John 4:20-26
"Our fathers worshiped on this mountain, but you Jews claim that the place where we must worship is in Jerusalem."
Jesus declared, "Believe me, woman, a time is coming when you will worship the Father neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem. You Samaritans worship what you do not know; we worship what we do know, for salvation is from the Jews. Yet a time is coming and has now come when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for they are the kind of worshipers the Father seeks. God is spirit, and his worshipers must worship in spirit and in truth."
The woman said, "I know that Messiah" (called Christ) is coming. When he comes, he will explain everything to us."
Then Jesus declared, "I who speak to you am he."
Pray. Then carefully read all of John 4.
1. What is the setting/context for Jesus speaking words about worship?
2. How is salvation "from the Jews"?
3. Where should worship take place?
4. What does God want from worshipers?
5. Why is Jesus the definitive word on worship?
Sunday, May 10, 2009
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Happy Mother's Day!
I just heard a preacher on the radio talking about prayer. He said that he and his wife tried to teach their kids about prayer using the concepts of:
Thanks
Please
Sorry.
Then he gave an acronym: PRAY
P raise
R epent
A sk
Y ourself
Not a bad order.
We have several times presented the ACTS method of prayer.
A doration
C onfession
T hanksgiving
S upplication
Very similar ideas.
This is a neat story.
Said good-bye to Luke this morning. He's headed to Honduras early in the morning. He'll be back home late on the 22nd or on the 23rd.
I don't have words to say how I feel.
I am really looking forward to this summer. I am going to lighten my normal load some; only to pick up other stuff, of course.
I am going to suspend my Wed. p.m. class and the Text Experience Sheet and maybe this blog. I'll resume everything in the fall in a fresh and new way, I hope.
I've got a couple of projects I need to work on. I've been asked to write a chapter for a book on preaching, which is pretty cool (and scary). Along with this I still want to turn my doctoral work into a book; hope to make that happen this summer.
Honduras is rapidly approaching; probably about 6 weeks.
I am going to take a complete media fast during that time. No computers, no phones, no electronic means of communication. At first the thought scared me, but the more I think about it, the more I excited I become.
I'm just going to take a Bible, another book or 3, and a notebook to Honduras. Should be refeshing. May be too tired to do much readin' or writin', but at least I'll be prepared.
Sometimes I wonder if people think this Honduras trip is a vacation. I sure don't see it that way.
I'll be sleeping in a dorm with a bunch of guys, while my wife sleeps in another dorm with a bunch of women. For 12 nights.
I'll clean up in a primitive shower where I must be careful to not let any water into my mouth ("don't drink the water!).
I'll eat food that I probably wouldn't eat otherwise (lots of beans and rice).
I'm going to work all day out in the hot sun with lots of humidity.
No TV, no computer, no cell phone (hmmm - well maybe my argument is falling apart here - ha ha).
You get the point. But here's what you need to know: while it certainly is not a vacation, I am really looking forward to it. I think it will be a very special form of Kingdom work/service.
The Bread of Life church did not meet this week. My one congregant was sick! I waited for others to come, but no one else showed up.
Patience.
Perseverance.
(more) Prayer.
What is the chapter you're supposed to write going to be about?
Donna
The woman in our text was...
"Looking for love in all the wrong places."
Everybody sing!
Really, though. All those men in a quest to find love and peace and joy. She tried church. Mt. G. Still unfulfilled.
The key for her and us is seeing that worshiping God is the key, and, specifically, worshiping God the Father through a relationship with Jesus.
Donna, my chapter will be on communal preaching as a means of congregational spiritual formation.
Spent a lot of time today with a young man who has spent a significant amount of time in jail.
What did he do?
Drugs and violated his probation a few times.
He is trying to find his way. I am trying to help. He needs a job and a lot of help.
In his favor: he has changed his friends. And he believes in God.
There is a whole different world out there from the one I live in. I think it a priviledge, in some ways, to gain insight into it.
Today I got some.
My email is down right now. I'm needing to get one out.
Oh well...
Another good one from Henri Nouwen (talking about "pray without ceasing"):
To pray unceasingly, as St. Paul asks us to do, would be completely impossible if it meant to think constantly about God... To pray, I think, does not mean to think about God in contrast to thinking about other things, or to spend time with God instead of spending time with other people. Rather, it means to think and live in the presence of God. As soon as we begin to divide our thoughts into thoughts about God and thoughts about people and events, we remove God from our daily life to a pious little niche where we can think pious thoughts and experience pious feelings.
Luke leaves for Honduras about right now.
You can follow his trip by going HERE.
I think, however, due to the remoteness of their work site, that posts may not be that frequent.
Tonight at 11.55 will mark 16 years since Rebecca was born.
I'm so glad she was born!
We had a nice surprise this evening. Lester and Maddie, on their way back from FL/AL stopped by for supper. It was so great to see them!
Luke's plane landed safely in Honduras, so his adventure is beginning. Honduras is 2 hours behind us on the clock.
We had a really good class this evening.
We traditionally say that worshiping in the spirit and in truth means worshiping with the right attitude and in the right way, meaning doctrine. That may be right...
Is the right answer found in the text? Is the woman a picture of the kind of worshiper that God seeks? She is curious, open, engaging, and willing to believe that Jesus is the Messiah. Are the villagers a picture of the kind of worshiper that God seeks? They respond to the story of Jesus as told by the woman, and then they hear Jesus himself. They assert that they know for certain, based on the woman's words and then the words of Jesus, that he is the Savior.
What does all this mean for us?
I've read the report and seen a lot written about it. What am I talking about?
Churchgoers, Pastors Struggle to Define Spiritual Maturity The Barna Group reports that many people in the pews have no idea what "spiritual maturity" actually means - possibly because their pastors can't define it either. A new Barna study found that half of churchgoers cannot describe how their church defines a "healthy, spiritually mature follower of Jesus," including those that call themselves "born again Christians." The most common answers included "trying hard to follow the rules described in the Bible," even among Christians who say that good works are not a prerequisite for salvation. Born again Christians were more likely to point to "a relationship with Jesus" as a sign of spiritual maturity, but more than half said following the rules translates into spiritual maturity. Pastors also struggled to point out specific Bible passages describing the measure for spiritual maturity - one third simply said "the whole Bible." How do you define it?
I really, really like THIS.
You may need to watch it more than once to take it all in.
HERE is the forecast for where Luke is.
Hot. Humid. Thunder.
Interesting post by Mike Cope, especially if you are attending our Sunday a.m. class.
1989 and the Churches of Christ
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