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Articles from Pastor Jon's Blog

John 4:39-42 2007-07-24 00:00:00 John 4 - A Samaritan Woman and a Nobleman Meet Jesus 6. (39-42) Many Samaritans believe on the Savior of the world. 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 Samaritans 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." a. He told me all that I ever did: The woman was amazed not only that Jesus knew the facts of her life, but that He loved her knowing the facts of her life. We sometimes fear that if someone knew all that I ever did, they could not love us - but Jesus loved this woman. b. We know that this is indeed the Christ, the Savior of the world: The people of this Samaritan village came to faith in J ...

John 4:27-38 2007-07-23 00:00:00 John 4 - A Samaritan Woman and a Nobleman Meet Jesus 5. (27-38) The woman tells her neighbors; Jesus teaches His disciples. And at this point His disciples came, and they marveled that He talked with a woman; yet no one said, "What do You seek?" or, "Why are You talking with her?" The woman then left her waterpot, went her way into the city, and said to the men, "Come, see a Man who told me all things that I ever did. Could this be the Christ?" Then they went out of the city and came to Him. In the meantime His disciples urged Him, saying, "Rabbi, eat." But He said to them, "I have food to eat of 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 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 harvest’? Behold, I say to you, lift up your eyes and look ...

The Mayflower 2007-07-22 07:00:00 Many nations originate amid heathenism and are slowly converted to Christ. America is uniquely different. Of all the nations of history, it alone began as a Christian venture and has slowly sunk into heathenism. It began during the reign of King James. The Puritans weren’t happy with mere political reform in the church in England; they wanted genuine spiritual reform. James rejected their demands (except for approving a new translation of the Bible), and this left the Puritans unsettled. Some, believing the Church of England beyond help, separated from it into independent congregations of their own. These people became known as Separatists, and King James, viewing them as traitors, “harried them out of the land.” In 1607–1608 two groups fled to Holland. One of them, while studying Scripture, concluded that baptism was a rite for believers only (rather than for infants), and the Baptist movement was born. The other group, led by William Brewster and John Robinson, remaine ...

Sunday Quotes 07.22.07 2007-07-22 05:00:00 Why look for a perfect church? You would feel out of place attending it. - Unknown "The last command from Christ to the church was 'repent.'" - Unknown We don't use people to build a great church - we use the church to build great people. - Unknown The world has lost its faith because the church has lost its power. - Unknown "Our Lord said, 'Feed my sheep.' He did not say,'Count them.'" -- Martin Buber<:))))><< ...

John 4:16-26 2007-07-21 00:00:00 John 4 - A Samaritan Woman and a Nobleman Meet Jesus 4. (16-26) Jesus directs her from her sinful life to true worship. Jesus said to her, "Go, call your husband, and come here." The woman answered and said, "I have no husband." Jesus said to her, "You have well said, ‘I have no husband,’ for you have had five husbands, and the one whom you now have is not your husband; in that you spoke truly." The woman said to Him, "Sir, I perceive that You are a prophet. Our fathers worshiped on this mountain, and you Jews say that in Jerusalem is the place where one ought to worship." Jesus said to her, "Woman, believe Me, the hour is coming when you will neither on this mountain, nor in Jerusalem, worship the Father. You worship what you do not know; we know what we worship, for salvation is of the Jews. But the hour is coming, and now is, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth; for the Father is seeking such to wor ...

John 4:10-15 2007-07-20 00:00:00 John 4 - A Samaritan Woman and a Nobleman Meet Jesus 3. (10-15) Jesus interests the woman in living water. Jesus answered and said to her, "If you knew the gift of God, and who it is who says to you, ‘Give Me a drink,’ you would have asked Him, and He would have given you living water." The woman said to Him, "Sir, You have nothing to draw with, and the well is deep. Where then do You get that living water? Are You greater than our father Jacob, who gave us the well, and drank from it himself, as well as his sons and his livestock?" Jesus answered and said to her, "Whoever drinks of this water will thirst again, but whoever drinks of the water that I shall give him will never thirst. But the water that I shall give him will become in him a fountain of water springing up into everlasting life." The woman said to Him, "Sir, give me this water, that I may not thirst, nor come here to draw." a. If you knew the gift of God, and who it is who s ...

John 4:5-9 2007-07-19 00:00:00 John 4 - A Samaritan Woman and a Nobleman Meet Jesus 2. (5-9) Jesus meets a Samaritan woman at a well. So He came to a city of Samaria which is called Sychar, near the plot of ground that Jacob gave to his son Joseph. Now Jacob’s well was there. Jesus therefore, being wearied from His journey, sat thus by the well. It was about the sixth hour. A woman of Samaria came to draw water. Jesus said to her, "Give Me a drink." For His disciples had gone away into the city to buy food. Then the woman of Samaria said to Him, "How is it that You, being a Jew, ask a drink from me, a Samaritan woman?" For Jews have no dealings with Samaritans. a. Being wearied from His journey: John records Jesus’ weariness. He genuinely submitted to our human limitations. b. It was about the sixth hour: This woman came for water at an unusual hour and alone. Typically, women came for water earlier in the day and in groups. Perhaps there was a sudden need, or perhaps she was a social ou ...

John 4:1-4 2007-07-18 00:00:00 John 4 - A Samaritan Woman and a Nobleman Meet Jesus A. The Samaritan woman. 1. (1-4) Jesus travels from Judea to Galilee, passing though Samaria. Therefore, when the Lord knew that the Pharisees had heard that Jesus made and baptized more disciples than John (though Jesus Himself did not baptize, but His disciples), He left Judea and departed again to Galilee. But He needed to go through Samaria. a. When the Lord knew . . . He left Judea: The time was not yet right for a confrontation in Jerusalem, so Jesus returned to Galilee. b. He needed to go through Samaria: Although the road through Samaria was the shortest route to Galilee, pious Jews avoided it. They avoided it because there was a deep distrust and dislike between Jews and Samaritans. i. When the southern kingdom of Judah was conquered by the Babylonians, they took almost every captive, exiling them to the Babylonian Empire. All they left behind were the lowest classes of society, because they didn’t want "that ...

John 3:31-36 2007-07-17 00:00:00 John 3 - The New Birth 2. (31-36) John’s testimony about Jesus. "He who comes from above is above all; he who is of the earth is earthly and speaks of the earth. He who comes from heaven is above all. And what He has seen and heard, that He testifies; and no one receives His testimony. He who has received His testimony has certified that God is true. For He whom God has sent speaks the words of God, for God does not give the Spirit by measure. The Father loves the Son, and has given all things into His hand. He who believes in the Son has everlasting life; and he who does not believe the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God abides on him." a. He who comes from above: John wants everyone to know where Jesus came from. Jesus is different from everyone else because He came from heaven. Not only is Jesus different, but He who comes from heaven is above all - Jesus is greater than everyone else. b. He whom God has sent speaks the words of God: Jesus is a uniqu ...

John 3:22-30 2007-07-16 00:00:00 John 3 - The New Birth B. John the Baptist’s final testimony about Jesus. 1. (22-30) John puts Jesus in the preeminent place. After these things Jesus and His disciples came into the land of Judea, and there He remained with them and baptized. Now John also was baptizing in Aenon near Salim, because there was much water there. And they came and were baptized. For John had not yet been thrown into prison. Then there arose a dispute between some of John’s disciples and the Jews about purification. And they came to John and said to him, "Rabbi, He who was with you beyond the Jordan, to whom you have testified; behold, He is baptizing, and all are coming to Him!" John answered and said, "A man can receive nothing unless it has been given to him from heaven. You yourselves bear me witness, that I said, ‘I am not the Christ,’ but, ‘I have been sent before Him.’ He who has the bride is the bridegroom; but the friend of the bridegroom, who stands and hears him, r ...

Sunday Quotes 07.15.07 2007-07-15 00:00:00 "The Bible opens and closes with a wedding." – Unknown "The gospel is neither a discussion nor a debate. It is an announcement." -- Paul S. Rees "If you wait for perfect conditions, you will never get anything done... Keep on sowing your seed, for you never know which will grow--perhaps it all will." -- Solomon, Ecclesiastes 11:4, 6 (TLB). "A holy life will produce the deepest impression. Lighthouses blow no horns; they only shine." – Dwight L. Moody "Solemn prayers, rapturous devotions, are but repeated hypocrisies unless the heart and mind be conformed to them." -- William Law <:))))><< ...

John 3:16-21 2007-07-14 00:00:00 John 3 - The New Birth 6. (16-21) God’s gift of salvation and sin’s condemnation. "For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved. He who believes in Him is not condemned; but he who does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God. And this is the condemnation, that the light has come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil. For everyone practicing evil hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his deeds should be exposed. But he who does the truth comes to the light, that his deeds may be clearly seen, that they have been done in God." a. For God so loved the world: John 3:16 has long been celebrated as a powerful, succinct, declaration of the gos ...

John 3:14-15 2007-07-13 00:00:00 John 3 - The New Birth 5. (14-15) Jesus and the brazen serpent. "And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life." a. As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness: How can the serpent of Numbers 21:4-9 be a picture of the holy Jesus? i. Serpents are often used as pictures of evil in the Bible (Genesis 3:1-5 and Revelation 12:9). However, Moses’ serpent in Numbers 21 was made of bronze, and bronze is a metal associated with judgment in the Bible, because bronze must be made by passing through the "fires" of judgment. ii. So, a bronze serpent does speak of sin, but of sin judged. In the same way Jesus, who knew no sin became sin for us on the cross, and our sin was judged in Him. A bronze serpent is a picture of sin judged and dealt with. iii. We would have wanted to diminish our sense of sin, and put the image of a man up on the pole. Our ...

John 3:9-13 2007-07-12 00:00:00 John 3 - The New Birth 4. (9-13) Jesus responds to the question "how can these things be?" Nicodemus answered and said to Him, "How can these things be?" Jesus answered and said to him, "Are you the teacher of Israel, and do not know these things? Most assuredly, I say to you, We speak what We know and testify what We have seen, and you do not receive Our witness. If I have told you earthly things and you do not believe, how will you believe if I tell you heavenly things? No one has ascended to heaven but He who came down from heaven, that is, the Son of Man who is in heaven." a. How can these things be? Nicodemus is confused. He is so set in his thinking that the new birth has already happened to him and all of faithful Israel, that he has a hard time thinking out of that "box." Jesus needs to keep explaining. b. Are you the teacher of Israel, and do not know these things? Jesus chides Nicodemus for not being aware of the need and the ...

John 3:5-8 2007-07-11 00:00:00 John 3 - The New Birth 3. (5-8) Jesus explains the new birth. Jesus answered, "Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God. That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. Do not marvel that I said to you, ‘You must be born again.’ The wind blows where it wishes, and you hear the sound of it, but cannot tell where it comes from and where it goes. So is everyone who is born of the Spirit." a. Most assuredly . . . you must be born again: Jesus is emphatic in saying that man does not need reformation, but a radical conversion by the Spirit of God. We must be born of water and the Spirit. b. What does it mean to be born of water? We know from John 3:10 that whatever being born of water is, it should have been familiar to Nicodemus from the Old Testament. i. Some have thought born of water means to be baptized. Water here may represent baptism, but there is no real ...