Jesus defending healing a man on the Sabbath, telling them to judge with righteous judgment
21 Jesus answered them, “I did one work, and you all marvel because of it.
22 Moses has given you circumcision (not that it is of Moses, but of the fathers), and on the Sabbath you circumcise a boy.
23 If a boy receives circumcision on the Sabbath, that the law of Moses may not be broken, are you angry with me, because I made a man completely healthy on the Sabbath?
24 Don’t judge according to appearance, but judge righteous judgment.”
Jerusalem crowd debating whether rulers know he is the Christ and Jesus crying out about who sent him
25 Therefore some of them of Jerusalem said, “Isn’t this he whom they seek to kill?
26 Behold, he speaks openly, and they say nothing to him. Can it be that the rulers indeed know that this is truly the Christ?
27 However we know where this man comes from, but when the Christ comes, no one will know where he comes from.”
28 Jesus therefore cried out in the temple, teaching and saying, “You both know me, and know where I am from. I have not come of myself, but he who sent me is true, whom you don’t know.
29 I know him, because I am from him, and he sent me.”
Pharisees and chief priests sending officers to arrest Jesus, Jesus saying he would go where they cannot come
32 The Pharisees heard the multitude murmuring these things concerning him, and the chief priests and the Pharisees sent officers to arrest him.
33 Then Jesus said, “I will be with you a little while longer, then I go to him who sent me.
34 You will seek me, and won’t find me; and where I am, you can’t come.”
35 The Jews therefore said among themselves, “Where will this man go that we won’t find him? Will he go to the Dispersion among the Greeks, and teach the Greeks?
36 What is this word that he said, ‘You will seek me, and won’t find me; and where I am, you can’t come’?”
on the last great day of the feast Jesus cried out inviting the thirsty to come drink, John's note about the Holy Spirit
37 Now on the last and greatest day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried out, “If anyone is thirsty, let him come to me and drink!
38 He who believes in me, as the Scripture has said, from within him will flow rivers of living water.”
39 But he said this about the Spirit, which those believing in him were to receive. For the Holy Spirit was not yet given, because Jesus wasn’t yet glorified.
Jesus telling Nicodemus the Spirit blows where it will, used to contrast pride with humility before God
7 Don’t marvel that I said to you, ‘You must be born anew.’
8 The wind blows where it wants to, and you hear its sound, but don’t know where it comes from and where it is going. So is everyone who is born of the Spirit.”
healing of the man at the Pool of Siloam on the Sabbath, referenced as the one deed Jesus mentions in John 7
1 After these things, there was a feast of the Jews, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem.
2 Now in Jerusalem by the sheep gate, there is a pool, which is called in Hebrew, “Bethesda”, having five porches.
3 In these lay a great multitude of those who were sick, blind, lame, or paralyzed, waiting for the moving of the water;
4 for an angel went down at certain times into the pool, and stirred up the water. Whoever stepped in first after the stirring of the water was healed of whatever disease he had.
5 A certain man was there, who had been sick for thirty-eight years.
6 When Jesus saw him lying there, and knew that he had been sick for a long time, he asked him, “Do you want to be made well?”
7 The sick man answered him, “Sir, I have no one to put me into the pool when the water is stirred up, but while I’m coming, another steps down before me.”
8 Jesus said to him, “Arise, take up your mat, and walk.”
9 Immediately, the man was made well, and took up his mat and walked. Now it was the Sabbath on that day.
10 So the Jews said to him who was cured, “It is the Sabbath. It is not lawful for you to carry the mat.”
11 He answered them, “He who made me well, the same said to me, ‘Take up your mat, and walk.’”
12 Then they asked him, “Who is the man who said to you, ‘Take up your mat, and walk’?”
13 But he who was healed didn’t know who it was, for Jesus had withdrawn, a crowd being in the place.
14 Afterward Jesus found him in the temple, and said to him, “Behold, you are made well. Sin no more, so that nothing worse happens to you.”
15 The man went away, and told the Jews that it was Jesus who had made him well.
16 For this cause the Jews persecuted Jesus, and sought to kill him, because he did these things on the Sabbath.
17 But Jesus answered them, “My Father is still working, so I am working, too.”
18 For this cause therefore the Jews sought all the more to kill him, because he not only broke the Sabbath, but also called God his own Father, making himself equal with God.
19 Jesus therefore answered them, “Most certainly, I tell you, the Son can do nothing of himself, but what he sees the Father doing. For whatever things he does, these the Son also does likewise.
20 For the Father has affection for the Son, and shows him all things that he himself does. He will show him greater works than these, that you may marvel.
21 For as the Father raises the dead and gives them life, even so the Son also gives life to whom he desires.
22 For the Father judges no one, but he has given all judgment to the Son,
23 that all may honor the Son, even as they honor the Father. He who doesn’t honor the Son doesn’t honor the Father who sent him.
24 “Most certainly I tell you, he who hears my word, and believes him who sent me, has eternal life, and doesn’t come into judgment, but has passed out of death into life.
25 Most certainly, I tell you, the hour comes, and now is, when the dead will hear the Son of God’s voice; and those who hear will live.
26 For as the Father has life in himself, even so he gave to the Son also to have life in himself.
27 He also gave him authority to execute judgment, because he is a son of man.
28 Don’t marvel at this, for the hour comes, in which all that are in the tombs will hear his voice,
29 and will come out; those who have done good, to the resurrection of life; and those who have done evil, to the resurrection of judgment.
30 I can of myself do nothing. As I hear, I judge, and my judgment is righteous; because I don’t seek my own will, but the will of my Father who sent me.
31 “If I testify about myself, my witness is not valid.
32 It is another who testifies about me. I know that the testimony which he testifies about me is true.
33 You have sent to John, and he has testified to the truth.
34 But the testimony which I receive is not from man. However, I say these things that you may be saved.
35 He was the burning and shining lamp, and you were willing to rejoice for a while in his light.
36 But the testimony which I have is greater than that of John, for the works which the Father gave me to accomplish, the very works that I do, testify about me, that the Father has sent me.
37 The Father himself, who sent me, has testified about me. You have neither heard his voice at any time, nor seen his form.
38 You don’t have his word living in you; because you don’t believe him whom he sent.
39 “You search the Scriptures, because you think that in them you have eternal life; and these are they which testify about me.
40 Yet you will not come to me, that you may have life.
41 I don’t receive glory from men.
42 But I know you, that you don’t have God’s love in yourselves.
43 I have come in my Father’s name, and you don’t receive me. If another comes in his own name, you will receive him.
44 How can you believe, who receive glory from one another, and you don’t seek the glory that comes from the only God?
45 “Don’t think that I will accuse you to the Father. There is one who accuses you, even Moses, on whom you have set your hope.
46 For if you believed Moses, you would believe me; for he wrote about me.
47 But if you don’t believe his writings, how will you believe my words?”
feeding of the five thousand, crowd declaring this is the prophet, Jesus slipping away when they tried to make him king
1 After these things, Jesus went away to the other side of the sea of Galilee, which is also called the Sea of Tiberias.
2 A great multitude followed him, because they saw his signs which he did on those who were sick.
3 Jesus went up into the mountain, and he sat there with his disciples.
4 Now the Passover, the feast of the Jews, was at hand.
5 Jesus therefore lifting up his eyes, and seeing that a great multitude was coming to him, said to Philip, “Where are we to buy bread, that these may eat?”
6 This he said to test him, for he himself knew what he would do.
7 Philip answered him, “Two hundred denarii worth of bread is not sufficient for them, that everyone of them may receive a little.”
8 One of his disciples, Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother, said to him,
9 “There is a boy here who has five barley loaves and two fish, but what are these among so many?”
10 Jesus said, “Have the people sit down.” Now there was much grass in that place. So the men sat down, in number about five thousand.
11 Jesus took the loaves; and having given thanks, he distributed to the disciples, and the disciples to those who were sitting down; likewise also of the fish as much as they desired.
12 When they were filled, he said to his disciples, “Gather up the broken pieces which are left over, that nothing be lost.”
13 So they gathered them up, and filled twelve baskets with broken pieces from the five barley loaves, which were left over by those who had eaten.
14 When therefore the people saw the sign which Jesus did, they said, “This is truly the prophet who comes into the world.”
15 Jesus therefore, perceiving that they were about to come and take him by force, to make him king, withdrew again to the mountain by himself.
16 When evening came, his disciples went down to the sea,
17 and they entered into the boat, and were going over the sea to Capernaum. It was now dark, and Jesus had not come to them.
18 The sea was tossed by a great wind blowing.
19 When therefore they had rowed about twenty-five or thirty stadia, they saw Jesus walking on the sea, and drawing near to the boat; and they were afraid.
20 But he said to them, “It is I. Don’t be afraid.”
21 They were willing therefore to receive him into the boat. Immediately the boat was at the land where they were going.
22 On the next day, the multitude that stood on the other side of the sea saw that there was no other boat there, except the one in which his disciples had embarked, and that Jesus hadn’t entered with his disciples into the boat, but his disciples had gone away alone.
23 However boats from Tiberias came near to the place where they ate the bread after the Lord had given thanks.
24 When the multitude therefore saw that Jesus wasn’t there, nor his disciples, they themselves got into the boats, and came to Capernaum, seeking Jesus.
25 When they found him on the other side of the sea, they asked him, “Rabbi, when did you come here?”
26 Jesus answered them, “Most certainly I tell you, you seek me, not because you saw signs, but because you ate of the loaves, and were filled.
27 Don’t work for the food which perishes, but for the food which remains to eternal life, which the Son of Man will give to you. For God the Father has sealed him.”
28 They said therefore to him, “What must we do, that we may work the works of God?”
29 Jesus answered them, “This is the work of God, that you believe in him whom he has sent.”
30 They said therefore to him, “What then do you do for a sign, that we may see, and believe you? What work do you do?
31 Our fathers ate the manna in the wilderness. As it is written, ‘He gave them bread out of heaven to eat.’”
32 Jesus therefore said to them, “Most certainly, I tell you, it wasn’t Moses who gave you the bread out of heaven, but my Father gives you the true bread out of heaven.
33 For the bread of God is that which comes down out of heaven, and gives life to the world.”
34 They said therefore to him, “Lord, always give us this bread.”
35 Jesus said to them, “I am the bread of life. He who comes to me will not be hungry, and he who believes in me will never be thirsty.
36 But I told you that you have seen me, and yet you don’t believe.
37 All those whom the Father gives me will come to me. He who comes to me I will in no way throw out.
38 For I have come down from heaven, not to do my own will, but the will of him who sent me.
39 This is the will of my Father who sent me, that of all he has given to me I should lose nothing, but should raise him up at the last day.
40 This is the will of the one who sent me, that everyone who sees the Son, and believes in him, should have eternal life; and I will raise him up at the last day.”
41 The Jews therefore murmured concerning him, because he said, “I am the bread which came down out of heaven.”
42 They said, “Isn’t this Jesus, the son of Joseph, whose father and mother we know? How then does he say, ‘I have come down out of heaven?’”
43 Therefore Jesus answered them, “Don’t murmur among yourselves.
44 No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him, and I will raise him up in the last day.
45 It is written in the prophets, ‘They will all be taught by God.’ Therefore everyone who hears from the Father, and has learned, comes to me.
46 Not that anyone has seen the Father, except he who is from God. He has seen the Father.
47 Most certainly, I tell you, he who believes in me has eternal life.
48 I am the bread of life.
49 Your fathers ate the manna in the wilderness, and they died.
50 This is the bread which comes down out of heaven, that anyone may eat of it and not die.
51 I am the living bread which came down out of heaven. If anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever. Yes, the bread which I will give for the life of the world is my flesh.”
52 The Jews therefore contended with one another, saying, “How can this man give us his flesh to eat?”
53 Jesus therefore said to them, “Most certainly I tell you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his…
scripture stating the Christ comes from Bethlehem, village of David, cited by the crowd debating Jesus's origins
2 But you, Bethlehem Ephrathah, being small among the clans of Judah, out of you one will come out to me that is to be ruler in Israel; whose goings out are from of old, from ancient times.
The message in order, in a few minutes of reading.
This message came from John 7, Jesus at the Feast of Tabernacles. Pastor Ray walked through the crowd's divided opinions about Jesus, the rising conflict with the religious leadership, and Jesus' climactic public declaration that He is the source of living water. The sermon kept returning to a simple question: who do you say Jesus is, and what is your heart's posture toward finding out?
What was said
The passage opens with Jesus arriving at the feast quietly, not by the main road his brothers likely took, but through Samaria. While He was absent, the crowds were already talking about Him in hushed voices, splitting into two camps: those who said He was a good man, and those who said He was misleading the people. Pastor Ray pointed out that this kind of polarized opinion about Jesus has not gone away.
When Jesus did appear and began teaching in the temple, the leadership's first objection was credentialed snobbery. He had not come up through their schools. Jesus answered them directly: His teaching was not His own but came from the One who sent Him. He added that anyone genuinely willing to do God's will would be able to recognize whether His teaching was from God or not. The door to understanding, He said, is a humble and open posture, not a defended one.
The crowd then got tangled in the question of where Jesus was from. A popular idea of the time held that the Messiah would appear from nowhere, so the fact that people knew Jesus had come from Galilee seemed to disqualify Him for some. Jesus responded to this by crying out that their knowledge of where He was from was only surface deep. The One who sent Him is true, and that is the One they did not know.
Pastor Ray paused on the moment when the temple officers returned to the chief priests and Pharisees without Jesus in custody. When asked why they had not arrested Him, the officers could only say that no one had ever spoken like this man. The Pharisees dismissed this as proof that the officers had been led astray, and then turned on the crowd itself, calling them accursed for not knowing the law. Nicodemus, a Pharisee who had spoken privately with Jesus in John 3, quietly pushed back on procedural grounds. The group turned on him too, asking whether he was from Galilee as well.
The climax of the passage falls on the last and greatest day of the feast. The Feast of Tabernacles ended with a reading from Isaiah about drawing water joyfully from the springs of salvation. At that moment, Jesus stood and called out that anyone who is thirsty should come to Him and drink, and that from the one who believes in Him rivers of living water would flow. John tells the reader this referred to the Holy Spirit, not yet given because Jesus had not yet been glorified.
Pastor Ray connected this moment back to what the feast itself was meant to commemorate: God's provision during forty years of wilderness wandering. The whole celebration was a looking-back at deliverance. Jesus stepped into that celebration and said the deliverance it was pointing toward had arrived in Him. It was not grandstanding, Pastor Ray said. It was simply the truth.
The sermon closed by folding in the morning's other threads: the Gideons placing Bibles in hotel rooms so that someone far from home might find the peace of God that passes understanding, and Anders and Brooke Olson moving to Zambia to reach youth who have no documentation, no access, no safety net. All of it, Pastor Ray said, flows from the same source. People who have tasted the living water carry it outward, and those around them start asking what it is that they have.
Doing a Bible study?
Here is a guide we have prepared for you: the passages
in order, questions for the group, and room to write.
Pastor Ray pointed out that the crowd was split between 'he's a good man' and 'he's misleading the people,' and asked whether that kind of polarized reaction to Jesus still happens today. Where have you seen that, and how do you respond when you encounter it?
Jesus said that anyone willing to do God's will would know whether his teaching came from God or from himself. What does it look like in practice to approach Scripture or a message with that kind of willingness, and what gets in the way of it?
We're good to go. Okay. Judy, maestro, if you please. Alright. Keep it peppy.
Would you stand with us? We're gonna sing I'll Fly Away.
Some glad morning when this life is over, I'll fly away to a home on God's celestial shore. I'll fly away. I'll away, oh glory. I'll fly away in the morning when I die. Hallelujah.
By and by, morning when I die hallelujah by and by I'll fly away Amen.
Blessed assurance. Blessed assurance. Hymn number five seventy two.
Blessed assurance Jesus is mine oh what a foretaste of glory divine. Heir of salvation, purchase of God, born of his spirit, washed in his blood. This is my story. This is my song praising my savior all the day long. This is my story.
This is my song praising my savior all the day long. Perfect submission, perfect delight. Visions of lapture now burst on my side. Angels descending, bring from above. Echoes of mercy, whispers of love.
This is my story. This is my song. Praising my savior all the day long. This is my story. This is my song praising my savior all the day long.
Perfect submission, all is at rest. I and my savior am happy and blessed watching and waiting, looking above, filled with his goodness, lost in his love. This is my story. This is my song praising my savior all the day long this is my story this is my song praising my savior all the day long
Amen. Amen. Y'all can have a seat. I have a few announcements. I accidentally said out loud, this is my least favorite part of the service and the first service and I said it again now but Imma run through em because we got a lot of stuff going on this morning.
So, Monday nights at first beer is happening. Carl's in the book of Mark. It's amazing. Meal, music, message, and a really good gospel conversation after the fact. So, that's good.
We have a food drive that's going on this week through November 19. Details are on our website, but there's also a row of boxes with the items that we'd like to collect to help with one hundred twenty two, formerly known as Community Resource Center. Operation Christmas Child through Samaritan's Purse. We have boxes available. If you'd like to take a box after the service today, there are instructions back there for what to put in and what not to put in.
If you wanna pack at a packing party this week on Wednesday evening, there will be a packing party here. If you missed that packing party and you want to pack it yourself, you can bring it by the nineteenth and we will get it to the distribution center. You can look at the website for details on that. There is a children's Christmas choir that started practicing this morning between services. If you have a child that you would like to see get into this choir, there is still time.
They're going to do the December 18 combined service at ten a. M. But we started practice today and they can catch up if they make it between services next week. You can talk to Lisa Landis if you'd like more details than that. There is coming up on December 7 at twelve p.
M. In the Snow King Ballroom, a ladies women's Christmas luncheon. That's kind of Jackson Hole women's Bible study. It's that group that are putting this on. And we used to do it right here in this and it's grown to the place where we need a bigger place and it's up at the Snow King Ballroom.
Connect hours have been happening and Nancy T. Has put out quite a spread. I'm sure that there's a little left down there after this service want to go there instead of wherever you normally go. You're welcome to do that. I'm going to invite up Anders and Brooke Olson.
I have both the red and the yellow mic up here and on. Anders, many of you who are Awana volunteers will recognize because he grew up in this church. And he has been through all of the children's program and the youth program and he's going to tell you where that has led. You got a clicker right there.
Good morning. Thanks for having us. Yeah. Like Ray said, I'm Anders. This is my wife, Brooke.
We got married in May of this year up in Northern California at a camp that we met at called Kidder Creek. It's a Christian based adventure camp. And, yeah, we're excited to share what we have today. We're starting a summer camp in Africa, and it's titled J Zone. But first, my church connection here, I've always felt like this is my home church.
This is the church that I grew up in. My parents are Kevin and Shelly Olson, if you know who they are. I have vivid memories of playing laser tag with Carl and Renzi, and, I have once played the clown in a church play or a Christmas play. So yeah.
Yeah. So we're excited to announce that we're moving to Zambia November 28, so in about two weeks. And yeah, so my name is Brooke. I grew up on the Central Coast Of California and have always had a heart for international missions and youth especially. And so in 2019, I was given the opportunity to do a program called the World Race, which is 11 country, eleven month mission trip where you get to travel around to a bunch of different countries and work with local organizations in that country for a month.
And so in our third month of that trip, my team and I worked with JZone in Zambia, and I fell in love with the ministry that they are doing and with the founders and just all that they were doing, especially when they came to us and said, we have this dream of starting a summer camp. I had been working at Kitter Creek in Northern California since 2016, and so camp was a huge part of my heart, something I definitely mourned when I felt the call to international missions because in my head, I'd never known how to do both. And so when I was given the opportunity, I was very excited and was officially hired at the end of October in 2019 as their camp director. So JZone was founded in 2006 by a Zambian couple with the mission to train, equip, and send the next generation of Christian leaders in Africa. And so to do that, JZone has kind of evolved into three different branches, the first being J Zone Water.
So J Zone owns its own drilling rig, and they are contracted out to drill for people in the city of Livingston, where we're located, and then turn around and use that money that they made to drill out in rural areas where they don't have access to clean water. And so while it's really important to fulfill the physical needs of water, in comes our next branch to fulfill the spiritual needs of that community as well. Wherever we drill a well, we plant a rural discipleship hub is what we call it. And so we spend about a month there just getting to know the community and trying to start up a meeting of some sort that works for that community and then raise up a leader from them to lead this Bible study as we leave. And then we continue to work with them and do about three times a year, like, big gathering of all the leaders to work on curriculum and see what their community needs Bibles, whatever that may be.
And then that leads into our next branch, which is J Zone Youth, which is the branch that Anders and I will be working with. And so right now, J Zone Youth is two after school programs, secondary and a primary school, as well as traveling day camps to different villages. So Village will contact us and say, we need to get our youth involved, and we're not sure how to do that. So we'll travel out to them and throw, like, a weekend games and like, a VBS games and songs and a gospel message, all of that, and then stay and train their leaders on how to continue that once we leave and keep their youth involved. And so a
lot of
people ask us, like, why Zambia? There's youth all over the world. We work with youth here in The United States. Why are we moving to Zambia? A few statistics about the youth in Zambia are the median age of the entire country is 16 years old.
In comparison, the median age here in The US is 38. And so the youth are the generation of Zambia. And in order to grow the gospel there, it starts with the youth. Another statistic that really touches my heart the most is that it's estimated that about half the births are officially documented. So there's kids out there that don't have a birth certificate or anything like that, and so they don't have access to any government anything.
So they can't go to public school. They can't go to private school. They don't have any protection from trafficking or child labor because they're not recognized by the Zambian government. And so with that, that's why our heart is to start this camp that Anders will tell you about.
Yeah. So through our time serving at Kitter Creek, we have seen the impact that Christ can have on kids' lives through creation, through building relationships, and through just being a kid with no responsibilities. And that's exactly what we want to do with the kids in Zambia. So up here, this is our piece of property. It's about forty five minutes outside of Livingston Zambia.
That's our red dot right there on the border of Zambia and or Zimbabwe. Our property is 66 acres. Right now, it's just dirt. We have a solar powered well there, but we want it to be a full blown summer camp like the one that we have fell in love with. We're going to have a pool, overnight cabins, archery, ropes course, bike park, sports field, and anything else that you can imagine.
But first, in order to build things, we first need funding. And so we have our phase one infrastructure goal of a $185,000. This includes everything that we need to start doing ministry out there. We're super blessed to say that those green check marks are items that have already been donated, and we're super excited to start building when we leave or as soon as we get out there. Our other financial need is our monthly budget of $5,000.
This includes all of our necessary living expenses as well as current day camps at schools and our traveling day camps that we'll do. And yeah.
Yeah. So right now, we're currently at about $3,500 for our monthly budget and so leaving in a few weeks, we're hoping to be fully funded before we leave. So, on the screen is how to donate. We're partnered with an organization called The Cause. JZone is an official nonprofit in Zambia, but it's not recognized by the American government as a nonprofit.
So The Cause is a really awesome organization that kind of partners with us as our sending organization that creates that nonprofit umbrella for us so that donations from American donors are tax deductible as well here in The States. So, there's a QR code on there. Go ahead and take your phones out in church for once if you'd like and take a photo for going to our website or information on how to donate via check.
Yes. Thank you. We're so thankful for being able to speak to you guys. Ultimately, we're relying on God's provision through this entire thing. We just ask that you would partner with us to further his kingdom in Zambia.
Thank you so much. We'll be in the back after service. If you would like to come talk to us, we have letters, business cards, stickers, and thank you.
Thank you both. What a blessing it is. Thank you. I was looking at that, and we don't talk a whole lot about money. We just don't usually do that.
But I was looking at the cost for the whole camp. The thing is less than the kitchen remodel. Right? The whole deal was less than the kitchen remodel was here when we did that. Can I pray just quickly, and then we'll go ahead and sing some more?
God almighty, I ask a blessing on Anders and on Brooke and on the founders of that ministry, Lord, that it would be for the founders good news from a far country, that they're getting help. Lord, I pray that you would grow them up. I love their zeal and enthusiasm for your word and for your will done in your way. And Lord, I ask a blessing on them. And these closing two weeks while they're here, that they'd be able to say good, goodbyes, and that they'd be sent out, Lord, like this church has sent them out.
They're sealed. We they've been sealed sealed of approval from First Bee, and we as a church are helping. But, Lord, if there are individuals here who would just partner with them praying or partner with them, it'd be great. In Jesus' name, Lord, we ask that you would have your will done in your way through these two in Zambia near Zimbabwe. Amen.
Would you all stand with me, and we're gonna sing some more songs. Until then, do you know this one? If you do know it, sing loud because I'm a I'm a fearing that a lot of you don't know this one.
My heart can sing when I pause to remember a heartache here is but a stepping is not my final hope. Until my heart will go on singing. Remembered there will only bring a smile but until then my heart will come on singing with all its toil and struggle may may take its toll of misery and strife. God calls me home. Amen.
About Jesus is lord of all. Hymn number five ninety nine.
Jesus is lord of all on the last. All of my longings,
Amen. Y'all can have a seat. Let's have a operatory prayer. Would you join me? God, I thank you for what you do, Lord, for how you do what you do.
Sometimes it is inexplicable for us. Sometimes though, Lord, you give us a glimpse of exactly what you would have us do for your glory. It's for our good, but it's for your glory. In Jesus' name, Lord, I ask that you would extend your good gospel to the very uttermost parts, that you would be doing among us, Lord, today what it is that you would have done in us today. Lord, after this service, when we go out, we are going into a mission field.
I pray that you would have your will done through us today. Lord, would you extend the message of your love and forgiveness by multiplying everything that goes into these plates, whether it's literal or metaphorical. Lord, everything that we offer, ask that you'd bless and increase to do your kingdom's work. In Jesus' name, Lord. Amen.
Wow. Amen. That's beautiful. I'm going to invite up Jeff Corbett. Jeff is a soft spoken gentle giant from Texas.
He's a teacher. He's coming up, and he's also a Gideon. He's going be on the red microphone. Thank you, Jeff. Mike Mayer is here also today.
Gideon from among us. It's honored to be
here and share the Lord's day with you today and I wanna express my appreciation to pastor Ray for allowing me was it twenty, twenty five minutes of your time? So anyway but anyway, Perry Schlegel was a barber in North Vernon, Indiana. And he was driving to work one day and little did he have little did he realize that his eternity was about to change. He got to the barbershop and about midday a blizzard blew in. And since he lived a ways out of town, he realized he was not gonna drive home, so he checked into the downtown hotel.
Sometime later, he wrote this letter to the Gideons. I read until 3AM before I asked Christ into my life. My life has never been the same. No, I did not become a celebrity nor did I get rich, But I did reach that goal in life spoken of by Paul in Philippians four seven. And the peace of God which passes all understanding shall keep your hearts and minds through Jesus Christ.
Now, some people know that there's gonna be a Bible placed by the Gideons in their hotel room. Some people just discovered. We've been putting bibles out since 1898. So I check every time I go to hotel and I'm so seldom disappointed. And I hope you feel the same.
But the Giddings are an international organization made up of business and professional men. As a teacher, I was a member. And before, we have two things in common. Believe we believe the Bible's inspired word of God. We accepted Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior.
Now, we don't have denominations or congregations scattered throughout the land. We go to the local churches and we're part of our churches but we believe in the power of the word and we know how that can change lives but our goal is to win others to Jesus Christ and whichever church they become a member of, that's not our concern. The main thing is they have a personal relationship with Jesus Christ. Now, I want to apologize in advance because the next minute or two, I'm gonna use the word I way too much, but I'm hoping it'll give context. October of last year, I lived in Odessa, Texas, and the Gideons were passing out little testaments at the junior college.
We were standing by the student union. As students came by, we'd hand them the testament and talk with them if they felt so led. So I volunteered for hour and a half right before lunch. And so I know this has never happened to you, but my replacement didn't show up. So, anyway, so I said, yeah, I can stay another hour.
No problem. So, I'm standing there, pass out the testaments, talk to students, and I hear this a female voice like, I know you. And they, oh, boy. So, I look over there and it was Kylie. She'd been my student, my first semester teaching and I can confess.
I knew a lot about teach or the subject but didn't know a whole lot about teaching. So, as context, Texas is a desperate need of teachers. And so if you've got a four year degree and you can pass the background check and you can get through the interview, you can teach on probation. And since I had my business, I've been in before was in forestry. I I felt like a new science and I passed the test.
And so at the tender age of 62, I became a seventh grade science teacher. So we're talking 12, 13, some 14 year olds. And it was an education both way both sides of the podium. So one thing about seventh grade science is you're teaching basically biology. So you're talking about cells, photosynthesis, and the human body.
And as a biology class, we I like to do a lot of experiments because that's where I learn the most from. So you break them up into groups and you're walking around and you listen to conversations. And I wanna say surprise, but shocky is a better word. And we'll just say that Kylie had a wild streak about her. So she's walking up.
I'm saying, this is gonna be interesting. So she and another girl were walking up and we started talking and gave him a testament. And they were getting ready to go into the girl's bathroom. They made little signs that says, if you're looking for a sign, this is it. Jesus loves you and then a Bible verse.
And I'm thinking, this is not the Kali I knew. So, we're talking and just general topics and then she said, mister Corbett, are you saved? I said, this girl is serious because nobody but a real Christian is going to care if you're saved or not. So, then it got more intensive. You know, I said, you need to part company with your older friends and start, you know, find your church, you know, sincerely take baptism and just be a part of it and so, it was going good and but then, here I am.
I'm twenty minutes into my next thing. So, I said, if I wouldn't have stayed late, this never would happen. So, we're talking and and then finally, she said, mister corporate, is it a sin to steal a Bible from a hotel room? I said, no. No.
That's what it's there for and so anyway, so they had to get ready to go to another class. And I'm thinking, you know, we put Bibles into the hotel rooms. We say a prayer as a group and then individually. That that Bible be there to touch lives and change lives. And I don't know what a 16 year old girl was doing hotel room from a broken family.
She said she was suffering from severe depression. But that Bible was there for us. And so I'm asking you today is join with us in helping the Kyleeys and the Percy Percy, yep. Percy, yeah. Find that peace of God would pass us on understanding.
Thank you.
God bless the Gideons. Sorry. Before I went to Mexico, before we went, left out to be missionaries on a foreign land. In the year or two before that, I had met a couple of Gideons. It's layman clergy situation.
If you're a layman, can be a Gideon. If you're a pastor, you can't, right? So it's I was for the year before we became missionaries or a couple of years before, and it is a real pleasure to see God's word going forward. You know, just going forward. It does the transforming of lives if we'll let it.
So today, this is the section of scripture we're gonna look at today. Actually, we're gonna go one verse further than this, but can I stop and pray for just a second? God almighty, I ask you, Lord, to individually today, individually, may we set aside all else that is on our minds or, Lord, even our opinions, which we carefully hone and develop and we pet, and we nurture. God, I pray that we'd set aside a lot of our confirmation bias and that we'd set aside anything that would inhibit us from seeing who you are and wholly surrendering to that. In Jesus' name, I ask you to direct us by your spirit and to empower us, Lord, to be a part of what it is that you're doing, your rescue mission for this world.
In Jesus' name. Amen. Alright. So last week, Jesus and his brothers do you remember this section last week? We talked about Jesus and his brothers.
We're talking to his brothers. I think we're kinda sassing him a bit and saying, yeah. Head on up to Jerusalem, Jesus. They're like, if if you're going to do this, people are talking about you here but heck, this is Galilee. The big show is in Jerusalem and this is the biggest time of year besides Passover.
Why don't you head on down to the feast? Come on down to the feast and show off. Jesus said, y'all go ahead. Y'all go ahead. I'm not going down right now.
We did see him take off walking through Samaria as it were instead of down like his brothers probably went from Nazareth down Nazareth Ridge down the hill, down to the Jordan Valley, up I mean, down the Jordan all the way to Jericho, and then up the hill towards Jerusalem. It'd be like walking from here to the top of the pass, from Jericho to Jerusalem. Jesus is just gonna camelback it all the way through Samaria and get there. This is where we're starting today. These three things, it's just three sections.
There's a popular debate about who he is, and then there's a climactic appeal from Jesus himself. And then, just like he has forecast for the last six or seven weeks that I've preached, he's had some point that he said, it is necessary that the son of man go to Jerusalem and be rejected by the leaders. It's just gonna happen. That's prophetic from Jesus' mouth, but it had been prophesied for many years before that too. So this is Jesus and the feast of tabernacles.
Now, the popular debate is this. It starts out, his brothers had gone up to the feast and he himself also went up not publicly, but as though in secret, we find from Matthew and Mark and Luke, kind of the route he took. As though in secret, so the Jews who wouldn't be caught dead in Samaria, who were at the feast, they were looking at him at the feast and saying, Where is he? He's big news. Jesus has been ministering now for about two and a half years.
We're six months out from the cross. He has already fed 5,000 people, Jews mostly, in one place, and then 4,000 people, Gentiles mostly, in another place. The Jews, at this feast of the Jews, were looking for him all around the feast and not finding him, saying, where is he? There's a great deal of talk about him in secret among the crowds. People were kinda hush-hush about it.
There were some people saying, Listen, he's a good man. He's a good guy. He healed my cousin. I'm imagining this. But he's a good man.
I don't see anything wrong with what he's saying, what he's doing. I don't see anything wrong with it. He's a good man. In other words, they'll say, no, no, no. He's misleading the people.
He's just giving them candy. He's the healings. That's not his he's misleading the people. He's a good man or he's misleading the people. Does this still happen today where you can look at a figure and two different people can have vastly different opinions of that individual?
Oh, yeah. It's a polarized time then. It's polarized time now. However, no one was speaking out openly about him for fear of the Jews, and by the Jews, I mean the Jewish leadership. Whether it be Sadducees or Pharisees, the Jewish leadership, neither one of them were really big fans of Jesus.
And so nobody was really speaking out openly, but I'm talking about it being a popular debate among the people. When it was now the middle of the feast, the feast is typically seven or eight days long depending on who you listen to. Typically, it's seven and then the next day is still an after party. Okay? In the Old Testament, it's prescribed to be seven days, but it usually went eight.
When it was now the middle of the feast, Jesus went up into the temple area and he began to teach. So he's not there for the feast, and he doesn't mention him in the booths or the tabernacles that where it gets his name. The feast of tabernacles was a celebration of how God provided for them in the wilderness in the wilderness wanderings. Now it's forty years of wilderness wanderings, and the whole generation had to die off before they could enter in to the promised land. But they're looking back on a time when God delivered them out of slavery.
He used Moses in that case to deliver them, and this is what the celebration was about. In the middle of the feast, Jesus went up into the temple area, and he began to teach. Now the Jews were astonished saying, how has this man become learned not having been educated? Does educational stalbery still exist? It does.
And so the Jews' leadership, whether they be Sadducees who felt they had it right because they only went by the written law, Torah, didn't believe in resurrection, didn't believe in some of the stuff from the prophets, they would hold Torah absolutely as it was written. No kinda additional teaching. Pharisees wanted the additional teachings since the time of Torah, and they believed in angels and resurrection. There are a lot of differences in what they believe, but the Jews usually in John is standing for both. The Jews then were astonished.
So there's snobbery on both sides of this. How has this man become learning, not having been educated? If if he wanted education, it's here. He should have come to us. So Jesus answered them and he said, my teaching is not my own, but his who sent me.
I am simply stating the message that I was sent here to state. If anyone is willing to do his will, that's talking about God. Sorry. I grayed out verse 16, but so Jesus answered them and said, my teaching is not my own. I hear what my father says.
My teaching is of him who sent me. Anyone who's willing to do his will, God's will, that that man, he will know about the teaching, whether it is of God or whether I'm speaking from myself. Remember Jesus saying that my sheep know my voice. If we will humble ourselves before God, open ourselves up to the possibility of his transformation in our life, he does not oppose that. God gives grace to the humble.
He opposes the proud. If anyone is willing to do God's will, he will know about the teaching, whether it is of God or whether I'm speaking from myself. Now his brothers had told him, go ahead on up. You're trying to make a name for yourself. Why don't you go to Jerusalem?
Show off there. You're mister big shot. He's not. He wants to carry forward the message of God that God has sent with him. If anyone's willing to do God's will, he will know about my teaching, whether it is of God or whether I'm speaking from myself.
The one who speaks from himself just seeks his own glory. That's not why I'm here. But he who is seeking the glory of the one who sent him, I'm a faithful messenger for my father. He is true, and there's no unrighteousness in him. If you ever hear anybody say, Jesus never claimed sinlessness.
He did. He did it right there. He did it other times too, but he walked it out in humility. The one who speaks from himself seeks his own glory, but he who is seeking the glory of the one who sent him, he is true. There's no unrighteousness in him.
Did Moses not give y'all the law, and yet none of you carries out the law? This is really significant right here because they knew the law, but they don't have the power to walk it out. He literally was walking out the law. He was fulfilling the law. Did Moses not give y'all the law for your own good?
Did he not give you the law and yet none of you carries it out? Why is it that you are seeking to kill me? And the crowd answered, you have a demon. Ain't that something? This is demonic activity is all over the synoptic gospels.
John doesn't bring it up. He hardly ever brings it up. In fact, this is the only time that anybody says anybody has a demon in the book of John, and it's about Jesus. The crowd answered, you have a demon. Who's seeking to kill you?
Not us. We'd never do something like that. You have a demon. Well, he doesn't have a demon. Who's seeking to kill you?
And Jesus answered them, said, I did one deed. This is funny to me too. Maybe I'm reading in the tone. Good grief. I did one deed.
And all of y'all are astonished. It's got you all up in a twist. Oh, I did one deed. Now, obviously, he did more deeds than that. He did lots of good things, but he will go on later on.
The next slide will tell you where it was. I did one deed, and all of y'all got bent out of shape. It's for this reason, Moses has given you circumcision. Not that it's from Moses, but it is from the fathers. It's even on a Sabbath day, you circumcise a man.
Right? Even if at the eighth day, the babies are supposed to be circumcised on the eighth day, and we're not gonna do it on the seventh or the ninth. If it falls on a Sabbath, falls it on a Sabbath. We're gonna do it anyway even though that's work. If a man receives circumcision on a Sabbath so that the law of Moses will not be broken, are y'all angry at me because I made an entire man well on the Sabbath?
He did in John five. Actually, the story is in John five. It's the Pool Of Siloam. It's actually a great story. I don't have time to preach that and this.
It's a great story. If you wanna go back and read John five, I'm sure that there's a Gideon Bible around here somewhere. I know that there's a gospel of John, a little paper track gospel of John in the back back there. John five, if a man receives circumcision on Sabbath so that law of Moses won't be broken, are y'all really angry at me because I made an entire man well on the Sabbath? You know what?
It wasn't just Jesus they were upset with. They got so upset with that man for picking up his palate. They kicked him out of the fellowship. Y'all got all been out of shape. Don't judge by the outward appearance.
Judge with righteous judgment. I made the man whole, and y'all kicked him out of the fellowship. And you think I've got a demon. That's John five that he's referring to. So some of the people some of the people this is still kind of part of the popular debate.
Some of the people of Jerusalem were saying, is this man not the one whom they're seeking to kill? It seems like I remember something about this. Want it? Dead or alive? Western movies, right?
This is the guy. He's the guy. Isn't this the guy that they're looking to kill? And yet look at this. He's speaking publicly, and they're not saying anything to him.
They're saying nothing to him. That's weird. They're speaking to kill him, and here he is teaching right in the middle of the festival. The rulers don't really know that this is the Christ, do they? Conspiracy theorists still exist.
These people thought that the rulers knew something they didn't know, and they were hiding it from them, and it was to benefit themselves. The rulers don't really know that this is the Christ, do they? I mean, I'm seeing what this guy's doing. I'm hearing what he's saying. Sounds pretty good to me.
And they're just letting him talk. I thought they were trying to kill this guy. However, we know where this man is from. In this time, there was a popular notion that the Christ would just basically kind of appear out of nowhere. And among the people who didn't know the scriptures as well as the Pharisees or the Pharisee or Sadducees, Pharisees, They thought that he's just gonna pop out of nowhere.
We know where this man comes from. I mean, his brothers are right there. They're from Nazareth, Galilee. We know where this man comes from, but when the Christ comes, nobody's supposed to know where he's from. Right?
And Jesus cried out in the temple, teaching and saying, you both know me and you know where I'm from. And I have not come of myself, but he who sent me is true, whom you do not know. That's the straight reading of it. You both know me and you know where I'm from. Yep.
I'm the guy that you heard about. You know who I am, and you know where I'm from. That's the straight reading. The other reading, which I think is a little more tempting to go with, is the sarcastic reading where it's like, yeah, you all know me, right? Yeah, you know where I'm from.
You haven't even asked me my story. You're more concerned about yourself. You know me, you know where I'm from. I have not come of myself. I'm not trying to make a name for myself.
The one who sent me is true, whom you do not know. All of your religiosity, right wing, left wing, whatever you are, you've got so much tied up in this. So much tradition, so much opinion, so much pride that you just are missing the point entirely. I have not come of myself. He who sent me is true, whom you do not know.
I do know him because I came from him, and he sent me. I was sent out. And so they were seeking to arrest him. How dare he say we don't know God? How dare he say that?
Who is this guy? What's he thinking? They were seeking to arrest him, pharisees and sadducees as it turns out, and yet no one laid a hand on him because his hour had not yet come. That's a common theme in John, even back to the wedding at Cana. Oh, mama.
My hour's not yet come. His hour had not yet come, so they weren't laying a hand on him. But many of the crowd believed in him. Praise God. John, the gospel of belief.
Many of the crowd believed in him. And they were saying, listen, when the Christ comes, he's not gonna do anything more than what this guy's done. Right? They're tempted to believe in him, and some of them very well were believing in him. When the Christ comes, he's not gonna perform more signs than those which this man has done, will he?
No. And the Pharisees heard this crowd whispering. They're whispering these things about him, and he's winning over the popular vote opinion. And the Pharisees heard this crowd whispering these things about him, and the chief priests chief priests or Sadducees, parts of the Sanhedrin. They tended to be more complicit with the Roman government.
Pharisees so that would typically be seen as kind of left wing. They did believe in Torah. They did not believe in angels. They did not believe in resurrection. They didn't believe in a lot of things, and they were more complicit with the Roman leadership.
That's why they were in power because if you got a puppet government, you want people who will comply. Pharisees were usually seen as being of the people, real students of the word. They do believe in not just Torah, but the prophets also, angels, resurrection, and they knew to be looking for Messiah. They knew the things that they should be looking for. And the Pharisees heard the crowd whispering and being threatened.
They got together with the chief priest, which these folks don't get along. This is hardline right wingers and hardline left wingers that are forming a group, and they sent officers to arrest him. These would have been temple officers, not Roman soldiers, but temple soldiers. And therefore, Jesus said, for a little while longer, I'm gonna be with you, and then I'm going back to him who sent me. Y'all will be looking for me and you will not find me.
It's kind of fun that he says that when the beginning of this passage starts off and they were looking for him. You'll seek me and you'll not find me, and where I am, you cannot come. And the Jews said to one another, where does this man intend to go that we won't find him? We're gonna find him. It's funny that you see in the past few weeks, everywhere Jesus goes, these folks show up looking for him and trying to trick him.
Right? Where does this man intend to go that we'll not find him? He doesn't intend to go to the dispersion among the Greeks, does he? Because we're not going there. We wouldn't do that.
We wouldn't sully ourselves like that. Is he thinking about teaching the Greeks really? Because that's what he's thinking. Considering the universal nature of the appeal in John, that's also some Joannine irony there. He doesn't intend to go out to the dispersion among the Greeks and teach the Greeks, does he?
What is the statement he said, you will seek me and will not find me, and where I am, you cannot come. And here, that sounds exactly I heard that Thomas from the back row there. Yeah. That's exactly what Thomas said. Wait a second, Jesus.
You act like we do know, and we don't know. Tell us. Tell us where you're going. Jesus' climactic appeal during this feast of tabernacles, it says when it happened. Now on the last day, on the great day of the feast.
On the great day of the feast, it culminates with a reading from Isaiah, and this is part of it. Isaiah twelve three says, and therefore, you will joyously draw water from the springs of salvation. So that's the message from the front. You will joyously draw water from the springs of salvation. Now, they're living in a time that's divided and oppressed and aggravating, and it's not their best time.
But Isaiah speaking of a time of deliverance, when deliverance will come. And when they read this out, imagine Jesus standing up and crying out in a loud voice saying, if anybody's thirsty, let him come to me and drink. I've got the living water. Same message he gave to the woman at the well. If anyone's thirsty, let him come to me and drink.
For the one who believes in me, as the scripture has said, from his innermost being will flow rivers of living water. And John gives an explanatory note. He said this in reference to the Holy Spirit. He said this in reference to the Holy Spirit, whom those who believed in him were to receive, for the spirit was not yet given. In Acts in Acts, we'll see the in Acts, we will see the spirit given in Acts two, day of Pentecost.
But the way that the spirit worked at the time was a little different, and John gives us that little note. He said this in reference to the spirit, this living water, whom those who believed in him were to receive for the spirit was not yet given because Jesus was not yet glorified. We're working towards his hour coming. We're not there yet. And then it says, so some of the people therefore, after they had heard these words, said, this truly is the prophet.
If you go back to the feeding of the 5,000 in John, after the feeding of the 5,000 Jews in John, it says, and they said, truly, this is the prophet. Same thing that they had said earlier. I think it's John six. This truly is the prophet. And Jesus, knowing that they were trying to make him king by force, walked away from it, slipped away.
Some of the people, therefore, after they heard these words were saying, this truly is the prophet. If you go back to the prophet in Deuteronomy eighteen fifteen, It's a place where before they go into the promised land, Moses isn't gonna be able to go in. He's reading the law to them again, and then he says, y'all need to be looking out for one who will rise up from among you. God will rise him up from among you, and he will be the prophet sent as a deliverer, and you should listen to him. So some of the people, therefore, after they heard these things said, this is the guy.
This is the one Moses told us about. Others were saying, this is messiah. This is Christ. This is the Christ. But others were saying, surely the Christ isn't gonna come in from Galilee.
Oh my goodness. Prejudice. Does that still exist? It does. It does.
Surely, the Christ is not gonna come from Galilee. I mean, Galilee, really. I I know what it's like to open your mouth and have people's opinion of your IQ drop by about 25 or 30 points. Surely, that Galilean accent, I mean, did you hear how he said live in water? That can't be him.
Come on. Has the scripture not said that the Christ comes from the descendants of David and from Bethlehem, the village where David was? That that does say that. In Micah, it does say that. We know that.
We know to be looking for that, but we don't know Jesus well enough to know that he was born there. So a dissension occurred in the crowd because of him. Oh, does that still exist? It does. It does.
You can see the same evidence and come up with completely different conclusions. And some of them wanted to arrest him, but no one laid hands on him. His hour had not yet come. And now rejection by the leaders. No one laid hands on him, and the officers did I did I play it up?
Did I show you when the Pharisees and the Sadducees, chief priests got together and they sent officers to arrest Jesus? That was a direct order that they were given to go arrest him. So back to the rejection by the leaders section here, it says the officers then came back to the chief priest and pharisee, the ones who had sent him out to arrest him. And they said to them, this group of strange bedfellows, Why didn't you bring him? You were sent out with orders.
Why didn't you bring him back? And the officers said, never has any man spoken in this way. There's not anybody like this guy. I'm amazed by what he was saying. His teaching rings true.
Never has a man spoken in this way. And the Pharisees then replied, ah, you've not been led astray too, have you? Good grief. What do we have to do? Not one of the rulers of the pharisees has believed in him, has he?
Because I can believe that the Sadducees and their temple guards, I can believe that they'd be led astray because they're kind of dummies. But none of us has believed in him, have we? Really? Can y'all hear this? But this crowd that does not know the law is accursed.
Pharisees. Pharisees thought that they knew it all. If they knew the Bible like we know the Bible, then they would agree with us. If they disagree with us, that's because they don't know the Bible like we know the Bible. Nicodemus.
We know Nicodemus. We saw him in John three. He came to him at night. He is a pharisee. And he came in and it says the one who came to him before being one of them, the pharisees, he says to that group of pharisees, maybe chief priests too, our law does not judge the person unless it first hears from him and knows what he's doing.
Right? He has to to testify. We listen to him testify first. We don't decide that they're guilty before we hear from him. So in a way, he's defending Jesus, but he's defending him from a very technical legal standpoint.
He's not taking that for him personally. Although he's had a very intimate conversation with Jesus, John three sixteen was originally stated to Nicodemus. John three eight where he said three seven or eight when he said, the wind of the spirit blows wherever it will. You don't see it coming and you don't know where it's going, but you can either brace yourself against that wind and pride, or you can allow in humility it to blow you where God would have you go. Our law doesn't judge a person unless it first hears him and knows what he is doing, does it?
They answered and said to him, You're not one of those from Galilee as well, are you? Can you hear this? I thought I noted a little accent. Nicodemus. You're not from Galilee as well, are you?
Not on that team, are you? Examine the scriptures and see that no prophet arises out of Galilee. That's not true, by the way. There's a long list of prophets that have arisen out of Galilee. The Northern Kingdom Of Israel, lots of prophets.
Jonah was one. There are lots of others. Examine the scriptures and see that no prophet arises out of Galilee. And everyone went to his home. That's a nice little break.
Thank you, John, for putting it in there. And everyone went to his home. It was a little hubbub. Yeah. That's the way it goes.
But Jesus, it says, went up to the Mount Of Olives. Now the very next thing, in fact, usually seven fifty three and eight one are included in the next story. I like it as a closure. If there's a little closure from what he's teaching, and then there's gonna be an interaction, next week we'll go over it, with Jesus and the woman who's caught in adultery. You remember the story.
Jesus and the woman caught in adultery, and it gives an illustration of some things that then he picks up teaching right after that woman caught in adultery. He'll pick back up. He'll say, basically, the same thing he said here, even more straightforward, and the conflict will even increase more. After we finish John eight in a couple weeks, we'll go back to the synoptics. I wanna go back though to Jesus' appeal, thinking of the fact that Isaiah has prophesied seven hundred years before, and they've been practicing this feast of booths.
And they've been practicing God's deliverance from Egypt, not thinking so much about how hard headed their ancestors were in the wilderness. But celebrating, let's camp out. Let's go hang out. Build us a little booth outside of the city. And then on the big great day of the feast and the culmination when it says, on that day, this deliverance is looking forward.
On that day, you'll taste of this water, the water of salvation. And then Jesus stands up and says, that's me. I'm not grandstanding. It's just the truth. Right?
That's me. God Almighty, I pray that you would have your way, Lord, in us. That you would have your own way in us. I pray, Lord, that if we are resistant because we've already made up our minds about how you ought to be, I pray, Lord, that you'd break our hearts for whatever breaks yours. I pray that we learn the meaning of, I want mercy and not sacrifice.
I pray that we would learn what it's like to taste of that living water. And then, Lord, be filled with your spirit in such a way that it just flows out of us, that our loving example would be so crystal clear to those around us that they'd be asking for us to defend what is this hope? What is this joy? What is this peace? What is this life that you're living?
The life that Jeff spoke about, the peace of God has descended in their hearts. It passes all understanding. The peace that would allow this young couple to move to Zambia. The peace that drives relationships. In Jesus' name, Lord, I pray that you would use this message to transform us this week as we consider it, next week as we consider it day by day.
In Jesus' name, amen. Would you stand and sing? We're going close with Have Thine Own Way, Lord. I think we're to sing all four verses. It's hymn number five ninety one.
Have thine own way, lord, have thine own way, while I am waiting, yielded and still. Have thine own way, Lord. Have thine own way. Christ only, always living in me.
Amen. And I wanna as a benediction, I just wanna reiterate what Jesus has already said in that Feast of Tabernacles where he says, I'm that water. He also said in Matthew, I believe, come unto me all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Come unto me all you who labor and are heavy laden. If you are bearing upon your shoulders a weight that feels like it is too much for you to bear alone, bring that to God through Christ.
Bring it to Jesus and say, I need your help. In all humility, take this, Lord, and he will give you rest. In Jesus' name, I pray that we would experience that in such a way that it would be winsomely shared with all around him. Amen.
