The Well

Some days are better than others.  I think we all would say this.  But imagine this day with me a minute or two… 

A lady is thirsty, and she goes to the same well she has been going to all her life.  It’s old and worn and deep.  It’s the same well her father and her father’s father used to get water for themselves and all her family.  She’s there once again, alone.  She isn’t the best dressed or even remotely popular; you might call her an outcast.  Some have called her much worse; you see she has a reputation.  She has walked all the way out to the well and is taking a break from the hot sun, the hot Samaritan sun.  Much to her surprise a man approaches her and speaks to her…

He asks her for a drink.  She is a little startled by a man speaking to her at all, but his accent and clothing give him away as a Jew.  She is apprehensive, “How is it that You, being a Jew, ask a drink from me, a Samaritan woman?”  She is used to getting the cold shoulder and the brush off and expects that will probably be all he has to say, but he goes on, “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 begins to think that this man may have been out in the sun too long, but something about him is different and keeps her talking.  She talks, or more importantly, listens long enough to have a life changing experience. 

She has come to the true well, Jesus.  You probably have recognized by now that this is the 4^th chapter of John’s Gospel.  This is one of several places Jesus mentions the water he can provide, “living water.”  He mentions it in verse 10 we have already mentioned and again in verses 13 and 14 of John 4, “Whoever drinks of this water will thirst again, ¹⁴ 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.”   Wow…  An ordinary day had become a trip to THE WELL.  “I am the bread of life. He who comes to Me shall never hunger, and he who believes in Me shall never thirst.” (John 6:35)  “He who believes in Me, as the Scripture has said, out of his heart will flow rivers of living water.” (John 7:35)

How many of us waste our days running to this or to that to try to fix our problems or satisfy a desire?  We seek and do not find, we toil and work and yet have no peace.  Maybe it is time for all of us to take a trip to the well, for a big cool drink of the living water only Jesus Christ can provide.  "There’s a fountain free, ’tis for you and me, Let us haste, O haste to its brink; ‘tis a fount of love from the source above, And He bids us all freely drink.   There’s a living well and its waters swell, and eternal life they can give; and we joyful sing, ever spring, O spring, as we haste to drink and to live."[1]  Will you come to the fountain free?  I don’t know about you, but I’m getting thirsty. 

God Bless.

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[1] "There’s A Fountain Free" The text was written by Mrs. Mary Bridges Canedy Slade (1826-1882). The tune (Free Waters) was composed by Asa Brooks Everett (1828-1875).

Deep Roots

A living sacrifice, take up your cross, if they persecute Me then they will surely persecute you… those are tough things to swallow, aren’t they?  Tough maybe, but all warnings from God’s word that things are not always promised to be easy on the Christian walk.  God told us there would be days like this, so to speak.  These are the days and the times we must all dig deep.  This is when it would be good to have been planted by that stream of living water the Psalmist and Jeremiah talk about in Psalm 1 and Jeremiah 17.  Jeremiah even mentions the roots spreading out in verse 8, a firm foundation.  Let’s take a minute to think out what can ground us and give our roots the depth needed to stand the heat of this world and the wiles of the devil.

Let’s take a look at Romans 12:1-2.  I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service. ² And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God.  Paul is actually begging here.  This is one of those times that he is not speaking a command, but even more strongly, he is begging the brothers and sisters at Rome to present their bodies as a living sacrifice.  Why…Because of the “mercies of God.”  Present your bodies as the sacrifice.  This is literally the word for what is being sacrificed.  This is an all-in affair.  A sacrifice can never go back to being anything else once sacrificed.  It is final and complete.  This is a total surrender.  That my friend is the key… that is what grows deep roots… that is what leads to being a true follower of Jesus, being all-in.  Paul says that is our only reasonable response to god’s mercy, our only logical act of worship to One who gave so much. 

We might ask how in the world can I do that?  Paul explains in the very next verse, “be transformed.”  Be changed.  Don’t let yourself be shaped by what everyone else does, but rather let yourselves be transformed by a whole new way of thinking.  Paul emphasizes the transforming and new life of a Christian in 2 Corinthians 5:17. Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new.  Let’s live our lives deeply rooted in the newness that is the mercy of God’s love each day of our lives, because that is, of course, the only reasonable response to something so amazing as God’s love and mercy.

God Bless!

Courageous for Jesus

What if we were really all in for Jesus?  What if we truly made Jesus number one in our lives and hearts and souls?  What if we were radical in our expression of Jesus to others, Jesus freaks, so to speak?  Would it ever be said of us today, what was said of Paul and Silas in Acts 17:6?  "These men who have turned the world upside down have come here also.”  Would we ever be accused of turning our hands, much less the world upside down?

I need to share a personal story that I think will inspire, and then I have a challenge for all of us.  Last night a friend and I went out to eat and I was to pick the place.  That’s never one of my favorite things, picking the place to eat, but I chose a local Mexican restaurant and we were seated in a booth.  The waiter was friendly and had a smile, but we could tell spoke little English.  We sat and discussed matters of God and other things pertaining to our lives, and were finishing our meal.  I ashamedly say that my friend, not I, determined to be bold and mention God and Jesus to our waiter.  He had a card that read, “God is good all the time and all the time God is good.”  Some of you may recognize that as a card.  My friend gave him the card and asked him to come to church with us.  We explained that we were Christians and worshipped at the Beltline Church of Christ.  Our Waiter went on to ask if it was the one across from Martins. We, of course, said yes.  Guess what?  He had been coming to worship with our Hispanic congregation, but work had pulled him away.  We talked a little more and went our separate ways, for now.  Let me ask you, was that coincidence or was that God?  I will boldly submit to you that that was our divine appointment that we would have probably have missed had my friend not decided to pull out one of those cards.  How many of those do you miss each day?  I am quite sure I miss many.  Now let’s get to the challenge.

I am going to resolve starting today to tell at least one person about Jesus every day for 30 days.  I am going to be courageous with my expression of Jesus in my life.  Who will join me?  Paul told Timothy in 1 Timothy 1:7, “God gave us a spirit not of fear but of power and love and self-control.” That’s just as true today as it was 2000 years ago.  We must just tap into that power that is so freely offered to those who will step out and step up for the Lord.  If you will take this “Courageous for Jesus” challenge please email me your desire and commitment to ricktalley01@gmail.com.  I would also love to share some of your stories if you would email those to me as well.  Let’s all band together and turn the world upside down again!

God Bless!

A Master's Prayer

Yesterday we began a study of the Prayer life of Jesus.  We will continue that study today by looking at a couple of instances when Jesus prayed.  We all would do well to follow the Master's example.

Jesus prayed when He was deciding who to surround Himself with in His ministry.  "n these days he went out to the mountain to pray, and all night he continued in prayer to God. And when day came, he called his disciples and chose from them twelve, whom he named apostles. (Luke 6:12-13)  Jesus saw the people He would be working with as important, so important, that He, in fact, prayed all night about it.  He knew the people who would assist Him were important, but he also knew how much He would be ministering and teaching these men.  Jesus prayed for not only His co-workers in the ministry, but also the same ones of whom He would minister the most.  Do we do either?  Are our coworkers important enough to pray about?  Maybe we overlook them, but what about those close to us, the ones we have most influence over, do we pray for them?  Surely we pray for those we might be able to minister to...those whose only Jesus they see might be the Jesus they see living in us.  John 13:15 is in a different context, but the same words of Jesus apply here. For I have given you an example, that you also should do just as I have done to you.  We should do just as Jesus did and pray for those closest to us.

Jesus also prayed when He was busy.  Look at the situation Jews finds Himself in in Luke 5:15-16, "However, the report went around concerning Him all the more; and great multitudes came together to hear, and to be healed by Him of their infirmities. So He Himself often withdrew into the wilderness and prayed."  Jesus had been involved in a busy day, busy time in His Life, but Jesus never lost the importance of talking to His heavenly Father.  Luke, not only, expresses that He felt the need often, but He also felt the need of quiet time with God, withdrawing into the wilderness to pray.  I think we miss the importance of quiet time alone with God.  I am of the thought that anywhere is not only a fitting and proper place to pray, but necessary.  Praying without ceasing doesn't just have to be an ideal, but can be a way of life.  With that having been said, I also feel the importance of quiet purposeful time with God.  If Jesus needed it, then we most definitely need it in our lives today.  Jesus didn't get too busy to pray, but prayed because he was becoming too busy.

Let us Pray!

Jesus: Prayer Warrior

Jesus baptism was a very important time in the life of Jesus, as it is with most that follow Him as their Savior.  Of course, Jesus' baptism was a little different.  Most of us would never have to put up a fuss to get someone to baptize us, but Jesus did.  He had to actually state His case to convince John to baptize Him.  John was a bit reluctant, knowing who Jesus was, and who could blame him?  We have to look to Matthew's Gospel to even get this glimpse of resistance.  John would have prevented him, saying, "I need to be baptized by you, and do you come to me?" (Matt 3:14, ESV)  No other gospel writer notes this obvious tension in the moment.  But Jesus answered him "Let it be so now, for thus it is fitting for us to fulfill all righteousness." Then he consented." (v. 15) So with that, Jesus, our sinless Savior and Redeemer, was baptized.  He who knew no sin had set the precedent and example for all who would come after Him to follow.

Jesus didn't stop there.  He went on after His baptism and before His coronation as the Servant King, recalling Psalm 2:7 and Isaiah 42:1, in the words from Heaven, to set us another important example that we will explore in more detail. "When Jesus also had been baptized and was praying, the heavens were opened." (Luke 3:21) So between these two extremely significant events in all of Christendom, Jesus prayed.  This is quite significant, but Jesus can be nothing less.  Jesus prayer life was another example that we, His followers, would do well to follow.  Now it came to pass, as He was praying in a certain place, when He ceased, that one of His disciples said to Him, “Lord, teach us to pray, as John also taught his disciples. (Luke 11:1 NKJV)

Prayer was a significant and substantial part of Jesus' life. Jesus spoke to His Father on a regular basis.  We see the beginnings of this here in Luke at His baptism, but we can trace Jesus' prayer life all the way through baptism, transfiguration, crucifixion, resurrection and ascension.  When something important was happening, Jesus was praying.  Let us explore Jesus' prayer life during the important events more closely and then look at the pattern, and thus importance, of prayer in the life of our Lord.

Jesus is seen praying at almost every turn, but maybe even more so when there was a fork in the road, an important event that would have a major impact on His earthly life and ministry. Jesus was praying when He was commissioned and proclaimed Savior by God, but that was only the beginning.

We will spend a few days talking about Jesus, our example and ultimate Prayer Warrior.