PART 4 HOW TO BECOME A CARING PARENT

TEXT- JOHN 4:46-54

INTRODUCTION


Today is our theme day and we are emphasizing our theme for this year which is, “The Church That Cares.”

To help us to focus on this topic throughout this year we are studying from the first twelve chapters of the Gospel of John and looking at how Jesus took the time during His ministry to care for those around Him.

Here at our church we have had many different themes throughout the years.  But this one is particularly exciting to me because I believe it gets down to the bedrock of our Christianity.

What is it that distinguishes a Christian, a child of God, from an unbeliever?  What is it that people need to see in us as Christians that is different from the rest of the world?

I believe it needs to be the caring attitude that we have toward others.

No one is going to care what you have to say until they see that you care.

John 13:34-35  "A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. 35By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another."

Our theme this year helps us to make Christianity a daily practice.  It helps us to make Christianity a relationship rather than a religion.

To help us learn how to care more about others we are looking at the life of Jesus who cares about others better than any other person.  He is our primary example in all things.

Here in the Gospel of John we find Jesus performing various kinds of miracles on different kinds of people.  This was not just to demonstrate His power over nature, time and distance as the Son of God; but to also show us how much He cared about people.

When we study these miracles it is important to noticed what Jesus did, but just as important is to notice what the people themselves did in response to the miracles.

Jesus did the healing and saving.  He healing the sick, caused the lame to walk and even raised the dead.  And all of these things show us that He is God and that He has extra-ordinary power.

But there were also other people involved in these miracles.  They didn’t heal the sick, cause the lame to walk or raise the dead, but they might have brought someone to Jesus to be healed so they could walk or be raised from the dead.  And that shows how they also cared.  If it were not for them, the miracles that we are studying about may never have happened.

So, as we examine these miracles I want us to also spend some time looking at what these people did to help the miracle happen.

When you get involved in people’s lives miracles are going to happen!  That’s when people’s lives are going to be changed as well as your own life.  That’s when life takes on a new meaning, a new purpose and a new direction.

This morning our text is found in John 4:46-54.  It is the second miracle that is mentioned in the Gospel of John.

In the first miracle Jesus cared by showing His power over time.  He turned the water into wine.

In this second miracle He is going to exhibit how much He cares by showing His power over distance.

The first miracle Jesus performed in the Gospel of John was done at the request of His mother.

The miracle described in our text today is done at the request of a father.

Through all of this Jesus shows us how much He cares.

But in these miracles there were other people involved who also showed how much they cared.  Here in our text we find the account of a father whose son was sick.  And through this story we will see how much he cared for hi