Give Me a Sign // 8.09.26

John begins with the biggest sign God has ever given. “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.” God refused to be unknowable. God refused to stay hidden. In the right time and in the right moment, God showed up in Jesus and made his dwelling among people.

The desire for a sign makes sense. God’s people often want to know two things: that God is actually the one talking, and that the instructions are really, super-duper clear. Scripture is honest, though, that clarity does not always create obedience. The story of Adam and Eve shows God speaking out loud, eyeball to eyeball, and still the fruit gets eaten. The story of Pharaoh shows signs piling up, staff to snake, frogs, gnats, water turned to blood, and still the heart stays hard.

Scripture also shows that signs can be exactly what somebody needs. The burning bush gets Moses’ attention. Gideon gets wet fleece, dry fleece, and even strange instructions about soldiers drinking water. Mary receives Gabriel, Elizabeth’s unborn child leaping, and the wonder of carrying Jesus. God gives signs because God is not hiding, but the signs only make sense when the heart knows the one who gives them.

John points straight at Jesus as the clearest sign. John the Baptist sees him and says, “That’s the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world.” Jesus is not merely another clue in the sky. Jesus is the wide open door to the Father. “I am the way, and I am the truth, and I am the life,” becomes the answer to every longing to talk to the real, living God.

The story of Azrin makes that personal. A woman in Iran cries out for God to speak, dreams of Hazrat Isa, and discovers in John 14 that Jesus is exactly who she met. That encounter does not simply give her a memo. Jesus changes the desire inside her from taking life to bringing life.

Jesus then promises something almost too big to rush past: “You are in me, and I am in you.” The curtain has been torn. Full access to God comes through knowing Jesus. Hearing God is not mainly a skill to master, but “a master to meet.” The starting place is simple and not simplistic: make time with Jesus, read his story, talk to people who know him, and bring questions and doubts to him instead of using them as reasons to stay away.

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Key Takeaways

• 1. Jesus is God made knowable God does not stay vague, distant, or locked behind religious guessing games. John names Jesus as the living Word, the one who sounds like God because he is God with skin on. The search for signs has to begin with the One who is himself the clearest sign. [37:31]
• 2. Clarity alone cannot soften hearts The stories of Eden and Pharaoh tell the truth about human resistance. A person can hear God clearly, see power unmistakably, and still choose the fruit or harden the heart. The deeper need is not just better instructions, but a heart that actually wants God. [33:03]
• 3. Signs serve relationship, not control God gives burning bushes, fleeces, angels, dreams, and Scripture, but those signs are never meant to replace knowing him. A sign can point the way, but Jesus is the way. The heart that only wants direction may miss the invitation to communion. [38:29]
• 4. Jesus opens full access to God John 14 moves beyond Jesus being in the Father and the Father being in him. Jesus tells his followers, “You are in me, and I am in you,” and that changes everything. The barrier is broken, the curtain is torn, and access to God becomes personal through Christ. [49:20]
• 5. Doubts can become doorways Questions and uncertainties do not have to become reasons to avoid God. Jesus can be trusted with confusion, fear, anger, and longing because he has already come near. The very places that feel least settled may become the places where the living God is invited in. [54:55]

Youtube Chapters

• [00:00] - Welcome
• [28:31] - Wanting A Clear Sign
• [30:05] - Why Clarity Is Not Enough
• [31:34] - Adam, Eve, Pharaoh, And Resistance
• [33:03] - When Signs Really Help
• [35:10] - Mary And God’s Many Signs
• [35:57] - God Is Not Hiding
• [37:05] - John Points To The Word
• [38:56] - Azrin’s Encounter With Jesus
• [44:20] - John 14 Confirms The Dream
• [46:18] - Jesus Is The Open Door
• [48:29] - “You Are In Me”
• [52:39] - Making Time To Know Jesus
• [54:55] - Bringing Doubts To God
• [56:18] - A Master To Meet

Bible Reading

1. John 1:1,14

“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the one and only Son, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.” [28:31] [37:25]

1. John 14:6

“Jesus answered, ‘I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.’” [44:56]

1. John 14:19-21

“Before long, the world will not see me anymore, but you will see me. Because I live, you also will live. On that day you will realize that I am in my Father, and you are in me, and I am in you. Whoever has my commands and keeps them is the one who loves me. The one who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I too will love them and show myself to them.’” [48:23] [48:47] [49:10] [49:53]

1. Genesis 3:1-6

“Now the serpent was more crafty than any of the wild animals the LORD God had made. He said to the woman, ‘Did God really say, ‘You must not eat from any tree in the garden’?’ The woman said to the serpent, ‘We may eat fruit from the trees in the garden, but God did say, ‘You must not eat fruit from the tree that is in the middle of the garden, and you must not touch it, or you will die.’’ ‘You will not certainly die,’ the serpent said to the woman. ‘For God knows that when you eat from it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.’ When the woman saw that the fruit of the tree was good for food and pleasing to the eye, and also desirable for gaining wisdom, she took some and ate it. She also gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate it.” [31:10] [31:34]

1. Exodus 7:8-13

“The LORD said to Moses and Aaron, ‘When Pharaoh says to you, ‘Perform a miracle,’ then say to Aaron, ‘Take your staff and throw it down before Pharaoh,’ and it will become a snake.’ So Moses and Aaron went to Pharaoh and did just as the LORD commanded. Aaron threw his staff down in front of Pharaoh and his officials, and it became a snake. Pharaoh then summoned wise men and sorcerers, and the Egyptian magicians also did the same things by their secret arts: Each one threw down his staff and it became a snake. But Aaron’s staff swallowed up their staffs. Yet Pharaoh’s heart became hard and he would not listen to them, just as the LORD had said.” [32:11] [32:34]

Observation questions

1. In Genesis 3, what made God’s command to Adam and Eve clear, and what did they do with that clarity? [31:34]
2. In Exodus 7, what sign did Pharaoh receive, and how did he respond to it? [32:11]
3. In John 1, what does John say about the Word, and what does it mean that the Word “made his dwelling among us”? [37:25]
4. In John 14:19-21, what repeated “in” language does Jesus use, and what promise does he give to those who keep his commands? [49:10]

Interpretation questions

1. If Adam and Eve had direct words from God and Pharaoh saw dramatic signs, what does that suggest about the real problem in the human heart? [33:03]
2. John does not begin with advice, rules, or a list of signs, but with Jesus as the eternal Word. Why might that be the right starting place for anyone who wants to hear from God? [38:29]
3. Jesus says, “I am the way and the truth and the life.” How does that shape the difference between wanting guidance from God and actually wanting God himself? [46:41]
4. Jesus says, “You are in me, and I am in you.” What does that reveal about how personal access to God has become through Christ? [49:20]

Application questions

1. Many people want God to make the next step obvious. Where in life is there a strong desire for a clear sign right now, and what might it look like to begin with knowing Jesus instead of only wanting instructions? [52:39]
2. Clarity alone cannot soften a hard heart. Is there an area where God’s will is already fairly clear, but obedience still feels difficult? What seems to be getting in the way? [30:05]
3. Jesus is God made knowable. What would it look like this week to make real time to sit with him—whether through reading John’s Gospel, quiet prayer, or simple honesty before him? [53:08]
4. Jesus says he will show himself to those who love him and keep his commands. How might loving God and loving difficult people become one of the places where his presence is more deeply known? [49:32]
5. Questions and doubts do not have to push a person away from God. What is one question, fear, or unresolved struggle that could be brought directly to Jesus instead of kept at a distance? [54:55]
6. Sometimes the most helpful next step is talking with someone who knows Jesus well. Who might be a wise person to ask honest questions, and what would be worth asking them? [54:20]
7. Hearing God is not mainly a skill to master, but a Master to meet. How would that change the way daily prayer, Bible reading, and waiting on God are approached? [56:18]