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Jesus, Lessons for Life 17
8/16/2010 6:29:28 AM Link 0 comments | Add comment

lessons for life


Harvest is Ripe

We have been discussing Jesus' encounter with the Samaritan woman at Jacob's well.
Jesus and his team of disciples stayed on for a time with the Samaritans. As a result, both the Samaritans and the disciples gained and grew in faith and understanding.

John 4:34 “My food,” said Jesus, “is to do the will of him who sent me and to finish his work.
35 Do you not say, ‘Four months more and then the harvest’? I tell you, open your eyes and look at the fields! They are ripe for harvest.
36 Even now the reaper draws his wages, even now he harvests the crop for eternal life, so that the sower and the reaper may be glad together.
37 Thus the saying ‘One sows and another reaps’ is true.
38 I sent you to reap what you have not worked for. Others have done the hard work, and you have reaped the benefits of their labor.”
39 Many of the Samaritans from that town believed in him because of the woman’s testimony, “He told me everything I ever did.”
40 So when the Samaritans came to him, they urged him to stay with them, and he stayed two days.
41 And because of his words many more became believers.
42 They said to the woman, “We no longer believe just because of what you said; now we have heard for ourselves, and we know that this man really is the Savior of the world.”
His disciples were shown that their mission was to “reap for the Lord,” and the paradigm of God’s grace being limited to the Jewish people was shattered. If the despised people of Samaria were to find salvation, then it must be God’s intent for all people to be saved.
·         Many of the Samaritans believed in Christ and were saved.

·         The “harvest” beyond the Jewish nation commenced on this trip.
Key Lesson — Jesus wanted his disciples to see that his Grace was available for all the world. Ultimately, He had come to open the way to God for even the Gentiles. It is still our mission to share Christ to all the world.  
Blessings,

Larry


Jesus, Lessons for Life 16
8/9/2010 9:06:26 AM Link 0 comments | Add comment

lessons for life


Jesus' conversation with the Samaritan woman continued from where we left off last time. He, knowing all about this woman, gave her a small test by asking about her husband. She answered truthfully, after which Jesus revealed to her that He in fact knew all about her, even though they had just met. 

John 4:16 He told her, “Go, call your husband and come back.”
17 “I have no husband,” she replied.
Jesus said to her, “You are right when you say you have no husband.
18 The fact is, you have had five husbands, and the man you now have is not your husband. What you have just said is quite true.”
19 “Sir,” the woman said, “I can see that you are a prophet.
This simple act of being truthful with the Lord opened the door to more spiritual teaching. She expressed some of the frustration that existed between the Jews and Samaritans regarding worship practices and beliefs. Jesus taught her that God seeks a kind of worship that is more than simply being in a specific place at a specific time. God desires from us "worship in spirit and in truth."
John 4:20 Our fathers worshiped on this mountain, but you Jews claim that the place where we must worship is in Jerusalem.”
21 Jesus declared, “Believe me, woman, a time is coming when you will worship the Father neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem.
22 You Samaritans worship what you do not know; we worship what we do know, for salvation is from the Jews.
23 Yet a time is coming and has now come when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for they are the kind of worshipers the Father seeks.
24 God is spirit, and his worshipers must worship in spirit and in truth.”
Her willingness and receptivity in this conversation with Christ led to even more revelation. Jesus revealed to her that He was the Messiah.
John 4:25 The woman said, “I know that Messiah” (called Christ) “is coming. When he comes, he will explain everything to us.”
26 Then Jesus declared, “I who speak to you am he.”
 
Several key points are embedded in this interesting passage surrounding this beautiful conversation at the well:
  • Jesus confirms with his own voice that He is the Messiah.
  • Through Jesus we have access to “spiritual water” that can satisfy our spiritual thirst and give us eternal life.
  • God wants true worshipers—those who will worship the Father in spirit and truth.
 Key Lesson — Jesus wants us to approach him authentically and openly receptive to his message.  As we open ourselves to him, He will reveal spiritual meaning to us that can change our lives and deepen our understanding of God's will in our lives.
 
This conversation resulted in Jesus staying in Samaria for a few days.  Next time we will see that still more believed.  This woman's receptivity to Christ enables more people to come and to know him.
 
Blessings,

Larry

 

Jesus, Lessons for Life 15
8/2/2010 6:00:40 AM Link 0 comments | Add comment

lessons for life


More lessons as Jesus talked with the Samaritan woman

Jesus' simple conversation with the woman at the well took an interesting turn. It began with Christ's simple request for a drink of water from Jacob's well. That request for a physical thing, a drink of water, was a simple step in order for the Lord to have a deeper conversation with the woman, a spiritual conversation. Again with see this pattern with Christ -- He used physical needs in order to teach about spiritual needs.
John 4:10 Jesus answered her, “If you knew the gift of God and who it is that asks you for a drink, you would have asked him and he would have given you living water.”
11 “Sir,” the woman said, “you have nothing to draw with and the well is deep. Where can you get this living water?
12 Are you greater than our father Jacob, who gave us the well and drank from it himself, as did also his sons and his flocks and herds?”
13 Jesus answered, “Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again,
14 but whoever drinks the water I give him will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life.”
15 The woman said to him, “Sir, give me this water so that I won’t get thirsty and have to keep coming here to draw water.”
Key Lesson — Through Jesus we have access to “spiritual water” that can satisfy our spiritual thirst and give us eternal life.  We need to be receptive to the eternal perspective that Christ teaches us and desires for us.
 
It was not easy for the woman to understand the context in the words of Jesus. She was stuck in her physical chores of life, such as the daily need for water in order to live. We can have this same struggle at times.  We can be so focused on the problems of today that we don't have focus on the eternal priorities.
It was even true for Jesus' disciples in this setting in Samaria.  They did not understand immediately.  Not until later would they understand that Christ was teaching them the need to witness to all people.  As we will see later in this conversation, Jesus will teach them about the "harvest" of souls that was at that time ready in Samaria.
Next time we will continue with the conversation between Jesus and this Samaritan woman.
Blessings,

Larry

 

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