TURNING RELIGIOUS RELUCTANCE-V—John 4:1-26
Turning the Religious Lost
Attention:
[Fox News news feed--04/12/2018—“The Associated Press contributed to this report”]
At around 7 p.m. on Sunday April 1st 2018, a newborn baby—with the umbilical cord still attached— was placed in the ‘Safe Haven Baby Box’ at in Coolspring Township(Indiana) Volunteer Fire Department, WSBT reported.
When the box, fitted with a heated mattress, is opened, a silent alarm goes off to alert first responders that a baby has been placed inside.
Lt. Chuck Kohler says he was on scene tending to the baby girl less than a minute after receiving a page Sunday night.
The baby girl was named ‘Grace’ by Lt.Kohler. She appeared to be healthy, & was taken to the hospital for care.
This makes the second time in five months that an infant was abandoned. The climate-controlled box was installed about two years ago to allow mothers to relinquish their newborns anonymously without fear of prosecution.
Safe Haven Laws within the state allow newborns under 30 days to be dropped off to any police department, fire station or hospital, WSBT reported.
Another baby girl was safely rescued after being left in the box on Nov. 7, 2017.
This is one of only two boxes in the entire country.”
We approach & respond to our world in tangible ways. We respond to the real needs of the world with certainty & the hope that something we do in Christ will bring about a lasting, Godward changing effect in the world.
These may be Reluctant to turn, But by the power of God, they are turnable nonetheless!
Jesus divulged/bore witness of/ His Messianic identity to a reluctant/hesitant but religious woman.
God’s people bear witness of Messiah’s/Jesus’ identity to reluctant religious people.
How/When will God’s people turn the reluctancy of the religious?
OR--What will turn that religious reluctancy around?
16 insights toward turning religious reluctance to God.
The last time we looked in these verses we found that,
Turning religious reluctance to God’s way requires...
1. SERVICE Insight(:1-3)
2. CONSEQUENTIAL Insight(:4-6)
3. COMPASSIONED Insight(:7-8)
4. BLIND/UNHINDERED Insight(:9)
5—Turning religious reluctance to God’s way requires...
POSSESSIVE Insight(:10)
Explanation:(:10)What do you have to offer others?
:10—“Jesus answered & said to her, “If you knew the gift of God, & who it is who says to you, ‘Give Me a drink,’ you would have asked Him, & He would have given you living water.”
Jesus “answered” the woman’s decisive query(:9). He matter-of-factly let her know that He possessed more pressing news/information(?) than her prejudices would disallow, dismiss, or invalidate.
He pointedly makes her aware that she herself is ignorant of something that is pertinent to her currently limiting lifestyle.
*Jesus immediately focuses on spiritual matters that are needful for the woman as well as on how those matters involve His own identity.
Every verbal & physical witness I undertake must point to Jesus.
We must have a concern for the spiritual lostness/neediness of others.
Jesus tests the woman’s pride &/or piques her interest by making sure that she knows that “God”—One in whom she believes—indeed extends/interjects a “gift” from Himself into the woman’s personal world. That “gift of God” is now before her & is none other than her visitor at Jacob’s well!
Jesus’ use of ‘“knew”(‘had known’) in the pluperfect tense ‘suggests’ that He is speaking in terms of that information of which she should have been aware all along, yet was not willing to believe...or was willing to reject.
He tells her this despite her own negative cultural perceptions & prejudices(:9).
He is letting her know that His situation, manner, & command to her should have brought her to rightly consider His station/position[Rabbi/Teacher/Savior/Lord] as well as her own.
Likewise, in America we deal with people who SHOULD know the truth of Christ Jesus, but have become personally disengaged with it because of church conflict & cultural misperceptions.
Had the woman been spiritually sensitive & attentive, then her recognition of Jesus would have compelled her to ask Him for “a drink” of the “living water” which only He could provide(cf.-:14). Jesus would have gladly gifted her with that spiritual “water.”
It is important to note in one’s being a Christian witness, that it is helpful if not very important to tie one’s witness to current situations which are pertinent to the target’s experience.
Such insight minimally requires a ‘relationship’ with the person that will allow you to Share Christ freely & with minimal distractions... But remember that the woman’s ‘relationship’ with Jesus has only the amount of time it has taken Jesus to converse with her & vice-versa.
Jesus’ way also attaches great significance to the use of illustration in painting a picture(‘a picture is worth a thousand words’) in order to enhance a verbal witness. Thus your personal testimony(a changed life) is key to instilling believability to the Good News.
As a result of her insensitivity to spiritual truth she is without question more thirsty than He.
The woman is truthfully made aware that she could have the “living water” of which Jesus spoke.
So-called “living water” is fresh spring water as compared to that which is stored or stagnant—cistern.
She was at a ‘living well’(Jacob’s well or fountain) which had been fed for centuries from a spring. Thus, in her estimation, she already had “living water” in her possession whereas Jesus had no means of acquiring her living water(cf.-:11). The double irony is humbling.
*However, as YaHWeH states of invented religion, in Jeremiah 2:13, —“For My people have committed two evils: They have forsaken Me, the fountain of living waters, And hewn themselves cisterns--broken cisterns that can hold no water.”
Argumentation:
Mat. 6:6-15—“But you, when you pray, go into your room, & when you have shut your door, pray to your Father who is in the secret place; & your Father who sees in secret will reward you openly. And when you pray, do not use vain repetitions as the heathen do. For they think that they will be heard for their many words. Therefore do not be like them. For your Father knows the things you have need of before you ask Him. “In this manner, therefore, pray: Our Father in heaven, Hallowed be Your name. Your kingdom come. Your will be done On earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread. And forgive us our debts, As we forgive our debtors. And do not lead us into temptation, But deliver us from the evil one. For Yours is the kingdom & the power & the glory forever. Amen. For if you forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. But if you do not forgive men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.”
2Pet. 1:2-15—“Grace & peace be multiplied to you in the knowledge of God & of Jesus our Lord, as His divine power has given to us all things that pertain to life & godliness, through the knowledge of Him who called us by glory & virtue, by which have been given to us exceedingly great & precious promises, that through these you may be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust. But also for this very reason, giving all diligence, add to your faith virtue, to virtue knowledge, to knowledge self-control, to self-control perseverance, to perseverance godliness, to godliness brotherly kindness, & to brotherly kindness love. For if these things are yours & abound, you will be neither barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. For he who lacks these things is shortsighted, even to blindness, & has forgotten that he was cleansed from his old sins. Therefore, brethren, be even more diligent to make your call & election sure, for if you do these things you will never stumble; for so an entrance will be supplied to you abundantly into the everlasting kingdom of our Lord & Savior Jesus Christ. For this reason I will not be negligent to remind you always of these things, though you know & are established in the present truth. Yes, I think it is right, as long as I am in this tent, to stir you up by reminding you, knowing that shortly I must put off my tent, just as our Lord Jesus Christ showed me. Moreover I will be careful to ensure that you always have a reminder of these things after my decease.”
1Jn. 2:15-29—“Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world--the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, & the pride of life--is not of the Father but is of the world. And the world is passing away, & the lust of it; but he who does the will of God abides forever. Little children, it is the last hour; & as you have heard that the Antichrist is coming, even now many antichrists have come, by which we know that it is the last hour. They went out from us, but they were not of us; for if they had been of us, they would have continued with us; but they went out that they might be made manifest, that none of them were of us. But you have an anointing from the Holy One, & you know all things. I have not written to you because you do not know the truth, but because you know it, & that no lie is of the truth. Who is a liar but he who denies that Jesus is the Christ? He is antichrist who denies the Father & the Son. Whoever denies the Son does not have the Father either; he who acknowledges the Son has the Father also. Therefore let that abide in you which you heard from the beginning. If what you heard from the beginning abides in you, you also will abide in the Son & in the Father. And this is the promise that He has promised us--eternal life. These things I have written to you concerning those who try to deceive you. But the anointing which you have received from Him abides in you, & you do not need that anyone teach you; but as the same anointing teaches you concerning all things, & is true, & is not a lie, & just as it has taught you, you will abide in Him. And now, little children, abide in Him, that when He appears, we may have confidence & not be ashamed before Him at His coming. If you know that He is righteous, you know that everyone who practices righteousness is born of Him.”
Acts 13:38, 39—“Therefore let it be known to you, brethren, that through this Man is preached to you the forgiveness of sins; & by Him everyone who believes is justified from all things from which you could not be justified by the law of Moses.”
1Cor. 2:12-16—“Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, that we might know the things that have been freely given to us by God. These things we also speak, not in words which man’s wisdom teaches but which the Holy Spirit teaches, comparing spiritual things with spiritual. But the natural man does not receive the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him; nor can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned. But he who is spiritual judges all things, yet he himself is rightly judged by no one. For “who has known the mind of the LORD that he may instruct Him?” But we have the mind of Christ.”
1Cor. 3:21-23—“Therefore let no one boast in men. For all things are yours: whether Paul or Apollos or Cephas, or the world or life or death, or things present or things to come--all are yours. And you are Christ’s, & Christ is God’s.”
*Rom. 8:27-39—“Now He who searches the hearts knows what the mind of the Spirit is, because He makes intercession for the saints according to the will of God. And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose. For whom He foreknew, He also predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son, that He might be the firstborn among many brethren. Moreover whom He predestined, these He also called; whom He called, these He also justified; & whom He justified, these He also glorified. What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? He who did not spare His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all, how shall He not with Him also freely give us all things? Who shall bring a charge against God’s elect? It is God who justifies. Who is he who condemns? It is Christ who died, & furthermore is also risen, who is even at the right hand of God, who also makes intercession for us. Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? As it is written: “For Your sake we are killed all day long; We are accounted as sheep for the slaughter.” Yet in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us. For I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels nor principalities nor powers, nor things present nor things to come, nor height nor depth, nor any other created thing, shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.”
Rev. 21:1-8—“Now I saw a new heaven & a new earth, for the first heaven & the first earth had passed away. Also there was no more sea. Then I, John, saw the holy city, New Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from heaven saying, “Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, & He will dwell with them, & they shall be His people. God Himself will be with them & be their God. And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes; there shall be no more death, nor sorrow, nor crying. There shall be no more pain, for the former things have passed away.” Then He who sat on the throne said, “Behold, I make all things new.” And He said to me, “Write, for these words are true & faithful.” And He said to me, “It is done! I am the Alpha & the Omega, the Beginning & the End. I will give of the fountain of the water of life freely to him who thirsts. He who overcomes shall inherit all things, & I will be his God & he shall be My son. But the cowardly, unbelieving, abominable, murderers, sexually immoral, sorcerers, idolaters, & all liars shall have their part in the lake which burns with fire & brimstone, which is the second death.”
1Cor. 8:5-6—“For even if there are so-called gods, whether in heaven or on earth (as there are many gods & many lords), yet for us there is one God, the Father, of whom are all things, & we for Him; & one Lord Jesus Christ, through whom are all things, & through whom we live.”
2Cor. 6:10—We are commended as ministers of God when...—“ as poor, yet making many rich; as having nothing, & yet possessing all things.”
Eph. 3:14-21—“For this reason I bow my knees to the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, from whom the whole family in heaven & earth is named, that He would grant you, according to the riches of His glory, to be strengthened with might through His Spirit in the inner man, that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith; that you, being rooted & grounded in love, may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the width & length & depth & height-- to know the love of Christ which passes knowledge; that you may be filled with all the fullness of God. Now to Him who is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that works in us, to Him be glory in the church by Christ Jesus to all generations, forever & ever. Amen.”
Illustration:
‘Raiders of the Lost Ark’ is set in WWII/A scene where Indiana Jones(archaeologist) & Marion(leading lady who has key information) are making purchases in a large, crowded, open bazaar in Cairo, Egypt/There is a 3rd Reich Nazi commission charged with obtaining the Ark of the Covenant, who are trailing Marion/Suddenly a large number of mercenary assassin thugs rush in, attempting to kill Indiana & kidnap Marion...However Indiana skillfully battles & subdues all the mercenaries in a crowded street fight...But while he does this, Marion is taken by the Nazi commission/Indiana runs to the cart of hay where he last left Marion only to find her missing/While Indiana is calling for Marion & is desperately searching thru the crowd, the entire crowd instinctively & simultaneously parts to reveal the lead assassin(dressed in black from head to toe) who is brandishing a huge sword/The mercenary is obviously a skilled assassin because he is deftly twirling the sword as he taunts Indiana/Indiana & the assassin are surrounded by the crowd which are packed like sardines/Indiana obviously has his whip...sizes up the swordsman & his sword/Indiana then shrugs his shoulder—as if to say ‘You asked for it’...He then calmly pulls out his pistol from the holster & simply shoots the assassin dead & continues about his business!/Indiana possessed something of greater power than the physically imposing, skilled, & well-armed assassin/Indiana Jones had a better weapon/POSSESSIVE Insight
Application:
?Your POSSESSIVE Insight readily Turn others to Christ/God’s way?
?You Turn Religious Reluctance of others into a Confident Relationship with God?
CONCLUSION:
Visualization:
Coolspring Township(Indiana) Volunteer Fire Department’s ‘Safe Haven Baby Box.’
Action:
Turning religious reluctance to God’s way requires...
5. POSSESSIVE Insight(:10)
1. SERVICE Insight(:1-3)
2. CONSEQUENTIAL Insight(:4-6)
3. COMPASSIONED Insight(:7-8)
4. BLIND/UNHINDERED Insight(:9)
Pt.#5 only! presented 07/01/2018pm to:
FBC Cbelle
206 Storrs Ave.(SE Ave. A)
Carrabelle, FL 32322
