"Is the Lord Among Us or Not?"
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March 11th, 2023
"Is the Lord Among Us or Not?"
Gospel Lesson: John 4: 5-42
Read a little ahead and read a little after.
A lot of stuff in the message:
Jesus goes to Samaria- meets the woman at the well. Read: John 4: 1-5
Jesus is all knowing and all powerful- He "had" to pass threw Samaria.
we know the classic story of the "Good Samarian"
We have to remember that the Jews and the Samaritans HATE each other. THe Jews believe you have to go to the synagogue to pray to God [our same god]. Samaritans come to a tribe.
Jews do not Like to intermingle with anyone other than Jews. Jewish people would avoid Samaria, if they needed to. They would go around. Jesus chose to go threw Samaria.
Jesus is making something happen going into Samaria. We can see that as he goes in he talks to the woman at the well- he is all knowing, he knows who he is talking to. The woman was considered to be "Promiscuous."
When we think about this passage, we need to think about this with an open mind. WOMEN WERE NOT EQUAL TO MEN at this time. She could have had many circumstances to have her be in the situation she is in. A woman CANNOT divorce her husband. The Husband on the other hand could divorce you for whatever reason you wanted. Women had no choice. If she couldn't bear children, she could be divorced with, because big families were preferred.
Jesus comes up to this woman and starts talking to her about water and she is kind. "The water I give you is living water" so she will never be thirsty again. She now has this relationship with Jesus.
Go back to last week, Faith and Works. Nicodemus vs. The woman at the well. Let's think about this. Nicodemus is visited by Jesus at Night- So it is a secret. JESUS visits the woman in the middle of the day. NOW, Jesus has this repore with the woman.
The woman wanted to be born again.
If we don't hear what we want to hear, it is easier to say, "I don't understand" and walk away. The woman at the well didn't do this, she shared what happened to her.
Exodus 17: 7-- "The Lord Saying, "Is the Lord among us or not?"
[Let us not be too hasty in condemning the Israelites for their faithlessness, for if we examine ourselves honestly, we, too, may discover we are of little faith. How often do we doubt the goodness of God in times of difficulty? How often do we question the faithfulness of God when troubles arise? And let us not feel superior to the grumbling Israelites by saying, “If I had seen the parting of a sea or tasted bread from heaven, I could never doubt God.” We have the infallible Scriptures in their entirety to instruct and encourage us, the indwelling of the Holy Spirit to comfort and guide us, and a long history of blessings to remind us that God has, is, and will always be faithful. Yet we still doubt God at times.
When faced with needs, we are to “ask, seek, and knock” (Matthew 7:7). Jesus did not say we are to “grumble, complain, and whine.” It is interesting to note that Massah, the name given to the place where the Israelites provoked God, means “trial” or “temptation,” for the people tested the Lord rather than trusting in Him. Moses also called the place Meribah, which means “strife.” May our steadfast faith in the Lord keep us from pitching our tents in Massah and Meribah.]
Reference: What is the significance of Massah in the Bible? | GotQuestions.org
https://www.gotquestions.org/Massah-in-the-Bible.html
Samaritans Vs. Jews had another issue.
Where they worshiped. This divide has been going on forever.
***Samaritans are like us, They worship other Gods, but pray to our God. Think of money- it is like a God for us. *** look at verse 19->26
John 3:16
Today's message is about how these dinominations in our Faith separate us from God and our faith amd our good works.
It doesn't matter what denomination you follow, our FAITH is the same and we are brothers and sisters in that faith.