Latest / Finding Jesus Again / Episode 7; Show me a sign
Transcript
- John Smithson: Welcome back to Finding Jesus again. Today we are on episode seven. We're going to begin at John chapter seven and pick up where we left off last week. We're going to be at verse 31, following up with the story of the of when Jesus met the lady at the well and spoke to her and talked to her about worship. So we're going to continue on. Meanwhile, the disciples were urging him, saying, Rabbi, eat something. But he said to them, I have food to eat that you do not know about. So the disciples were saying one another, no one brought him anything to eat, did he? Jesus said to them, My food is to do the will of him who sent me and to accomplish his work. Do not say there are still four months and then comes the harvest. Behold, I tell you, raise your eyes and observe the fields, and they are white for the harvest. Already the one who reaps is receiving wages and is gathering fruit for eternal life, so that the one who sows and the one who reaps may rejoice together. For in this case the saying is true, one sows and another reaps. I sent you to reap that for which you have not labored. Others have labored and you have come into the labor. Let's just stop there for a second. So basically, Jesus is using this analogy of sowing and reaping, and this analogy of of harvest time to explain to his disciples that the time to do the work of God is now. He's saying that don't say it's not ready, the time isn't ready. The time is ready. It's now. He tells them to look up, look up and see the harvest. I kinda think that means that they they kind of need to look up from their own situation and look up from theirselves and look up from what's going on in their lives because it seems that we are are so easily focused on ourselves and what's going on in our own lives that we have a hard time seeing that other people seeing what other people need or seeing the struggles that other people are having. And as Christians, ⁓ this is one of the things that we're learning as disciples of Christ. He has called us to tell people about Jesus and to see the harvest and to work in the fields. And basically what that means is simply is just telling people about Jesus and telling people about what Jesus has done for us. He tells his disciples the time is now, the harvest is ready, and the people who have labored for the harvest and the people who are re receiving the harvest were going to So let's read on, starting with verse thirty nine. Now from that city many of the Samaritans believed in him because of the word of the woman who testified. He told me all the things that I have done. So when the Samaritans came to Jesus they were asking him to stay with them, and he stayed there two days. Many more believed because of his word, and they were saying to this woman, it is no longer because of what you said that we believe, for we have heard for ourselves and know that this one truly is the Savior of the world. So again, the ⁓ we see that the natural reaction is that this lady went and told people about what happened to her. And it follows right up after Jesus is talking to his disciples about the harvest. And that is what being involved in the harvest is. So you may think, you know, I'm not a preacher or I'm not a teacher. I don't I don't teach in church or I don't lead on the worship service or I'm not really involved in any of those kinds of things. Listen, every single one of us are called to be disciples of Christ. Every single one of us are called to work in the harvest field. And basically what that means again is just telling people about what God has done in our lives, being a witness of what Jesus has done for us. You know, this lady went back and this scorned lady who no one had any respect for went back and told people what had happened to her and what Jesus had said to her and how he had how she had had Come in contact with him and how it changed her, and people started to believe. Many more believed because of his word, and they were saying to this woman, it is no longer because of what you said that we believe, for we have heard for ourselves and know that this one truly is a savior of God. I think that's important because there's only so much that we can believe that other people tell us. You know, grandma told you about God, your dad, your mom told you about God, your aunt or uncle, or Maybe you went to Sunday school when you were younger and someone told you about God, or maybe a coworker has told you about God, and you believe, you believe some. But when you receive that word for yourself, when you finally come into contact to with Jesus for yourself, when you receive it from Him yourself, that is when you will really believe that is life changing. And that's why this journey finding Jesus again is so important because it's not about what you've heard. It's not about what you've been told. It's not about church. It's not about religion. It's not about any of those things. We are on a truth finding mission about Christ. And when you find him, your life is going to be changed forever. And so you need to receive that for yourself. You need to search that out for yourself. You need to read the word yourself and find out who he is for yourself. So let's read on. And after the two days he departed from there for Galilee. For Jesus himself testified that a prophet has no honor in his own country. So when he came to Galilee, the Galileans received him, only because they had seen all the things that he did at Jerusalem at the feast, for they themselves also went to the feast. Verse thirty six. Therefore he came again to Cana of Galilee, where he made the water in the wine, and there was a royal officer whose son was sick at Capernaum. When he heard that Jesus had come from Judea into Galilee, He went to him and began asking him to come down and heal his son, for he was at the point of death. Then Jesus said to him Unless you people see signs and wonders, you simply will not believe. How many people now just don't believe unless they physically see a sign or physically see some type of miracle? This is the same thing that was going on then when Jesus was literally with them that's going on now. The royal officer said to him, Sir, come down before my child dies, Jesus said to him, Go to your son. The man believed the word that Jesus spoke to him and went home, and he was now going down, his slaves met him saying that his son was alive. So he inquired of them the hour when he began to get better, and they said to him, Yesterday at the seventh hour the fever left him, so the father knew that it was at the hour in which Jesus said to him, Your son is alive, and he himself believed and his entire household. This is again a second sign that Jesus performed when he had come from Judea into Galilee. So a lot of people won't believe unless they see a sign. Well, the Bible is full of signs. Maybe you won't see one physically, but the Bible is full of signs that we can read. I know back when I was younger I would go through different things and and I would would ask God to give me a sign of whether or not I knew what decision to make. You know, there was a a a there's a story in the Bible about a man who put out a fleece and basically he put out this fleece and he said, God, if it's your will, can you please let the whole ground be wet but the fleece be dry? And God did it. And then next day he said, Okay, God, well one more time, can you let the fleece be wet but the whole ground dry? And and he did it. And he finally he finally decided to do what God was calling him to do. man, it would signs and wonders would be just so much easier. God would should I take this job? Boom. Here's a sign. Take this job. Or God, should I do this? Or God should I do that? But we have all the signs we need. We have all the wonders we need. It's called the Word of God. Jesus died on the cross for our sins. He rose from the grave. What other sign could we possibly need? And we're not always going to feel it. It's not always going to be butterflies in our stomach. It's not always going to be like a grand, wonderful, amazing. feeling that we're gonna have. Sometimes faith is just having faith. It's just knowing and receiving what the word says, not always being able to explain it, but just knowing and believing and having faith. And that's what God's looking for. You can see the frustration in in his voice when he says, unless you people see signs and wonders, you simply will not believe. You can you can tell the frustration like, look, just believe. And so I think that our instruction for today is to just believe. Believe what God has told us. Believe what His word says. We don't need signs. We don't need wonders. We don't need butterflies. We don't need a dramatic feeling. We just need to believe. Thank you for joining us today and finding Jesus again. I hope that you're ⁓ having a blessed day and I hope that the rest of your day will be blessed and I can't wait to see you tomorrow. Thank you.