09/26/2021 - Bible Study And Worship

her hymn of love and praise jesus thou friend divine our savior and our king thy hand from every snare and full shall great deliverance bring sure thy truth shall last zion shall be give the brightest glories of can heal and brighter bliss our next name is 270-270 and afterwards brother josh jones will lead us in prayer i have a savior he's pleading in glory a dear loving savior the earth friends be few and now he is watching [Music] intendedness or [Music] your savior too for you i am praying for you i am praying for you i am praying i'm praying [Music] for you i have a robe tis resplendent in blindness awaiting in glory oh when i receive it all shining in brightness dear friend could i see you receive vein one two for you i am praying for you i am praying for you i am praying [Music] i'm praying [Music] for you i have a peace it is come as a river appease that the friends of this world never knew my savior alone is this author and giver and oh could i know it was given to you for you i am praying for you i am praying for you i am praying i'm praying [Music] for you may we pray together our lord our father our creator we come before you this morning and thanksgiving and praise for who you are and for all that you've done for us we thank you for your greatness we thank you for your sovereignty for your ability lord to always deliver for your consistency lord we we are here uh grateful to be able to praise your name to be able to be together over the measure of our health we are thankful that we are able to open up your word together and to learn more of you and to be encouraged lord we ask that as we worship you today it's pleasing and acceptable in your sight we ask that our hearts are pleasing and acceptable we ask that we do so in a way that is truly one that is is great to you lord more than to any other we ask lord that we are also likewise encouraged by our worship this morning we ask that you be with us and that we chase to be after you lord and all those who open your word in this assembly today do so in a way that is truthful in a way that is uplifting thank you lord for all that you've done for us uh please be with us with those of us who are not able to be here who might be here virtually or who wish to be here in person lord please watch over all of those including those who may be struggling with their health thank you lord for be giving us salvation and thank you for giving us one another it's in your son's name we pray amen and now as we prepare for the lord's supper we'll notice him 268 268. i gave my life for thee my prayer shows blood i shed that thou might ransom be and quick and from the dead i gave i gave my life for thee what has thou give for me i gave [Music] thou give for me my father's house [Music] [Music] [Music] oh [Music] [Music] me [Music] what has thou born for me and i have brought to thee [Music] salvation full and free [Music] gifts [Music] [Applause] [Music] to to me good morning avondale this is the point in our worship in which we are to focus our attention back to the cross and on the vicarious suffering of our lord and savior jesus christ and it's indeed my prayer that we do this each first day of the week and it is our reality and not our ritual to help us do so as we focus our attention let's notice the words of the apostle paul in ii corinthians chapter 5 verse 18 we'll start there and we'll also look at verse 21. now all things are of god who has reconciled us to himself by jesus christ and has given us the ministry of reconciliation now paul uses an interesting word there and reconciled and that word actually means to exchange or to change and in the context of this passage paul is saying that we are changing our relationship with christ over god one that was one of hostility to one that is friendship and how did god accomplish that he accomplished that through or by his son jesus christ for he made him verse 21 paul says for he made him that's christ to be sin for us who knew no sin that we might become the righteousness of god in him now we know christ was not sin the bible says that god made him to be seen or in the original text a sin offering for us and it is indeed an awesome thought and a glorious plan and a great result that his body has been given for our sin and i want you guys to kind of think about that throughout this week that amazing thought that god gave his son to be a sin offering for us he died in our stead it is with that thought in my mind it's unthinkable that we would enter lightly into this most elegant and important memorial without the sacrifice that this memorial represents we would be lost we would be floating if you will on a sin of only sea of doubt and sin and bound for an eternal damnation now why do we remember the lord's uh the lord's sacrifice well he wants us to always remember the sacrifice of his son we know it is possible that god's people can forget him we see that in jeremiah 2 verse 32 where god's people in the old testament did indeed forget him and in fact jeremiah says they forgot him days without number and we also see the same sentiment in hosea 13 verse number 6 where god's people god's chosen people had forgotten him so this memorial has been established so that each first day of the week not by ritual but by our reality that we remember the suffering of our lord and savior jesus christ let us pray now for the bread which represents our lord's body and the cup which represents his shedded blood father we thank you so much for this opportunity we have as new testament christians to assemble here this first day of the week as we do every week to remember the death of your son our lord and savior jesus christ we pray father for the bread which is uh represents your son's body we pray that each one who's partaking other's bread will do so with their mind the fixed calvary on the cross and the suffering of our lord and savior jesus christ and also for the cup which represents your son's shedded blood father we thank you that you devised this plan to reconcile us back to you and father we we always want to remember the great sacrifice your son has made in our stead in your son's name we pray amen so so um so so that concludes the lord's supper we now will pause for reflection on the well now that concludes the lord's supper i did pray for the bread in the cup okay this is my last sunday here as a member so way to go patrick okay it doesn't take away from the importance of the lord's supper and we know that let us now reflect our minds on on another portion of our worship which is giving as we have a new testament example in first corinthians chapter 16 we follow that example in giving upon the first day of the week we lay by in store as god has prospered and as we at avondale have established you know certain financial goals and not uh objectives we want to continue to strive and to meet those goals and it certainly requires um a financial commitment to do so and so as we have purposed in our heart let us now prepare to give as we continue to support the work that happens here at avondale and for all the mission work that's going on domestically and as well as internationally let us pray for the collection father we thank you so much again for this opportunity we have to give a portion of that which you have blessed us to be stewards over we're thankful that we have the ability to contribute to the work of the local congregation we ask your father to continue to bless the men who have oversight of this work pray that everything that we do brings pleasure to you and we can continue to reach out across this world to spread your gospel message the good news that will indeed reconcile man back to you father we thank you so much for all the blessings we thank you most of all for your son jesus christ in your son's name we pray amen and as always the contribution trays are in the back of the building or are in the back of the building or you can see one of the members here if you wanted to give it to one of the uh the leaders here our song of encouragement would be him 526 526 br song encouragement now we'll stand together and we're seeing 527 527 paradise valley [Music] as i travel through life with the trouble and strife i have glory of hope [Music] my [Music] now [Music] is [Music] is [Music] [Music] [Music] from [Applause] [Music] dreams [Music] is rare it is [Music] [Music] [Applause] this [Music] dreams [Music] please be the scripture before the sermon this morning will come from the book of john chapter four and we'll read verses 10 and 11. once again that is the book of john chapter 4 verses 10 and 11. and if you have it it reads 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 she said to him sir you have nothing to draw with and the well is deep where then do you get that living water good morning it is as always a delight to be with you this morning and as always we are very thankful for your presence especially if you're visiting with us we are very appreciative to our heavenly father who has yet again allowed us another week another day another opportunity to be in his presence and to enjoy one another's presence we continue our sermon series three sermons john chapter four we are on number two as we talked last week about the woman and noticed several things about her as is recorded here in john chapter 4 we turn our attention to the second focus in the text and that is our lord and savior jesus the christ he is often referred to as the master teacher i don't suppose that's a bad title at all to describe our savior one of the side effects of that is we are not and so it has this sense where jesus is separated from us after all he's the master teacher well i'm not and so sometimes that moniker though appropriate for jesus maybe gives us the wrong thought about ourselves we could call him so many things we could say jesus the compassionate teacher we could say jesus the kind teacher jesus the caring teacher jesus the interested teacher jesus the loving teacher jesus the tenderhearted teacher and maybe if we refer to him in those ways also well we would have much more of a connection to jesus the master teacher what do we learn about jesus here in john chapter four well the first thing we learn is in the first six verses and that is jesus was human that's what we read here at least it's revealed to us the bible says therefore when the lord knew that the pharisees had heard that jesus was baking and baptizing more disciples than john although jesus himself was not baptizing but his disciples were he left judea went away again in the galilee he said he had to pass through samaria verse number 4 says so he came to a city of samaria called psycher near the parcel of ground that jacob gave to his son joseph verse number six reveals to us the human nature of our lord jesus was there jacob's well was there so jesus being wearied from his journey was sitting thus about the well it was about the sixth hour he is referred to in many ways and it's difficult sometimes to try to merge the two thoughts that there is the god of heaven merged and taking on flesh but that is what the bible teaches matthew 1 23 says of jesus he is god with us john chapter 1 opens by saying in the beginning was the word and the word was with god and the word was god the same was in the beginning with god all things were made by him and without him was not anything made that was made verse number 14 tells us and the word became flesh he took on flesh the bible says the bible also tells us why he did this hebrews chapter 10 beginning in verse number three with reference to the sacrifices those particularly of animals and their ineffectiveness the writer says but in those sacrifices there is remembrance again made of sins every year for it is not possible that the blood of bulls and goats should take away sin there is the problem how do we get rid of sin well the blood and bulls of goats can't do it and so verse number five says wherefore when he cometh into the world he saith sacrifice and offering thou what is not but a body thou has prepared for me a body was prepared well why a body what are the side effects of having a body well one of those effects is you get hungry another of those is you get weary you get thirsty he's out of well why want some water why because he's wearied why because he has a body but why does he have a body well ultimately you can suffer and you can bleed and you can die jesus was human it's the first six verses that's the first thing we learn about him in john chapter four the second thing is jesus was ready notice verse number seven let's begin there and read down the verse number ten come back talk about what we read the bible says there came a woman of samaria to draw water jesus said to her give me a drink for his disciples had gone away into the city to buy food therefore the samaritan woman said to him how is it that you being a jew ask me for a drink since i'm a woman of samaria for the jews have no dealings with the samaritans jesus answered and said to her if you knew the gift of god who it was that spoke to you you would have asked me or you would have said to him give you drink give me drink and you would have asked of him and he would have given you living water verse number seven our lord was alert but jesus was human yes verse numbers one through six teach that verse number seven she was a human too jesus saw her as an opportunity our lord was opportunistic is what our lord was the disciples had gone away as we mentioned last week it may have been the very window necessary to have this conversation maybe their leaving didn't allow them to chime in after all when they do come back they're quite surprised that this conversation is even going on and sometimes it's just like that in life where there are windows of opportunity and if those windows of opportunity aren't those who are are present aren't aware of those opportunities if they themselves aren't alert and opportunistic then the windows can come and go you can have opportunities not be aware of it and they just slide right by this happens a lot in life and it's due often i would surmise to the fact that people aren't alert that people aren't aware that they are now in the very opportunity that's before them sometimes in scripture you find where opportunities could have been missed were there not other intervening factors i think about jonah on the boat in the book of jonah chapter one verse number five says of jonah not only did he pay the fare but when he got onto the boat he just went down to the bottom and went to sleep you know who's on the boat a bunch of people who don't know god you know the person who does know god he's down there on the boat asleep and if it weren't for the god of heaven's intervention with the sea being what it was and those men being very afraid that they so afraid woke up jonah who are you why is this happening oh i serve the i'm a hebrew i serve the god who created the heavens and the earth you do yeah i'm on the run well what can we do to stop this throw me overboard the man rode harder you know you don't end jonah chapter 1 without reading verse 16 where the bible says those men feared the lord by the time it was over they know same thing happens with naaman there's an opportunity there everybody seems to know it but naaman and so naaman hearing the news how to be cleansed bible says he went away angry in a rage were it not for his servant there's a window here there's an opportunity here what if he told you some great thing to do you'd have done that but listen he told you this little tiny thing why don't you do that if it weren't for that servant that window would have come and gone naaman would have gone back home with his leprosy and died with it but no that servant intervened you read again second kings chapter five and as much as name and his seemingly front and center in the events and in the account and as much as there is about the little maid and the benefit of her telling him to begin with and as much as could be said about the prophet and him being faithful to god's word and as much as could be focused on get a liar who eventually goes and lies and and gets leprosy that naaman had all of that being true god is the center of that event and by verse number 15 it's naaman who is saying now i know there is no god except in israel these opportunities are present they're constant they're available if one is alert jesus is verse number nine says the samaritan woman said to him how is it that you being a jew ask me a drink since i'm a samaritan woman but you know the jews have the jews have no dealings with the samaritans our lord was not simply alert to this opportunity our lord was focused he kept his eyes on the prize he wasn't drawn into her issue he neither affirmed it nor denied it for her soul's sake it was a non-issue she knew something and she was focused on that she was focused on right here right now you jews you people are behaving a particular way and you know it and she shared that with him because at least in her mind it was important our lord didn't bite no verse number 10 our lord was patient jesus answered and said to her if you knew it's interesting just because people say something doesn't mean you have to follow that train of thought just because they throw out something doesn't mean you have to chase it down jesus said not a word about what she said in verse number nine in fact jesus said if you knew the gift of god and who it was who said to you give me a drink you would have asked him and he would have given you living water our lord was patient christ was not concerned with what she knew about this life he was more concerned about what she needed to know about the next life he wasn't riled up or upset he noticed the way she worded it she put it on the jews the jews have no dealings with the samaritans and as we said last week maybe she was right i think peter confirms the same in acts 10 28 as well as verse number 34. and here's one of the things that's just true you can have a culture and you can have individuals who go against culture neither one invalidates the other we just have tendency to argue by extremes if somebody says there's this in the culture well no it's not because there are individuals who don't do that well that's true you know what they're both true this is true it's in the culture well she's not wrong the fact that our lord didn't get into it with her doesn't make her wrong makes our lord smart makes our lord focus on something else but it's interesting the jew gentile relationship may be important and being what it is what's more important is the woman's relationship with god and what our lord knows is the latter takes care of the former jesus our lord he knew too and yet he didn't go down that path she had the savior talking to her and she needed salvation he didn't refer to himself as a king or prophet or the savior or the messiah he could have he used what they were dealing with right there in the moment he talked about living water jesus said to the apostles he was going to make them fishers of men you know who was a great fisher of men jesus was he baited the hook and then he waited he said to her if you knew the gift of god wait she just told the lord what she knew here's what i know you jews have no dealings with the samaritans jesus said but now listen if you knew there's something you don't know if you knew the gift of god and who it was that said do you give me a drink you would have asked me and i would have given you or you would have asked me he had given you living water if you knew boy that must have pricked her attention there's something i don't know it's not what she knows that's important it's what she does not know matter in fact we might say it's who she does not know truth of the matter is you and i are trying to emulate the savior by teaching the gospel we need to know these same things we need to know who we are whenever a christian and a sinner enter a bible discussion several scenarios are possible one is one enters saved and one will leave saved another is one enters lost and will remain lost still another is both can leave saved we hope the former the fourth never happens and that is a christian enters saved and converts to the error and they both leave lost well we hope that never happens one of the sad things in the world is those people just don't know who you are if they only knew when they are talking to you they were talking to a christian if only they knew you were knowledgeable of how to become a christian that you're someone who knows jesus that you're someone who knows the way to heaven that you're someone who knows how to have an abundant life on earth and how to live eternally with god that you're someone who can tell them how to worship god acceptably someone who knows how the spirit works in the lives of men christians need to know who they are but it's so sad that the world doesn't know who you are if only they knew if only she knew she was talking to jesus well our lord didn't tell her that he just baited the hook if only you knew the lord got her to do what every soul needs to do and that is think about eternal matters verse number 11 and verse number 12 she's thinking she said to him sir you have nothing to draw with and the well is deep where then do you get that living water i'm interested tell me about that you are not greater than our father jacob are you who gave us the well and drink of it himself and his sons and cattle even as she is thinking she manages to slightly again indict she has accused you jews you know the jews have no dealings with the samaritans she has identified you have a problem you don't even have anything to draw with she has questioned his ability are you greater than our father jacob our lord didn't bite on any of it jesus is the only person who cannot say these words it's not about me no it's only and all about him and yet he didn't defend himself he didn't say anything about the jews he didn't say anything about drawing he didn't say anything about himself being greater than jacob no our lord is the master teacher notice verse 13 and verse 14 what he does say jesus asked and said to her everyone who drinks of this water will thirst again but whoever drinks of the water that i will give him shall never thirst but the water that i will give him will become in him a well of water springing to eternal life jesus knew where the power was jesus knew where the life-giving sustenance was jesus knew who was really thirsty in this dynamic he came to the well thirsty physically but he talked to somebody and he knew they thirsted spiritually she was thirsty she just didn't know it by the time christ and her converse you see christ was alert to the situation christ was informed christ was attuned and christ taught his teaching involves providing the information that she needs to come to know her own needs verse number 15 the woman said sir give me this water baited the hook she tried but if you knew i'm interested tell me about this water oh there's living water and i could give it to you sir give me this water so that i will not be thirsty nor come all the way to this well to draw our lord and her in this conversation we can't really avoid talking about her because she misunderstands the teaching and that's not uncommon really she misunderstands and people often do you talk about religion today and you talk about jesus today and people just misunderstand listen we should not be put off because people get bad information about jesus we should not be put off because people misunderstand some things about jesus we still misunderstand some things about jesus the common thought of the day is if you have jesus you won't have problems our lord is going to fix everything he's going to give you all that you need and people start immediately with physical things just like the woman money he's going to give it to you you know one of the things that just i need to remember to do this while i'm talking one of the things that's very challenging is we we say this all the time we live in a new cycle we live in a new cycle one of the things about living in a news cycle is not only do they come and go it's it's almost as if people literally forget what was said and it's like we get further down the road it's like it didn't happen because i don't remember it because it was three weeks ago it was a month ago that was six months ago and it's almost like we just erased history because it was a year ago it was fine listen i was here and i remember the prosperity preachers telling people walk around the house and claim it i remember hearing that has that changed because it was five years ago 10 years ago 12 years ago that's not part of the religion anymore no it still is and it's almost like well i just forget it look jesus is going to give you money people still believe that he's going to fix your health he's going to provide you a lifestyle he's going to do all of these things again you'll never want our lord's going to take care of it just ask this woman thought the same thing it's easy to see here she's mistaken but she's hardly the only one in john chapter 2 jesus talked about destroying the temple he wasn't talking about the temple he's talking about his body in john 3 jesus talked about being born again a new birth and nicodemus misunderstood he was a master in israel john 4 not surprising jesus is at a well talking about living water and a woman who came to get water is misunderstanding the teaching in john 5 he'll talk about the resurrection in john 6 he'll talk about his word eating and drinking and people will still misunderstand it's not uncommon that people misunderstand we shouldn't be put off by it jesus wasn't what he did was he tested the sincerity of her heart that's what jesus does how does he do that know what he says next again as you follow this conversation the the the responses the backwards and forwards it doesn't seem to just march down a line because one person says something the other person followed that it keeps branching off into these other things what has anything been said up to this point have to do with her lifestyle nothing so why does jesus bring it up well he does she said to him in verse 15 give me the water i'll never come to draw again verse 16 jesus said to her go call your husband and come here the woman answered i have no husband jesus said to her you have correctly said i have no husband for you have had five husbands the one whom you now have is not your husband this you have truly said well what's jesus doing i'm going to urge that jesus is testing the soil he's trying to see her heart is this woman really interested in the truth what has she just said give me the water i'll never come well that's where her mind is give me the water do you really want this water do you really want it if you do go call your husband he speaks of her lifestyle she speaks of her morality speaks of her sin does she want to change jesus effectively says i know what you did and what you are doing do you want to fix it it's just true throughout scripture god often asks questions for our benefit to see where our hearts are will we be honest about who we truly are and what we have really done will we admit it and allow him to reach us and teach us is our heart right is the ground where the seed the word has been planted good ground can't fool an all-knowing god what our lord does not do he doesn't bite on the first invitation to have a conversation about the race relations of the day verse number nine what he does not do he didn't attack and repel her for her past verse number 16. what he did do was he asked questions he let her think he let her answer he let her decide if she wanted to know more and to go further and she did and so they did christ next talked religion verse number 19 beginning our lord does everything we are told not to do he does every single thing if somebody were counseling jesus they would have told him there's no way you have this conversation there's no way this conversation they would have called it a whole lot of things and they would have said jesus you can't do it this way and yet that's exactly the way the one we call the master teacher did it christ did everything he interacted with someone racially both christ and the woman saw color verse number nine she said i'm a samaritan and you're a jew both of them acknowledge that reality he was a jew she was a samaritan there was acknowledge animosity you know it i know it the jews have no dealings with the samaritans the village that they're next to verse 39 full of samaritans here's a man here's a woman interacting with each other and acknowledging racial tension but it's not just that christ and this woman acknowledge gender verse number seven there came a woman of samaria an identifiable woman she's a woman christ is a jew a man a male a jew christ is verse number nine verse number 15 and verse 19 she referred to christ as sir verse number 16 and verse 17 jesus referred to her and her husband's four times husband husband husband to a woman the apostles in verse 27 when they come back they see a man who is a jew talking to a woman who is a samaritan both of them acknowledge gender both of them acknowledge racial and animosity and then jesus talked religion interestingly the woman brought them both of them verse number nine it was the woman who said you're a jew i'm a samaritan verse number nine she did that introduced that thought in verse number 20 she introduced the thought of religion our fathers worshiped in this mountain and you say that in jerusalem is the place where men ought to worship christ acknowledged her gender and ethnicity and neither of which got a whole lot of discussion neither of which could or needed to be changed and so they were never much talked about just acknowledged but when it came to the subject of religion now that discussion required change christ did three things in this discussion verse number 21 the first thing he did was to tell her that change was coming she just said in verse number 20. our father's worship here you jews say it's there jesus said to her woman believe me an hour is coming when neither in this mountain nor yet in jerusalem will men worship the father he didn't fight with her on the particulars he just told her change is coming secondly he told her you're wrong change was coming but you and your father are wrong your past is wrong and your present is wrong verse number 22 you worship you know not what not only did he tell her that she and her fathers were wrong as we said last week he told her that he and the jews were right end of that verse says we know what we worship why lord for salvation is of the jews salvation comes from the jews romans 1 16 and 17 we quote it but do understand it's the bible to the jew first and also to the greek jesus secondly told her that you're wrong but then jesus thirdly returned to the changed and look forward notice verse 23 and 24 he says but an hour is coming and now is when the true worshipers shall worship the father in spirit and in truth for the father seeketh such to worship him god is spirit and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth jesus says i know i know what will constitute acceptable worship to god there will be no more boundaries there will be no more locations anyone anywhere jews samaritans and everyone else this is what peter said he learned in acts 10 and verse 34 i perceive i've come to understand that god is no respecter of persons but in every nation he that worketh righteousness is accepted of him jesus then taught what acceptable worship involves and there are three things first worship to god is exclusive god is the only object of worship god is spirit and they that worship him the only one worthy of worship is god not angels see john in the revelation not heavenly bodies not the sun the moon the stars not human being see uh acts chapter 12. no one is worthy of worship except god but then secondly god must be worshiped god must be worshipped he says in two ways we are not at liberty to decide worship we can worship incorrectly and it's tough for people to hear that and yet the bible records it the very book that's held up is the book that records various kinds of worships and very often those worships being rejected i don't think you have to look further than genesis 4 see cain and abel the first time we read of sacrifice to god one is approved and one is rejected the very first time ought to teach the whole world something but there are specific references to different kinds of worship matthew 15 9 jesus referred to someone as worshiping in vain in vain do they worship me teaching for doctrines the commandments of men he calls it vain empty useless worship and then there is paul in acts chapter 17 standing there in the midst of people who are very religious he says referring to them as worshiping ignorantly acts 17 23 and then there's paul talking to the brethren in colossae in colossians 2 23 referring to something he calls will worship self-governing worship will determined by the individual out of their own heart and mind what they've decided jesus says worship to god will be done if it's approved of in spirit and in truth when we read that idea in spirit it has to do with your spirit not the holy spirit it has to do with the right attitude and disposition of heart humility and reverence and a desire and willingness joy and genuineness the bible will say in exodus 25 verse 1 and verse number 2 whoever brings an offering with a willing heart joshua would say in joshua 24 and verse number 14 fear the lord and serve him in sincerity and in truth second corinthians 8 and verse number 12 if there first be a willing mind this is one of the reasons this is one of the reasons that you don't receive phone calls from the elders to get up out of the bed on sunday because if you don't want to be among god's people worshiping then you won't be and you shouldn't feel that i'm here because somebody guilted me pulled me moved me cajoled me forced me against my will i'm just sitting here in resistance and i don't want to be no sir no ma'am that's not acceptable worship to god god has given us the privilege to worship and if we don't want to do that then god would just assume we not do that sincerity spirit second corinthians 9 and verse number 7 each one must do just as he has purposed in his heart not grudgingly nor of necessity now he's going to talk about giving in that sense but it's the it's the whole of our being to god and the nature of the relationship and then jesus says in truth there is an objective standard of truth there is god's word and as you read through the bible it's talked about frequently that god is a god of truth the bible will say and then the bible will list all of these benefits of truth second timothy 3 16 and 17 second peter 1 20 and 21 that truth will set us free john 8 31 32 that truth will sanctify us john 17 17 that truth will judge us john 12 and verse 48. truth is what god has revealed in the new testament of jesus christ and he will accept worship to him based on that and nothing else the right attitude the right heart the right disposition and god's word the truth jesus says that's what will constitute acceptable worship what we learned about the woman last week is she was all in on that it's interesting that the woman didn't take exception to the issue of gender discussion she didn't have any problem with that and she wasn't put off by the fact that ran away because he was a jewish samaritan and they didn't get along and so soon as she saw him she just no she didn't do that and even when he brought up her moral issues she stayed and listened and she went from this discussion and she said come see a man she didn't say go avoid a man at all cost she said no no no come see him and when she and the people began to listen to jesus they implored him to stay read with me verse 39 from that city many of the samaritans believed in him because of the word of the woman who testified he told me all the things that i've done so when the samaritans came to jesus they were asking him to stay with them and he stayed there two days many more believe because of his word and they were saying to the woman is no longer because of what you have said that we believe for we know we have now heard ourselves and know that this one is indeed the savior of the world what did jesus do christ stayed and saved christ saw past the cover to the beautiful story within he didn't allow the cover to determine whether or not he would read the pages like all of us the woman didn't have the best cover to look at but she had the best one looking at the cover her life was marred and she had lived like many humans do made a mess of it and none of those men to whom she had been quote married had the decency to actually marry her or if they even had that right but christ did what only god can do he received her he taught he cared he cleansed he saw beyond her shell to her soul and he made her into a fishers of men it's interesting that as soon as jesus baited the hook and called her she went and started catching other people she did what every one of us should do she brought others to jesus she was good soil in a soiled package there were more just like her in samaria and even those who may have thought themselves better than her still listen to her and they came and they learned for themselves christ is our perfect example as a savior and a great human being he didn't just judge the book by its cover he didn't even get sidetracked by her issues he focused on her and her soul he didn't get lost in her past he had what she needed and was going to give her every opportunity to get it he engaged her on the things that couldn't change he acknowledged them but he didn't get bogged down in them she was a woman he knew that he knew the treatment of women she was a samaritan he knew that he knew the relationship the jews sustained to the samaritans yet he taught her to change the things she could and what mattered most she was a religious woman he knew she was but she was ignorant of the truth and so he shared that with her what he found in this woman was good soil a beautiful story behind a beat-up cover he cared for her shared with her taught her and he didn't have to send her she went and she brought others to him he went and spoke to others about her a funny thing happened on the way to get some water she met the giver of living water if she remained faithful she's in paradise even to this very hour i can't help but wonder down the road in her life maybe she told her children who told their children one day mama went out to draw some water one day grandmama went out to draw some water one day great granny went to draw some water and she met jesus at the well and she left with living water and we're still faithful to this day who knows who you're gonna meet will you be opportunistic will you be alert you see you know who you are they don't and they might accuse you who do you think you are that's what she said to jesus are you greater than jacob they might suggest to you don't you know how black people and white people are living in america they might say to you you can't bog me down with gender who are you to talk to me about religion oh friends don't get sidetracked test the soil you know if you knew if you only knew there's living water there's hope eternal well tell me about this hope glad you asked me tell you about jesus jesus knew who he was jesus the master teacher jesus looked beyond the cover jesus did not get sidetracked this story ends with a saved woman and a saved village by the savior may we be like our savior and do the same not a christian this morning become one everybody's got a past no need for us to talk about yours let's talk about the present and the future let's talk about getting to know jesus today by obeying his gospel becoming his disciple and his child would you believe that jesus christ is the son of god john 8 24 he is if you believe not that he is will die in our sins would you repent turn your heart change your mind learn the truth and then obey it confess the name of jesus and be buried with him in baptism washed and cleansed and made a new creation if you only knew who it was that you were seeking and we could share with you you would come to jesus and you would obey the gospel and when you rose from that water we wouldn't have to tell you to go tell somebody else because you would share that good news with somebody else who needs it if you are his child let us remember when we first met jesus let us remember when we first came out of the water let us rekindle that fire that nobody needed to tell me to share that good news let's go back to that let's look for these opportunities and let's share jesus with whoever is looking for him we can help you in any way we invite you to come as we stand and as we see [Music] [Music] do not [Music] say [Music] wow [Music] is [Music] [Applause] [Music] grace [Music] is [Music] more than life to me [Music] thee [Music] [Music] [Music] we appreciate that message from eric that reminder of the opportunities that we can have before us and we need to take those opportunities just as jesus did and learn from him and all the ways that he is trying to teach us as we live in this life and try and be good servants for him but thank you for that message and that reminder again i want to welcome everyone that's here with us we are thankful for everyone gathering together to worship god today if you are in the building and are able to we'd love to have record of our attendance from our visitors um there's a blue card on the pew in front of you you can take one of those fill it out and you can drop it in the box on the way out or pass it to one of the members on your way out but we'd love to have a record of your attendance and thank you for visiting with us and if you have opportunity hang around for a moment we'd love to meet you also a couple of prayer requests and updates on some that we want to make you mindful of that weren't in our bulletin also please make sure you continue to look at that non-bulletin that's sent out each week because there's many additions in there and list of names so use that as a tool for you through the week to those that you can reach out to and encourage we did learn that our brother vern southern and lost a cousin lenisius lindsey and he passed away from covid so i want to be mindful of vern sutherland his family also want to be mindful of ronald coleman he lost his sister so wouldn't be mindful of him in that loss also curtis jones mentioned this morning that he's got many family members his mother especially is in the hospital with kobe but he's got i think it was a sister and a cousin or nephew maybe i can't remember that exactly but he's got quite a few members struggling with kovitz i want to remember curtis jones family especially his mother who's in the hospital did get an update on our brother anthony matthews he has seen some improvement in the last few days and the hope is that he might be moved out of icu this week but he is in the hospital with covid and we're glad to hear that improvement for him as well also continue to remember whitney berry she did have her major surgery this past friday it was eight hours and all but she is home or not be in the hospital i'm sorry i misreading this home today okay said a few days but yeah hopefully we'll go home today but want to continue that remember her in prayer as she recovers and also remember fred and mariah her their daughter as they continue to deal with all that's going on in their lives and due to covid right now she can't have any visitors or anything they may be able to do that but i'm not sure so we can check with them when they get home i think that is all the updates on those that we have that are sick so again take opportunity to reach out to those that have lost loved ones and those that are have illness in their families if you have seen the electronic copy of the bulletin there was a picture on the front of it of our patrick neither there on the front of it and i don't know that that was the best thing to put on the front of our bulletin or not but i would have much rather seen his wife and daughters but that's just me but we are sad to announce this is their last sunday with us as he mentioned when he was up here a moment ago we are sad to see them go they're going to be moving to birmingham we appreciate all their work that they have put in with the congregation over their time with us him working with the grand timers i know they're going to miss them but i think he's taught him how to have a grand time so they're going to keep doing that whether he's here or not but we will miss them and we wish them well as they relocate to birmingham so try and catch them before they leave today our fall seminar is going to be starting this friday night at 8 p.m so we'll have one session friday night at 8 p.m and then there'll be three sessions on saturday morning 9 10 and 11. our speaker is terence dendi and so we're looking forward to having him here with us for our seminar this weekend and then it will continue on sunday morning so this sunday morning we will have a combined class so the classes that have been meeting in the back will all be in the auditorium together in continuation with the seminar because he'll preach teach the bible class and then preach for us sunday morning so looking forward to that seminar this weekend with him so please make opportunity to be here if you can we will stream those on our website as we have been with our other services though today at 5 p.m we will be having our birthday celebration on zoom so please join us for that we recognize all the september birthdays for them and look forward to doing that this afternoon the pew packers will meet this afternoon on zoom also at 4 30 just prior to that and then we also look forward to having our bible classes on 7 30 on wednesday night look forward to see you in those classes that is all the announcements i have at this time we will have a song and a prayer and then be dismissed our closing hand will be him 340 340 and afterwards brother leonard tomorrow the third will be leading us in prayer let's stand together please swiftly we're turning live daily pages [Music] is [Music] right [Music] let us pray dear heavenly father god in heaven above we thank you so much for this opportunity that we've had this morning to come together to worship you in spirit and in truth we pray that all things that have been done here today our pleasing sweet aroma to to you we pray a special prayer for the leaders of our congregation those that make the sacrifices so that we can continue to be a strong pillar and representation of your word and of christ's love within this community we're so thankful for all of the many blessings that you give us for security in our jobs for health for the knowledge of your loving kindness for the sacrifice that jesus made on calvary's cross we pray that we can have a fire of evangelism to go out into the world and to tell all those that we meet about the good news and the gift that we have received through christ jesus we thank you for all these things and pray for those that are suffering from covet or other illnesses recovering from surgeries we just ask that you can continue to be with them in the ways that only you can be with the physicians and the nurses that are tending to those people that they can enjoy their recovered health if it be your will all these things we pray through our christ jesus name amen you

Channel: Avondale church of Christ

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Length: 82min 44sec (4964 seconds)

Published: Sun Sep 26 2021