This morning, I want to share a great story from the Bible—from the Gospel of John, Chapter 4, verses 5-30 and 39-42. It’s a story that appears only in John’s Gospel, and it tells us so much about Jesus, and about God’s desire to be close to us.
"...the question I ask you to ask yourself each day this week: What will be the long-term impact of your faith?"
God, help us to be honest in this moment. Honest with You. Honest with ourselves. Honest with one another.
Jesus is saying that, if we are to follow Him—if we are really, truly to follow Him—then we cannot make “the least I can do” our goal. Christianity isn’t a “least I can do” way of life...
Love today—extravagantly, willingly, joyously, paying the price and offering yet more.
"And then the most difficult question of all, the one that Jesus did not ask of the disciples, at least not out loud, at least not that day in Caesarea: Who do you say that you are? As you walk through life, writing your own obituary every day, what are you saying about yourself? Who are you claiming to be? Who are you confessing to be?
We cannot expect the world to be righteous if we are not. We cannot expect the world to know righteousness unless we show righteousness to the world.
We forget this important truth about the people we meet; Jesus is following them, calling them, waiting for them to turn around.
Paul is making a point here, and it’s not so much a point about Jesus, but about the church, and it’s clear that the church is not a building, or a place, but people...