DONNIE DAILY GEMS FOR THURSDAY NOVEMBER 2:
WORD OF WISDOM
Life is simpler when you plow around the stump.
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DAILY DEVOTION
The Key to Effective Ministry
"But we were gentle among you, even as a nurse cherisheth her children: So
being affectionately desirous of you, we were willing to have imparted unto
you, not the gospel of God only, but also our own souls, because ye were
dear unto us. For ye remember, brethren, our labour and travail: for
labouring night and day, because we would not be chargeable unto any of you,
we preached unto you the gospel of God."
1 Thessalonians 2:7-9
At a time without any of the modern communication or travel tools that we
take for granted, the Apostle Paul journeyed thousands of miles, enduring
great physical suffering to preach the gospel to multitudes of people. He
planted churches across the Roman Empire, preaching with power and teaching
the new converts. Young believers that he trained, like Timothy and Titus,
carried on the work of the gospel ministry as they led churches in places
like Crete and Ephesus, continuing what Paul had begun. There is no question
that Paul's ministry was effective. But why did he accomplish so much?
We tend to look at Paul as a giant of the faith, but while he was a great
pattern and model of ministry, Paul was not without his faults and his
detractors. It was not so much his talent or gifts as a speaker that
produced the results as it was the power of the Spirit poured out through
Paul's heart for those to whom he ministered. In fact, Paul's speaking was
sometimes critiqued as ineffective. "For his letters, say they, are weighty
and powerful; but his bodily presence is weak, and his speech contemptible"
(2 Corinthians 10:10).
But no one could deny the compassion and fervor with which Paul labored to
reach the lost and train the saints. He cared about people. As a result, he
was patient, gentle, dedicated, and loving in his approach. Paul shook the
world not by his gifts, but by his compassion.
Effective ministry to others is not a matter of talent, skill, and gifts,
but of obedience and heart.
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DAILY BIBLE READING
John 4-6New King James Version (NKJV)
A Samaritan Woman Meets Her Messiah
4 Therefore, when the Lord knew that the Pharisees had heard that Jesus made
and baptized more disciples than John 2 (though Jesus Himself did not
baptize, but His disciples), 3 He left Judea and departed again to Galilee.
4 But He needed to go through Samaria.
5 So He came to a city of Samaria which is called Sychar, near the plot of
ground that Jacob gave to his son Joseph. 6 Now Jacob's well was there.
Jesus therefore, being wearied from His journey, sat thus by the well. It
was about the sixth hour.
7 A woman of Samaria came to draw water. Jesus said to her, "Give Me a
drink." 8 For His disciples had gone away into the city to buy food.
9 Then the woman of Samaria said to Him, "How is it that You, being a Jew,
ask a drink from me, a Samaritan woman?" For Jews have no dealings with
Samaritans.
10 Jesus answered and said to her, "If you knew the gift of God, and who it
is who says to you, 'Give Me a drink,' you would have asked Him, and He
would have given you living water."
11 The woman said to Him, "Sir, You have nothing to draw with, and the well
is deep. Where then do You get that living water? 12 Are You greater than
our father Jacob, who gave us the well, and drank from it himself, as well
as his sons and his livestock?"
13 Jesus answered and said to her, "Whoever drinks of this water will thirst
again, 14 but whoever drinks of the water that I shall give him will never
thirst. But the water that I shall give him will become in him a fountain of
water springing up into everlasting life."
15 The woman said to Him, "Sir, give me this water, that I may not thirst,
nor come here to draw."
16 Jesus said to her, "Go, call your husband, and come here."
17 The woman answered and said, "I have no husband."
Jesus said to her, "You have well said, 'I have no husband,' 18 for you
have had five husbands, and the one whom you now have is not your husband;
in that you spoke truly."
19 The woman said to Him, "Sir, I perceive that You are a prophet. 20 Our
fathers worshiped on this mountain, and you Jews say that in Jerusalem is
the place where one ought to worship."
21 Jesus said to her, "Woman, believe Me, the hour is coming when you will
neither on this mountain, nor in Jerusalem, worship the Father. 22 You
worship what you do not know; we know what we worship, for salvation is of
the Jews. 23 But the hour is coming, and now is, when the true worshipers
will worship the Father in spirit and truth; for the Father is seeking such
to worship Him. 24 God is Spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in
spirit and truth."
25 The woman said to Him, "I know that Messiah is coming" (who is called
Christ). "When He comes, He will tell us all things."
26 Jesus said to her, "I who speak to you am He."
The Whitened Harvest
27 And at this point His disciples came, and they marveled that He talked
with a woman; yet no one said, "What do You seek?" or, "Why are You talking
with her?"
28 The woman then left her waterpot, went her way into the city, and said to
the men, 29 "Come, see a Man who told me all things that I ever did. Could
this be the Christ?" 30 Then they went out of the city and came to Him.
31 In the meantime His disciples urged Him, saying, "Rabbi, eat."
32 But He said to them, "I have food to eat of which you do not know."
33 Therefore the disciples said to one another, "Has anyone brought Him
anything to eat?"
34 Jesus said to them, "My food is to do the will of Him who sent Me, and to
finish His work. 35 Do you not say, 'There are still four months and then
comes the harvest'? Behold, I say to you, lift up your eyes and look at the
fields, for they are already white for harvest! 36 And he who reaps
receives wages, and gathers fruit for eternal life, that both he who sows
and he who reaps may rejoice together. 37 For in this the saying is true:
'One sows and another reaps.' 38 I sent you to reap that for which you have
not labored; others have labored, and you have entered into their labors."
The Savior of the World
39 And many of the Samaritans of that city believed in Him because of the
word of the woman who testified, "He told me all that I ever did." 40 So
when the Samaritans had come to Him, they urged Him to stay with them; and
He stayed there two days. 41 And many more believed because of His own
word.
42 Then they said to the woman, "Now we believe, not because of what you
said, for we ourselves have heard Him and we know that this is indeed the
Christ,[a] the Savior of the world."
Welcome at Galilee
43 Now after the two days He departed from there and went to Galilee. 44
For Jesus Himself testified that a prophet has no honor in his own country.
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 also had gone to the
feast.
A Nobleman's Son Healed
46 So Jesus came again to Cana of Galilee where He had made the water wine.
And there was a certain nobleman whose son was sick at Capernaum. 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. 48 Then Jesus said to him, "Unless you people see signs and wonders,
you will by no means believe."
49 The nobleman said to Him, "Sir, come down before my child dies!"
50 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. 51 And as he was now
going down, his servants met him and told him, saying, "Your son lives!"
52 Then he inquired of them the hour when he got better. And they said to
him, "Yesterday at the seventh hour the fever left him." 53 So the father
knew that it was at the same hour in which Jesus said to him, "Your son
lives." And he himself believed, and his whole household.
54 This again is the second sign Jesus did when He had come out of Judea
into Galilee.
A Man Healed at the Pool of Bethesda
5 After this there was a feast of the Jews, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem.
2 Now there is in Jerusalem by the Sheep Gate a pool, which is called in
Hebrew, Bethesda,[b] having five porches. 3 In these lay a great multitude
of sick people, blind, lame, paralyzed, waiting for the moving of the water.
4 For an angel went down at a certain time into the pool and stirred up the
water; then whoever stepped in first, after the stirring of the water, was
made well of whatever disease he had.[c] 5 Now a certain man was there who
had an infirmity thirty-eight years. 6 When Jesus saw him lying there, and
knew that he already had been in that condition a long time, He said to him,
"Do you want to be made well?"
7 The sick man answered Him, "Sir, I have no man to put me into the pool
when the water is stirred up; but while I am coming, another steps down
before me."
8 Jesus said to him, "Rise, take up your bed and walk." 9 And immediately
the man was made well, took up his bed, and walked.
And that day was the Sabbath. 10 The Jews therefore said to him who was
cured, "It is the Sabbath; it is not lawful for you to carry your bed."
11 He answered them, "He who made me well said to me, 'Take up your bed and
walk.'"
12 Then they asked him, "Who is the Man who said to you, 'Take up your bed
and walk'?" 13 But the one who was healed did not know who it was, for
Jesus had withdrawn, a multitude being in that place. 14 Afterward Jesus
found him in the temple, and said to him, "See, you have been made well. Sin
no more, lest a worse thing come upon you."
15 The man departed and told the Jews that it was Jesus who had made him
well.
Honor the Father and the Son
16 For this reason the Jews persecuted Jesus, and sought to kill Him,[d]
because He had done these things on the Sabbath. 17 But Jesus answered
them, "My Father has been working until now, and I have been working."
18 Therefore the Jews sought all the more to kill Him, because He not only
broke the Sabbath, but also said that God was His Father, making Himself
equal with God. 19 Then Jesus answered and said to them, "Most assuredly, I
say to you, the Son can do nothing of Himself, but what He sees the Father
do; for whatever He does, the Son also does in like manner. 20 For the
Father loves the Son, and shows Him all things that He Himself does; and He
will show Him greater works than these, that you may marvel. 21 For as the
Father raises the dead and gives life to them, even so the Son gives life to
whom He will. 22 For the Father judges no one, but has committed all
judgment to the Son, 23 that all should honor the Son just as they honor
the Father. He who does not honor the Son does not honor the Father who sent
Him.
Life and Judgment Are Through the Son
24 "Most assuredly, I say to you, he who hears My word and believes in Him
who sent Me has everlasting life, and shall not come into judgment, but has
passed from death into life. 25 Most assuredly, I say to you, the hour is
coming, and now is, when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God; and
those who hear will live. 26 For as the Father has life in Himself, so He
has granted the Son to have life in Himself, 27 and has given Him authority
to execute judgment also, because He is the Son of Man. 28 Do not marvel at
this; for the hour is coming in which all who are in the graves will hear
His voice 29 and come forth-those who have done good, to the resurrection
of life, and those who have done evil, to the resurrection of condemnation.
30 I can of Myself do nothing. As I hear, I judge; and My judgment is
righteous, because I do not seek My own will but the will of the Father who
sent Me.
The Fourfold Witness
31 "If I bear witness of Myself, My witness is not true. 32 There is
another who bears witness of Me, and I know that the witness which He
witnesses of Me is true. 33 You have sent to John, and he has borne witness
to the truth. 34 Yet I do not receive testimony from man, but I say these
things that you may be saved. 35 He was the burning and shining lamp, and
you were willing for a time to rejoice in his light. 36 But I have a
greater witness than John's; for the works which the Father has given Me to
finish-the very works that I do-bear witness of Me, that the Father has sent
Me. 37 And the Father Himself, who sent Me, has testified of Me. You have
neither heard His voice at any time, nor seen His form. 38 But you do not
have His word abiding in you, because whom He sent, Him you do not believe.
39 You search the Scriptures, for in them you think you have eternal life;
and these are they which testify of Me. 40 But you are not willing to come
to Me that you may have life.
41 "I do not receive honor from men. 42 But I know you, that you do not
have the love of God in you. 43 I have come in My Father's name, and you do
not receive Me; if another comes in his own name, him you will receive. 44
How can you believe, who receive honor from one another, and do not seek the
honor that comes from the only God? 45 Do not think that I shall accuse you
to the Father; there is one who accuses you-Moses, in whom you trust. 46
For if you believed Moses, you would believe Me; for he wrote about Me. 47
But if you do not believe his writings, how will you believe My words?"
Feeding the Five Thousand
6 After these things Jesus went over the Sea of Galilee, which is the Sea of
Tiberias. 2 Then a great multitude followed Him, because they saw His signs
which He performed on those who were diseased. 3 And Jesus went up on the
mountain, and there He sat with His disciples.
4 Now the Passover, a feast of the Jews, was near. 5 Then Jesus lifted up
His eyes, and seeing a great multitude coming toward Him, He said to Philip,
"Where shall we buy bread, that these may eat?" 6 But 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 every one of them may have a little."
8 One of His disciples, Andrew, Simon Peter's brother, said to Him, 9
"There is a lad here who has five barley loaves and two small fish, but what
are they among so many?"
10 Then Jesus said, "Make the people sit down." Now there was much grass in
the place. So the men sat down, in number about five thousand. 11 And Jesus
took the loaves, and when He had given thanks He distributed them to the
disciples, and the disciples[e] to those sitting down; and likewise of the
fish, as much as they wanted. 12 So when they were filled, He said to His
disciples, "Gather up the fragments that remain, so that nothing is lost."
13 Therefore they gathered them up, and filled twelve baskets with the
fragments of the five barley loaves which were left over by those who had
eaten. 14 Then those men, when they had seen the sign that Jesus did, said,
"This is truly the Prophet who is to come into the world."
Jesus Walks on the Sea
15 Therefore when Jesus perceived that they were about to come and take Him
by force to make Him king, He departed again to the mountain by Himself
alone.
16 Now when evening came, His disciples went down to the sea, 17 got into
the boat, and went over the sea toward Capernaum. And it was already dark,
and Jesus had not come to them. 18 Then the sea arose because a great wind
was blowing. 19 So when they had rowed about three or four miles,[f] they
saw Jesus walking on the sea and drawing near the boat; and they were
afraid. 20 But He said to them, "It is I; do not be afraid." 21 Then they
willingly received Him into the boat, and immediately the boat was at the
land where they were going.
The Bread from Heaven
22 On the following day, when the people who were standing on the other side
of the sea saw that there was no other boat there, except that one which His
disciples had entered,[g] and that Jesus had not entered the boat with His
disciples, but His disciples had gone away alone- 23 however, other boats
came from Tiberias, near the place where they ate bread after the Lord had
given thanks- 24 when the people therefore saw that Jesus was not there,
nor His disciples, they also got into boats and came to Capernaum, seeking
Jesus. 25 And when they found Him on the other side of the sea, they said
to Him, "Rabbi, when did You come here?"
26 Jesus answered them and said, "Most assuredly, I say to you, you seek Me,
not because you saw the signs, but because you ate of the loaves and were
filled. 27 Do not labor for the food which perishes, but for the food which
endures to everlasting life, which the Son of Man will give you, because God
the Father has set His seal on Him."
28 Then they said to Him, "What shall we do, that we may work the works of
God?"
29 Jesus answered and said to them, "This is the work of God, that you
believe in Him whom He sent."
30 Therefore they said to Him, "What sign will You perform then, that we may
see it and believe You? What work will You do? 31 Our fathers ate the manna
in the desert; as it is written, 'He gave them bread from heaven to
eat.'"[h]
32 Then Jesus said to them, "Most assuredly, I say to you, Moses did not
give you the bread from heaven, but My Father gives you the true bread from
heaven. 33 For the bread of God is He who comes down from heaven and gives
life to the world."
34 Then they said to Him, "Lord, give us this bread always."
35 And Jesus said to them, "I am the bread of life. He who comes to Me shall
never hunger, and he who believes in Me shall never thirst. 36 But I said
to you that you have seen Me and yet do not believe. 37 All that the Father
gives Me will come to Me, and the one who comes to Me I will by no means
cast 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 the Father who sent Me,
that of all He has given Me I should lose nothing, but should raise it up at
the last day. 40 And this is the will of Him who sent Me, that everyone who
sees the Son and believes in Him may have everlasting life; and I will raise
him up at the last day."
Rejected by His Own
41 The Jews then complained about Him, because He said, "I am the bread
which came down from heaven." 42 And they said, "Is not this Jesus, the son
of Joseph, whose father and mother we know? How is it then that He says, 'I
have come down from heaven'?"
43 Jesus therefore answered and said to them, "Do not murmur among
yourselves. 44 No one can come to Me unless the Father who sent Me draws
him; and I will raise him up at the last day. 45 It is written in the
prophets, 'And they shall all be taught by God.'[i] Therefore everyone who
has heard and learned[j] from the Father comes to Me. 46 Not that anyone
has seen the Father, except He who is from God; He has seen the Father. 47
Most assuredly, I say to you, he who believes in Me[k] has everlasting life.
48 I am the bread of life. 49 Your fathers ate the manna in the wilderness,
and are dead. 50 This is the bread which comes down from heaven, that one
may eat of it and not die. 51 I am the living bread which came down from
heaven. If anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever; and the bread
that I shall give is My flesh, which I shall give for the life of the
world."
52 The Jews therefore quarreled among themselves, saying, "How can this Man
give us His flesh to eat?"
53 Then Jesus said to them, "Most assuredly, I say to you, unless you eat
the flesh of the Son of Man and drink His blood, you have no life in you.
54 Whoever eats My flesh and drinks My blood has eternal life, and I will
raise him up at the last day. 55 For My flesh is food indeed,[l] and My
blood is drink indeed. 56 He who eats My flesh and drinks My blood abides
in Me, and I in him. 57 As the living Father sent Me, and I live because of
the Father, so he who feeds on Me will live because of Me. 58 This is the
bread which came down from heaven-not as your fathers ate the manna, and are
dead. He who eats this bread will live forever."
59 These things He said in the synagogue as He taught in Capernaum.
Many Disciples Turn Away
60 Therefore many of His disciples, when they heard this, said, "This is a
hard saying; who can understand it?"
61 When Jesus knew in Himself that His disciples complained about this, He
said to them, "Does this offend you? 62 What then if you should see the Son
of Man ascend where He was before? 63 It is the Spirit who gives life; the
flesh profits nothing. The words that I speak to you are spirit, and they
are life. 64 But there are some of you who do not believe." For Jesus knew
from the beginning who they were who did not believe, and who would betray
Him. 65 And He said, "Therefore I have said to you that no one can come to
Me unless it has been granted to him by My Father."
66 From that time many of His disciples went back and walked with Him no
more. 67 Then Jesus said to the twelve, "Do you also want to go away?"
68 But Simon Peter answered Him, "Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the
words of eternal life. 69 Also we have come to believe and know that You
are the Christ, the Son of the living God."[m]
70 Jesus answered them, "Did I not choose you, the twelve, and one of you is
a devil?" 71 He spoke of Judas Iscariot, the son of Simon, for it was he
who would betray Him, being one of the twelve.
Footnotes:
a.John 4:42 NU-Text omits the Christ.
b.John 5:2 NU-Text reads Bethzatha.
c.John 5:4 NU-Text omits waiting for the moving of the water at the end of
verse 3, and all of verse 4.
d.John 5:16 NU-Text omits and sought to kill Him.
e.John 6:11 NU-Text omits to the disciples, and the disciples.
f.John 6:19 Literally twenty-five or thirty stadia
g.John 6:22 NU-Text omits that and which His disciples had entered.
h.John 6:31 Exodus 16:4; Nehemiah 9:15; Psalm 78:24
i.John 6:45 Isaiah 54:13
j.John 6:45 M-Text reads hears and has learned.
k.John 6:47 NU-Text omits in Me.
l.John 6:55 NU-Text reads true food and true drink.
m.John 6:69 NU-Text reads You are the Holy One of God.
New King James Version (NKJV)
Scripture taken from the New King James VersionR. Copyright C 1982 by Thomas
Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
