Sermon
The Woman At the Well - Brett Hickey 10/29/06
Publisher transcript
Transcript
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Hope you have a Bible nearby and and you can follow along with us
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as we read a little bit about our Lord and get to know a
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little bit more about him in John, chapter 4, if you want to
John 4 chapter mention
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go to one of the gospels and he want to learn about Jesus,
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there's no more. There's no better place to go
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than the Book of John and that's where our message will be taken
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this morning. And my studies through the Book
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of John on the last year or two. I noticed something that I
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hadn't caught before, and I don't think it's an accident and
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how these things come together and where they come together.
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But whether or not it was intended or not, we can
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certainly take note of the fact that Jesus connected with both
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the very highest and the Very lowest of society.
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In John chapter 3, when no doubt Jesus was exhausted from another
John 3 chapter mention
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very busy day, we find him. Discussing the kingdom, with
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Nicodemus, Nicodemus, was a wealthy powerful prestigious
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intelligent educated, and morally and religiously
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respected, man. Among the highest in the land,
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this man Nicodemus was Yet. Jesus did not write him off.
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He spoke with him about the beauties of God's love and the
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coming Kingdom. And then we come to chapter 4
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and we meet a character who is everything that Nicodemus was
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not. Let's notice some of the
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comparisons between the two, some of, the contrast Nicodemus
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was a man, and the woman from Samaritan, of course, was a
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woman. He was a Jew.
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She was a Samaritan. He was a person of influence.
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She was a nobody, he worshipped at the right place.
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She worshipped and the wrong place.
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He belonged to the religious right of the day.
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She was a religious Outcast. He was morally pure and she was
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spiritually destitute. They were both miles away from
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where they needed to be, but they were in totally different
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directions, yet Jesus in his love and Concern for both of
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them. We see is equally great to
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Jesus. They were both sheep without a
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shepherd and all he longed to take both of them into his fold.
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It's particularly fascinating to me how naturally he connected
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with a Samaritan woman. Let's see.
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How from the story that John relays to us how the story
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unfolds? And the great love of Jesus, I
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love that we should be striving to emulate in our lives.
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In this little story we find that Jesus the model Soul winner
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shows the rest of us and reaching out to the lost that
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barriers can be overcome. We see this with with nearly
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everyone, we meet there are some kinds of barriers between us and
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between them as we try to lead them to Jesus.
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We can overcome those barriers just like Jesus.
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Did Jesus overcame racial barriers?
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He overcame gender barriers, he overcame me National barriers,
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religious barriers, more barriers and physical barriers.
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The physical barrier in this story is that he had to have
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been. After this lengthy Journey
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exhausted, he overcame these barriers to win this woman's
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heart and soul, how did he do it?
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Well, with all their differences, he found Common
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Ground. He found that they both needed.
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Something, they both needed water.
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They were both thirsty. We find that Paul.
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Uses this same idea approach in First Corinthians 9 verse 19,
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through 23. I am become all things to all
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men. That I might save some.
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Well, Jesus deplored the state of the Samaritan woman.
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She was not where she should be. He knew that and he wanted to
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change that but it didn't come right off the bat and just start
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slapping her around. Like, sometimes Christians, do
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not thinking about, what if I was where she is, or what if I
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was where he is, we fail to do that.
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Sometimes Jesus wasn't like that.
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I thought things through he used Common Sense, the Bible teaches
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and in First Timothy second Timothy 3:16 that all scripture
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is given by inspiration of God and is profitable every single
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word in the Bible is beneficial. The Holy Spirit.
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Never waste words. He had at first glance verse 3
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and 4 as we read in our texts seem to be of no moment seemed
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to hold no great significance. But beneath the surface, their
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significance, swell Wells. Let's read first.
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John John 4 verses 1 through 4 therefore, when the Lord knew
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that the Pharisees had heard that Jesus made and baptized
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more disciples than John, although Jesus himself did not
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baptize but his disciples. He left Judea and departed again
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to Galilee but he needed to go through Samaria.
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Verse three and four, what possible significance, could
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these two verses have he's going to make the trip to Galilee.
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But what of what importance is it that he passes through sychar
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and Samaria on his way to Galilee, well, The Jews despised
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hated really, the Samaritans that lived in this region right
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here. And when they would ordinarily,
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make a trip from Judah to Galilee, instead of going the
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shortest route, they would go across the Jordan River, go all
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the way around and then come into Galilee.
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Why they hated them. They despise them so much.
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They didn't want to be around them.
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They didn't want to see them and they didn't want to be defiled
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by passing through their country, their region.
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The Bible says he needed to go through Samaria.
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Why the 70 mile journey to Galilee through Samaria took
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three days on foot, but most Jews would take the long hot
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desert road from Jerusalem to Jericho up the Jordan Valley
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which took seven days an extra four days.
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They would go because their religious and racial disdain for
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the Samaritans. This area.
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Samaria today is referred to that was Menachem, begin, I
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believe. Who first began referred to it
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as the West Bank. They stayed away from that area.
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another reason, why People may not have always traveled that
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way, was because they were concerned for their personal
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safety. This was a dangerous, right.
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We have find also in verse 9 as John narrates, the story, the
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Jews have no dealings with the Samaritans.
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Why was that? Let me give you the fastbacks on
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the samiri situation and Sumerian with the Samaritan.
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On this is important. I think it's interesting as well
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as valuable for us to know this, the children of Israel.
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That's the northern 10 tribes committed idolatry and worship
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the gods of other nations. So, God as a punishment to them,
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just like, he'd warn them Cynthia, syrians which came from
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the area where modern day Iraq, Iran and Syria are low and Syria
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are located. He sent these people to take the
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Israelites of Samaria. Captive, read about this in
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second Kings, chapter 17, is about 750 years before Jesus met
2 Kings 17 chapter mention
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this woman. And in Samaria.
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Well, the Assyrians settled into this region.
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And after the Captivity, and these people, the Israelites
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were allowed to go back. They returned to Samaria.
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And now they settled in and intermingled and intermarried
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with the Sumerian, the Samaritans, or with the
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Assyrians and they gained the name of being the Samaritans.
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And then though, as time walk rolled on, they decided that
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they wanted to help. Those that Judah build the
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temple in Jerusalem. Well, this offer was flatly
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refused and as a result of that, they became bitter enemies and
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they built their own temple on Mount gerizim, which was right
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here, was right the same place. In fact, when Jesus is talking
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to the woman at the well, he's just right at the foot of this
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mountain, where these people for also long had worshiped and
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worshipped in error because God said that was not where you were
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to worship. Well.
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When their temple on the mountain was destroyed, they
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still directed their worship to mount.
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Good reason, the Samaritans were guilty of open religious
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apostasy now, they pretended, like many people today, do and
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Christianity. Well, it just doesn't really
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matter that much where you worship as long as you worship.
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But they were wrong. In evaluating their situation
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that way they pretended that those in Jerusalem.
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Now they are the ones who had digressed.
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And in doing so they rejected all of the Old Testament books
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except the first five books. They said those other books,
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those aren't really God's word that was part of the arrogance
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of the, the tribes that were located in Samaritan Samaria.
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Now less, you get the wrong impression.
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The southern tribes were not as pure as the driven snow either.
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They were all so disobedient rebellious.
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It seems like they were just a few steps behind the Samaritans
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in their wickedness. And in their idolatry.
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But at least they did worship at the right place over time.
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The Samaritans were further alienated from the Jews as they
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intermingled. And as they intermarried with
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the Assyrians, we don't usually give the historical background
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as we look at this story, but I think it helps us and
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understanding why the Jews? And the Samaritans were such
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bitter enemies. And why it was such a big deal
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that Jesus would go through. In this region.
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I hate this also helps us to understand what a slam it was.
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When the Jews said of Jesus, in John 8 48, do we not rightly say
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that you are a Samaritan and have a demon that was a racial
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slur. Had a had a had a horrible
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intention behind it. And what they were trying to say
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about G is worse than any of the ones that you might here today.
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So why did Jesus need to go the shorter?
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The shorter Passage Through Samaria.
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Maybe it was partially because of the journey.
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Jesus didn't have time to waste that four days.
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Why waste the four days by going around, was it?
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Because he did not share the general, Jewish hatred for the
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Samaritans. Possibly, he certainly deals
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with that head on in the story of the Good Samaritan, but I'm
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convinced. The main reason that he wanted
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to spend those extra days. Save those extra days by going
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the shorter route through Samaria.
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Was because he wanted to begin some, that wouldn't take really
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take place till ax8 some 15 or so years later.
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He wanted to begin to turn Samaria upside down, and he
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wanted to start with this immoral woman who carried around
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a chip on her shoulder. Let's read verse five and six.
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So, we came to a city of Samaria, which is called sychar
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near the plot of ground that Jacob gave to his son.
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Joseph. Now Jacob's, Well, was there,
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Jesus, therefore being wearied from his journey sat thus, by
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the well, it was about the sixth hour.
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Again, now sychar was right on a line about halfway between
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Jerusalem and Galilee. Jesus had been traveling about a
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day and a half now so it was probably A noontime and he was
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worn out. He was wiped out, he was
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exhausted and so he stopped to rest at Jacob's.
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Well, now Jacob's, Well, was and still is quite a historical
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place at this time when Jesus stop there, it had been in
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existence for 1800 years. It's still in existence, in
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fact, you can still visit this same spot what now which is
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2,000 years later almost 4,000 years.
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Der this well, was dug. Jaden McGarvey after visiting,
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the will. A hundred years ago, wrote
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Jacob's, Well is listen about 100 feet from Mount gerizim,
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which Rises high above it to the West.
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The whale is a perfect cylinder, seven and a half feet.
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In diameter wall with stones of good-sized smoothly, dress and
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nicely fitted together. An excellent piece of masonry.
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He says in 1839, it was found to be 75 feet deep the well but
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with only 10 to 12 feet of water, all visitors of more of a
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more recent date. Have found it dry and gradually
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filling up from the habit of throwing stones into it to hear
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the reverberation when they strike the bottom.
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I want to just stop here and make a point Jesus here.
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I believe was valuing good works.
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This well, had been here for 18 hundred years for 1800 years and
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now he stops and he's resting at the well and and satisfying his
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great thirst at the well, you know, there's really no telling
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how many people may benefit from the good works that you do.
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Certainly the Servants of Jacob that Doug that well 1800 years,
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before Jesus ended up. There had no idea that the
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Messiah some day would come and stop at that.
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Well, And quench their thirst right there.
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The Messiah himself, the Son of God, and you remember that your
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random acts of kindness your words of encouragement, your
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Good Works. May bless others that you may
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never even meet. We take a lot for granted.
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It's probably safe to assume that the Samaritan woman here.
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And the story is also thirsty, consider this, she had to walk
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out. This well, with a pot, a heavy
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pot and she had to carry at this time, a 70-foot long rope, just
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to get a little bit of water, no doubt.
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This would be part of what allows her to covet The Living
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Water. That Jesus is going to speak of
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in just a little while. Notice also that Jesus needed
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rest in 2nd Thessalonians 3 verse 10 through 15, the Bible
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teaches that the man who does not work.
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Work should not eat and that other Christians should not even
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associate with him. In first, Timothy 5, verse 8
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Paul says that this kind of man is worse than an Infidel worse
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than an unbeliever and while slothfulness and laziness is a
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serious sin, good and godly men and women have put themselves in
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a premature grave. Because they did not give their
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body their Temple, the Temple of the Holy Spirit, rather rest
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First Corinthians 6:19 and 20 teach that.
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So Jesus stops here to rats and he stops here to satisfy his
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thirst, verse 7 through 9. A woman of Samaria came to draw
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water. Jesus said to her, give me a
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drink. For his disciples had gone away
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into the city to buy food. Then the woman of Samaria said
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to him, how is it that you being a Jew?
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Ask a drink from me, a Samaritan woman.
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For Jews have no dealings with Samaritans.
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So DS is resting at the, well wise disciples have gone to town
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for food. Jesus asked her for a drink of
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water. Notice here, that Jesus spoke
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first. Jesus initiated this
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conversation. Sometimes we think that well as
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long as we just live a Christian, what Christian Life
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that that's all we have to do know, there are times when we
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need to initiate conversations. We don't wait for somebody else
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to talk to us. We initiate the contact.
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Jesus did teach in the synagogue and his public teaching was
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important, but Jesus was more than just a Sabbath morning.
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Teacher Jesus, just like Paul and the other Apostles and
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preachers and elders. And so on they taught publicly
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and from house to house, the church does not glorify God by
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adding to the New Testament pattern by embracing women
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preachers. First Corinthians Chapter 14
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verse 34 and 35 of you believe the Bible.
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You believe what I'm saying? It's a shame for a woman.
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Women to speak in the church nor does the church honor God by
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neglecting to teach from house to house.
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We heard teachers and we who are preachers will be judged, more
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strictly James 3, verse 1 says. And so while in the United
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States, the days of baptizing dozens during a gospel meeting
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have apparently passed. More than anytime.
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More than any generation in these United States.
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We must teach the lost as well as the faithful publicly and
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privately Jesus model that he did it right here.
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He took the time. I'm going to talk to this one
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woman. Yes, he talked to the multitudes
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on The Sermon, on the Mount but he's zeroed in from time to time
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on one particular individual and he initiated the conversation
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and he did that first of all by establishing a relationship a
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friendship. Once remember that, when we're
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working, Working to reach out and to save the lost.
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Well, a Samaritan woman was stunned.
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She was shocked, imagine that you were there.
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Imagine you were there watching. Imagine you were there.
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Listening somehow hidden behind some bushes, somewhere to
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experience this. You could see the facial
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expressions there, if Jesus clothing, didn't give it away
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his accent. Did she knew that this man was a
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Jew? Watches the story develops to
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see how her knowledge of and respect for Jesus grows.
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We find in verse 7. She speaks of him and not real
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positive. Way about him being a Jew by
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verse 11. She's saying sir when she speaks
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of him by verse 19, she speaks of him as a prophet.
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And then finally in verse 29 she's talking to him as the
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Christ, the Messiah. But first, she must have been
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thinking what a strange man and she says, in effect, Who do you
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think you are and what do you think you're doing?
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I think another element of Jesus wisdom here is seen in how well
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he was able to listen and how much he listened to this woman.
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If Jesus was going to limit this car conversation proportionally
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to who was right? And who knew what they were
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talking about. He wouldn't have let this woman
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get a word in edgewise. He just say not shush.
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You stop. And you listen to me and even
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though Jesus did initiate the conversation, we see Jesus
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listening Swift to hear James 1 verse 19 says, slow to speak,
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Swift to hear. We see that.
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It's interesting to me. I took the time to go down and
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and break down the conversation from verse 7, through verse 20,
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And did you know that they both spoke exactly 114 words a
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completely balanced conversation.
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He was going to turn the conversation but he allowed her
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to talk. He allowed her to express
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herself. She says though, how is it that
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you being a Jew? Has to drink from me, a
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Samaritan woman. She was really scolding him.
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I believe for violating the conventional cultural etiquette,
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you shouldn't be doing this mr. I know who you are.
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You need to know who you are, but Jesus wasn't deterred.
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Sometimes we give up too easily. Jesus wasn't like that.
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He wasn't deterred by the awkwardness.
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By what was perhaps an insult or brush off.
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He loved the Samaritans. Just like he loved the Jews.
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He loved the women. Just like he loved the men.
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He loved the Harvest just like he loved the holy ones.
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People who don't understand the Bible or the time, sometimes
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slander, the New Testament, they slander, Jesus.
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And Paul saying that all, or maybe from time to time, one of
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them were against women. That's not the case.
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Jesus elevated the woman and he and he spoke with and treated
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women better much better than the men of that day.
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I think it's important for us to know that as we here.
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Some of the things that we hear out in the world Jesus honored
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and value the six Mary's, their names are preserved as being the
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ones that were there right to the end when some of the men
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couldn't be counted on Jesus mother.
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Mary Magdalene. Mary, the wife of clopas, Mary
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and Martha, Joanna, Susanna solo me Dorcas Jesus, highly
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esteemed. These Godly women.
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Without putting them in the Pulpit like some think they have
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to do or without elevating them to a place of church leadership.
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The eldership, we can still do what Jesus did graciously today,
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and honor Godly women just like Jesus did without violating the
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New Testament teaching. We see the same a, the Apostle
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Paul that we saw in Jesus, he singles out Phoebe, and Romans
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16, not saying that she's some kind of a church.
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Vishal but he elevates her as a Godly woman.
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He singles her out just like he does Priscilla and try Fina and
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try fossa persis Rufus mother Lois Eunice and he did this and
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Jesus did this in a day when Jewish men often lived in
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harmony with the rabbis who taught that worm should not talk
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with a woman on the street, not even with his own wife and
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certainly not somebody else's wife because of the gossip of
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men. It was forbidden to give a
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woman, any greeting here. Jesus is.
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Talking not just to a woman but to a Samaritan woman.
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In fact, some of the synagogue's back in that day segregated, the
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women they had to sit behind a veil, some rabbis thought and
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taught that women should not even hear the law.
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Women were treated little better than a slave but not Jesus, and
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not the Apostle Paul, and not the New Testaments in meekness
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and humility Jesus continually condescended From the throne
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room of Heaven to a Manger in Bethlehem from the presence of
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the Father, the Holy Spirit, and the angels to the lepers
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Hypocrites, and the harness. Oh, what?
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Amazing savior. We have, he condescended down to
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me. And to you sometimes we thank
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well. We've got ourselves cleaned up.
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We're United States, we're Americans, and we know a lot,
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and we've seen a lot and we've done a lot, and we've got a lot.
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We feel pretty good about ourselves, but We're just
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Sinners. Those of us who have obeyed, the
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gospel or just Sinners. Who have been saved by the grace
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of God, because we've obeyed our Lord.
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He condescends to me. Oh, to be more like him to, not
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think that I'm better than any man or any other woman on the
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earth to treat them with as much respect every one of them.
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Has anybody else that I would that's the way Jesus is.
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We need to be more like that brothers and sisters.
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That's the way Jesus was and that's why he's going to get
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this woman and that's why he had such a tremendous effect and
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that's why Christianity has spread like it has verse 10,
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Jesus answered and said to her, if you knew the gift of God and
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who it is, who say C says to you give me a drink, you would have
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asked him and he would have given you living water.
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Jesus, did not let her impertinent criticism.
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Throw him off trap. Living Water I've got for you.
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Do you know who this is? How is Jesus able to keep his
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cool and not get distracted or disturbed by how she behaved and
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how she responded. I believe it was because he
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remained focused on her welfare and not on her words, he wasn't
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focused on his own Pride, or his own ego, he was focused on her.
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I've got to lead this woman to the father.
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I've got to bring her to God. He wasn't concerned about what
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what type of A foolish words. She might say he lost himself
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just about where we so many times.
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Have we lost our cool? Well, she didn't have a clue
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about this living water, but now with his patient persistence, he
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had her curious and her curiosity.
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Next led her to challenge his ability and his identity will
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get to that in just a minute. Let me quote from Bruce Milne
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here, he in his Harry gives us another thing for us to remember
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when it comes to evangelism, he's emphasizing Jesus
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compassion and sensitivity. I'm quoting through the entire
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conversation. Jesus deals with her as a person
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in her own right with her with their own unique history and
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special longings. She emerges in the account as a
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character with personal dignity because Jesus treats her as such
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simply put Jesus loved her. Although we don't read the
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words, I love You' in the text. She could see it.
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And was prepared to breach, age-old conventions to reach her
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our failures and evangelism are so often failures in love.
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Nothing is so guaranteed to draw others to share our living
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water. That an awareness that we
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genuinely care about them. People want to know that we care
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before they care about what we know.
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Remember that Down to verse 11 and 12 the woman said to him,
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sir, you have nothing to draw with and the well is deep.
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Where then do you get that living water?
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Are you greater than our father? Jacob who gave us the well, and
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drank it from it himself as well as his sons and his livestock Is
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Americans would just like the Jews.
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They're always talking about their their Heritage you greater
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than Jacob. They had that same common
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Heritage. Are you greater than Moses?
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Yes, greater than alive. Yes, David.
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Yes. That's what she was asking.
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Really who do you think you are? And now Jesus turned the
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conversation from the carnal to the spiritual, but she still
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struggling to catch on to connect all the dots.
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What is he saying? What does he mean?
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Verse 13 and 14? Jesus answered and said to her.
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Whoever drinks of this water will thirst again.
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But whoever drinks of the water that I shall give him will never
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thirst. But the water that I shall give
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him will become in him, a fountain of water springing.
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Springing up into everlasting life.
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Now Jesus is moved from instructing, the Samaritan woman
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to really teaching all of us. He's talking to every last
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person here today, this is very similar to his teaching, in John
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6, verse 35. And he says, I am the bread of
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life, he who comes to me, shall never hunger.
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And he, who believes in me, shall never.
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Thirst, blessed are they those who hunger and thirst, after
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righteousness, for they shall be filled.
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It's talking to us. For thirsting, for the right
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thing we have the right kind of hunger will be satisfied.
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He's also saying that, nothing worldly, nothing carnal, nothing
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physical, can satisfy us the law, the besides just in the
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short run, Nothing besides genuinely serving, God can bring
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genuine peace, joy and contentment as Jesus puts it in
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John 15 only if we abide in Christ and he and us, can we
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maintain the joy of Salvation is hika back in the Old Testament
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had hinder what Jesus was talking about right here in
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Ezekiel 36:26. And 27, I will give you a new
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heart and put a new spirit within you.
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I will take the Heart of Stone out of your flesh and give you a
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heart of Flesh. I will put my spirit within you
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and will cause you to walk in my statutes and you will keep my
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judgments. And do them.
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Verse 15. The woman said to him, sir, give
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me this water that I may not thirst nor come here to draw,
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she's tied to making this trip. Give me this.
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I don't know what you're talking about.
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Where is this water? What do you mean?
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Give it to me? I'm ready.
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She was just like the crowd in John 6.
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Who said Evermore? Give us this bread.
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She doesn't fully understand what Jesus is talking about.
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But she does acknowledge at least that maybe this man does
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have the power to By this miraculous water he's talking
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about now. Jesus goes from changing it to a
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spiritual conversation, to changing it to her.
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He's targeting her. He's targeting the woman.
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Her situation verse 16 through 19.
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Jesus said to her, go call your husband.
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And come here. The woman answered and said, I
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have no husband. Jesus said to her, you have well
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said, I have no husband for you have had five husbands and the
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The one that you have now is not your husband in that you spoke
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truly the woman said to him, sir, I perceive that you are a
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prophet. Now, it's possible that this
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woman may have been widowed five times that all five of her
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husband's had died but that's not very likely.
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Is it even given the benefit of the doubt on her five marriages?
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There is still no justifying her living with the man that she's
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now with, and Jesus knows it. And she knows it.
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He wants her to take a good look in the mirror to see herself for
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who she is. And that she to needs a savior.
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Oh, she can boast about being descendants of Jacob, but she's
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a sinner and she's lost and she needs somebody and he is that
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somebody Well, now she has a Bible question and maybe this is
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maybe it's because she's a little bit overwhelmed with how
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all of a sudden this has gone from a talk about getting a
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drink of water till where she's on the spot, maybe she's wanting
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to kind of deflect the discussion.
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But she has a worship question for the one that she's now
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acknowledged as a prophet. Let's look at verse 20.
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Our fathers worshiped on this mountain.
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What's neat about? This is now we know that where
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she's standing there hundred feet away from Mountain reason.
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She's pointing at that mountain. That's so interesting to me.
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She says verse 20 our fathers worshiped on this mountain and
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you Jews say that in Jerusalem is the place where one ought to
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worship. She kind of wants to have a
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religious debate going here. Oh, Jesus is going to disarm the
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woman. He's treated her with respect as
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a woman as a Samaritan as a sinner but now it's time for her
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to drop her prejudice against the Jews and against the truth
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and listen. Lovely.
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And so he sets the record straight in verse 21 and 22 and
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gives her a preview to the kingdom.
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Jesus said, to her woman, believe me the hour is coming.
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When you will neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem,
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worship the father, you worship, what you do?
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Not know. We know what we worship for
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salvation of the Jews of the Jews.
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Let me just say this controversy once and for all you Samaritan
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has been wrong. All these years and where you're
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worshipping. It's wrong.
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It's no good. God doesn't accept it.
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You're wasting your time, you're wasting your energy.
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That's rather direct. And sometimes people don't like
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to hear that. Their worship is not found in
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the Bible. The Jesus is not defend, Diaz
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are not support, and God will not accept their worship.
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But sometimes when we love someone, we've got to let them
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know when we've established as Jesus has done a relationship.
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And we've demonstrated a genuine concern for them, and we've
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talked respectfully them, Sometimes we have to tell them.
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The way you're worshipping, it's not found in the Bible, it's not
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there. And if you don't change, you're
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going to be in trouble because God doesn't accept that worship,
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verse 23. And now now he's really honing
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in and he's going to come on real strong on this topic of
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worship. Yes, it does matter, it does
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matter, it did matter back then where you worship, but the hour
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is coming and now is talking about us when the true
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worshipers will worship the father in spirit.
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And in truth, for the father is seeking such such to worship
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Him. People don't think that they
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need such thing as this exist true worship.
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True worship. You mean that there is a kind of
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worship that is not true. That's exactly what Jesus is
-
telling her. And that's exactly what Jesus is
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telling us today. There is true, worship, and
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every other kind of worship is false worship.
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Doesn't matter how brilliant the man was who came up with it
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doesn't matter how it. Well this is awful convenience
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doesn't matter how sanitary it maybe if it's not found in the
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Bible it's not true worship. True worshipers worship in
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truth. Jesus already told her the fact
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that the Jews were the true worshippers.
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The Samaritans, were the false worshippers didn't matter how
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sincere they were and what they were doing.
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Of course, that's the prevalent way.
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It is today, the philosophy in Christianity.
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All worship is acceptable, but Jesus makes it clear that that's
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not it. Listen, if we can't find our
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practice in the New Testament, we're kidding ourselves.
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If we think that God, accepts our worship, can you imagine
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this Samaritan woman? Her mother and her father, her
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grandmother and her Grandpa all the way back generation after
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generation. They been worshipping this way.
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He's just done to her what he did to Nicodemus in the previous
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chapter said you're going to set all that aside.
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You're going to have to do my will, you're going to have to
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worship, just like, I tell you just write in the right place.
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Now today it's not the right place today.
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The Lord is not concerned about the longitude and the latitude
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of all location where we worship, We don't have to have
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lit Worship in a particular City.
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I could date back there in Jerusalem as opposed to mount
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good reason. But there are particular, is
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that God makes clear when he talks about true worship.
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There are some specifics, the next verse.
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What does he say? In verse 24, God is a spirit and
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they that worship Him must worship him.
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That's not a condition. That's not a suggestion.
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That is an absolute must worship Him in spirit.
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And in truth, New Testament worship involves the teaching
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and the meditation upon the apostles Doctrine, the singing
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of Psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs praying to God through his
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son. Jesus Christ, involves the
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observance of the Lord's Supper, the contribution, for the spread
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of the gospel, and the care of meaty Saints.
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We, if we had time, we talk more about the specifics on each of
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these. And as we noticed earlier than
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me, there is a pattern, there is a pattern and we were to abide
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in that pattern. We're not to add to or take away
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from it. Now some people don't, they look
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at their little thing and which they can't find in the Bible.
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It ain't there. But they were you know, it's not
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that big of a deal. We just do this little thing
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here and that's the, we everything else.
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We pretty much keep listen. You start making one change.
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You have lost every last, right? To complain about all the things
-
that have been the flood of innovations that have come into
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religion. You've Lost Your Right.
-
Look what happens when you abandon abandon the pattern?
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This is what happens listen to all the that is just a short
-
list of some of the things that have come along since the New
-
Testament was established auricular confession.
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The baptism of images, the baptizing of bells, the
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baptizing of infant's, baptism for the dead, the burning of a
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Incense the canonization of saints, celibacy of the clergy
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communion under one kind, elevation of the host extreme
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munchkin function, invocation of the Saints, the lighting of
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blessed lamps and candles, Lenten, fast and ceremonies
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orders of monks and nuns societies of Jesus, Purgatory,
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prayers for those in purgatory. Pascal candles Priestly, robes
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Investments. Holy paraphernalia.
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Penance. Redemption of penances.
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Pouring for baptism. Sprinkling.
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For baptism, the rosary. The separation of Clergy and
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laity, the doctrine of transubstantiation constant
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Association, individual cups, the sprinkling of holy water,
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the stored up Merit of dead Saints.
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The use of instrumental music, women preachers, and on, and on
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the list goes, once you start. Don't you ever complain about
-
anything else than anybody else is adding?
-
But the best thing is never to start.
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Just stick with what the Bible has.
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Just do it the way Jesus said it down.
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And if you've gotten on the wrong road and you've taken yup,
-
one of these practices that Jesus didn't set up, you need to
-
let it go. That's what we're going to show
-
in just a minute. That's that maybe your water
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pots. Well, let's read on verse 25,
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the woman said to him, I know that the Messiah is coming, who
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is called Christ. When he comes, he will tell us
-
all things. Jesus said to her, I who speak
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to you. and he, Verse 27 at this point his disciples came and
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they marveled that he talked with a woman yet.
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No one said what do you seek or why are you talking with her?
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The woman, then left her waterpot went her way into the
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City and said to them and said to the men come, see a man who
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told me all things that I ever did, could this be the Christ?
-
Then they went out of the city and came to him.
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She left her waterpot when she headed when she was headed to
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the. Well, the most important thing
-
in the world to her was her water pot.
-
Funny how it is. Sometimes we get so focused in
-
on our own little water pots that we forget what really
-
matters we get. So caught up in the world and
-
worldly things. We need to leave our water pot.
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What are some of the water pots that we have?
-
What are some of the water pots that perhaps you have, there's
-
the water pot of self-will. The water pot of self-pity,
-
there's a water pot of family over faithfulness.
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There's the water part of a carnal mind.
-
There's the water pot of fear, the water pot of Pride, I don't
-
know what your water pot is today, but if you're not living
-
right, you need to think about what is it?
-
What is the water pot that I need to leave behind?
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So I know without any doubt that I'm pleased, the Lord.
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And how I'm living and how I'm worshipping verse 31, through
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38, in the meantime, his disciples urged him saying Rabbi
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eat, but he said to them, I have food to eat up, which you do not
-
know. Therefore the disciples said to
-
one another has anyone brought him anything to eat?
-
Jesus said to them. My food is to do.
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The will of him who sent me and to finish his work.
-
Do you not say there are still four months and then comes the
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Harvest. Behold.
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I say to you, lift up your eyes and look at the fields for, they
-
are already white for Harvest. And he, who reaps receives wages
-
and gathers fruit for eternal life that both he who sews and
-
he who reaps may Rejoice together.
-
For, in this, the saying, is true, one sows.
-
And another reaps I sent you to reap that for which you have not
-
labored others have labored and you have entered into their
-
labors verse 39, and many of the Samaritans of that City believed
-
in him because of the word of the woman who testified, he told
-
me all that I ever did. So when the Aaron's had come to
-
him, they urged him to stay with them.
-
And he stayed there, two days, and many more believed, because
-
of his own word, then they said to the woman.
-
Now we believe not because of what you said for, we ourselves
-
have heard him and we know that this is indeed the Christ, the
-
savior of the world, look at all the good that's done from this
-
one private Bible study so to speak that Jesus has with this
-
Samaritan woman who's lived an immoral life.
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He's turned Her life around and he's turned the city around and
-
they're going to be ready. Oh yes.
-
They will be ready in Acts chapter 8.
Acts 8 chapter mention
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When Philip Comes To Town. We talked about a lot today.
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We talked about how Jesus valued good works.
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We talked about how the key was he initiated this conversation.
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He elevated the woman and he taught that there is such a
-
thing as true worship, which automatically teaches us.
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There's a thing, such a thing as false worship.
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We thank you for listening to our podcast, put on by the
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Church of Christ at 22:15 plans. Road in Bakersfield, if you
-
would like any additional information or you would like to
-
receive a free Bible correspondence, course by mail.
-
Please email us at info at True Church of Christ
-
Bakersfield.com. Our service times are on Sundays
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at 10:30 a.m. and 5 p.m. and Wednesdays at 7:30 p.m.
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Please make plans to join us. We would love for you to be our
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honored guest.