Walking with God

The Woman at the well: theunfetteredpreacher

bill theunfetteredpreacher cote serving God, Spiritual living, Walking with God , , , , ,

John 4:5-42 (KJV)

The Woman at the well, the first missionary. A story we have been taught, told, and have heard, multitudes of times.

A Jew, speaking to a Samaritan woman.

This was just, not, done.

Jesus’s behavior, doesn’t line up, with the standards, laws and expectations, of the Religious Leaders. (They never appreciate that).

Some thoughts;

I believe this is the first instance of Jesus, proclaiming, admitting, pointing out, that He was the Messiah. The Saviour of mankind. (This truth has set her free).

She left to share the message, and left her water jug behind.

When we meet the Master, we need to leave behind, our worldly concerns, so we proclaim His Glory, Majesty, Faithfulness.

We cannot hide this light under a basket, we cannot, keep this truth to ourselves, we are empowered, anointed, driven by the Holy Spirit, to share this Good News.

Many believed because of her testimony. More believed, when they heard from Jesus, personally.

I believe there is more for us to learn.

Jesus, allowed the Holy Spirit to lead Him to the truth, by the Words of Wisdom and Knowledge, (of the womans past), and by the Discerning of her Spirit. (He confided in her, because He knew her heart, that she would believe, and receive).

He steered her to the Spiritual while she was focused, on the natural.

He was showing us, the Holy Spirit can and will lead us to all truth. He will show us who to, and how to reach those He would touch.

We still struggle with living the Spiritual life. We haven’t learned to Worship in Spirit and Truth.

We must learn to take the Kingdom by force. It is a fight, for our souls….

We shall know the truth, and the truth will set us free. Amen

John 4:5-42 (KJV)

5 Then cometh he to a city of Samaria, which is called Sychar, near to the parcel of ground that Jacob gave to his son Joseph.
6 Now Jacob’s well was there. Jesus therefore, being wearied with his journey, sat thus on the well: and it was about the sixth hour.
7 There cometh a woman of Samaria to draw water: Jesus saith unto her, Give me to drink.
8 (For his disciples were gone away unto the city to buy meat.)
9 Then saith the woman of Samaria unto him, How is it that thou, being a Jew, askest drink of me, which am a woman of Samaria? for the Jews have no dealings with the Samaritans.
10 Jesus answered and said unto her, If thou knewest the gift of God, and who it is that saith to thee, Give me to drink; thou wouldest have asked of him, and he would have given thee living water.
11 The woman saith unto him, Sir, thou hast nothing to draw with, and the well is deep: from whence then hast thou that living water?
12 Art thou greater than our father Jacob, which gave us the well, and drank thereof himself, and his children, and his cattle?
13 Jesus answered and said unto her, Whosoever drinketh of this water shall thirst again:
14 But whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst; but the water that I shall give him shall be in him a well of water springing up into everlasting life.
15 The woman saith unto him, Sir, give me this water, that I thirst not, neither come hither to draw.
16 Jesus saith unto her, Go, call thy husband, and come hither.
17 The woman answered and said, I have no husband. Jesus said unto her, Thou hast well said, I have no husband:
18 For thou hast had five husbands; and he whom thou now hast is not thy husband: in that saidst thou truly.
19 The woman saith unto him, Sir, I perceive that thou art a prophet.
20 Our fathers worshipped in this mountain; and ye say, that in Jerusalem is the place where men ought to worship.
21 Jesus saith unto her, Woman, believe me, the hour cometh, when ye shall neither in this mountain, nor yet at Jerusalem, worship the Father.
22 Ye worship ye know not what: we know what we worship: for salvation is of the Jews.
23 But the hour cometh, and now is, when the true worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth: for the Father seeketh such to worship him.
24 God is a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth.
25 The woman saith unto him, I know that Messias cometh, which is called Christ: when he is come, he will tell us all things.
26 Jesus saith unto her, I that speak unto thee am he.
27 And upon this came his disciples, and marvelled that he talked with the woman: yet no man said, What seekest thou? or, Why talkest thou with her?
28 The woman then left her waterpot, and went her way into the city, and saith to the men,
29 Come, see a man, which told me all things that ever I did: is not this the Christ?
30 Then they went out of the city, and came unto him.
31 In the mean while his disciples prayed him, saying, Master, eat.
32 But he said unto them, I have meat to eat that ye know not of.
33 Therefore said the disciples one to another, Hath any man brought him ought to eat?
34 Jesus saith unto them, My meat is to do the will of him that sent me, and to finish his work.
35 Say not ye, There are yet four months, and then cometh harvest? behold, I say unto you, Lift up your eyes, and look on the fields; for they are white already to harvest.
36 And he that reapeth receiveth wages, and gathereth fruit unto life eternal: that both he that soweth and he that reapeth may rejoice together.
37 And herein is that saying true, One soweth, and another reapeth.
38 I sent you to reap that whereon ye bestowed no labour: other men laboured, and ye are entered into their labours.
39 And many of the Samaritans of that city believed on him for the saying of the woman, which testified, He told me all that ever I did.
40 So when the Samaritans were come unto him, they besought him that he would tarry with them: and he abode there two days.
41 And many more believed because of his own word;
42 And said unto the woman, Now we believe, not because of thy saying: for we have heard him ourselves, and know that this is indeed the Christ, the Saviour of the world.

Cleansing of the Temple: theunfetteredpreacher

bill theunfetteredpreacher cote serving God, Spiritual living, Walking with God , , , ,

John 2:13-25. Mark 11:15-16. Luke 19:45-46

The cleansing of the Temple, is recorded in three of the four Gospels. In John it happens in the beginning of Jesus’s ministry, in the other two, near the end.

Several commentators think they are seperate events. (Me… ?)

The most complete accounting, is in the book of John, and happens shortly after Jesus turned water into wine.

Straightaway, we find the Religious upset with Jesus, (the word of God).

When Jesus saw the moneychangers, He did not just start turning over tables.

He first, fashioned a scourge, (a wip), and then proceeded to Cleanse the Temple.

(This was not spontaneous rage, this was the Deliberate, Passionate, Zeal of the Lord).

He drove the sacrificial, sheep and oxen, from the Temple. These were animals the wealthiest would purchase for sacrifices.

He turned over the sellers tables, scattering their profits, on the floor.

Then He came to those selling Doves. It tells us He upset their seats, not tables, He did not scatter money, but told them:

“Take these things hence; make not my Father’s house an house of merchandise.”

Why the difference? The Doves and other fowls, were the sacrifices of the poor.

Those who sold them, were making the least profit, He didn’t release the birds out of their cages. (He allowed the sellers to take the birds, from the Temple, themselves).

Jesus, in His Righteous Zeal, still had compassion on those who were worthy of compassion.

Now we find the Religious, questioning His Authority, His motives for His actions.

“What sign shewest thou unto us, seeing that thou doest these things?”

The Religious, always want a sign. They know, what they know and refuse to believe there might be more to learn.

They believe, they have cornered the market, of Godly Revelation.

Jesus answered: “Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up.”

He was speaking of His death and resurrection.

He was revealing the Spiritual, they were locked in on the Natural. His Disciples, understood, after He Rose from the Dead.

He did many miracles, while in Jerusalem, that were not recorded.

Many believed on His Name, when they witnessed these miracles.

Jesus had received words of wisdom and knowledge, from the Spirit, and knowing their hearts, did not invite them to follow.

Saints, we should be seeking to be proficient in the Working, of the Gifts of the Spirit.

The Lord sends them for the building of His Church.

When we refuse, to seek, to desire, to understand, God’s gifts, His tools, we fail to build His Church.

We have a powerless Gospel, ineffective, unworthy, of His Presence, a gathering of Rituals and Ceremonies, a quiet, slow death.

Jesus gave us life. We need to share the Gospel, in Spirit and Truth. Amen

John 2:13-25 (KJV)

13 And the Jews’ passover was at hand, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem.
14 And found in the temple those that sold oxen and sheep and doves, and the changers of money sitting:
15 And when he had made a scourge of small cords, he drove them all out of the temple, and the sheep, and the oxen; and poured out the changers’ money, and overthrew the tables;
16 And said unto them that sold doves, Take these things hence; make not my Father’s house an house of merchandise.
17 And his disciples remembered that it was written, The zeal of thine house hath eaten me up.
18 Then answered the Jews and said unto him, What sign shewest thou unto us, seeing that thou doest these things?
19 Jesus answered and said unto them, Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up.
20 Then said the Jews, Forty and six years was this temple in building, and wilt thou rear it up in three days?
21 But he spake of the temple of his body.
22 When therefore he was risen from the dead, his disciples remembered that he had said this unto them; and they believed the scripture, and the word which Jesus had said.
23 Now when he was in Jerusalem at the passover, in the feast day, many believed in his name, when they saw the miracles which he did.
24 But Jesus did not commit himself unto them, because he knew all men,
25 And needed not that any should testify of man: for he knew what was in man.

Mark 11:15-18

And they come to Jerusalem: and Jesus went into the temple, and began to cast out them that sold and bought in the temple, and overthrew the tables of the moneychangers, and the seats of them that sold doves;

16. And would not suffer that any man should carry any vessel through the temple.

17. And he taught, saying unto them, Is it not written, My house shall be called of all nations the house of prayer? but ye have made it a den of thieves.

18. And the scribes and chief priests heard it, and sought how they might destroy him: for they feared him, because all the people was astonished at his doctrine.

Luke 19:45-46

And he went into the temple, and began to cast out them that sold therein, and them that bought;

46. Saying unto them, It is written, My house is the house of prayer: but ye have made it a den of thieves.