Prayer and Praise.

Jesus said, “Couldn’t you men keep watch with me for one hour?” Matthew 26:40, so we start our journey of giving God time to work in us, by praying this hymn…

He Lives! He Lives! (I Serve A Risen Saviour)

A Word in your ear. 

John 4:15-26 The Samaritan Woman (Part2); The Messiah. 

(Acknowledgements to the Complete Jewish Bible). 

15 “Sir, give me this water,” the woman said to him, “so that I won’t have to be thirsty and keep coming here to draw water.” 

The woman was still not quite up to speed with the spiritual dimension of what Jesus was saying, but she wanted to know more… 

16 He said to her, “Go, call your husband, and come back.” 

Jesus tested her genuineness…

17 She answered, “I don’t have a husband.” 

She was honest. She didn’t pretend to be anything other than what she was. Jesus takes us as we are, and takes us to where we need to be. 

Yeshua (Jesus) said to her, “You’re right, you don’t have a husband! 

18 You’ve had five husbands in the past, and you’re not married to the man you’re living with now! You’ve spoken the truth!”

Jesus appreciated her honesty. He already knew all about her. 

19 “Sir, I can see that you are a prophet,” the woman replied. 

20 “Our fathers worshipped on this mountain, but you people say that the place where one has to worship is in Yerushalayim (Jerusalem).” 

Again the woman tried to deflect the conversation away from getting spiritual and personal It is as if she is saying, ‘Each to his own. Jews have their temple in Jerusalem and we worship at that mountain over there’.

21 Yeshua (Jesus) said, “Lady, believe me, the time is coming when you will worship the Father neither on this mountain nor in Yerushalayim (Jerusalem). 

Jewish worship is based on knowledge. Jesus answered by pointing her to God the Father. He is saying, never mind worship location, location, location. That’s all about to change. 

22 You people don’t know what you are worshipping; we worship what we do know, because salvation comes from the Jews. 

This is where the now-famous verse comes from, ‘Salvation is from the Jews.’ And so it came about, just as prophecied. 

23 But the time is coming — indeed, it’s here now — when the true worshippers will worship the Father spiritually and truly, for these are the kind of people the Father wants worshipping him. 

What God wants is for us to worship from the heart as well as the head. Their worship was not based on knowledge. Soon and very soon, people will worship from their heart, based on knowledge. Head and heart together. 

24 God is spirit; and worshippers must worship him spiritually and truly.”

The only worship that is acceptable is worship that is spiritual. 

25 The woman replied, “I know that Mashiach (Messiah) is coming” (that is, “the one who has been anointed”). “When he comes, he will tell us everything.” 

Again the woman tries to change the subject! ‘Well, we’ll worry about that when the time comes…!’

26 Yeshua said to her, “I, the person speaking to you, am he.”

—-Summary

Then the ‘double whammy’ of Jesus saying:- ‘I (the person speaking to you) Am He.’ 

This admission by Jesus is before the event at Caesarea Philippi, where Peter announces, ‘You are the Christ, the Son of the living God’. (Matt. 16:13ff & Mark 8:27ff). 

Continues next time with part 3. 

Worship and Prayer. 

“… He went up on a mountainside by himself to pray.” Matthew 14:23. 

Jesus taught His disciples what we call ‘The Lord’s Prayer’; (Luke 11).

Listen here to Albert Malotte’s ‘The Lord’s Prayer’. 

Suggestions;-

Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy Name, 

thy kingdom come, thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. 

Give us this day our daily bread. 

And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors. 

And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. 

For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, forever;- Amen.

1. The world. (ie ‘For those in authority.’)
2. The ‘suffering church.’ https://barnabasfund.org/nz/pray/daily-prayer/#previous-dates
3. Your own situation. (Suggest ‘needs’ rather than ‘wants’.

Today’s verse

John 4:25 The woman replied, “I know that Mashiach (Messiah) is coming” (that is, “the one who has been anointed”). “When he comes, he will tell us everything.”  26 Yeshua (Jesus) said to her, “I, the person speaking to you, am he.”

Today’s Challenge

These stories John is choosing show that even where each person only met Jesus on one occasion – they believed. 

We are able to read all the stories and yet only have a fraction of the faith of those who met Jesus once and were transformed. 

James 1:22-24 says;- ‘Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says. 23 Anyone who listens to the word but does not do what it says is like someone who looks at his face in a mirror 24 and, after looking at himself, goes away and immediately forgets what he looks like.’

Jesus said;- “…when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on the earth?” (Luke 18:8). 

When Jesus comes, what will be said of your faith?