John 4:46-54

John 4:46-54 Once more he visited Cana in Galilee, where he had turned the water into wine. And there was a certain royal official whose son lay sick at Capernaum. When this man heard that Jesus had arrived in Galilee from Judea, he went to him and begged him to come and heal his son, who was close to death. “Unless you people see miraculous signs and wonders,” Jesus told him, “you will never believe.” The royal official said, “Sir, come down before my child dies.” Jesus replied, “You may go. Your son will 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, “The fever left him yesterday at the seventh hour.” Then the father realized that this was the exact time at which Jesus had said to him, “Your son will live.” So he and all his household believed. This was the second miraculous sign that Jesus performed, having come from Judea to Galilee.

Before accepting Jesus as Messiah, the official needed a confirmation: The fever left him yesterday at the seventh hour. Seeing the man's heart, Jesus understood his desperate plea for help. Christ represented the last hope for his dying son. Knowing his petitioner's need for a sign, Jesus performed the miracle, not only to save the son from death but to save the household. As Christians, we sometimes lose track of God's quintessential purpose for sending his beloved Son. We start thinking He came with fishes and loaves for the hungry in his time and for us today. We follow him for miracles of wholeness, healing, and prosperity on Earth: abundant life! Jesus shed his blood on a cruel cross and allowed his broken body to be buried in a tomb, but He did not pay such a price for worldly security, leisure time, and prosperity. He revealed God's plan to save the lost, to free those who sat in darkness, making them sons and daughters of the Most High. Yes, we pray for healing, for daily bread, and for a prosperity in Christ--that is abundant life! As a good and loving Father, the Lord continually meets our needs, lavishing us with mercy and graces. Yet God sorrows when we focus upon the immediacy of our problems, failing to hear his call to servanthood.

When I walked to the front as a young man in a revival meeting, I looked for help, a better life. As a sinner I was in search of hope, release from sin, and a path to eternal life. I also believed Christ would make my life appreciably better. Knowing a lot of scripture, I knew accepting Christ meant I was adopted into God's family. As a joint heir with Jesus, we were united by blood: Surely He would watch over and take care of me. I was like this royal official who said heal my son. I cried out, "Lord, take my life; save me from hell; and while you are at it, take care of all my needs, even my desires for security, success, and well-being. With this skewed view of Christianity, what happens when God seems to ignore my needs as hardship, tragedy or calamity befalls me? Where is my Jesus? Did He not tell the official, You may go. Your son will live? Jesus made this universal call: Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light. (Matthew 11:28-30) What does all this mean?

Jesus went to the cross, saying, Father, if you are willing, take this cup from me; yet not my will, but yours be done. (Luke 22:44) Surrounded by people's needs with the cross always before him, Jesus said: I tell you the truth, unless a kernel of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains only a single seed. But if it dies, it produces many seeds. The man who loves his life will lose it, while the man who hates his life in this world will keep it for eternal life. (John 12:24-25) Paul said we are God's workmanship, created from the beginning of time to follow him, to do his work. The Spirit within us only wants to please the Father. We now possess spiritual ears to hear his voice; new eyes to see the world, and strong hands to reach out with loving kindness and the gift of life to a dying people. Functioning as his body, we find freedom from sin, a release from bondage, and the inexpressible and everlasting peace God promised. If we live by the dictates of the carnal mind with a selfishness me-first attitude and agenda, we will never understand the mysteries of Christ. We will not discern John's words: Beloved, I wish above all things that thou mayest prosper and be in health, even as thy soul prospereth. (3 John 2 KJV) As we keep in step with the Spirit, we seek God's will and rejoice in his leading. God blesses us with persevering faith. As children of the King, a royal army, we follow our Master in triumphant victory!

John 4:40-45

John 4:40-45 So when the Samaritans came to him, they urged him to stay with them, and he stayed two days. And because of his words many more became believers. 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.” After the two days he left for Galilee. (Now Jesus himself had pointed out that a prophet has no honor in his own country.) When he arrived in Galilee, the Galileans welcomed him. They had seen all that he had done in Jerusalem at the Passover Feast, for they also had been there.

By saying a prophet has no honor in his own country, Jesus contrasted the Galileans with the Samaritans. The Galileans continually sought miracles to validate Jesus as Messiah. The Samaritans believed Christ's words: Now we have heard for ourselves, and we know that this man really is the Savior of the world. People still chase miracles, reading the latest visionary report from "a prophet" in California or Florida, running here and there to hear a word from a "divine oracle" or to see a "prophet" perform "signs and wonders." The same people may rarely cross the room to read God's inspired Word. Often they remain too busy to pray fervently, and they rarely meet with others where the Spirit would offer spiritual gifts and healing mercies to all.

Pastors face this dilemma. Their flock attends church services sporadically yet supports and listens to hyper-faith media ministers with visions and prophecies that surprisingly begin and end with urgent pleas for allegiance and money. The community pastor deals with a myriad of problems in his Galilee as he receives the frantic calls for help, prays for and ministers to the sick and the needy, and listens to the woes and complaints of his congregants. While he seeks God for inspiration and wisdom and preaches and teaches the Word to an often small crowd, the money that would support and expand the many ministries of the local church flows outward to people living excessively expensive and materialistic lifestyles, with no real responsibility for meeting people's real needs.

As in Jesus' time, carnally minded people still want a sign, want to follow someone offering loaves and fishes as an outward manifestation of their power with God. Jesus said, A wicked and adulterous generation asks for a miraculous sign! But none will be given it except the sign of the prophet Jonah. For as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of a huge fish, so the Son of Man will be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth. (Matthew 12:39-40) We might question Christ's indictment of these people as wicked and adulterous, yet the Spirit of God found them wanting in their failure to recognize and to heed Messiah's voice. Jesus declared: My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me. . . (John 10:27) The Pharisees and the teachers of the law did not recognize or accept Messiah because they bedded down with and comforted themselves with fleshly desires and deeds.

Do we mainly chase after food for our bellies, healing for our bodies, and deliverance from hardships? When the miracles do not appear, do we harbor disillusionment, despair, and bitterness? What is our response when Jesus says, "Take up the cross and follow me" on not so pleasant pathways? When life gets hard and harder, do we forsake him for greener pastures with fewer demands? Jesus asks us to eat and to drink of him in good times and in bad: trusting in his sufficiency, his eternal mercy and grace. In financial famine, chronic sickness, or perpetual chaos; He says, "Come to me: trust and believe. I give peace in the worst of storms." Brothers and sisters, the Lord reminds us that following Christ for deliverance or as an escape from the trials of life is not Christianity. Throughout the ages and in heathen countries today, believers flee from house to house and town to town to worship God, to share the good news. Paul was beaten and left for dead, James was beheaded, and Peter hung upside down on a cross. Self-absorption and a search for the next miracle will not produce the peaceable fruits of righteousness. Yes, God grants us miracles and blessings: the fruit of the Spirit and the strength and joy of the Lord abide with us. Yet we stand in faith as newly born sons and daughters of the King because we believe in Jesus' words along the Samaritans. We live in and through Christ, the author and finisher of our faith. Miracles that comfort and help on our journey are not a necessity for knowing, loving, and serving our risen Lord. May we hear HIS VOICE and live!

John 4:39-42

John 4:39-42 Many of the Samaritans from that town believed in him because of the woman’s testimony, “He told me everything I ever did.” So when the Samaritans came to him, they urged him to stay with them, and he stayed two days. And because of his words many more became believers. 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.”

John's account of Jesus' meeting with the despised Samaritan woman at the well speaks to us at several levels. We see God's mercy and grace at the core of the story with Jesus first conversing with this woman rejected by the Jews, then offering her living water while speaking into her life, and finally staying in her town for two days to offer himself to these hungry and thirsty people. His actions epitomize God's love for humankind: his eternal plan to send his Son as an offering for all; his inclusiveness in reaching out to whosever would believe in the Son and accept his sacrifice for sin. The Jews accompanying Christ and those hearing this tale would have been amazed by Jesus' actions. As Jewish believers, they would have avoided even setting foot in Samaria, let alone conversing with anyone or tarrying in a Samaritan city to share God's message of hope and freedom.

As we have pondered these events and their applications in our lives as Christians, perhaps you have looked inward to your own choices, the areas where you knowingly avoid the "untouchables" in your sphere of influence: the ways you walk around them to escape human contact or deeply personal interactions that might cost more than you want to give. As believers, we must ask ourselves how deep the cross has penetrated our everyday walking about lives. Are we willing to walk out of our way to a place we do not like or want to ignore that we might tarry for a while to share faith, hope, peace, and love? Are we too busy to listen or to minister to people in need when we might not appreciate who they are or what they represent to us? Are we willing to let the Holy Spirit speak to them through us to reap a harvest of souls for eternity? Or are we too repulsed by the hungry and needy, too angry at the hateful and rude to offer a cup of water or a piece of bread in Jesus' name?

We may think we have valid reasons to bypass our Samaritan village. In the natural we may have good cause for our depression, isolation, and resentments toward certain people. But Jesus came for those who needed him, not those who had it all together, not the acceptable ones who did not want or need a physician for their hurting souls. When Jesus emptied himself and allowed the Spirit to lead him to the Samaritan village for two days, He made room in his life for a divine encounter: an opportunity for the Spirit to bring light and life to the lost sheep outside the fold through the Good Shepherd who would give his life for them.

As Christians, we must evaluate our motivations, the desires of our hearts, the reasons we do what we do. Are we so self-absorbed and involved with our agendas (our needs, our wants, our hurts and sorrows) that we fail to seek first God's kingdom by offering love, forgiveness, and resurrection life to everyone? We need to refocus our spiritual energy and our vision on Samaria by removing ourselves from center stage as the master of our universe and humbling ourselves as servants of the Lord, willingly to follow where He leads. The flesh is just flesh. When we serve our human inclinations, we do some good deeds as well as some bad things, but we never fully commit as living sacrifices acceptable to God and ready to serve. As Jesus manifested God's loving kindness and tender mercy to all, so should we. Let us journey to Samaria to those sitting in darkness, sharing the light with renewed passion and joy because we want everyone to know that this man (Jesus) really is the Savior of the world.

John 4:31-38

John 4:31-38 Meanwhile his disciples urged him, “Rabbi, eat something.” But he said to them, “I have food to eat that you know nothing about.” Then his disciples said to each other, “Could someone have brought him food?” “My food,” said Jesus, “is to do the will of him who sent me and to finish his work. 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. 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. Thus the saying ‘One sows and another reaps’ is true. 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.”

Ephesians 1:11-14 In him we were also chosen, having been predestined according to the plan of him who works out everything in conformity with the purpose of his will, in order that we, who were the first to hope in Christ, might be for the praise of his glory. And you also were included in Christ when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation. Having believed, you were marked in him with a seal, the promised Holy Spirit, who is a deposit guaranteeing our inheritance until the redemption of those who are God’s possession — to the praise of his glory.

Jesus did the Father's will as he traveled to or stood beside "the well," awaiting the next despised Samaritan, rejected leper, scorned tax collector, or grimy fisherman to come along side and learn of him. He looked for and attracted broken, needy, confused, and even rebellious lost sheep to shepherd. As adopted sons and daughters, heirs with Christ Jesus, we should be about our Father’s business: sowing seeds of righteousness; reaping a plentiful harvest of the Spirit. God calls each of us to reflect Jesus and to proclaim truth: In him (Jesus) was life; and the life was the light of men. (John 1:4) As we arise with Christ and grow in grace, we proclaim the Good News that everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved. (Romans 10:13)

We have glad tidings of great joy: Emmanuel, God with us, has come with healing and salvation for all. Even though the wages of sin is death, we have hope because the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord. (Romans 6:23) In this season of gift giving, may we recall the meaning behind giving gifts: we love and give because God first loved us and gave us eternal life through his beloved Son, Jesus Christ, the babe in the manger. This babe grew in wisdom, grace, and the desire to obey and to follow his Father. He became a living sacrifice who humbled himself and went to a cruel cross that all who believe and have faith in him as Messiah, Savior of all, will not be disappointed. Then as God's final seal of approval, He sent the Spirit to proclaim: "Look, these are the beloved children of God: see how pleased I am with them. I love how they serve me and passionately obey my voice."

This is our reality as we are hidden with Christ in God. Yet we often forsake our heritage or live far beneath our privileged place in Jesus, settling for food from the pig sty of this world rather than feasting upon the bread of life and drinking living water that we might have ears to hear our Lord and eyes to see the fields around us, ripe for the harvest. In each of our lives, people stand around or near "the well" ready to hear redemption's story, ready to surrender themselves to something better and more satisfying, ready to accept the gift God gave to a sick and dying world sitting in darkness. Today, dear Lord, open our eyes and our ears to see with new vision and to hear your call. The Holy Spirit leads us daily to the well of life where thirsty people will come to find water that satisfies the soul. Through faith in Christ and obedience to the Lord, we will joyfully provide wine and bread, food that restores and brings life eternal. Put aside all that hinders you and hurry to the thirsty with a wellspring of hope and peace in Christ our Lord. Hosanna, glory to God in the Highest!

John 4:25-30

John 4:25-30 The woman said, “I know that Messiah” (called Christ) “is coming. When he comes, he will explain everything to us.” Then Jesus declared, “I who speak to you am he.” Just then his disciples returned and were surprised to find him talking with a woman. But no one asked, “What do you want?” or “Why are you talking with her?” Then, leaving her water jar, the woman went back to the town and said to the people, “Come, see a man who told me everything I ever did. Could this be the Christ?” They came out of the town and made their way toward him.

Under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, John records that after encountering Jesus, the woman at the well left her water jar and hurriedly returned to her town with the good news of Jesus, Messiah. If we visualize these events, we will see this person momentarily leaving her current responsibilities in the world as she went back to town with the message that salvation was at hand. On this busy day just before Christmas, will we willingly put aside our water jars for a moment, go back to town, and proclaim that the Son of God, Emmanuel has changed our hearts and lives, and we will never be the same? Or in our perpetual striving and focusing on the mundane demands of life, will we miss opportunities to stop and talk with a friend or a stranger to reveal that freedom from sin and life everlasting has come to all through Christ the risen Lord? That day at the well, Christ interacted and conversed with a despised Samaritan woman. Her divine encounter empowered her to step away from her usual duties to offer eternal life to her people, her world. As she fully grasped and understood Christ's words, she became a catalyst (his hand extended) to bring others to Jesus. Will we model this woman's actions that others might find truth and life and make their way towards him? My friends, sometimes, we just have to put down that jar to seek God's kingdom and his righteousness, to fulfill our primary purpose in living. Will the busy store clerk, the overworked waitress, the distressed coworker, the beloved relative, and the needy friend on the phone hear your passion and know you have met Messiah at the well? WILL THEY HEAR, SEE, AND BELIEVE!

(We would appreciate your prayers for our oldest son, his wife, and their 4 sons in the passing of her dear father yesterday. Bless you all today!)

John 4:15-24

John 4:15-24 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.” He told her, “Go, call your husband and come back.” “I have no husband,” she replied. Jesus said to her, “You are right when you say you have no husband. 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.” “Sir,” the woman said, “I can see that you are a prophet. Our fathers worshiped on this mountain, but you Jews claim that the place where we must worship is in Jerusalem.” Jesus declared, “Believe me, woman, a time is coming when you will worship the Father neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem. You Samaritans worship what you do not know; we worship what we do know, for salvation is from the Jews. 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. God is spirit, and his worshipers must worship in spirit and in truth.”

1 Corinthians 6:12-17 Everything is permissible for me” — but not everything is beneficial. “Everything is permissible for me” — but I will not be mastered by anything. “Food for the stomach and the stomach for food” — but God will destroy them both. The body is not meant for sexual immorality, but for the Lord, and the Lord for the body. By his power God raised the Lord from the dead, and he will raise us also. Do you not know that your bodies are members of Christ himself? Shall I then take the members of Christ and unite them with a prostitute? Never! Do you not know that he who unites himself with a prostitute is one with her in body? For it is said, “The two will become one flesh.” But he who unites himself with the Lord is one with him in spirit.

The Father seeks people to worship him in spirit and truth. This time of year, many people attend church to celebrate the Lord's birth. For some, attending Christmas Eve or Sunday morning services may be the only times they attend church. Others might add Easter observances. Congregants at these services sing or listen to worshipful songs and carols; they hear inspiring messages of Christ' birth and God's plan. Some attend out of obligation to a relative or friend; others find great satisfaction in the experience, especially seeing a well-prepared service the stirs their emotions. They may laugh or shed a tear when the young ones come on stage all dressed to reflect the nativity as we perceive the events. After a pleasant and uplifting service they leave, happy they visited a special place where the Spirit of God abides.

Jesus clearly said, God is spirit, and his worshipers must worship in spirit and in truth. Yet in a carnal and religious state of mind, we can go anywhere and enjoy what is offered: that is not worship. God cares about our innermost beings and looks for people to worship and adore him in the Holy Spirit. IN CHRIST, we are the temple (the dwelling place) of the Most High. God is with us through the power of the cross and the Spirit within; consequently, we attend church in the spirit and not as a duty or as entertainment. God's Spirit accompanies us all the time, as He leads his dear children along.

We worship God in truth as well. In Hebrews Paul wrote: Faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. (11: 1 KJV) Worshipping God reveals our belief in the truth of his Word and his presence: But without faith it is impossible to please him: for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him. Jesus said too escape our human limitation and serve the Lord wholeheartedly, we must become new creatures: That which is born of the flesh is flesh; and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. Marvel not that I said unto thee, Ye must be born again. (John 3:6-7) Our redemption at the cross and the gift of the Holy Spirit represents basic New Testament truth. Religious rituals and honored traditions have no innate power for us to receive or to share God's love. The Spirit takes residence in us, speaks to us, and we become more like Jesus. God reaps a harvest of the Spirit as we accept his love, joy, peace, long suffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness and temperance. (Galatians 5:22) This lifestyle and Christ's nature in us reveal the law's inability to direct our paths and to constrain our inclinations to sin. In the church triumphant, righteousness reigns and we seek to do good, feel bad when we fail, yet know we are lavished with grace.

If our lives produce bitter or rotten fruit: sexual immorality, impurity and debauchery; idolatry and witchcraft; hatred, discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, dissensions, factions and envy; drunkenness, orgies, and the like, we are not worshipping God in spirit or truth. Duplicitousness, angry, and negative choices betray our commitment to Christ. Allowing bitterness and wrath to control our souls, makes us slip back into old habits. We feel ashamed, embarrassed, outside of God's fold. But the cross made new life possible: Christ arose and conquered the world, the flesh, and the devil. Embrace the resurrection power of the Spirit, and your tendency to follow our own way will change. God's forgiveness and restoration are your inheritance. We all need the cross to go deeper into our lives. People will see Christ in us: our hope, our everything. We may fall into old habits and bad behavior; yet in our struggles, we hear the good news. We are created anew in Christ and proclaim his truth. We worship our loving Father and walk in victory through Christ our Lord. Blessed be his holy name!

John 4:10-14

John 4:10-14 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.” “Sir,” the woman said, “you have nothing to draw with and the well is deep. Where can you get this living water? 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?” Jesus answered, “Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again, 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.”

John 6:53-59 Jesus said to them, “I tell you the truth, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you. Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day. For my flesh is real food and my blood is real drink. Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood remains in me, and I in him. Just as the living Father sent me and I live because of the Father, so the one who feeds on me will live because of me. This is the bread that came down from heaven. Your forefathers ate manna and died, but he who feeds on this bread will live forever.” He said this while teaching in the synagogue in Capernaum.

In our current story, Jesus arrives at a well to offer a woman living water that she might never thirst again. Such crazy talk made her question the one offering this gift: Why did he not have a container to draw from the well? Where could she find this magical water that satisfied so fully and unendingly? Did He think himself greater than Jacob? Reasonable questions given her lack of knowledge and experience with this man and her belief in the impossibility of such foolish, even crazy, ideas. We know that Jesus did not speak of earthly realities but of spiritual truths. As God in the flesh, Jesus was Messiah: the giver of hope and everlasting life. If the woman standing at his side would take a step of faith and trust, Jesus would free her from sin and death, satisfy her inner being, and offer her a peaceful existence without end. She would not thirst again!

Jesus Christ offered a SPRING OF LIFE welling up inside of the woman: if she would seek and accept this water, a fountain would flow out of her innermost being. She would believe in him as Lord and know him as Savior as she received the Spirit of God, the giver of all life. Believers in the cross and the resurrection possess this wonderful rushing river of life, the blessed Holy Spirit. As sure as we are IN Christ as his body, the Spirit dwells within to satisfy our souls and lead us in the paths of righteousness and away from all that distracts, defeats, and eventually destroys us if we refuse his guidance, comfort, and strength. God anoints his servants with the motivation, the strength, and the power to love, care, and serve as Jesus did. As we follow Messiah, we begin to wholeheartedly and unreservedly love and serve others as He did. To stand for him in the midst of a parched and thirsty land, we must accept and consume the water of life before we can give water to the thirsty souls around us.

Recognizing Christ's divinity, the Samaritan woman returned to her village with hope for the redemption of her people. If they followed Jesus after his death, burial, and resurrection, rivers of living water would rise up within them and overflow. Jesus said, Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day. As with New Testament believers, we who accept Christ's finished work at the cross, those who partake of his broken body and shed blood, must forsake our old watering places and the empty sustenance of this world. Jesus paid the price: his resurrection ensured our freedom from sin and eternal life with him. The Samaritan woman accepted the possibility of a new reality when she saw Jesus as Messiah, giver of all good things. Recognizing she lacked a full revelation of his calling and purpose, Jesus knew she would need to embrace God's salvation plan. Yet Messiah came to her that day, just as He comes daily to the emptiness of our lives, saying: Drink deeply from the spring of life. I will hold you, heal you, protect you and take you home with me to the Father's house. Let me satisfy your soul: you will never thirst again!

Perhaps you are at an empty well today: thirsty, dry as bones, knowing that the muddy pools you now frequent offer no fresh water, no lasting satisfaction. You worry about not having Christmas gifts or you rush around to catch the final big sales, knowing in your heart things will not satisfy the longings of your soul or meet the needs of others. Yet Jesus comes to you and waits by your side to fill you with resurrection life that transcends the emptiness and limitations of the best this world offers. As Savior and Lord of all, only Christ offers this marvelous GIFT: unending love, lasting peace, unspeakable joy, and resurrection power to arise with him into heavenly places. No amount of good works, no self-emulation or striving for contentment and greatness, no amount of seeking truth and meaning in all the wrong places will ever provide the inheritance Jesus freely offers to you this day. Jesus Messiah says: Come!

John 4:1-9

John 4:1-9 The Pharisees heard that Jesus was gaining and baptizing more disciples than John, although in fact it was not Jesus who baptized, but his disciples. When the Lord learned of this, he left Judea and went back once more to Galilee. Now he had to go through Samaria. So he came to a town in Samaria called Sychar, near the plot of ground Jacob had given to his son Joseph. Jacob’s well was there, and Jesus, tired as he was from the journey, sat down by the well. It was about the sixth hour. When a Samaritan woman came to draw water, Jesus said to her, “Will you give me a drink?” (His disciples had gone into the town to buy food.) The Samaritan woman said to him, “You are a Jew and I am a Samaritan woman. How can you ask me for a drink?” (For Jews do not associate with Samaritans.)

Jesus walked through Samaria to save souls. Most Jews traveling from Judea avoided Samaria on their way to Galilee due to their belief in the uncleanness of the Samaritans. The Jews viewed the Samaritans as cultish because of the small differences between the Samaritan Pentateuch and the Jewish Pentateuch. They deemed them unrighteous and contemptible since the Samaritans' religious practices were not identical to the Jewish observances. For the rabbi Jesus to pass through Samaria would have seemed unusual to his companions. His action of speaking to a Samaritan woman would have appeared more strange and even suspect. But the Father led Jesus there to talk to this needy woman who had lived with five husbands. He spoke to her of living water, revealing himself as the giver of this water, from the fountain of eternal life. His divine discernment and holy actions identified him as Messiah, the long-anticipated Savior of the Jewish nation. Although Jesus stepped out of the appropriate cultural and religious confines for a law-abiding Jewish man, He did not merely take a shortcut to Galilee. The Spirit guided him there to reveal God's love and compassion for the hated Samaritans, considered as untouchables by all Jews in right standing, unworthy to know or to be known by God.

Jesus Messiah came, offering himself to God's chosen ones as well as the untouchables of the world. He came for the sick, the broken, the hurting, the doubters, the troubled, and even the ornery, the hateful, and the rebellious ones. God sent his Son for all humankind from those in highest standing to the lowliest of all. In another remarkable aspect of the story, we see Jesus at the well in his weakness as a fleshly man: Jesus, tired as he was from the journey, sat down by the well. In our weakness and fatigue from life's journey, we tend to avoid the troubled and the hurting people around us, those who very well might take more energy from us than we want to give. Instead, we minister to the healthy and the strong ones in our sphere of influence, those with only one mate and fairly orderly lives, people who might reciprocate our loving concern with positive communications and actions. Did Jesus come for such a mission and did He ask us to lay down our lives for those who are strong and well, with no need for a physician? He said the strong can care for themselves, but the sick, the poor, the hurting, and the dying need assistance, a helping hand and a loving friend. The Samaritan woman and her village needed deliverance from bondage, salvation from sin. God passed by in the form of Jesus the Son who walked this earth to share mercy and grace. The righteous ones in Israel, the healthy Jews had avoided this village, avoided interaction, and would not have dreamed of helping these rejected people, but God always comes to the needy, the helpless, the lost. Cod calls believers to follow the same path, to answer the call.

We know from scripture that a servant is not greater than his master: we are not greater than our Savior and Lord. We should allow the Holy Spirit within to help us follow Christ in all our thoughts, in all our ways. As Christ served, gave of himself, and ministered hope to a dying world; so should we serve, give, and try to meet the needs of those without hope in the natural. We remain the visible body of Christ on Earth: his visage, his hands and feet, his holy presence, should be seen in us. When we so easily justify the avoidance of our most contrary friends and relatives in this Christmas season, we openly choose to pass by Samaria. When we decide not to provide for the poor, not to aid hurting, the rebellious, and the needy in our little world, we decide to pass by those God loves and came to touch with healing, compassion, and grace. When we ignore our mission and travel on in our journey, the Christ in us and with us literally ignores the needs and passes by. No, as with Jesus that day, we do not HAVE TO journey through Samaria. We can avoid contact with the despised and contaminated ones; but God gave us legs, hands, and hearts. He empowered us with enough strength and love to reflect him and bring the "good news" of his favor to the unloveable and the unredeemed.

As the Spirit led Jesus to Samaria, He will lead you where God has called you as you listen to his voice and answer his call. Just as many in that village found salvation that day because Jesus stopped to converse with the Samaritan woman and to offer life: when we have an ear to hear and a heart to love, the Holy Spirit of God will lead us to those sitting alone in darkness who need to hear our voice and receive the light we have from God. He may call us to a "village" full of hopelessness and defeated ones, to friends or relatives in depression, dysfunction, and total darkness, but lead us He will when we say yes instead of no. Jesus brought joy and life to that woman and that village. Will we share this inexpressible joy and the living water with the defeated and the thirsty? If so, we must go through Samaria, led by the Spirit, and willing to travel where He leads. God bless you all on this amazing journey of faith.

John 3:35-36

John 3:35-36 The Father loves the Son and has placed everything in his hands. Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life, but whoever rejects the Son will not see life, for God’s wrath remains on him.

Good morning, breakfast club friends and family. Dad is on an early morning run to watch granddaughter Jaeda and grandson Jesiah and to get them on their separate journeys: Jesiah to early band practice and Jaeda to the bus or to school on time. When he sometimes mentions the challenges involved, I think of all the years I performed those duties for our five kids, often during times of duress and physical limitations. He has learned a lot as Papa/nanny to our grandkids over the past years since this old Grammy does not do the early shift or even the later shifts of child care as well as she used to. But God is in it all; and through it all, we learn trust, faith, and obedience. Even a 70-year-old grandpa learns as he follows hard after God, doing new things by faith, and giving of himself when it costs a lot and demands his best.

The two verses above from yesterday's passage stuck with me through the day and the night, both of which are hard from me just now with some ongoing and worsening neurological symptoms and a brain drain. I have been dwelling so much once again on who we are in Christ and who He is in us. As Christians, our belief in Jesus that He is indeed the Son of God, the giver of life, and our all in all gives us amazing hope, peace and joy in any and all situations. Because Christ came, died, and rose from the grave, we live also in newness of life by faith. So many times I see and hear young and even seasoned believers struggle with who they are, their faults and failings, their doubts and uncertainties, their inability to do what they want or know Christ wants from them.

The only hope of victory we have is in Jesus: his death, burial, and resurrection through the power of the Holy Spirit who now dwells in every believer. We have to know and believe the Word. We have to see that we are human, but we are fleshly beings who have been crucified with Christ and raised in newness of life in him. In just the past few weeks and days, I too have wondered how the dance of life with Jesus my Lord, my everything, will continue given this new stage, these new dimensions that are out of my control and that may worsen rather than improve outside of a mighty miracle (which I and others pray for daily). Who am I when my worth is not in my strength to do good, to walk uprightly and powerfully in Christ, going here and there as He wills, listening to him and trying to obey his voice? Who am I when I need the safety of a push cart/walker surrounding me to keep from falling down? Who am I when my brain sends me confusing messages and I must continually sub-vocalize what I want to say, in hopes that it comes out clear and sensical? Who am I when all that i ever was and hoped to be, the me I thought God wanted me to be is no longer a reality and perhaps no longer a possibility?

I am Jacqueline Bursch, child of God, born of the Spirit, redeemed of God, daughter of the King, overcomer through the power of the cross. I am a dreamer of dreams, a warrior in prayer and believing against all odds for every adopted daughter and son God has sent our way. I am hid with Christ in God. Nothing and no one can change that: neither defeats nor calamities, sickness or even death itself. I am alive because He's alive in me. That is my inheritance, my privileged standing in God's family of faith. I will not forget that, not ever. Neither should you, dearly beloved of God and of Dad's and my heart. Neither should you!

John 3:31-36

John 3:31-36 “The one who comes from above is above all; the one who is from the earth belongs to the earth, and speaks as one from the earth. The one who comes from heaven is above all. He testifies to what he has seen and heard, but no one accepts his testimony. The man who has accepted it has certified that God is truthful. For the one whom God has sent speaks the words of God, for God gives the Spirit without limit. The Father loves the Son and has placed everything in his hands. Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life, but whoever rejects the Son will not see life, for God’s wrath remains on him.”

As we grow in grace and the knowledge of the Lord, the Spirit's voice resonates and resounds from us. U

nder the unction of the Holy Spirit,

New Testament writers, including John, gave us many wonderful passages confirming that w

hoever believes in the Son has eternal life. Sitting around this breakfast table, we rest in the assurance that because of the cross and the resurrection we are secure in God's family

: WE ARE IN CHRIST AND HE IS IN US. As saints of God, joint heirs with Christ, we stand perfect in the eyes of God without spot or blemish. Yet many of us fail to believe this consistently, thinking we can prove our worth or that we lose our right standing when we make mistakes. If you struggle with your position of grace this morning, go back to the scriptures, seeking the truth of John's proclamations and the good news that Jesus came with the fulness of God in him. He said,

Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father. (John 14:9)

When we accept Jesus, we meet the image of the Godhead, the maker of the trillions of stars in the universe, the Alpha and Omega to all that exists. Intimacy with God reveals his heart to us and in us as we love as He loves, abhorring evil and seeking goodness and mercy. We visit or help the orphans, the shut-ins, the widows, the broken and poor in spirit. Our hearts break with God's over mankind's violent nature: the fighting, abuse, selfishness, and despair. We mourn as He mourns over broken covenants and promises between husbands and wives, parents and children, friends with friends. We embrace his everlasting love for all, even for our accusers or enemies. We are not merely Christian in name but in Spirit as well.

Today's passage also says when we reject Jesus as God's Son of the Promise, we will not know God nor see life. No matter how good our hearts appear outwardly or how perfect our actions seem to us, outside of Christ, we will experience the wrath of God. Born in sin from Adam's seed, our hearts deceive us and our old nature reveals its selfish and sometimes evil thoughts and actions. No matter how many "good" deeds we perform, our image is not of God, but of self, the self that turns away from Jesus and says, "I can do this myself, my way." This Adamic nature may even try to do right, but remains diametrically opposed to serving God alone as part of his family, reluctant to know and to serve him as ABBA FATHER, Lord of all.

Jesus prayed for the Father's will on Earth as it is in heaven. The spirit of sinful mankind rules this world, producing violence, calamity, sickness, destruction, abuse, neglect, selfishness, pain, hatred, and the like. The environment of the old man Adam surrounds us and inundates us with wrong thoughts and behaviors. In this dark milieu, we sometimes fail to hear the Spirit and others see us acting according to our former life outside of Christ. God wants us to identify with his Son Jesus that we might reflect his light and love. Paul said we should no longer conform to this world, no longer allow sin to have power and control over us. As new creatures in Christ, we step onto a new stage, with a new role. We use Christ's script, love as He loved, care as He cared, give as He gave, speak as He spoke. And when we lose track of our lines, our place in the play, we get up quickly and function as his ambassadors, perfect because we are new creatures IN CHRIST.

We are alive because Christ is alive in us, and because God gives his Spirit to all without limits. We have power and authority to do God's will, to speak his life-giving message, and to proclaim the year of the Lord to those in darkness. In Christ, we live resurrection life now and forevermore. When as humans, we fall short or fail, we rise again in faith believing that the salvation work of Christ and the power of the Spirit remains with us, and forgiveness and help remain our inheritance. Jesus said,

He who has ears, let him hear. (Matthew 11:15)

When we were born again and raised incorruptible, God gives us spiritual ears to hear and eyes to see. As we step out in faith, his voice guides us and opens our eyes to the needs around us. He speaks to us in our inward thoughts and outwardly through the Word and other believers. Listen carefully for his words, and you will see your place in his family and embrace the truth that He will never leave you. God loves you with an everlasting love, and He will make the crooked places straight and the rough places smooth as you WALK IN HIM. Praise the living God, creator of all that is, and lover of his dear children. Love, Dad (Cliff)

John 3:22-30

John 3:22-30 After this, Jesus and his disciples went out into the Judean countryside, where he spent some time with them, and baptized. Now John also was baptizing at Aenon near Salim, because there was plenty of water, and people were constantly coming to be baptized. (This was before John was put in prison.) An argument developed between some of John’s disciples and a certain Jew over the matter of ceremonial washing. They came to John and said to him, “Rabbi, that man who was with you on the other side of the Jordan — the one you testified about — well, he is baptizing, and everyone is going to him.” To this John replied, “A man can receive only what is given him from heaven. You yourselves can testify that I said, ‘I am not the Christ but am sent ahead of him.’ The bride belongs to the bridegroom. The friend who attends the bridegroom waits and listens for him, and is full of joy when he hears the bridegroom’s voice. That joy is mine, and it is now complete. He must become greater; I must become less.

John's heart overflowed with joy because he heard the voice of Jesus, the bridegroom, a voice he knew originated from heaven. John had baptized Jesus in water that he might fulfill his mission to mankind as Messiah and Lord. John recognized Jesus and understood his own divine assignment to prepare the way of the Lord. Do you know your role, your mission from heaven? Having met the Messiah, do you rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of glory? (1 Peter 1:8 KJV) If we cannot answer these questions in the affirmative, we will wander in doubt and unbelief, waiting for the next mission, the next role, the next Messiah, hoping to find fulfillment and joy. Oftentimes, we act like the children on the side of the road that Jesus describes: To what, then, can I compare the people of this generation? What are they like? They are like children sitting in the marketplace and calling out to each other: “We played the flute for you, and you did not dance; we sang a dirge, and you did not cry." (Luke 7:31-32) Nothing much touches us inside, rather than rejoicing in the Lord daily, we wait for the next event, the next cure, the next revival, or even the next disaster. Our eyes are not fixed on our Lord.

As born-again children of God, we do not come to the wedding as friends of the bridegroom: we are the bride. Such a reality should make us sing and dance in joy with the bridegroom; instead, many of us sit on the sidelines, awaiting some exciting or titillating event in our lives to give us a spirit of praise and rejoicing. I lived in southeast Auburn for many years with a huge cedar tree in the backyard leaning toward my house. When the winds blew, this tree creaked and groaned, convincing me of imminent disaster. Anxiety over that tree falling on my house or the neighbor's house plagued me, yet the high price tag of over a thousand dollars for its removal from our small back yard prevented me from having it cut down. With five kids and a teacher's income, I just did not believe I had that kind of money to spend on a tree.

How then should I have lived? I should have done what my wife said and either borrow money to have the tree removed or trust God to keep that old cedar standing as it had for so many years. Many of us have a cedar in our backyard that leans toward the house, and we are without finances to take it down. How should we live daily? Do we live in fear, anxiety, and unbelief, hoping for a solution somewhere down the road, or do we face our problems now with faith and trust in the Lord who abides with us in the moment, ready to help us? John's words provide the answer to our questions: That joy is mine, and it is now complete. We should live in the peace and joy of Christ's presence right now, on this day with whatever it holds. Joy and confidence in the Lord should encompass and define each of our days. In it all, through it all, and in spite of it all, we overcome through Christ our Lord. He paid the price and the price He paid was enough for everything, even that which you and I find insurmountable--the huge cedar in the back yard. I struggle daily to make John's words of faith, my words, my mantra. Sometimes I fail miserably, but the Spirit of God constantly reminds me, "I am here, I am with you, and I will not forsake you." As a weak human, I still think I can add to or improve my life by worrying. Surprise! This never works. Can all your worries add a single moment to your life? Of course not. (Matthew 6:27 NLT) The Spirit reminds us that as Jesus placed his confidence in the FATHER, so should we. As the born again who will live forever, we have hope, peace, and joy now and for eternity.

Some of you might say, "I am not worrying about anything bad happening; neither am I waiting for an event to fulfill my joy." Yet other situations in your life may get in the way of complete joy. Maybe to have true contentment, you think you must lose that next ten pounds, or your spouse needs to treat you better, or you need that the raise the boss has been promising. Maybe you require a better place to live, more financial security, better health, better kids, better friends. . . The maybe list has no end. But John heard the Spirit of God say, "This is my son, listen to him." He could testify, "I have met the Lord and my joy is complete. Today, I place my entire life in his hands, for my Redeemer has come to me." When we begin to embrace this truth in our lives, we will know that we are IN CHRIST and He is in us. The light of heaven, the Bright and Morning Star has come to shine upon us, to live in us. Quit waiting for a new revelation, a big event, a change in your circumstances: live now! Find your place in the body of Christ, work for him with joy, and God will give you the riches of his glory as your soul prospers. He loves you with an everlasting love. This is my daily challenge, is it yours?