THE WORD IN THE WORD

 

THE WORD IN THE WORD

John 5:39,40 “You search the Scriptures because you believe they give you eternal life. But the Scriptures point to me! Yet you refuse to come to me so that I can give you this eternal life.” NLT

Many search the Scriptures with their own agenda. They are looking for things to verify what they believe to be true. They interpret the Word in such a way that what they want to see will be seen. They are not open to the possibility that they may be wrong in their understanding. They have been taught a certain way and their minds will not accept any other way of thinking.

When we search the Scriptures, there is only one thing that we should be looking for, Christ. All of the Word speaks clearly of Christ. He is the reason why we look to the Scriptures for guidance and help in life- Jesus is life. There is no eternal life apart from Him. What we know will not save us. No matter how well versed we may be in the Scriptures, if we do not know Christ as Savior and Lord, we will not make it to heaven.

Reading the Scriptures for any other reason than to find Christ is a waste of time and effort. He is the living and written Word of God. When you read the Word in order to support what you have embraced as truth, you are not reading it right. Our only desire should be to hear from God about God and how He impacts life. We need to read the Word expecting to hear from God. And, if we read things that go against what we believe to be true, we must be open to changing our thoughts. Study carefully the Word and let it always point you to Christ who is the Word, the King of Kings and Lord of Lords.

JUST DO YOUR PART

 

JUST DO YOUR PART

John 4:37-38 ‘You know the saying, ‘One person plants and someone else harvests.’ And it’s true. I sent you to harvest where you didn’t plant; others had already done the work, and you will gather the harvest. NLT

Our egos can often be our own worst enemy. We like, and often, crave for recognition. We want to be appreciated for what we do. We like to be seen in an admirable light. We see ourselves as being very important people in the grander scheme of things. We take pride in our accomplishments.

What we tend to forget is that no one can accomplish anything without the input of others. We depend on others to do what they are supposed to do in order for us to be able to do what we can do. If others fail to perform their role, we are not able to do what we do. As much as we like to think that we are special and have accomplished much, we are just doing what we do because others have done what they did.

In the Kingdom of God, this is especially true. It takes everyone doing what God gives them to do in order for a soul to make it into heaven. We each have a part to play in preparing a soul for being receptive to the Gospel. We may or may not see the fruit of our labors, but God does. It's important that we remain faithful and just serve the Lord. When the time is right, a soul is harvested. It may happen quickly, or it may take years.

Don't concern yourself about being in the limelight and getting recognition for what you do. Do what God has given you to do and be satisfied with that. God knows the part you play in the harvest. Rejoice in what God is doing through you and others. Rejoice that He is being glorified in the souls of man.

DON'T PUT IT OFF

 

DON’T PUT IT OFF!

John 4:35-36 “Do you think the work of harvesting will not begin until the summer ends four months from now? Look around you! The harvesters are paid good wages, and the fruit they harvest is people brought to eternal life. What joy awaits both the planter and the harvester alike!” NLT

Procrastination, we all do it. There are tasks that we put off simply because we either know we don't like doing them or because we would rather be doing something else at the moment. We usually assume that time is on our side and that we will have ample opportunity to get done what we know we should do.

Sadly, many of us are spiritual procrastinators when it comes to being witnesses for Christ and serving Him. We believe that we have lots of time to do it, so we put it off for another day. What we don't stop to consider is that tomorrow may never come.

We don't know when the Lord is coming again. We don't know if we will live another day. We don't know if someone we need to witness to will live another day. We don't know if the door of opportunity for us to serve will be open another day. Today is the day the Lord has given us and we need to be about His business while we have today.

There is probably no greater joy than to know that we have made a difference in someone's soul. We may be instrumental in leading them to the Lord. We may come alongside of them when they need someone the most. We may plant seed in their minds that will bear fruit later. However the Lord wants to use us, it brings great joy to the soul knowing that our life has made a difference in someone else's eternal life journey.

Don't be a procrastinator and miss out on the wondrous blessings God has in store for those who serve Him while it is still today. Don’t put off blessing some soul with the life-saving news of God’s love and grace. Don’t put off being a difference maker in someone’s life today.

READY FOR HARVEST

 

READY FOR HARVEST

John 4:34-35 Then Jesus explained: "My nourishment comes from doing the will of God, who sent me, and from finishing his work. Do you think the work of harvesting will not begin until the summer ends four months from now? Look around you! Vast fields are ripening all around us and are ready now for the harvest." NLT

What feeds your soul? What do you crave for more than anything else in life? For Jesus, it was to do the will of God and to finish the work God had given Him to do. Each of us is here for a reason. God has made you the way you are because He knows that He can best use you the way you are. No one else can be used by Him in quite the same way you can be. He has equipped you and given you opportunity to serve Him. Do you know what God's will is for your life?

The will of God for all of us is to first love Him with all of our capacity to love and then to love others in the same way we love ourselves. God's desire is that we would be engaged in Him and in the lives of those around us. We may be called upon to do it differently, but we are all to do it. Are you doing it?

Are you determined to finish the work God has given you to do? Jesus knew exactly what He came to do and He would let nothing keep Him from doing it. Serving the Lord is a lifetime endeavor. There is no vacation from our engagements. We cannot wait for some other more convenient time of our lives to give ourselves over to Him. The need for our service is NOW. The opportunity to make a difference in the world for eternity is now. The harvest field is plentiful and ready for the harvesting. There are plenty of people who need your engagement, people who are ready to receive Jesus into their lives. Will some of them fall by the wayside, rot, and go to hell because of you not being ready or willing to go into the harvest field?

REAL WORSHIP

 

REAL WORSHIP

John 4:23-24 "But the time is coming and is already here when true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and in truth. The Father is looking for anyone who will worship him that way." NLT

It is one thing to worship God in truth, it's another thing to do it in spirit. Most of you who read these words have a fairly good grasp of the truth. We may vary on some details, but essentially we are in agreement. We rally around the cross and Jesus' sacrificial death for our sins. We strive to understand the Scriptures through study and meditation so that we can better apply it to our lives. We do a fairly good job of grasping what God wants us to know about life and ourselves.

Where we really seem to struggle the most with is the spirit. Much of what we do in worship is routine. We vary how we express ourselves in worship, but we often go through the motions of what we do. We stay within the perimeters of our comfort zones. We do the same things so often that we can be a thousand miles away in our minds even while we "worship the Lord."

Seldom do we prepare ourselves for entering into God's presence. There is so much activity going on in most churches before the actual time for the worship service to begin that there is very little actual reflection on God. We energize our services to the point where we don't allow space or time for God to draw near. We act as if we have to draw God's attention to us. We act like the prophets of Baal did on Mt. Carmel. We forget that in the Scriptures when God spoke, it most often was in the quietness.

I wonder how much true worshiping actually goes on in the Church today. When was the last time you can honestly say that you worshiped the Lord in spirit as well as in truth?

IN SPIRIT AND TRUTH

 

IN SPIRIT AND TRUTH

John 4:24 For God is Spirit, so those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth. NLT

Like most preachers, I have used this verse a lot. I believe that it is especially relevant in the Church today. We do church, but we don't do it all that well, at least not by God's standards. We vary on some of our understandings of truth, but for the most part, we do pretty well about preaching and teaching the Word of God. It's the living part that we struggle with the most. Most of us probably have a fairly good workable knowledge of the truth. It's just that we don't do well with making it work for us the other days of the week when we aren’t in church.

Another problem we run into is that we usually go through the motions of worship instead of actually being in the spirit of worship. Many things go through our minds when we are in worship services and most of them are not related to our relationship with God. So often, we leave our spirit out of the church. We go through the motions, but we are not connecting with the Lord like we could and should be.

Is it really worship that we are doing? Not according to what Jesus is saying in our text today. In order for true worship to happen, we need to be engaged with the Lord both in His Word and in our spirit. We need to quiet our hearts before the Lord, wait before Him, and expect Him to speak to us. We need to focus on our souls and not all the other stuff that may fill up our days or our surroundings. We need to come before Him knowing we need a word from Him and stay engaged until we get it.

Jesus said that we MUST worship Him in spirit and truth. Let us strive to do a better job of bringing our spirit with us when we come before Him in worship, whether it's in public or private worship.

WATER THAT SATISFIES

 

WATER THAT SATISFIES

John 4:13-14 Jesus replied, “People soon become thirsty again after drinking this water. But the water I give them takes away thirst altogether. It becomes a perpetual spring within them, giving them eternal life.” NLT

Thirst is a natural part of life. Whenever there is a lack of necessary water to sustain life, thirst comes into play. God gave every living thing a natural thirst mechanism so that sufficient water to sustain life will be provided. When there is no water for a prolonged period of time, the body shuts down and will die if water is not provided.

The same thing holds true for the soul. God gave us a natural need for Him. Every human being ever born has it. When our need for God is not provided for, we spiritually die. The reason why so many people are so bad is that their need for God was never provided for. Somewhere along the way their souls were denied the necessary food to make their soul grow or sustain it. They were not brought to the Spirit of God who fills the soul with God's presence and satisfies its longings. Or, they chose not to take advantage of the food that was provided for them and they starved their soul to death.

The only way that the thirst of the soul can ever be quenched is for the soul to turn to Christ and let Him dwell within. When Christ lives in the soul, there is such a deep and abiding satisfaction that there is no more searching, no more desperately trying to find the peace and joy every soul needs and longs for. When Christ lives in the soul, the soul is more alive than ever thought possible. Christ so energizes the soul that it he is forever changed.

Jesus satisfies every longing of the heart. Only in Christ does one find that which satisfies. The world promises a multitude of things will satisfy and make one happy, but only Christ can deliver on His promises.