One Voice, August 23, 2026
One Voice with Dr. Pastor Larry Montgomery
12 Providence Of God
When God Directs the Journey: Salvation, Healing, and Revival
Summary
Providence in Spiritual Salvation
The preacher organizes the sermon around three expressions of divine providence: spiritual, physical, and national. He begins with John 4 and Jesus’ statement that He “must needs go through Samaria,” presenting the journey as purposeful rather than accidental. The woman at the well is described as someone with a damaged reputation who nevertheless had a divinely appointed encounter with Jesus. The preacher argues that Jesus knew about the meeting even though the woman and the disciples did not. Her conversion and subsequent testimony to the people of the town become the sermon’s primary example of providence operating in spiritual salvation. The larger point is that, in the preacher’s view, God arranges circumstances and uses ordinary means to accomplish a predetermined spiritual purpose.
The Samaritan Woman and a Planned Encounter
The account of the Samaritan woman is developed as evidence that timing, location, conversation, and even the need for a water bucket fit into God’s plan. The preacher emphasizes that Jesus deliberately went through Samaria and waited at the well for this particular woman. He describes her isolation from other women, her response to the offer of living water, and Jesus’ knowledge of her personal life. According to the sermon, she moves from recognizing Jesus as a prophet to recognizing Him as the Son of God. She then goes into town and tells others about the encounter, after which they come to hear Jesus for themselves. The preacher presents the entire sequence as a demonstration that someone rejected by the community can still be the object of God’s providential saving purpose.
Providence in Naaman’s Physical Need
The sermon then turns to 2 Kings 5 and the story of Naaman as an example of providence concerning the physical body. Naaman is described as a powerful Syrian military leader whose leprosy overshadows his rank and achievements. A young Israelite captive becomes a servant in Naaman’s household and tells his family about a prophet who can help him. The preacher interprets the girl’s presence in that particular household as another providential arrangement rather than a meaningless consequence of war. Naaman initially resists the instruction to dip seven times in the Jordan River, but his servants persuade him to obey. His healing after the seventh immersion is presented as evidence that God can use unlikely people, difficult circumstances, and simple acts of obedience to accomplish His purpose.
Josiah, Scripture, and National Revival
For the national application, the preacher moves to 2 Chronicles 34 and King Josiah’s efforts to repair the temple and restore worship. The discovery of the Word of God during that work becomes the foundation of his argument about revival. He says that Scripture can effectively be “hid” even within churches when it is present but not preached, believed, or obeyed. Josiah’s response to hearing the Word is described as leading to the removal of idols, the restoration of worship, and revival among God’s people. The preacher then applies this pattern to America, arguing that national restoration depends upon a renewed return to God and to the preaching of Scripture. His political comments and criticism of contemporary government are presented as part of his own religious interpretation of the nation’s condition.
Belief Demonstrated Through Obedience
A major concluding theme is the distinction between merely saying one believes the Bible and actually obeying it. The preacher says his own opinions are unimportant compared with what he believes God has said in Scripture. He illustrates obedience with a family discussion about a school dress code and a rule concerning wearing a hat. The point of the illustration is that a person may disagree with a rule and still be responsible to obey it. He applies that reasoning to Scripture, acknowledging that believers may encounter teachings they do not personally like while insisting that obedience remains their duty. At the same time, he acknowledges human failure and emphasizes mercy and grace rather than claiming that believers obey perfectly.
Following God’s Direction
The sermon closes by returning to the overall theme of providence and personal direction. The preacher says people do not know all the ways God is arranging circumstances to bring them to where they are or to take them where they are going. He contrasts God’s plan with human plans and insists that God’s purpose will ultimately be carried out as God intends. A final illustration recalls children riding in a car and repeatedly asking whether they have arrived yet. The parent knows the route and destination even when the children do not, which the preacher uses as an analogy for trusting God’s direction. His closing message is that believers may not agree with or understand the route God takes, but they will ultimately be glad they followed His directions.
One Voice
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Speaker Identification
Speaker 1 - Preacher, apparently referred to as “Brother Larry” in the sermon. The transcript contains a self-reference to “old Brother Larry,” but no surname is stated clearly enough to identify him further.
Speaker 1 - Preacher: Mercy unto you, and peace and love be multiplied. In John chapter 4, I want to kick this thing off tonight. We’re still dealing with the providence of God. Tonight I want to deal with three thoughts, if I may, in these few moments. I want to deal with the providence of God in a spiritual way, the providence of God in a physical or natural way, and then the providence of God as far as the national way is concerned.
Speaker 1 - Preacher: If we don’t get back to God in America, I don’t know; we may be gone too far already. Really. We’re not dealing with Democrats anymore. We’re dealing with communists. If you look at me strange, I know that you’re kind of leaning that way. But the party that calls itself the Democrats is now communist. Straight up and down, they’re communists. They hate the Constitution. They hate our laws. They’re doing everything they can to tear down our cities and take away your freedoms so they can control everything you do.
Speaker 1 - Preacher: Your dollar, in probably a few months, will be worth nothing. They’re taking us to a digital currency. You know why they’re doing that? So they can tell you what you can buy and what you can’t buy. That helps them control the environment, they say.
Speaker 1 - Preacher: Let me just make one more statement while I’m right here. This garbage of global warming - surely to goodness you’ve got enough sense to know that that’s nothing in the world but a control factor from the government. It’s been hot before. How long ago was it they were telling us we were going to freeze to death? Huh? Even you young folks can remember that. They told us we were going to freeze to death. Everything was going to freeze up. Now they’ve changed to where we’re going to burn up.
Speaker 1 - Preacher: Let me assure you that this place is not going to burn up until our Lord is ready for it to burn. And when it does, no government is going to stop it. It’s all in God’s hands. Just believe God and stop believing the garbage. Say amen right there.
Speaker 1 - Preacher: I’m in chapter 4 of the book of John. In John chapter 4 there’s a moral wreck. If you look back at John chapter 3, there is a spiritual wreck. Nicodemus is a spiritual wreck - a total wreck. In chapter 4 there is a moral wreck. Remember the Samaritan woman at the well. And in chapter 5 there’s a physical wreck. He’d been there a long time, hadn’t he? Yes.
Speaker 1 - Preacher: In chapter 4, verse 4, a very short verse, it says, “He must needs go through Samaria.” He must needs go through Samaria. The providence of God in spiritual action.
Speaker 1 - Preacher: Samaria lies north of Jerusalem, Judah. It was the capital of Israel when the kingdom split into two kingdoms. When Solomon’s son wouldn’t listen to the people and wouldn’t release them from some of the bondage that Solomon, by the way, had put them under, then the northern kingdom split off and made Jeroboam their king.
Speaker 1 - Preacher: Jeroboam was a wicked man. Rehoboam, the son of Solomon, wasn’t much better, but Jeroboam led the children of Israel into much sin. Often the Scriptures will speak of the sin of Jeroboam, the son of Nebat, who led Israel to sin. Over and over, he’s noted as the one who led Israel to sin in the Old Testament.
Speaker 1 - Preacher: So Samaria now is the capital of the northern kingdom. Jerusalem is the capital of the southern kingdom. If you understand, we have Judah in the southern kingdom and Israel in the northern kingdom - two and a half tribes in Judah, and the remainder of the tribes made up Israel.
Speaker 1 - Preacher: In order to move from Judah into the land of Galilee, it was necessary to go through Samaria. There were several routes that would go otherwise in order to keep the children of Judah from going through Samaria, because that, of course, was part of another kingdom.
Speaker 1 - Preacher: If you read the text - I’m not going to read that tonight - you’ll find that this woman says to Jesus that the Samaritans have no dealings with the Jews. So this text says He must needs go through Samaria. That means there’s a purpose in Him going through. Is that right? Would you assume that from the text? There is a purpose. There is a reason why Jesus is going to go through Samaria.
Speaker 1 - Preacher: Now, the disciples know nothing about this. The lady in Samaria - the woman in Samaria, not a lady by any stretch of the imagination - has no idea about this. But Jesus does. In the providence of God, in the calendar of God, there was a date set when the Lord Jesus would have a communiqué with this woman of Samaria. She knows nothing about it. He knows all about it. The disciples know nothing about it, but they didn’t say a word when the text says He must needs go through Samaria.
Speaker 1 - Preacher: So they go through Samaria, and Jesus stops at a well. The disciples go on into town to get some food, but Jesus is sitting at the well. Let me do something here. He must needs go through Samaria to sit on a well. We’re going to take that a little further in just a moment.
Speaker 1 - Preacher: Here He is sitting on a well, waiting for someone to come and draw water. Now look at me. This is God sitting there. Do you think He has to have someone come and draw water for Him? Oh no, absolutely not. But this is all part of the plan. Hear me: God uses means. That’s why you and I are involved. God uses means.
Speaker 1 - Preacher: In this case, He’s going to use a bucket. So the woman shows up on time. He wasn’t out blowing the horn, telling her to come on. Oh no, no. She showed up on time. Here’s one case where a woman showed up on time. Hi, ladies.
Speaker 1 - Preacher: When she shows up, a conversation begins. She’s not about to speak to Him because she’s a Samaritan, and the Samaritans have no dealings with the Jews. So she’s going to keep her mouth shut. She’s just going to draw water.
Speaker 1 - Preacher: But He said to her, “How about some water?” I’m paraphrasing right here. “How about a drink of water?” I’m sure she kind of stepped back and looked at Him and thought, “What are You talking about? You want me, a Samaritan, to draw You, a Jew, some water? We’re not even talking to each other.”
Speaker 1 - Preacher: Then He tells her, “You need to know something about the water I can give you.” Now, I want to show you something most people will miss in the reading of this text. This is a lazy old gal. There are two reasons why she shows up at noon. The first one is because the women would come in the morning to get the water for the day, and she didn’t want to be involved with them, listening to what they had to say about her. But number two, she’s lazy.
Speaker 1 - Preacher: How do I know that? Well, when Jesus tells her about the water, she says, “Give me that water so I won’t have to come back here and draw.” Hello? Just write that down as a little note. Make a note right there.
Speaker 1 - Preacher: So when she gets a sip of that water - spiritual water, are you listening? - this water didn’t come from that well. The water she got came from another well, not accidentally, but purposefully. Our Lord comes on the scene. He must needs go through Samaria. The purpose is that God was about to save some old gal who had a bad reputation in town.
Speaker 1 - Preacher: Now, any woman who can have that many husbands - there’s something wrong with the woman. Huh? Oh yeah. When you go through that many men, ladies, I promise you, it’s not their fault. It’s your fault. And fellas, if there’s a possibility of you going through that many females, it’s not their fault. It’s your fault. You ought to figure it out somewhere down the road: “Hey, this is not their fault. It’s my fault. I need to fix this.”
Speaker 1 - Preacher: Well, the account is plain now. Our Lord tells her the circumstances of her life. She instantly starts getting religious. You see that? You start witnessing to somebody who’s out of the will of God, and the first thing they do is get religious. “Oh, I go to church over here with old Brother [unclear name]. Yeah, we go to church once a month - yeah, on the third Sunday.”
Speaker 1 - Preacher: As the account goes, she realizes that He’s a prophet. Then she realizes that He’s the Son of God. Right there at that well, she becomes a child of God. The first thing she does is fly out to tell the men in town. Isn’t that strange? She doesn’t go tell the women. She’s going to tell the men in town that she met somebody who told her everything she’d ever done. “Is not this the Christ?”
Speaker 1 - Preacher: Now they all come out to hear and to see, and they believe - I like this - not because of what she said, but because of what He said. Say amen right there.
Speaker 1 - Preacher: Well, in the providence of God, Jesus leaves Judea to go to Galilee, and He must needs go through Samaria. Why must He needs go through Samaria? Because there’s a plan. Since eternity began, there’s a plan for Him to meet with this woman.
Speaker 1 - Preacher: Think with me for just a moment. Here is a woman who is the offscouring of the community, and yet God had something planned for her life that would change her for eternity. Do you realize that that’s the kind of people God saves?
Speaker 1 - Preacher: Can I tell you there was a multitude of religious women in Samaria when Jesus went through there? Not one of them is mentioned in this text. The one who’s mentioned is the one Jesus went to meet at the well. Praise God. All in the plan of God, all in the providence of God, to bring this woman into the household of faith.
Speaker 1 - Preacher: Back in 2 Kings chapter 5, there’s a man by the name of Naaman. I want to talk to you now about the providence of God as far as the body, the physical body, is concerned. We all suffer from things from time to time, and far too often we run to the medical doctors rather than going to God.
Speaker 1 - Preacher: In this chapter there is a man by the name of Naaman. He’s the captain of the Syrian army. He’s number two in the nation of Syria. They had come into Israel and taken many of the people captive. Excuse me, but in the taking of captives they took a young woman, and that young woman became the maid of the wife of Naaman.
Speaker 1 - Preacher: Naaman is a leper. The Scripture gives us all the accolades and so on about Naaman, and then finally it states, “And he was a leper.” That cancels out everything else.
Speaker 1 - Preacher: All the good things people do in this world that they think are going to take them to heaven - giving to good causes, taking care of orphans, doing all these things to feed the hungry, all of these things - but when it comes to the end of the line where you’re concerned, and God says, “But they’re a sinner,” what good is all that going to do you?
Speaker 1 - Preacher: Naaman is a leper, a type of sin, and this little maid just happens to be in his house. She was caught up in the crowd that was taken captive when Naaman’s army went into Israel. Now, how did she get where she was? Could it be that the finger of God moved hither, thither, and yon and brought that young girl into Naaman’s house? Wonder why?
Speaker 1 - Preacher: Because God was about to show Syria that He was a miracle-working God. That little maid said, “Would to God my lord,” speaking of Naaman, “were with the prophet in Israel. He could heal him of his leprosy.”
Speaker 1 - Preacher: Well, the account goes that the king sent a letter to the king of Israel and said, “Here comes Naaman, and he needs to be healed of his leprosy.” The king of Israel got plumb upset about it, thinking they were sending him there to get a reason to go to war again.
Speaker 1 - Preacher: But somebody finally said, “Wait a minute, wait a minute. He needs to meet with the man of God.” So Naaman and all of his entourage come to meet with the man of God, and the man of God doesn’t even come out of the house.
Speaker 1 - Preacher: Hey, we’re talking about the second in command in Syria, the great nation that had just beforehand taken much of Israel captive - the number two man - and he comes to the prophet of God, and the prophet doesn’t even come out of the house.
Speaker 1 - Preacher: He sends his servant to tell him to go dip seven times in the Jordan River. You’ve heard this account, surely. Tell him to go dip seven times in the Jordan River, and he’ll be clean.
Speaker 1 - Preacher: Well, Naaman, naturally, being a statesman, thinks the prophet ought to come out. He leaves there stomping his feet, mad as a wet hen. He fusses and argues, and one of his servants says, “If he’d told you to do some great thing, wouldn’t you have done it? Now, he told you to go dip seven times. Go dip seven times.”
Speaker 1 - Preacher: Naaman goes to the Jordan River, but he’s already said, “Hey, the rivers where I come from are a whole lot better than the Jordan.” What he didn’t know is that God had blessed the Jordan. He hadn’t blessed the rivers where he was from. So finally he’s convinced to go dip in the River Jordan.
Speaker 1 - Preacher: Now, can’t you just see this? Get a picture of this. Here’s the number two man in Syria out there in the Jordan River fixing to dunk his little self.
Speaker 1 - Preacher: Down he goes one time and comes up. Nothing happened. Still a leper. Two times, still a leper. Three times, he’s still a leper, right on to the seventh time. I can see him grabbing his nose and going under that seventh time. He goes under that water and comes up out of the water, keeping his eyes closed, and then just kind of eases his eyes open and sees his hand, and it’s as clean as a baby’s skin.
Speaker 1 - Preacher: Now, why did that happen? Because of the providence of God in putting a little girl over there in his house. Hey, God turned all that took place in that war into a miracle to cure a fellow by the name of Naaman who was a leper.
Speaker 1 - Preacher: That’s my God. I don’t know - hey, I don’t know about your God, but that’s the God I know. That’s the God I serve.
Speaker 1 - Preacher: Now come with me quickly to 2 Chronicles chapter 34. King Josiah has come to the throne. Josiah is a good king. Israel’s kings are all wicked. They’re just wicked and wicked and wicked and wicked and wicked and more wicked. But Judah’s kings are, for the most part, good kings. Once in a while there’s a wicked one who comes in there, but for the most part they’re good kings. The Scripture says over and over again that this king or that king did what was right in the sight of God.
Speaker 1 - Preacher: So Josiah does what’s right in the sight of the Lord, and he’s repairing the temple, getting the place cleaned up and fixed up for worship again. During the time of the cleanup, guess what they found? They found the Word of God. Isn’t that something?
Speaker 1 - Preacher: Let me tell you something. Are you listening to me? Look up here and listen to what I’m about to say. That’s not the only house of God that the Word of God has been hid in. So-called churches across this country, church after church after church - the Word of God is hid. H-I-D - hid. Not preached; hid.
Speaker 1 - Preacher: But when they found the Word of God, it winds up in front of Josiah, and they read it to the king. When the king hears the Word of God read, he makes a command that the children of Israel worship God and God alone. He fixes the worship system in Jerusalem, tears down idols, cuts down groves, does away with all the false worship, and God’s people have revival. Even some of Israel get involved in it, and they come and have revival.
Speaker 1 - Preacher: Let me give you the formula here that I see for revival. Find the Word of God. First and foremost, find the Word of God, and then read the Word of God. Wouldn’t it be great?
Speaker 1 - Preacher: Now, I know and you know that the President of the United States of America, as we know him - God help him, and I mean that - doesn’t have sense enough to read and wouldn’t hear it if somebody else read it. But wouldn’t it be great if somehow this Book was taken before the President and read in his hearing, and he believed it and said to America, “We have sinned against God, and we are going to worship God and God alone. We’re going to worship the Creator God, the God of glory, not the god of our hands, not the gods that we’ve made. We’re going to worship the God of glory.”
Speaker 1 - Preacher: You read on, and you’re going to find that the Word of God says Josiah was blessed of God, and the nation was blessed of God, and they had peace because they served the God of glory.
Speaker 1 - Preacher: You know when America is going to come back? When we start worshiping God again. When the Word of God is unveiled. When preachers start preaching the Word of God rather than their little stories. You listen to most preachers preach today, and what you’re hearing is a bunch of stories - not biblical stories, stories.
Speaker 1 - Preacher: The Word of God needs to be unveiled, found again. It is in the house of God. Did you hear me? It is in the house of God. It just needs to be unearthed and preached again, believed again, in the providence of God.
Speaker 1 - Preacher: You see, it could have been found with other kings, but Josiah was chosen to be king when the Word of God was found. A good king, he loved the Lord, living after the commandments of Moses and as did his father David.
Speaker 1 - Preacher: So listen to me now. Listen carefully. If we’re going to have revival in America, the Book is going to have to be opened again. Our hearts are going to have to believe again. I’m talking about God’s people now. I’m not talking about the heathen out there. You don’t notice the heathen involved here. These are God’s people.
Speaker 1 - Preacher: When God opens your heart and you begin to believe what you say you believe - you know there’s a difference, don’t you? If you really believe, you live like you believe. You don’t just say you believe. When we really get back to the truth of living what we say we believe, revival is already here, and it’s God’s people who are revived.
Speaker 1 - Preacher: Let’s get this right. God’s people are revived, and when God’s people are revived, then God’s work is done. The church has gone to sleep because the Word of God is hid, and it’s a sad thing that preachers are going to have to stand before God and answer for not preaching the Word of God.
Speaker 1 - Preacher: My thoughts are unimportant. People used to come to me when I was pastor and quite often say, “Brother Larry, what do you think about this?” My answer in every case was, “It makes no difference what I think about it. What does God say about it?”
Speaker 1 - Preacher: You see, as much as you may think old Brother Larry is right, there are things in that Book that I don’t necessarily agree with. Now, don’t look at me cross-eyed. I’m telling you the same thing where you’re concerned too. There are things in that Book that you don’t necessarily agree with, but God said it.
Speaker 1 - Preacher: When I was growing up, my daddy told me a whole lot of things that I didn’t agree with, but I knew I’d better do it. We got the dress code the other day for school, and Bryson was looking it over, and we were talking with him about it. He’s a hat wearer. He thinks he’s supposed to keep his head covered all the time. Anyhow, he’d been wearing his hat in school.
Speaker 1 - Preacher: Well, first off, you know there’s just something not right about that. Remember that, fellas? When you walked through the door, what did you do with your hat? You took it off, right? Well, he said, “I’m going to wear my hat.” I said, “No, you’re not. No, you’re not.”
Speaker 1 - Preacher: Whether you agree with the rule, whether you like the rule or not, you’re going to obey the rule. You see, we were educators for over three decades, and we had rules in our school. The rules were for a reason. There’s a purpose for rules, and time and time again our students didn’t agree with the rules, but they did it or they suffered the consequences.
Speaker 1 - Preacher: By the way, there were consequences. Nowadays there are not many consequences; that’s why they just don’t obey the rule. So there are a lot of things in that Book that you don’t agree with, but you’d better do it anyhow. If you’re a child of God, you’d better do it anyhow.
Speaker 1 - Preacher: Let me just do this, if I may. How many of you folks in this building have never found anything in the Bible that you didn’t necessarily agree with? Let me see your hand. Real high. Come on, the rest of you are lying. Liars go to hell.
Speaker 1 - Preacher: Oh yeah, there are things in that Book that we don’t agree with, but we obey it because it’s the Word of God. You’d be hard-pressed to find a verse in there that says you need to agree with everything it says in that Book. But you won’t be hard-pressed to find verses that say obey. Obey. Just do what it says.
Speaker 1 - Preacher: Now, every one of us is a failure. Is that right? Look at me. I’m a failure. Look at you. You’re a failure. We fail, but there’s mercy and there’s grace. If your heart is anywhere near right, you and God can get along. You and the Holy Ghost can get along. Things will be sweet along the way.
Speaker 1 - Preacher: And you won’t be saying to God, “Lord, if it hadn’t been for [unclear name]... If it hadn’t been for [unclear name]...” That’s where it all started in the Garden. Eve said, “The serpent is the reason.” Adam said, “The woman that Thou gavest me is the reason.” But what was the reason? They did not obey God. Isn’t that true?
Speaker 1 - Preacher: I’m finished. Listen: in the providence of God, you do not know how God works things out to bring you to where you are and take you to where you’re going. But it’s God’s plan, and God will work it out. He’ll make sure it comes to pass exactly the way He planned it - not the way you planned it, but the way He planned it.
Speaker 1 - Preacher: How do I illustrate it? I remember when we were boys, we’d be in the car, and my kids were the same way: “Are we there yet?” I used to tell my kids, “Honey, you’ll be there the same time I get there.”
Speaker 1 - Preacher: You may not agree with the way God takes you to where you’re going, but when you get there, you’ll be glad you followed His directions. Let’s stand together.
