John Chapter 4:43-50

Don't worry about anything instead of pray about everything. Tell God what you need and thank Him for all He has done. There is only one way that you cannot be anxious about stuff and that's if you take whatever is concerning you and you place it in the hands of the Lord.

And here comes the hard part and you leave it there. See, Jesus cares about every detail in your life. Those things that are troubling you, He wants you to hand them to Him. He wants to be part of your life.

He wants to be the solution. I know sometimes that's troubling. I know sometimes we get filled with doubt and we shouldn't allow ourselves to be filled with doubt. If you're gonna doubt something, don't doubt Jesus. Don't doubt your faith. Don't doubt the Word of God.

If you're gonna doubt something, doubt your doubt. Welcome to Cross the Bridge with David McGee. David is a senior pastor of the bridge in Kernersville, North Carolina.

We have a guest in the studio with us today. It's one of David McGee's associate pastors, DA Brown. And DA, tell us a little bit about David McGee's teaching, Private Miracles, which he will be teaching today. Bob, the world tries to get us to doubt that God is speaking to us. But you can't cast doubt when God is speaking to the core of who you are.

Speaks to where no one else can go. Today I hope you're ready to hear from God and I hope you're ready for him to answer some of the questions you've been asking. Now here's David McGee beginning his teaching, Private Miracles. Turn with me to John chapter 4.

Been a lot of stuff in this chapter so we've sort of lingered at it. Let's pick it up with verse 43. Now you remember we've been talking about the Samaritan woman, the woman at the well, and how she went back into town and she brought most of the town back out and they had a very real encounter with the Lord Jesus Christ. So we've come to the end of that and now Jesus is getting ready to do something else and go somewhere else. In verse 43, now after the two days, he departed from there and went to Galilee.

So he's going north. He's gone through Samaria and we talked, of course, how most people went around Samaria through Perea and the Decapolis so that they wouldn't have to walk through Samaria. Jesus walks through Samaria and he goes to Galilee. Now you need to understand, Galilee was called Gelio Geohim in the Hebrew. And what that means is the Galilee of the Gentiles. In other words, the Jewish people looked at this section of the country as for those who weren't spiritual, for those who really weren't walking with the Lord, and to a certain degree, there was some truth in that. But it's also interesting that Jesus spent a lot of time up in the Galilee area and that's where a bulk of his ministry went on. He didn't spend the bulk of his ministry down in Jerusalem with what we would probably call the religious or the observant Jews, but out there gathering those guys who were really on the outskirts. And I think part of that was because by this time, there had entered into Judaism a lot of vain traditions, a lot of empty religion, if you will.

And before you begin casting stones at the Jewish people for that, you probably ought to take a good look around the church in America because we see the same things happening here in the United States as we empty into a lot of vain tradition. And there are certain phrases that will key you off. Like if you say, well, why do you all do this? And the answer that you're given is, well, we've always done it like that. That's not really a good answer, is it? I mean, that's the answer that's given sometimes. See, what we like to do is everything that we do in here, we'd like to be able to say, okay, this verse says that and that's why we do this because this is the book, guys.

This is what we need to be looking at. And it's interesting too because where did Jesus find the most opposition to his ministry? In Jerusalem, among the religious folks, if you will. Again, I think that's indicative because a lot of times we tend to, as we've talked about, shoot our own wounded in a religious sense. And the church is where you're supposed to go if you don't have any problems.

Man, how did we get there? The church is the place to be when you have problems, when you've got struggles. And we need to really encourage people because you understand the mentality of most people is that whenever they finish struggling that they should go to church, as soon as they get a few things worked out, they'll get involved with the church.

How twisted is that? Guys, this is the place where we're supposed to be working those things out. And let's never draw a barrier and say, well, yeah, as soon as you quit this, that, and the other, then you can come to church as soon as you quit drinking, and smoking dope, and this, and that, and the other.

Man, this is the place to be if you're struggling with those things. Amen? Now, I know some probably rocking some boats in here already, you know, oh, that's not right.

Well, yeah, it is, right? What did they accuse Jesus of? Hanging out with sinners. Hanging out with sinners. Now, why did Jesus go up into the Galilee to minister to these people?

I think there was an openness in the Galilee region that wasn't in Judea, which is the area around Jerusalem. There wasn't that…see, religion says that man in his own efforts can reach God. And a lot of people think that's Christianity. That's not Christianity. Christianity is that God has reached down to man in the form of Jesus Christ. See, no amount of our efforts can reach heaven but praise God and thank Jesus that heaven has reached down to us.

And this is something, guys, that's still in this area that people struggle with. And Jesus was going to Galilee, you know, in part, why? Because it had been prophesied that he would go to Galilee and that he would spend part of his ministry there.

There's a lot of prophecies, but let's just look at one, Isaiah 9 verse 1. Nevertheless, the gloom will not be upon her who is distressed as when at first he lightly esteemed the land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali, and afterward more heavily oppressed her by the way of the sea beyond the Jordan and the Galilee of the Gentiles, galil hegohim, that's the Hebrew phrase there, Galilee of the Gentiles. Verse 2, the people who walked in darkness have seen a great light. Those who dwelt in the land of the shadow of death, upon them a light has shined. Aren't you glad that Jesus still is shining on Gentiles? He's still bringing people to him that were walking in darkness.

What an amazing thing that that's who he reaches out to. You can be walking in just the bondage of religion and self-righteousness or you can be in the bondage of drugs and alcohol and all sorts of sexual stuff, but you know what? Jesus is the light that can break that bondage.

And he still desires to do that. And Jesus was fulfilling the word because Jesus was a doer. Jesus was a doer of the word. John 13, 17, Jesus says to the disciples, if you know these things, blessed are you if you do them.

That's important for us to understand. See, my role as a Bible teacher is to make sure that you guys understand the Word of God, is to make sure you're getting the Word of God. Because let's face facts, guys, we are, I think without a doubt, we are in the most scripturally illiterate generation of Christians that has ever existed in the history of the church. People don't know the Bibles because quite frankly, it's not being taught and promoted from the pulpit that we should be reading the Bible.

Now, that's sad. So you can come and I guarantee if you come once a week, I'll read the Bible to you. But if that's the only time you're in the Bible, you're kind of missing what's supposed to be going on. In James 1, verse 23, it says, if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he's like a man observing his natural face in a mirror, for he observes himself, goes away, and immediately forgets what kind of man he was. But he who looks into the perfect law of liberty and continues in it and is not a forgetful hearer but a doer of the word, this one will be blessed in what he does. Now, it's interesting that James ties together being a doer of the word and understanding the perfect law of liberty. See, what happens is the more you mature as a Christian, you'll become face to face with the fact that you're still a sinner, is that you still stumble, you still struggle. And it gives you a deeper recognition of what grace is, of what amazing grace is. So the life lesson here is be a doer of the word of God. Be a doer of the word of God.

Now, verse 44 says, for Jesus himself testified that a prophet has no honor in his own country. I think most of us can identify with that. And don't be surprised when this happens. It happens with old friends, it happens with family, it happens with people you work with, perhaps people see you in a bad moment or they saw you when you struggled or perhaps when you fell. And you know what's bizarre is that friends and family are usually more comfortable when you're not walking with the Lord. Have you ever noticed that?

They're okay. I mean, you can be loony tombs, high as a kite, and they're all right with you. But the moment you go to the family reunion or the dinner and you start talking about Jesus, they get wigged out. That's not just you. You thought it was just you. No, it's not just you.

Why? Because the Holy Spirit in us convicts them of where they are not with the Lord and they begin to be uncomfortable. And you know what? That uncomfortable feeling that they get from you is a good thing. See, because that can lead them to the decision to follow Jesus. We have to admit that, you know, there was some discomfort in our lives before we decided to follow the Lord. We felt convicted of what we were doing and what we were not doing. And out of that was birth repentance.

So don't be surprised by those things. And remember, you're not seeking honor from them. Hebrews 6 verse 10 says, for God is not unjust to forget your work and labor of love which you have shown towards His name and that you have ministered to the saints and do minister. God knows whether your family sees, whether your friends see, whether anybody you know sees, God sees everything you do for Him. And we need to remember that because there will be things that you do for the Lord or things that you endure that nobody else will see, but the Lord will see.

And, you know, there's something pure about that. Verse 45, so when He came to Galilee, the Galileans received Him, having seen all the things He did in Jerusalem at the feast, for they had also gone to the feast. Verse 46, so Jesus came again to Cana of Galilee, where He made the water wine. And there was a certain nobleman whose son was sick at Capernaum. Now, Cana is about 20 miles from Capernaum or Capernaum is the word in the Hebrew. It's still there.

You can go there and it's an awesome thing. You can see the synagogue where Jesus actually healed the man with the withered hand. And it says nobleman, that means he was an official, probably with Herod. So this guy was a well-known and a power broker, if you will. So again, it's interesting to look, you know, John 3 is Nicodemus, a religious official that Jesus reaches. John 4, he's talking to the woman in the well and he's reaching her.

And now we have somebody in Herod's court. So you see the good news going to every type of person here. We'll be right back with more from David McGee on Cross the Bridge. Right now, here's a word from associate pastor, D.A.

Brown. Hey, Bob. We're excited to be here and listen to the teaching. I want to pray for some people in our listening audience today, specifically these cities in California, Rincon, Rio Linda, Salinas, San Ardo, San Luis Obispo, and Santa Barbara.

God, we thank you for the people in these cities today. We pray that they would tune in and be encouraged in your word. Lord, help them have an open heart that you want to speak directly to them. God, that you want to forgive them of all their sins.

And Lord, you want to use them to be a blessing to other people so others can be forgiven too. In Jesus' name. Amen. Amen.

Thank you, brother. And now, let's get back to David McGee as he continues teaching verse by verse. Verse 47. When he heard that Jesus had come out of Judea into Galilee, he went to him and implored him to come down and heal his son, for he was at the point of death. And remember, Judea is the region around Jerusalem. Galilee is the upper portion of the country.

And again, the Galilee is kind of the rolling hill country, and Judea is part of the city, if you will, of Jerusalem. That's interesting. This man wanted Jesus to touch his son. Man, that's a good thing. It's a good thing for you as a father to desire that Jesus would touch your children. Mother, that's a good thing for you to desire that Jesus would touch your children. Pray for your children. Pray for them often. And bring them to Jesus. Now, there'll be times, don't be surprised when your kids maybe don't want to go to church.

And don't be afraid of making them go to church. That's not an entirely bad thing. I probably heard that old joke that, you know, this guy says, yeah, when I was growing up, I had a serious drug problem, and I still, you know, have some of the leftovers of that. And the guy goes, oh, really? He goes, well, what kind of drug problem? He said, well, every Wednesday night, my parents drug me to church. Every Sunday morning, they drug me to church. Every Sunday night, they drug me to church, and I still bear the benefits of that drug problem.

I like that. You know, some parents make the mistake of asking their children. Yeah, I mean, I'm talking about young children, 12, 11, 9, 8. Hey, do you want to go to church? Sometimes they might say no.

No, of course, we have the opposite thing happening here too. And it's amazing that parents, I don't know if they realize what they're telling me when they say it. They go, hey, we weren't going to come this morning, but our kids want to come. Praise God. You know what?

That lets me know. That lets me know our children's ministry is an awesome part of this fellowship. And I'll take that if it takes your kids to get you here. Praise God, man.

I'm just glad you're here. Pray for your kids. You know, something we do for our kids and we've done since they were real young is pray for their spouses.

No, I don't have any news to declare about that. But, you know, it's never too early to begin to pray for their future spouse, that they would be a godly man or a godly woman, and that the Lord would select them, and it wouldn't be an act of the flesh. And I think that's an awesome thing. And also, you know, with your kids, let me mention this. With your kids, make sure that you're maintaining your witness.

Now, that's a challenge, isn't it? But understand, part of maintaining your witness is when you mess up, tell them you messed up. Oh, they already know.

But go to them and go, you know what? That was not cool, what I did. I was angry.

I raised my voice or whatever you did. You know, we shouldn't have watched that television show. You know, whatever the deal is, and lead them by your example, not in your perfection. Guys, they know you're not perfect.

Don't even try to pull that one off. I mean, if they're under two, they know. I mean, if they're over two, they know. They may know if they're under two, I don't know, but pray for them. Verse 48 says, then Jesus said to him, unless people see signs and wonders, you will by no man's belief, by no means believe.

I'm having trouble talking. Unless you people see signs and wonders, you will by no means believe. Plainly here, there's kind of an inherent warning of seeking signs and wonders to confirm your faith. Now, why would Jesus tell us here, and there's other places, Paul tells us in 2 Corinthians, chapter 2, verse 9, and talking about end times, this evil man will come to do the work of Satan with counterfeit power and signs and miracles.

And we're warned in other places as well. This is why Jesus wants us to be careful in this area, because in the end times, and I think we're getting close, there's going to be what's referred to as lying signs and wonders. And understand, some people, that's all they look at to validate a ministry. Oh, I saw him on television. Hey, God used him to heal that guy. Well, the reality is you don't know that man. You don't know his ministry.

You don't know his fruit. And to be honest, you don't know the person who just got healed. And you need to be careful and look at the fruit of a ministry. Are there people who don't know the Lord that are coming to know the Lord? That's the best fruit of a ministry is our people getting saved. Is the Word being taught? Are people getting saved? Are people being discipled? Not necessarily, how many people did we raise from the dead this week?

That's a tough one, you know. I mean, God still does those things, I believe. You can't show me in Scripture where he quit doing that. Verse 49, the nobleman said to him, sir, come down before my child dies. And Jesus said to him, go your way, your son lives. So the man believed the word that Jesus spoke to him, and he went his way. This is interesting to me, just the exchange.

And it's very cryptic, not a lot of words here. And the man says, sir, come down before my child dies. Now, what I find interesting about this is the man was telling Jesus what he needed to do to heal his son. They're 20 miles away. Understand, they're walking. They're not in a car.

They're 20 miles away. This man is asking Jesus to walk 20 miles to pray for his son. And it seems like the obvious thing to do. And Jesus did, in fact, heal his son, but not in the way the man asked him to. And this is such a powerful application because a lot of times when we're praying and we're asking the Lord to fix a situation or to remedy a situation, do you understand that often we tell him how he's supposed to do that? Do you think he really needs us to tell him how he's supposed to do that?

I don't think he does. Now, you know, there's a time and a place for it, but I think we probably go a little bit too far in there. You know, we, okay, Lord, this is what I need you to do. This is the way I need you to meet this need and I need you to do it. You know, I'm just going to wait on you, but it needs to be done by 5 o'clock today. Praise God.

Wait a minute. The Lord may be working something in your life to teach you something where it doesn't happen 5 o'clock today. May happen two days, three days, four days, five days after you think it's supposed to happen.

What I found is that God is never late, but he's seldom early and he's interested in building our faith and strengthening our relationship with him. And so often we tell him how he's supposed to... Lord, I got so many bills. I got so many bills. I've charged myself into a corner and I got so many bills. Lord, there's only one way that I know that you're going to meet this need.

Lotto. Wait a minute. God may be desiring to teach you about how to live instead of providing some quick solution that's going to find you right back in the same situation a month later. So the life lesson here is allow the Lord to work in his way and his timing without being anxious.

Yeah, I had to throw those last three words in there without being anxious, as if the first two things wouldn't challenge you enough. We're told in Philippians 4 verse 6, it says, Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving, let your requests be known to God. That's from the New King James Version. I read from the New King James Version. I study in King James, New King James, Amplified, and New Living Translation, and some other, but the New Living Translation here says don't worry about anything. Instead, pray about everything.

That's good, isn't it? Don't worry about anything instead of pray about everything. Tell God what you need and thank him for all he has done.

There is only one way that you cannot be anxious about stuff, and that's if you take whatever is concerning you and you place it in the hands of the Lord. And here comes the hard part, and you leave it there, and you leave it there. See, a lot of times, I know personally, what I do is I'll give something to God and I'll wait, you know, what seems to me to be a long time, you know, three, four minutes, something, and nothing happens, so I take it back. Well, obviously, you're not going to do anything. Let me fix it, you know, and then I get anxious again. What we've got to do is learn to set things in the lap of Jesus and leave them there.

And, guys, that's a hard discipline, but it's something that we need to do. Whose hands do you desire for your loved ones and for your family and friends? Whose hands do you desire for them to be in, yours or the Lord's? Who's going to do a better job at drawing them and wooing them, you or God?

See, the answer is pretty obvious, isn't it? Oh, we want to put them in the Lord's hands, but we got to put them there and leave them there. And God sees every need that you have. And when you pray, He's wanting you to include Him in your life and say, Lord, heal my son, heal my daughter, heal my uncle, my aunt, my mom, my dad.

Heal me, Lord. And He wants to be included in every aspect of your life. You know, when we were on the road, we traveled on the road for about seven years, just all over the country, Canada and Mexico doing ministry and stuff. And it was just amazing. You know, maybe one day I'll sit down and just write a book because we just saw so many things, not huge things all the time, but it was intriguing to me the details that Jesus was interested in in every part of our life. And I shared this once before on a Sunday night or sometime.

You know, we were in Camp Verde, Arizona, which is between Flagstaff and Phoenix. And we had talked about our son, JD, was getting some headaches. So we thought, well, you know, he seems to get headaches when he reads, perhaps at some point we'll stop and we'll go to an optometrist or something.

And so we go to the fellowship, I do the music and the teaching, we get finished and we're loading out, you know. And I said something about JD's eyes. And one of the deacons that was helping us load out said, well, what's wrong with his eyes? And they said, well, he's getting headaches.

So we're thinking, you know, he might need to go to the doctor. The guy looked at me and said, this is like the day after we prayed. The guy says, well, I'm an optometrist. Can you come by tomorrow?

I said, yeah, we can come by tomorrow. And he goes, if he needs glasses, I'd appreciate it if you would allow me to bless you guys with the glasses. See, Jesus cares about every detail in your life. Those things that are troubling you, he wants you to hand them to him. He wants to be part of your life.

He wants to be the solution. And I know sometimes that's troubling. I know sometimes we get filled with doubt and we shouldn't allow ourselves to be filled with doubt. If you're going to doubt something, don't doubt Jesus. Don't doubt your faith. Don't doubt the Word of God. If you're going to doubt something, doubt your doubt.

That's not doublespeak. That's the life lesson. Trust the Lord and doubt the other things. Now, here's the rub, guys.

Here's the hard part. Trust the Lord and doubt the other things. Your emotions can be something you should doubt. Now, if you've lived long enough, you know what I'm getting ready to tell you is true. There are times when your emotions have lied to you. They've lied to you. You know, remember, some of you are still teenagers, but remember when you were a teenager and you saw that girl or that guy and you thought, that's the one.

That's going to be my wife or that's going to be my husband. You were just convinced. Did it happen?

Uh-uh. What happened? Your emotions lied to you. Friend, do you know for sure that your sins have been forgiven?

You can know right now. I want to lead you in a short, simple prayer, simply telling God you're sorry and asking Him to help you to live for Him. Please pray this prayer with me out loud right now. Dear Jesus, I believe you died for me, that I could be forgiven. And I believe you were raised from the dead, that I could have a new life. And I've done wrong things. I have sinned.

And I'm sorry. Please forgive me of all those things. Please give me the power to live for you all of my days. In Jesus' name, amen. Friend, if you prayed that prayer according to the Bible, you've been forgiven. You've been born again. So congratulations, friend.

You just made the greatest decision that you will ever make. God bless you. If you prayed that prayer with David for the first time, we'd love to hear from you. You can visit crossthebridge.com to receive our First Steps package with helpful resources to help you begin your walk with Christ.

Or you can write to crossthebridge at P.O. Box 12515, Winston-Salem, North Carolina, 27117, and share how God is working in your life. Well, DA, before we go, what are some ways that we can bless our listeners? Each day, you can wake up with encouragement from Pastor David through the Word of God with his email devotional, Life Lessons to Consider, a daily reading plan, and a thought to meditate on throughout your day from the heart of David McGee. That sounds good, Pastor DA.

And again, it's been great to have you with us on the program today. But tell us, what else can our listeners find on crossthebridge.com? If you're not able to make it to your home church this Sunday, why not join us for our live stream at 10 AM Eastern time, or on Thursday nights at 7 PM Eastern time? Just visit crossthebridge.com and click on our live stream link. There, you'll experience a live service from David's home church, The Bridge, in North Carolina. Again, that website is crossthebridge.com. Thanks again for listening, and join us next time as David McGee continues teaching verse by verse in the Gospel of John.