Introduction:
Knowing Jesus Through Desperation (John 4:43-54):
- Desperation must Drive us to Jesus. (John 4:46-49)
- Desperation must seek the Gift-giver , not just the gift. (John 4:50)
- Desperation (Leading to Faith) discovers that Jesus always Overdelivers . (John 4:51-54)
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Sermon Notes (PDF): BLANK
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01:10-01:13
Open up your Bibles with me, please, to John chapter 4.
01:17-01:25
John chapter 4, we're going through the Gospel of John in a series called "Knowing Jesus." And that's what we're going after.
01:25-01:30
We want to go from knowing about Jesus to knowing Jesus.
01:31-01:33
And that theme is going to continue.
01:34-01:37
However, we will be taking a break from John after this week.
01:38-01:44
We're getting into Christmas, Q&A day, and we have a very special series in January that you will be hearing more about.
01:46-01:48
This is the last message in John for a while.
01:49-01:51
Let's talk about knowing Jesus.
01:53-01:59
You know, many years ago, my son Cade had a betta fish.
02:01-02:02
And his name was Marvin.
02:04-02:07
And as betta fish go, was a handsome betta fish.
02:09-02:13
And he was in this little bowl, and he sat on the mantle.
02:14-02:16
And Marvin was just such an important part of our family.
02:16-02:17
Who has fish here?
02:18-02:18
Fish people?
02:20-02:21
OK, so it's just me.
02:21-02:22
All right.
02:23-02:26
Just me and a couple really special people here.
02:29-02:30
Not important for the story.
02:30-02:31
But we had Marvin.
02:32-02:33
You know what a betta fish is, right?
02:33-02:43
One day, it was brought to my attention that Marvin was sort of floating on his side.
02:44-02:47
And you know how betta fish have all those frilly fins and tail things?
02:48-02:51
They were just sort of disheveled.
02:54-03:04
Now I'm no veterinarian, but I thought we were going to have a funeral slash flushing in the not-too-distant future.
03:06-03:18
And as always, trying to take a teaching opportunity, I sat down with Cade at the dining room table and I said, "We're going to pray for Mark." And we did.
03:19-03:20
We prayed for that fish.
03:22-03:26
You know, that fish made a full recovery.
03:29-03:33
and he lived for years after that.
03:33-03:38
He died since, but he lived for years after that.
03:40-03:50
And I'm just going to be honest with you, that whole series of events sort of left me, I guess, unsettled.
03:53-03:56
And you're like, why in the world would you be unsettled over that?
03:57-03:59
and it sounds pretty awesome.
04:01-04:03
I just sort of walked away from that.
04:03-04:04
I prayed for Marvin.
04:04-04:05
He made a full recovery.
04:06-04:13
And I just had to ask myself, am I like the Benny Hinn of fish?
04:15-04:18
I mean, am I like Aquaman's pastor?
04:20-04:22
I mean, don't get me wrong, we prayed.
04:25-04:31
One minute when I prayed for the fish, I really did mean it, but I'm just going to be honest with you, I wasn't desperate.
04:33-04:34
I wasn't desperate.
04:35-04:44
I wasn't on my face in tears crying out to the Lord that He would spare the life of this stupid fish.
04:45-04:47
No offense, Marvin.
04:49-04:50
I just wasn't desperate.
04:53-04:58
The truth is I've prayed much harder for other things.
04:58-05:03
I've prayed much longer for other things.
05:03-05:07
I've prayed much more desperately in my life for other things.
05:10-05:11
What about you?
05:14-05:18
You're like, "No, Pastor Jeff, I've never prayed for a fish." That's not what I'm talking about.
05:19-05:20
What about you?
05:20-05:23
Have you ever... have you just ever been desperate?
05:25-05:29
Can you point to a season in your life that you're like, "Man, I was so desperate right then.
05:31-05:35
I came to Jesus just so desperate." Have you been there?
05:35-05:37
Maybe it was because there was a bad accident.
05:39-05:41
Or maybe there was a health scare.
05:44-05:45
Maybe you had a death in your family.
05:49-05:50
Maybe you just suddenly lost your job.
05:54-05:56
Or maybe you discover that your marriage is on its deathbed.
05:59-06:00
Desperate.
06:01-06:09
In today's account that we'll be looking at in John, we're going to see a dad with a son on the brink of death.
06:10-06:18
And I can tell you, from my experience, there is no one more desperate than the parent of a sick child.
06:18-06:19
is not.
06:22-06:24
There's a lot in this account that resonates with me.
06:26-06:29
And I know there's a lot of people sitting in this room.
06:29-06:32
This account is going to resonate with you.
06:34-06:35
So let's just go after it, alright?
06:36-06:39
On your outline, knowing Jesus through desperation.
06:41-06:46
Knowing Jesus through desperation, number one, write this down first of all, Desperation must drive us to Jesus.
06:48-06:51
Desperation must drive us to Jesus.
06:54-07:10
Verse 43 says, "After the two days, he departed for Galilee, where Jesus himself had testified that a prophet has no honor in his own hometown." Stop there for a second.
07:10-07:14
The two days were the two days he spent at Sychar ministering to the Samaritans.
07:14-07:15
We talked about that.
07:15-07:22
And Jesus testified a statement that I think we can all easily acknowledge is very true.
07:22-07:25
The prophet has no honor in his own hometown.
07:27-07:28
Familiarity breeds contempt.
07:29-07:31
Experts are from out of town.
07:32-07:35
That's why I love speaking other places.
07:36-07:38
Because when I'm speaking out of town, I'm the expert.
07:38-07:40
Just because I'm from out of town.
07:41-07:44
But that's one reason I hate bringing guest speakers into Harvest.
07:45-07:46
It happens every time.
07:46-07:56
You'll get some guy up here that says something, and somebody will come up and be like, "Oh, Pastor Jeff, it changed my life when he said this." And it's something, I'm like, "Dude, I've been saying that for the last...
07:56-07:57
How old's this church?
07:57-08:02
I've been saying that for the last that many years!" "Oh, but because he said it.
08:03-08:09
You know, he's from Chicago." But we get that, right?
08:10-08:11
You know what I mean?
08:11-08:19
Like, you go back to your hometown, people don't quite look at you the way that they do in other places.
08:20-08:22
But why is this inserted here?
08:22-08:23
Well, it's just kind of pointing out the shift.
08:23-08:30
Jesus went from being loved by the hated Samaritans, and he's going to be hated by the beloved Jews.
08:31-08:47
Verse 45 says, "So when he came to Galilee, the Galileans welcomed him, having seen all that he had done in Jerusalem at the feast, for they too had gone to the feast." In other words, these people weren't like sold-out disciples of Jesus.
08:47-08:49
They were sort of like Nicodemus.
08:49-08:58
They kind of saw some things that he did, and they were sort of like fans of Jesus, but they weren't really like disciples yet at this point.
08:59-09:02
Look at verse 46 and 47.
09:02-09:08
It says, "So he came again to Cana in Galilee, where he had made the water wine.
09:09-09:11
In the Capernaum, there was an official whose son was ill.
09:13-09:23
When this man heard that Jesus had come from Judea to Galilee, he went to him and asked him to come down and heal his son, for he was at the point of death.
09:24-09:30
Okay, so this was an official of the king, likely Herod Antipas, who was the son of Herod the Great.
09:34-09:43
But as I reference this man through the rest of this message, I'm going to call him "the dad." Because that's sort of how he is in this passage.
09:44-09:48
This is how he identifies, and this is how I kind of identify with him.
09:48-09:50
So I'm going to call him "the dad." Alright?
09:51-09:52
So what's going on here?
09:52-09:55
Well, Jesus had done a lot of miracles in Capernaum.
09:55-09:56
Like, a lot.
09:56-10:00
You're like, "I don't remember studying those in this series." We didn't in this series.
10:01-10:02
We read about those in the other Gospels.
10:03-10:06
John hasn't mentioned those ones in particular.
10:07-10:15
But Jesus performed a lot of miracles, and this dad, he knew that the miracle worker was in town.
10:17-10:19
And it says that his son was ill.
10:19-10:20
Ill with what?
10:20-10:22
Well, we're going to find out in verse 52.
10:22-10:25
It was something related to a fever.
10:29-10:32
Whatever it was, the Bible's clear.
10:32-10:34
It says that the son was at the point of death.
10:36-10:41
Let me ask you parents, if your child's at the point of death, what are you willing to do?
10:42-10:43
What are you willing to do?
10:44-10:47
You get wind that the miracle worker is nearby?
10:48-10:48
What are you doing?
10:49-10:50
I know what I'm doing.
10:50-10:52
I am tracking this guy down.
10:52-10:54
I am going after him.
10:54-10:55
That's what this dad did.
10:56-10:57
He came pleading.
11:01-11:09
"Come with me and heal my son." As usual, Jesus' response isn't what you expect.
11:09-11:10
Look at verse 48.
11:12-11:21
"So Jesus said to him, 'Unless you see signs and wonders, you will not believe.'" Where did that come from?
11:23-11:26
Is this a mild rebuke?
11:28-11:33
Is Jesus sort of like, "Shame on you, that you need this." I don't think that's the case.
11:35-11:46
Is this just matter of fact, that Jesus is like, "Allow me to point out a fact here for everyone listening, that some people will not believe." I don't think it's that either.
11:47-11:48
What do you think it is?
11:48-11:49
I'll tell you what I think it is.
11:51-11:52
That is the statement of grace.
11:55-11:56
You know why Jesus did miracles?
11:56-11:57
Do you know why?
11:58-12:04
Jesus wasn't trying to draw and dazzle crowds with miracles like, "Hey, watch this, watch this.
12:04-12:10
There's a quarter behind your ear." And everybody's like, "Oh, this must be the Son of God." He wasn't trying to dazzle people.
12:11-12:13
That wasn't why Jesus did miracles.
12:16-12:20
Jesus did miracles for the benefit those who were struggling to believe.
12:21-12:34
Here you have a man walking around saying, "I'm God in the flesh." People are like, "Yeah, I'm not so sure about that." And Jesus actually says in John 10, I think like verses 36 and 37, He said, "That's why I do miracles.
12:34-12:41
If you don't believe what I'm saying, look at the miracles I'm doing." And that should bring you to understand who I am.
12:44-12:47
So I think Jesus was just reaching out in grace.
12:48-12:54
"You know what? Some people aren't going to believe unless they have some proof, and I'm willing to do that." Look at v. 49.
12:56-13:04
"The official said to him, 'Sir, come down before my child dies.'" I totally get this, right?
13:05-13:16
The dad comes to Jesus, and he's like, "Come with me! My child's sick!" And Jesus said, "You won't believe unless you see a miracle." And the dad just totally ignores Jesus' statement.
13:17-13:21
Yeah, I'm going to need you to come with me, please.
13:23-13:25
And I totally get that, because when you're desperate, right?
13:25-13:30
When you're desperate, it's just like, "Okay, whatever, yeah, sure.
13:30-13:38
I won't believe without a miracle. Gotcha. Okay." I've got so much more on my mind right now, and I get where the dad's coming from here.
13:43-13:46
Desperation has a way of bringing people to Jesus.
13:47-13:48
It just does.
13:49-13:53
I mean, sure, we tend to try everything else first.
13:55-14:25
But, when the money runs out, or the medicine doesn't work, or that person that you were counting on to come and help you fails you, when you get to the point of true desperation, that you have nowhere else to turn, no other resources, then you will come to Jesus and say, "Jesus, I need You." Desperation must drive you to Jesus.
14:28-14:31
And I looked at that this week and I wrote that down.
14:33-14:36
And I thought, "Well, there's just not much to preach about that.
14:36-14:41
It just will. It just will." That is a true thing about life.
14:42-14:45
You get desperate enough, you're going to go to Jesus.
14:46-14:50
And if you're not there now, you will be.
14:52-14:58
But, I have a word for the church in regards to this.
15:01-15:09
You know, every week, the prayer team gets the prayer request that you write down on the friendship register.
15:09-15:14
You know, you write your prayer request on the bottom, and Brooke compiles those and she emails them to me and to the prayer team.
15:14-15:26
I get an email like this and I'll either write them down or I'll print them out and I'll go through and I'll pray for these as our prayer team is doing at the same time.
15:30-15:37
There are so many requests for healing.
15:40-15:49
And there's times that I wish that that thing that happened with that fish happened with all of these people.
15:52-15:53
So many requests for healing.
15:55-16:05
And I want to ask you, whether you're on the prayer team or whether you know somebody else that's sick and needs healing, I want to ask you, how do you pray for these?
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You're like, "I pray that God would heal them." Okay. Let me ask you this way then.
16:19-16:25
What are you expecting to happen when you pray for healing for these people?
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How do you envision the answer?
16:35-16:39
Because I want to tell you how I pray for these requests.
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I do pray for healing, but I pray that the Lord would bring about healing in a way that brings people to Jesus Christ.
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I pray something like this, "God, allow this desperation to be what you're going to use to wake that person up and bring them to you." I pray something like, "Lord, please heal them and use this to make them think about life and death, to make them willing to listen to your gospel." I pray, "God, put someone in their path that's going to share your gospel and is going to love them in the Lord.
17:26-17:38
God, put that person in their path and allow this healing to get them to, or sickness or illness or whatever, to really get them thinking about you.
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And church, I want to encourage you to pray that way.
17:44-17:45
I want you to think about something.
17:48-17:58
If the person that you're praying for, for healing, doesn't know Jesus Christ, why would we pray for just healing for them?
18:00-18:00
to delay hell?
18:04-18:06
Or rather, should we say, "Lord, use this.
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You brought this into their life, Father.
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In Your sovereignty, You've allowed this in their life.
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God, please use this as the thing that's going to be like this dad.
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Run to Jesus and say, 'I need You!'" Let this desperation bring them to Jesus.
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Test number one, Desperation must drive us to Jesus and church.
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Please continue to be faithful in prayer.
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But I want you to think about how you're praying and what you're praying for.
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Pray for healing.
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And I would say healing that is both physical and spiritual.
18:50-18:52
Number two, jot this down.
18:52-18:59
The desperation must seek the gift giver, not just the gift.
19:01-19:06
Look at verse 50, because this verse is the whole turning point of this whole passage.
19:07-19:29
Okay, so you have this scene, the guy's like, "Jesus, come with me, my son's dying." And Jesus said, "Well, unless you see signs of wonders you're not going to believe." And he's like, "Okay, please come because my child's going to die, right?" Look at verse 50. "Jesus said to him, 'Go, your son will live.'" This is the sentence that changes everything right here.
19:30-19:44
"The man believed the word that Jesus spoke to him and went on his way." You see, he believed the word that Jesus spoke to him and went on his way.
19:46-19:51
You see, the dad could have, like so many people, just gotten angry with Jesus.
19:52-19:58
You mean to tell me, "I asked you twice if you would come to heal my kid, and you can't be bothered? You can't take the time to come with me?
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Just you tell me to go?
20:03-20:10
Thanks. Thanks for nothing." I have a feeling the Lord gets that a lot.
20:12-20:15
"But you didn't do what I wanted you to do?
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I put in my request and you didn't perform to my liking, Jesus?" Not this dad.
20:23-20:28
Because the very first statement there in that sentence, it says, "The man believed the Word." But Jesus spoke to him.
20:29-20:39
So this dad went from believing Jesus works, believing Jesus could do a miracle, to believing Jesus' words.
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And he acted upon them.
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And you need to have that underlined in your Bible, church, because this is what faith looks like.
20:46-20:47
We talk about faith all the time.
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Have faith, have faith.
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Faith is what God calls us to.
20:52-20:53
What is faith?
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Well, it's not a feeling.
20:55-20:56
Some people think that's what faith is.
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It's just a feeling.
20:59-21:01
Faith isn't positive thinking.
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Faith is acting on the word of God.
21:06-21:07
That's what faith is.
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It's acting on the word of God.
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Faith is believing the Word of Christ, what He said, to the point that it moves me.
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It's not, listen, faith is not just wanting the works of Christ.
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That's not faith.
21:30-21:33
To say, "Jesus, what can you do for me?" That's not faith.
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It's believing the Word, not just the works.
21:37-21:41
And you're like, "Well, what's the difference?" The difference is everything.
21:44-22:05
A couple years ago, we took my son Owen to a doctor, a new doctor for us, a doctor that was somewhat famous in autism circles because we were in a desperate situation.
22:08-22:18
And this doctor, this doctor was, I'm thinking of a politically correct way to say this.
22:20-22:21
How about we'll say this.
22:22-22:25
This doctor's bedside manner was unpolished.
22:27-22:28
You tracking with me?
22:29-22:30
Some of you are not.
22:30-22:32
Okay, here's the non-politically correct version.
22:33-22:35
He sort of came across as a cocky jerk.
22:37-22:52
And that really hit the breaking point when he began disparaging another doctor who had become a friend of ours through our autism journey.
22:53-23:00
This new doctor just, he started on this other doctor, just ripped him up one side, down the other.
23:00-23:03
Obnoxious and unprofessional.
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It just was.
23:08-23:15
Like, we're paying you to sit in your office and listen to you badmouth somebody that we care about?
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Which, by the way, he didn't have all the details of the story that he was bashing him for, but that's...
23:22-23:25
since when do we let truth get in the way of a good story, right?
23:27-23:36
So, we're sitting in this new doctor's office, and he's ripping this other doctor up, And then, I guess I'm not good with the poker face.
23:38-23:53
Because he stopped and he said, this doctor said to me, "I can tell that you don't really seem to like me for saying that." And I said to him, "I'm not here to be your friend.
23:55-24:01
I'm here to see if you can help myself." You see, here's the point.
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people bring to Jesus.
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The attitude that I had with the doctor.
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Like, "Look, Jesus, just do your thing.
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I'm not interested in you personally.
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I'm not interested in Bible and church and born again.
24:21-24:23
I'm not interested in all that stuff, Jesus.
24:24-24:26
Can you just fix my problem?
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I'm not here to be your friend, Jesus.
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I'm just so desperate for Jesus to fix something, but I'm not really desperate for Jesus, for the life and the forgiveness and the transformation that He offers.
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You see, when that's your attitude, that's not faith.
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That's not believing unto eternal life.
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That's treating Jesus like He's Santa Claus.
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Here's my list, cash in for me, give me what I want.
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Jesus isn't Santa Claus.
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He's the Savior and He's the Lord.
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But oh, so many times strangers will call me.
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The phone will ring.
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"Hi, Pastor, I got your number from the internet and I just Googled this.
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I'm really desperate and I really need some help." And I will invite these people.
25:19-25:33
They'll come sit in my office and I'll share the gospel with them and then give them a handout and I will never see them again." And the question really becomes, what are you desperate for?
25:35-25:36
Are you desperate for the gift?
25:38-25:39
Or are you desperate for the gift-giver?
25:43-26:07
Are you, "Just give me what I want, Jesus, and I'll be on my way." Or are you desperate for Jesus that you come and say, "You know what, my need is actually way bigger than I thought it was." And in God's sovereignty, He's going to allow you to be so desperate that you run to Him.
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But when you come like this dad, you have to be willing to do what He says.
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Like, "Stop, stop right there." You're like, "Okay, okay, why should I do that?
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I mean, why shouldn't I just come to Jesus for what I want?
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Pastor Jeff, what would motivate me to believe in Jesus when all I really needed was a favor from Him?
26:40-26:47
What's my motivation?" I'm really glad you asked that question, because look at number three.
26:48-26:56
Desperation leading to faith discovers that Jesus always over-delivers.
26:59-27:01
Look at the rest of this passage.
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And as he was going down, Jesus said, "Go, your son will live, man believe, on his way." Okay? Verse 51.
27:13-27:19
"As he was going down, his servants" - this dad's servants - He's recovering!
27:20-27:21
So he asked them the hour.
27:22-27:44
When it began to get better, and they said to him, "Yesterday at the seventh hour, the fever left him." The father knew that was the hour when Jesus had said to him, "Your son will live." And he himself believed in all his household.
27:45-27:50
This was now the second sign when He had come from Judea to Galilee.
27:52-27:52
Obvious here, right?
27:53-27:55
The dad sort of connected the dots on the timing.
27:55-27:56
Like, "Wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait.
27:57-28:00
When did you say my son got better?" And they're like, "It was like the seventh hour.
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Boom, he's better." And the dad's like, "The seventh hour?
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That was like when I was talking to Jesus.
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That's when that happened." In verse 53, this is key.
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You have to underline this in your Bible.
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It says, "He himself believed." In the Greek, that's emphatic, right?
28:17-28:19
It's He Himself believed.
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Meaning His faith went to another level.
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The lights came on.
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It all clicked.
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That this dad was like, "I see now why He did what He did.
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I see why Jesus didn't come with me.
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He was showing me His sovereignty.
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He was able to heal my son from a distance with just a word.
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I see who He is now.
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He's not just some medicine man.
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He's got to be the Sovereign of the Universe.
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That's how it is with faith.
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You see, faith is not, "Hey, you see it, and then you'll believe it." Faith actually works the opposite way.
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Faith says, "You believe it, and then you're going to see." You believe, you act upon the Word of Christ, and you will see Him working.
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And your faith is going to go to another level.
29:25-29:26
And not just your faith.
29:27-29:36
You see in verse 53, "He took it to his household." That would have been, I don't know, who all lived with him - his wife, other kids, in-laws, servants, whatever.
29:37-29:42
The point is, everyone in his household came to believe in Jesus Christ.
29:45-29:56
I asked a question a couple of minutes ago, "What would motivate me to believe in Jesus when all I need is a favor from Him?
29:56-30:01
What in the world would motivate me?" Pastor Jeff, here it is. You ready?
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because Jesus always over-delivers.
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This dad came to Jesus desperate for a physical healing, and what this dad received by faith was way more than that!
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His son was healed, and he and his whole household were saved.
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I want to encourage you, for those of you that are going to heaven, Check this dad down when you get there.
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And I want you to ask him...
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This is the second dumbest question you're going to hear today.
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The first was, is he worthy?
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Yeah. Jesus is worthy.
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Here's a dumb question.
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Go to this dad in heaven and say, when you believed the Word of Jesus Christ, you know that day your son was sick?
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He believed.
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Was it worth it?
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Was it worth it?
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And this dad is going to say, "Jesus gave me so much more than I was asking for.
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Jesus Christ way over-delivered." Yeah, it was worth it.
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Now, this is one story of God's sovereignty.
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This is a story of how God allowed someone to become so desperate that he came to Jesus to fix something.
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And because he believed Jesus' Word, the man and his household were never the same.
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It's a pretty amazing story, isn't it?
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You want to hear another story like this?
31:52-31:53
Turn your attention to the screen.
Small Group Discussion
Read John 4:43-54
What was your big “take-away” from this passage / message? Does it change how you pray for healing for those who are sick / injured?
The dad (official) obviously believed in Jesus (on some level) in order to come to Him in the first place (John 4:47). Then John 4:53 says he himself believed. What’s the difference?
Tell of a time you definitely saw a miracle. How did you know it was a miracle? How did it affect you?
BREAKOUT
Pray for those who need healing, that they would be desperate not just for the gift, but for the Gift-Giver!