Ten Minute Bible Talks Devotional Bible Study - The Gospel Is for Everyone! | The Gospels | John 4:43-54

Episode Date: June 24, 2026

Can Jesus really change anyone? Have you ever written someone off as beyond God's reach? Could your assumptions be keeping you from sharing the good news? In today's episode, Jensen shares how John 4:43-54 challenges us to believe that no one is too far from God's saving grace. Read the Bible with us! This year, we’re exploring the Gospels—Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John—and it's never too late to join! Download your reading plan now. Your support makes TMBT possible. Ten Minute Bible Talks is a crowd-funded project. Join the TMBTeam to reach more people with the Bible. Give now. Like this content? Make sure to leave us a rating and share it so that others can find it, too. Use #asktmbt to connect with us, ask questions, and suggest topics. We'd love to hear from you! To learn more, visit our website and follow us on Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter @TenMinuteBibleTalks. Don't forget to subscribe to the TMBT Newsletter here. Passage: John 4:43-54

Welcome to 10-minute Bible talks, where we connect the Bible to your life and the time it takes to get to work. I'm Jensen Holt McNair. If I put five people in front of you, and based on what you saw, you had to decide who followed Jesus and who didn't. Do you think you could do it? Or even just who's most likely to follow Jesus? When I was thinking about this question, I thought about what I could look for to help me decipher someone's beliefs. could their clothes, their hairstyles, maybe the way they carried themselves, any affiliations their belongings might point to, could any of that help me decide? Now, what if I gave you a

short background of this person, where they're from, their hobbies, interests, what they do for a living? You think that would make it easier? The thing is, what I'm doing when I consider this question, it's revealing an inner belief that a Christian is a certain type of person. But what determines that type of person isn't necessarily an issue of their inner life, but what I can see on the outside. Now, that's a tendency that God's people have had throughout history. Despite the fact that God's law provided for the outsider, despite the fact that God himself brought foreigners like Ruth and Rahab into his family, there's always been a tendency to believe that a believer is a certain type of person. Specifically, during Jesus' time, the belief was that God had a chosen people

and that those people were of Jewish descent. Their whole framework for the coming Messiah was that he was coming to establish the nation of Israel, to be the king of Israel, to break God's people, the Jews, free from oppression, and make them an independent nation that would last forever. There was often an air of superiority, a belief that the Messiah was for them and not for others. Even after Jesus' death and resurrection, the early church had struggled with disagreements and beliefs surrounding the status of someone as either Jew or Gentile. But an overarching theme of John's gospel is to make the point very clear that God came to earth as a human, Jesus, and that Jesus came to save not just the Jews, but the Gentiles as well. The gospel is for everyone. Now John is,

is writing his gospel years after the first three, at a time when the early church is growing and his point is clear. As the gospel spreads, as the church grows, as we share this good news, it's to be shared with the whole world because Jesus came for all people. And the story in today's passage, it helps make this point. See, our passage is the final miracle in what's called the Cana cycle. His first miracle in Cana turning water into wine, followed by an interlude in Jerusalem with the clearing of the temple and Jesus's interactions with Nicodemus, and then it's time in Samaria when the Samaritan woman comes into the picture. And now, Jesus returns again to Galilee and performs one more miracle in Cana. In John 4, 43 to 45, we get some insight into the

point that John is making. See, as Jesus decides to go to Galilee, John inserts a statement, reminding his readers that even as Jesus returns to the area around where he grew up, Jesus himself had pointed out that a prophet has no honor in his own country. He tells us that the Galileans welcomed him because they'd seen his signs and miracles. But John's statement about Jesus' words, it tells us that though they welcome him, their hearts may not truly believe in him. This is further pointed out when a Roman official from Copernum, a Gentile, an outsider, comes and begs Jesus to save his son who is sick and dying.

And Jesus replies, unless you people see signs and wonders, Jesus told him, you will never believe. Now Jesus is speaking to this man, but the word people, it's plural here. So he's speaking to everyone around, to the Galileans who welcomed him because they saw what he did at the festival. festivals in Jerusalem. He's speaking to the lack of true belief. They're enthralled with these things that he's done, these signs and wonders, but they don't understand that they point to Jesus, to who he truly is, not a mere prophet, but the Messiah. The official, though, is persistent. He says, Sir, come down before my child dies. Go, Jesus said. Your son will live. live. The man took Jesus at his word and departed while he was still on the way his servants

met him with the news that his boy was living. When he inquired as to the time when his son got better, they said to him yesterday, at one in the afternoon the fever left him. Then the father realized that this was the exact time at which Jesus had said to him, your son will live. So he and his whole household believed. This man, he recognizes what Jesus has done, and he sees Jesus clearly as the Messiah. He believes, not only that, but his whole household believes. A Roman official, a Gentile, an outsider, the enemy, is the person among the Galileans to truly believe and his whole household alongside of him. See, the stories leading up to this story of belief are helping to paint the full picture here. Nicodemus, someone you would expect to believe a Jewish religious leader,

waiting for the long-awaited Messiah, he rejects Jesus. But a Samaritan woman and a Roman official, they have faith. Faith that stems from true belief. And it's life-changing. They're all in. Their communities are transformed because of their faith. They're not who you would expect, but they are the ones who see Jesus clearly. And John's message is clear that God, The gospel is for everyone. Who do you discount? Is there someone in your life that you're tempted to write off? A friend or coworker or family member who's part of that group or into those kinds of things.

Someone who you think it might not be worth sharing the good news with. See, I think you and I would readily say that the gospel is for everyone. I think we would come up with extreme stories of murders and criminals and people who are far from God who came to know him. I think we would never deny the fact that the gospel is for everyone. But I think maybe the choices we make, the judgments that live in our hearts, the tendency we have towards certain groups of people, beliefs we hold about who is right and who is wrong, hold us captive, reveal that while we may factually think the gospel is for everyone, we don't actually think that the gospel has the power to transform anyone. To the truth is that

someone who grew up going to church or someone who grew up in an atheist household are both in desperate need of the Holy Spirit to open their eyes to the truth of the gospel. Your belief, it's not up to you. God is the one who stirs and changes hearts, and when he came to earth, when Jesus inaugurated his kingdom, the message was clear. God is seeking after all who were lost. There's no place for exclusivity or superiority in the kingdom of God. 1 Corinthians 1st Corinthians 1 tells us that God chose the lowly things of this world and the despise things and the things that are not to nullify the things that are so that no one may boast before him. It is because of him that you are in Christ Jesus, who has become for us wisdom from God. That is our righteousness, holiness, and redemption.

Therefore, as it is written, let the one who boasts boast in the Lord. See, when we begin to think of ourselves too highly, when we begin to think of ourselves too highly, when we believe we may have done something to earn our place in the kingdom of God. We'll begin to decide who belongs and who doesn't by our own standards. We'll put up walls, box people out, maybe not with signs on doors, but with attitudes and assumptions. When we see ourselves rightly, as the lowly, as those without a way to enter the kingdom apart from the grace of God, we will realize that absolutely nothing makes us different from anyone in that lineup. There's no social status, no upbringing, socioeconomic status, ethnicity, political affiliation, sexual orientation,

or gender that disqualifies someone from hearing the good news and believing. We are all in desperate need of grace and mercy. We cannot see Jesus for who he is until we see ourselves rightly, until we understand that the gospel is for everyone. Everyone needs the righteousness, holiness, and redemption that Jesus offers, and he came to freely give it to all who have faith and believe. So be like the Roman official, be like the Samaritan woman. Come to Jesus in desperate need of a saving power and allow the transformational grace that he offers you to pour out into every area of your life. There is no one that you will ever meet that is too far outside of the of God because you weren't too far either. God, would you give us your eyes to see ourselves clearly

so that we can approach you with true understanding of who you are, with real surrender and full faith in your saving power? God redeem us, help us to live transformational lives, may we not be blinded by our own judgments and assumptions, but recognize the truth that the gospel is for everyone and that it has the power to change every life it touches. May we be good stewards of the gift, spreading the boundaries of your good news as your representatives in this world. Come Lord Jesus. Amen.