1: I have food to eat that you do not know about.
- 1:53Speaker 1: The disciples therefore were saying to one another, No one
- 1:56Speaker 1: brought him anything to eat, did he? And Jesus said
- 1:59Speaker 1: to them, My food is to do the will of
- 2:03Speaker 1: Him who sent me and to accomplish His work.
- 2:07Speaker 1: Do you not say there are yet 4 months and
- 2:10Speaker 1: then comes the harvest. Behold, I say to you, lift
- 2:13Speaker 1: up your eyes and look on the fields that they
- 2:16Speaker 1: are white for harvest. Already. He who reaps is receiving
- 2:21Speaker 1: wages and is gathering fruit for life eternal, so that
- 2:26Speaker 1: he who sows and he who reaps may rejoice together.
- 2:32Speaker 1: For in this case the saying is true. One sows
- 2:36Speaker 1: and another reaps. I sent you to reap that for
- 2:39Speaker 1: which you have not laboured. Others have laboured, and you
- 2:42Speaker 1: have entered into their labour.
- 2:45Speaker 1: So there's this beautiful picture of together we are stronger
- 2:48Speaker 1: as Jesus says, He who sows and he who reaps
- 2:52Speaker 1: may rejoice together. And as Jesus is talking about his
- 2:56Speaker 1: ministry in that area, uh, this is an area that
- 3:00Speaker 1: John the Baptist had had ministry in prior to Jesus
- 3:03Speaker 1: coming on the scene.
- 3:05Speaker 1: And Jesus is now coming, and John the Baptist was
- 3:08Speaker 1: sent as kind of the forerunner, the one to prepare
- 3:11Speaker 1: people's hearts for the arrival of Jesus, and he's been
- 3:15Speaker 1: in this area, and people's hearts are prepared so that
- 3:18Speaker 1: as that woman goes back to her town in the rest.
- 3:20Speaker 1: The chapter and shares about her encounter with Jesus, just
- 3:25Speaker 1: about the whole town comes out to meet Jesus and
- 3:29Speaker 1: to hear from Him, and they too put their faith
- 3:33Speaker 1: in Jesus and are saved. And so in an amazing way,
- 3:38Speaker 1: this partnership between John the Baptist, who's sowing into people's
- 3:43Speaker 1: lives and Jesus, who's reaping, uh, comes to bear spiritual fruit.
- 3:49Speaker 1: So in your own life as you think about the
- 3:51Speaker 1: people in your life that God has put you with,
- 3:53Speaker 1: that He wants you to have a spiritual impact on,
- 3:56Speaker 1: don't feel like you've got to, uh, be the whole
- 4:01Speaker 1: spiritual answer to that person's life. No, you're just a step,
- 4:04Speaker 1: you're just a part of a partnership between you and
- 4:07Speaker 1: other people that you may not even know, but that
- 4:09Speaker 1: God is using in those people's lives to also draw
- 4:13Speaker 1: them closer to Himself.
- 4:15Speaker 1: I'm John North.