F4F | Nicole Crank's Failure of a Success Sermon

Fighting for the Faith

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This episode is sponsored by the Word of the Lord endures forever Welcome to another installment of fighting for the faith.

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My name is Chris Roseboro. I am your servant in Jesus Christ This is the channel that compares what people are saying in the name of God to the

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Word of God so one of the things if you haven't noticed is that when

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I do a kind of a takedown of a False teacher somebody who's twisting up God's Word You'll know that oftentimes

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I use that as an excuse to be able to then Teach you what the

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Bible actually says there's a reason for that and that is is that the Bible is so much greater and so much more amazing and Comforting than your false teachers have ever let on the reason why false teachers exist is for themselves

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They legitimately are Making merchandise of you teaching false doctrine in order to draw away

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Christ disciples and make them disciples of the false teacher of themselves and The Bible is not about them.

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It's not about you It's about Christ and what he's done for you And so when somebody is scratching itching ears teaching for shameful gain the things that they ought not to teach

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Making merchandise of you in their greed They aren't going to open up the scriptures and really let you have the true meat the sustenance the

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Part that your soul is longing for No, they're going to end up leaving you really hungry

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Shall I say thirsty? Maybe thirsty would be more in line with what we're gonna do today. They leave you

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Really without being satisfied at all because the your problem is not

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That you are not successful enough that you don't have a big platform Your problem is not that you don't have enough money

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Your problem isn't that your kids don't behave or your problem isn't that you haven't found the secret to success

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You know what your problem is? Same problem We all have and that is the is is each of us are sinners.

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We have rebelled against God We have disobeyed his commands. We've gone our own way done.

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What is right in our own eyes and at the end of it We've made our lives into a complete mess yeah, and anybody who doesn't think that their life is a complete mess does not know

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God's law and As a result of it the solution to this the thing that's going to satisfy our souls

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Is not a to -do list of things that we need to do in order to patch things up the thing that's gonna satisfy us

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Is Christ and so false teachers, they're not interested in preaching

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Jesus They're just didn't preach in themselves and they're interested in making putting you on the rat wheel of success

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When in fact scripture calls us to recognize that we aren't successful At all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God and are justified by his grace as a gift

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So there's a reason why the false teacher is never satisfied. So what we're gonna do today Let me whirl up the desktop.

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We are going to head over to Faith Church, but this isn't their st.

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Louis cap campus. This is their Florida campus and They now go by crank ministries and we're gonna listen to Nicole crank and Nicole crank

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Number one, we will just say it because we need to say it. She shouldn't be preaching Christ commands for women to be silent in church

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She's flat -out disobeying Christ that being said even if Christ were to permit her to preach and he doesn't

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What she is going to do here is abysmal. So the name of the sermon is true grit part for seven keys to bigger success

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Just let that name sink in seven keys to bigger success

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Is that what the Bible is about? Giving you keys so that you can have success on this earth

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Isn't it Christ says that that anyone who believes in him needs to deny himself

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Take up his cross and follow Christ Hmm. Yeah, you'll note that and so I'm going to use the occasion of her twisting of a particular biblical text completely out of context and To actually teach you something amazing about the scriptures in a particular story that you may be familiar with but we're gonna see if we can sink our teeth into it and suck a little bit more of The morrow out of it because the morrow is

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Christ himself So if I seem a little excited about that part, I am I'm not excited about this next part and that's hitting the play button

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So Okay, let's hang on. I got a stretch. Okay, we're ready to roll. Here we go I'm Pastor Nicole and I'm here this week in Pastor David.

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No, there are no women pastors Christ forbids women to preach in his church heard me do a teaching at our staff meeting.

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I do some corporate teaching I speak at offices I do some masterminds and I bring a lot of that in and I share that with our staff and Pastor David heard it and He said

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I need you to share that with all the faith church so what we're gonna get is a message that She teaches in corporate coaching sessions because she's got a side hustle that she does as a motivational speaker

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This isn't a sermon This is a TED talk So this is a little more of a teaching a little less of a preaching if you are a note -taker if you have a business if you

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Are an entrepreneur or if you're in the corporate world if you have a job if you lead in your family if you're a dream Team director if you lead at your church if you lead in your neighborhood get out a pencil and paper

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I want to help you the title of my message is How to shrink your vision

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To make your success bigger All right.

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Do I seem like I'm in pain yet? I'm in pain This is horrifying how to shrink your vision to make your success bigger and I'm gonna actually

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Change the title just a little bit for church this weekend. Is that okay? Hey church, it's how to shrink your vision to make your harvest bigger

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And I'm pulling this out of John 4. Somebody said that's good And okay

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Now watch where she says she's gonna get this from watch this To make your harvest bigger

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And I'm pulling this out of John 4 and in John 4 35, that's the scripture I want to start with it says do not say

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There are still four months until harvest hmm behold

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I say to you says Jesus lift up your eyes and Look at the fields for they are white with harvest so to actually get the context of this scripture like Okay, so out of context

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John 4 35 Okay, and Now she's going to give us some context

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But my question immediately is going to be is she gonna give us context by Legitimately reading this passage this amazing passage of scripture out in context

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No, she's going to add some of the details from earlier in the chapter, but she's not interested in preaching

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Jesus No Because that wouldn't that wouldn't scratch itching ears.

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Okay, she's preaching what people want to hear Not what they need to hear.

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So here's some of the context when did Jesus start saying that what were the disciples doing? Where were they this

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John 4 is where they were talking to the woman at the well If y 'all don't know my girl the woman at the well, I've done enough research to actually find out her name

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She's not some nameless imaginary made -up story woman. Her name is Fotini Now a little bit of a note here she is not named in the scripture and when you do the when you do the

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Google search for Fotini is Fotini mentioned in the Bible If Fotini aka

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Samaritan woman at the well This is the name the Eastern Orthodox Church has given to the

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Samaritan woman at the well in John 4 So you're gonna know that there's a there's a good chance that it's not actually her name

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But that's the name that the Eastern Orthodox has given to her. Okay, so keep this in mind

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We continue Fotini was a woman at the well that happened right before this. She was in Samaria Samaria was

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I don't know that the Jews hated the Samaritans the Samaritans hating the Jews they were War all the time the

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Samaritans actually at some point sacrificed Jewish children to their pagan gods Like they did not get along. So Jewish people did not talk to Samaritans Jesus walked through Samaria or there might be some area of your life that God wants to speak to you about today that you could be holding back from him

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I'm in pain watch this move. Okay, so Jesus is walking through Samaria It's that now it's true

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Jews and Samaritans did not get along And this has a lot to do with the history that you read in the

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Old Testament Where the people of the Northern Kingdom went into rank Idolatry set up a competing temple complex at the top of Mount Gerizim In fact,

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I did a little Google Earth work here and so this is a depiction from Google Earth of the region

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Okay. Now so this is the the the old city of Sychar But nowadays it's it's a

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Palestinian West Bank Territory and the name of the town there this they've named the city

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Nablus. Okay, and Joseph's tomb is here at you know, it right

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So this actually we know the place where this took place and it's right between the two mountains that are

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Prominently mentioned in the Old Testament Mount Gerizim here on the left

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Mount Ebal here on the right blessing and curses if you would and When the

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Northern Kingdom split off from the from the Southern Kingdom after Solomon's son Rehoboam took power

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They set up a temple complex up here at Mount Gerizim and were engaging in all kinds of idolatry

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And God sent prophet after prophet after prophet calling them to repentance. Did they repent?

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No, not even close and so God finally Acted in judgment according to the curses clauses of the

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Mosaic Covenant and scraped the Northern Kingdom and the ten tribes with it off the face of the planet and disperse them into the nations and those

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Jews that remained they interbred with the Syrians and That this is where the

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Samaritans come from and they're still worshiping their idolatrous hybrid deity part

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Jewish part pagan Up on Mount Gerizim so that that plays into the story for sure

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And so this is Samaritan territory in the time of Jesus Jews and Samaritans did not talk

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Jews and Samaritans definitely didn't get along and Jews would go out of their way to avoid

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Traveling through Samaria if if if at all humanly possible, okay, so that that plays into the story, but let's continue with her

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Weird handling of this Samaria or there might be some area of your life that God wants to speak to you about today that You could be holding back from him

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Samaria is not about me holding back some area of my life that I'm holding back from God That is total

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Narcissus and a completely absurd Mishandling of this text when you see what this text is really about how amazing it is

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This this Nicole cranking gonna look so good and he walked through Samaria to meet with a woman Here's the crazy thing

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Jewish men for sure didn't talk to Samaritan women because the culture of the day Messianic law said hey if you don't like your wife, no, it's not

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Messianic law. Okay Let's make some Jewish man, you can divorce her cuz she burnt your burrito

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She woke up to her makeup on she wore purple and you like red You can so Mosaic Covenant did allow for divorce and that a husband can send a woman away with the certificate of divorce

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And Christ makes it clear. It was because of their hardness of heart and their unbelief that God made that concession literally divorce her for any reason

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Y 'all that's before I got a whole law books. Just saying just saying But if a Jewish woman got a law of divorce meant what that meant was hey guys, she's not worth it

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So when we read about this woman who was divorced five times sometimes I hear it said you heard about her She was just Jesus around she did all the things when she's a

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Samaritan woman She is not following Torah Nor is she following the rabbinic traditions of the

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Pharisees, which is a cult at the time She ain't following that either She be a

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Samaritan. She lives in Samaritan territory She don't worship Yahweh nor does she hold

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God's Word in high esteem Truly for her to get married five times something that historians say about her as botini was most likely gorgeous

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That's why men would risk it on her what are we talking about p .m. We're talking about harvest. Can you hang with me? We're talking about vision.

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Can you hang with me? We're talking about harvest and vision Why? What does that have to do with this text?

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So she was most likely gorgeous. That's why guys would chance it on her, but she kept getting divorced Why well, she must have been not been a woman of character.

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Well historians would say she was likely a woman of character because Even which historians can you quote one of them?

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Because you're this is called eisegesis now She's reading stuff into the text that ain't even there with that divorcement once twice three times another guy would say

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I want to give it a try So they say most likely she was a beautiful infertile woman and If you didn't give a man a legacy you were a worthless dog

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So she kept getting divorced for reasons. She couldn't control I'm talking about the vision for your life

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And what you're talking about the vision for my life how How on earth does this have anything to do with a vision for my life, huh?

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Let's endure this just a little bit more and the harvest you don't see coming The vision for my life and the harvest

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I don't see coming Good grievy. This is nuts So she goes to the well during midday because nobody is at the well midday

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But she does she goes to the well midday and when she goes there she sees Jesus and here's the crazy thing Rabbis would not talk to women about theology period.

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That's right in the Pharisaical rabbinic tradition not biblical pharisaic rabbinic tradition women weren't allowed to learn the scriptures at all but this woman's ah

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Samaritan she ain't a Jewish woman was actually in the rabbinic law It said better the

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Torah to be burned than to be read to a woman Yeah, that's By the way, that's not

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Torah. So it's not this is she made correct. That's rabbinic law. This is the law the Pharisees and And so this was this shows you how far off the

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Pharisees were So Jesus is talking to a Samaritan divorced five times woman about theology

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She's also shacking up with a guy at the time that Jesus shows up. What's he doing?

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Why is he doing it? And what did he see? He obviously saw something that nobody else saw and he didn't say so you're living with the sixth guy now and they say if you

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Do if you read up on Jewish culture and tradition, she was probably living with boy She just covered up that fact real quick the town drunk who didn't so you think she was living with a town drunk

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The text doesn't say that either married But that's a place for her to sleep. So she wouldn't be homeless So she was getting beat up most likely just so she had somewhere to sleep again, total

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Eisegesis details that aren't even in the text who's saying these things so he goes to her and he gives her a living water a thirst a salvation that she didn't see coming out of anywhere a purpose and a value and This five times divorced woman that nobody else would talk to became the first evangelist to win a city with the name of Jesus Yes, she does become an evangelist for sure.

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Come on. Somebody give a teeny hand Yeah, hey Fotini, what on earth are we doing here?

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So this happens in the disciples there and they're like Jesus. What are you doing? And he says to them? Hey, don't say it's four months until your harvest can show up look into the hills

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So they did and all they saw were Samaritans What do you mean look into the hills

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Jesus? All we see is something we don't want. We don't even like He said look into the hills for their white with harvest

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I Subject to you today that your harvest is probably closer than you think.

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Oh So this is a movie a movie this is a sermon about success

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This you know seven keys to bigger success and this whole sermon is a complete failure.

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That's the irony here Let's do a little biblical work. This is this is the part. I've been looking forward to okay

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So, you know John 1 John 2 John 4 1 now when Jesus learned the

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Pharisees had heard that Jesus was making and baptizing More disciples than John that's John the Baptist.

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Although Jesus himself did not baptize only his disciples He left Judea and departed again to Galilee and he passed through Samaria.

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So Jesus is out of Jewish controlled territory He's in Samaritan territory. This is a pagan

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Part of the of the country it's similarly in our day Okay, Nablus up and you know in the

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West Bank is It may be part of Israel, but it ain't really controlled by Jews.

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Okay similar idea here Okay, so all of that being said He came to a town of Samaria called

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Sychar That's modern -day Nablus near the field that Jacob had given to his son Joseph Jacob's Well was there so Jesus where it is he was from his journey was sitting beside the well

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It was about the six hour Now this is the part where if you know, you're

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Old Testament Your ears should be ringing. There should be a buzz about what's going on because this should invoke several

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Old Testament stories, let me explain Genesis chapter 24, okay

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Abraham was old well advanced in years and Yahweh had blessed Abraham in all things and Abraham said to his servant the oldest of his household who had charge of all that he had put your hand under my thigh

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That I may make you swear by Yahweh the God of heaven and God of earth That you will not take a wife for my son from the daughters of the

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Canaanites among whom I dwell But I will go to but go to my country and to my kindred and take a wife from my son

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Isaac The servant said to him perhaps a woman may not will not be willing to follow me it to this land

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Must I then take your son back to the land which you came? Abraham said to him see to it that you do not take my son back there for Yahweh the

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God of heaven Who took me from my father's house and from the land of my kindred and who spoke to me and swore to me to your offspring?

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I will give this land He will send his angel before you and you shall take a wife for my son from there

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But if the woman is not willing to follow you, then you will be free from this oath of mine Only you must not take my son back there

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So the servant put his hand under the thigh of Abraham his master and swore to him concerning this matter

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And then the servant took ten of his master's camels and departed taking all sorts of choice gifts from his master and he arose and went to Mesopotamia no traveling to a foreign land, uh -huh and to the city of Nahor and He made the camels kneel down beside the city by the well of water at the time of evening

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The time when women go out to draw water and he said Oh Yahweh God of my master

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Abraham, please grant me success today and show steadfast love to my master Abraham and behold

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I am standing by the spring of water and the daughters of men of the city are coming out to draw water

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Let the young woman to whom I shall say Please let down your jar that I may drink and who shall say drink and I will water your camels

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Let her be the one whom you have appointed for your servant Isaac by this I shall know that you have shown steadfast love to my master and before he had finished speaking behold

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Rebecca Who was born to Bethuel the son of Milchah the wife of Nahor Abraham's brother

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Came out with her water jar on her shoulder and the woman was very attractive in appearance a maiden

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Who no one had known and she went down to the spring and filled her jar and came up so you'll note

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Isaac has his wife found for him at a well outside of the area where he's living

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Jacob Yaakov. All right Genesis 29 Jacob went on his journey and he came to the land of the people of the east as he looked he saw a

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Well in the field and behold three flocks of sheep lying beside it for out of that.

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Well, the flocks were watered. So Jacob he's left town, too Okay He's out of his territory and he's beside a well.

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What does he find there beside the well? okay, the stone on the wells mouth was large and when all the flocks were gathered there the shepherds would roll the stone from the

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Mouth of the well and water the sheep and put the stone back in its place over the mouth of the well

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Jacob said to them my brothers. Where do you come from? And they said well, we are from Haran and he said to them.

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Do you know Laban the son of Nahor? They said we know him. He said to them. Is it well with him?

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They said it is well and see Rachel his daughter is coming with the sheep He said behold it is still high high day

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It is not time for the livestock to be gathered together Water the sheep and go pasture them But they said we cannot until all the flocks are gathered together and the stone is rolled from the mouth of the well

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Then we will water the sheep and while he was still speaking with them Rachel came with her father's sheep for she was a shepherdess and so you'll note where did

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Jacob meet his bride? At a well outside of his home territory

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Hmm Exodus chapter 2 Moses has fled Egypt Now the priest of Midian had seven daughters and they came and drew water and filled the troughs to water their father's flock

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The shepherds came and drove them away But Moses stood up and saved them and watered their flock when they came home to their father

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Ruel he said how is it that you have come home so soon today? They said an Egyptian delivered us out of the hand of the shepherds and even drew water for us and watered the flock

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He said to his daughters. Well, where is he? Why have you left the man call him so that he may eat bread and Moses was content to dwell with the man

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And he gave Moses his daughter Zipporah She gave birth to a son and called his name

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Gershom for he said I have been a sojourner in a foreign land Moses meets his wife at a well outside of his native territory

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You need to know your Old Testament before you can really truly understand the new

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So all of that being said Note what happens here

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Jesus had to pass through Samaria So he came to a town of Samaria called Sychar near the field that Jacob had given to his son

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Joseph Jacob's well was there. So Jesus of Jesus wearied as he was from his journey was sitting beside the well

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It was about the sixth hour Mmm, six hour when you compare that with John chapter 19 six hours

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The what is the hour when all the darkness came upon the earth when Jesus was crucified on the cross

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So here's what happens next a woman from Samaria came to draw water Jesus said to her give me a drink

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For this for his disciples had gone away into the city to buy food Holy smokes this

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So much like an Old Testament text from Genesis. It's it's it's eerie on Purpose God knows what he's doing here

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The Samaritan woman said to him how is it that you a Jew asked for a drink from me a woman of Samaria?

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For Jews have no dealings with Samaritans true so Jesus answered here and listened to his words if you knew the gift of God and Who it is that is saying to you give me a drink you would have asked him and he would have given you living water

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If you knew the gift of God Hmm. We are in John chapter 4

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I Know a thing or two about the gift of God because that's mentioned in John chapter 3

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For God so loved the world That he gave his only begotten

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Son that whoever Jew Greek Samaritan German Norwegian Chinese Japanese Thai Australian it doesn't matter where you're from whoever

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Believes in him should not perish but have eternal life So note that comes after John 3 and John 3 expects you to kind of keep that keep what you learned in John 3

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Here in John 4, so Jesus says if you knew the gift of God Jesus is the gift of the

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Father to this woman in Samaria Whose life is a complete?

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mess Totally wrecked by sin, right if you knew the gift of God and who it is that is saying to you

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Give me a drink you would have asked him and he would have given you living water So the woman said to him sir, you have nothing to draw water with and the well is deep

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Where do you get that living water? Are you greater than our father Jacob? He gave us the well and drank from it himself as did his sons and his livestock

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Jesus said to her everyone who drinks of this water will be thirsty again, and that's the thing

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This woman's soul is dry and she truly is thirsting Not for the failed marriages and the lack of love that she's received in her failed marriages and even with the guy

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She's shacking up with you all her life is a complete moral mess The fact that she's at the well at noon means she's trying to avoid

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Contact with the other women of her own town there in Sychar, right?

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She doesn't want to meet with them because she's not looked well upon She's probably not even welcome in the presence of of the polite company of the

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Samaritans of her time Right, but Jesus he look how loving and caring he is to this woman

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He is not getting into an argument with her Instead he is treating her with kindness

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He's wooing her. Mm -hmm Everyone who drinks of this water will be thirsty again

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Jesus says whoever drinks of the water that I will give him will never be thirsty again The water that I will give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life now she

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Keeps misunderstanding Jesus. Jesus is talking on a level. She ain't even near okay, but watch what she says

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So the woman said to him sir Give me this water so that I will not be thirsty or have to come here to draw water I want this magic water that they'll make us all never be thirsty again so Jesus now is going to politely and firmly

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Steer into why she needs Christ Jesus said to her go call your husband and come here

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So the woman answered him I have no husband that's a deflection

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Not a completely accurate statement. It's a half -truth at best So Jesus said all right, you're right and saying you have no husband for you have had five husbands and The one you have now is not your husband what you've said is true

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Now we don't know all the details Okay, we don't but what we can rule out is that this woman is somehow under you know

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But following the laws of Torah or things like this, okay It's Samaritans just don't that's not and you can see from her from her answers that come up that she's

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She doesn't consider herself a Jew at all and she considers herself different than the

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Jews so she's had five husbands her life is a complete and utter train wreck

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It's easier for us to see it in her but the reality is so is yours right that love you're looking for You're not gonna find it in anyone else.

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Did that that thing you're thirsting for? It's Jesus and you just and you don't even know it right same with her

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So Jesus says well what you've said is true. So the woman said to him sir, I perceive you are a prophet and So now she changes the subject.

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Let's change the subject to one of those forbidden topics religion and politics We'll talk about religion. Shall we see if we can you know, basically pull up old old

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Arguments that we have with the Jews and see if we can change the subject. So we're not focused in on me so much

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Right. So she says our father's worshipped on this mountain now the mountain again. She is referring to is

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Mount Gerizim and Mount Gerizim, you know, here's modern -day Nablus. Here's Joseph's tomb and Jacob's well is over in this area as well

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And here's the over at the top of this this left side here this is

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Har -Gerizim and then the town, you know, the the false temple complex of the of the

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Samaritans is at the top of Mount Gerizim at the time. So you get what's going on there

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So she says our father's worshipped on this mountain, but you say that it's in Jerusalem. That's the place where people ought to worship

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So Jesus here Despite the fact he is wooing her Remember this has something to do with those other well stories of the

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Old Testament where where these men find their bride, right? Woman, believe me the hour is coming when neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem.

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Will you worship the father? The hour is coming. What is Jesus referring to his death on the cross his hour hasn't yet come, right?

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he's his hour comes when he's crucified and He bleeds and dies for his bride and here's where we would be wise to consider what it actually says in Ephesians chapter 5.

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Let me see. What did I do with that? Hang on a second. I put it over here No, let's just go that we'll go this way. I'll go

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Ephesians chapter 5 This is where this kind of plugs in husbands love your wives as Christ has loved the church and Gave himself up for her

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So that he might sanctify her having cleansed her by the washing of what water with the word

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So that he might present the church to himself in splendor without spot or wrinkle or any such thing so that she might be holy and without blemish

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Mm -hmm. Look how Christ treats his bride. And so here Christ is wooing his bride a

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Samaritan bride. Oh, yeah Christ is calling all

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Sinners to repent the church is the bride of Christ She's the bride of Christ And if you trust and believe in him you are part of the bride of Christ Woman, believe me the hour is coming when either on this mountain or in Jerusalem We worship the father you worship what you do not know we worship what we know

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For salvation is from the Jews But the hour is coming and is now here when the true worshippers will worship the father in spirit and in truth

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For the father is seeking such people to worship him. Oh, look who's doing the seeking

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God is not you God is seeking a bride. He's seeking you.

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He's seeking me God is spirit those who worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth

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Now the woman is starting to let her guard down a little bit the woman said to him I know that Messiah is coming.

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He who is called Christ when he comes he will tell us all things

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And what does Jesus do? He reveals his true identity to his bride this

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Sinful Samaritan woman I Who speak to you and he it's so good.

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Oh So then the disciples came back and they marveled that he was talking with a woman and no one said well

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What do you seek or why are you talking to with her? Right So the woman left with her water jar and she went into the town and said to the people come

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See the man who told me all that I ever did. Can this be the Christ? She doesn't quite come out and say it herself.

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She wants them to come and see for themselves So they went out of the town and they were coming to him

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Meanwhile, the disciples were urging him saying rabbi eat and he said to them I have food to eat that you do not know about so the disciples said to one another has anyone brought him something to eat and Jesus said to them my food is to do the

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Will of him who sent me and to accomplish his work. Do you not say there are yet four months?

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Then comes the harvest look I tell you lift up your eyes and see the fields are white for harvest

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He's talking about the Samaritans being Harvested and brought into the kingdom of God into God's Barn not they are not chaff to be burned in the fires of hell

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They are wheat to be harvested and brought into God's barn Already one who reaps is receiving wages gathering fruit for eternal life

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So that the sower and the reaper may rejoice together for here the saying holds true one sows another reaps

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I sent you to reap that for which you did not labor others have labored and you have entered into their labor

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So many Samaritans from that town believed in Jesus Mm -hmm because of the woman's testimony.

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He told me all that I ever did so when the Samaritans came to him they asked him to stay with them and he stayed there for two days and Many more believe because of his word and they said to the woman

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It is no longer because of of what you said that we believe for we have heard for ourselves

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And we know that this is indeed the Savior of the world

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So good, right Okay You could see the depth and the beauty of this

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Jesus found his bride. This woman has had five husbands She's shacking up with a guy and The real love of her life shows up the one

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Every husband that she had before this never loved her the way she yearned to be loved

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And as a result of it every failed marriage was just one more huge rip rip open

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Scar right that just tore her heart apart and to the point where now she's given up on even marrying and she's just living with a guy

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What she's yearning for is the true love that comes from God and you'll note the love and the kindness that Jesus shows to her and he does the same for you as well you like this woman of Sychar of Samaria you are a moral train wreck.

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You've made a mess of your life You do not measure up you have sinned and fallen way short of the glory of God and Christ is seeking you so that you can worship in spirit and in truth and be forgiven and Pardon and have your sins washed away because Christ our did come he did go to the cross

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He did bleed and die for your sins. And so that's what this text is about.

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I am I'm having a PTSD moment. I don't want to press this button, but I'm gonna press this button and we're gonna go back here and Listen again to just a portion of this horrifying mishandling of this text

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We're Samaritans, what do you mean look into the hills Jesus all we see is something we don't want and we don't even like He said look into the hills for their white with harvest.

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I Subject to you today that your harvest is probably closer than you think It's coming in a form that you can't see and Jesus showed up for you today

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Just like he showed up at the woman of the world to see something in you and for you that nobody else can see but He wants to speak a word to you to lose flight.

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Can somebody have a church all campuses? Can you say amen, Florida? Can you say amen Ferguson? Come on? So, um,

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I first got my vision checked when I was in fourth grade And then I got contacts because glasses weren't cool.

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I totally what does this have to do with Anything in John chapter 4.

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All right. Now, hold on a second here. I Got to do this instead here's where we should talk about our sponsor a

38:54

Sponsor for today's episode of fighting for the faith is the Word of the Lord endures forever If you are not subscribed to this podcast, if you are not listening to this podcast, you are missing out

39:05

Pastor Will Whedon is not like a false teacher and he knows full well the full story and the significance of the account of the woman at the well in Samaria and he

39:17

Teaches Christ and crucified for our sins from every biblical text

39:22

In fact, the Word of the Lord endures forever is a daily Bible study that includes the church

39:29

Ancient as well as the church modern and it's just beautifully done and he's done a hundred and sixty -eight studies on either the

39:40

Gospel of John or first John that both of those are kind of in the mix when you look at the search through their archives and If you want to know what a

39:49

Christ centered Hermeneutic looks like that has an eye on how the Old Testament in the New Testament work together

39:55

You need to subscribe to this podcast and you need to make this a part of your daily devotion you will not

40:02

Not be deceived by Pastor Whedon he is going to point you to Christ and make the connections between the

40:09

Old and New Testament even bring the church fathers in the And you know and the the sermons and the writings of the ancient church to bear so that we can have a greater

40:18

Proper understanding of these texts and I assure you he's never gonna teach you a text that basically says what do

40:25

I'm gonna teach you? The seven steps of success. That's just not how a faithful pastor rolls and pastor

40:31

Whedon is truly a faithful pastor. So the way you get there the word endures Org, the word endures org and believe me after you start listening.

40:42

You'll thank me for it. So let's get back Let's get back to this

40:49

Here you go It looked like a unibroad librarian So then

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I got colored contacts I got married and I developed a thing called GBC Which was these little bumps on the inside of my eyelids that hurt real bad because I was allergic to my own eye enzymes

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So I got disposable lenses then I got daily disposable lenses and I was out and I didn't know what to do because my eyes Were hurting so I went to the best optometrist

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I could find. All right So this story is kind of like it's like filler So, let's move forward to where Nicole starts to tell us what the seven keys are to bigger success and Let's let her explain this out.

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Here we go All right is you have to make your vision smaller Okay, that's that's step number one.

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So let me back this up and here's her kind of laying down Jesus heals

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And he's here today to heal your vision so you can see like you've never seen before. Can I get a good amen? I want you to say out loud say the harvest is here

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So the harvest is here. So point number one. I want to give you tonight is you have to make your vision smaller You gotta make your vision smaller

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What on earth does this have to do with John chapter 4? Maybe we're done because now she's gonna misquote

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Isaiah 55 2 & 3 you never hear that Do you hear dream dream big dream wide dream shoot for the stars might land on the moon?

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but I've done a lot of research when it comes to goal -setting and when it comes to developing vision and How many people around here have a job say me and how many of you feel like okay, you know what at work

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I'm probably at the top 20 % of people in my office. I'm coming in on time. I'm showing and I'm punching in I'm working hard.

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I'm doing my job. Actually, I'm doing a lot of other people's job. I'm in the 20 top 20 % say me Again, this isn't a sermon.

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This is a talk with twisted scripture the top 20 % of the people Usually have double the power double the influence and double the income of the other 80 % of the people

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And a lot of people I'm getting annoyed. Let's take a look at Isaiah 55 to see if has anything to do with shrinking your vision

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So this is key number one in how to have bigger success in your life. That doesn't sound like anything that Isaiah Would write about so note the header of chapter 55 the compassion of the

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Lord Come everyone who thirsts Come to the waters and he who has no money come and buy and eat

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Come and buy wine and milk without money and without price Why why do you spend your money for that?

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Which is not bread and your lay and you labor for that which does not satisfy Listen diligently to me and eat what is good and delight yourself on rich food note the themes how they work well with John for here because we hunger and thirst for something that only

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God can satisfy Incline your ear and come to me here that your soul might live and I will make with you an everlasting

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Covenant my steadfast sure love for David behold I made him a witness to the people's a leader and a commander for the people's

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Behold you shall call a nation that you do not know in a nation that did not know you shall run to you

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Because of Yahweh your God and of the Holy One of Israel for he has glorified you Seek Yahweh while he may be found today is the day of salvation brothers and sisters

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There's no guarantee that you have tomorrow Seek Yahweh while he may be found call upon him while he is near So let the wicked forsake his way the unrighteous man his thoughts

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Let him return to Yahweh so that he may have compassion on him and to our God for he will abundantly

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Pardon for my thoughts are not your thoughts neither are my ways your ways declares Yahweh For as the heavens are higher than the earth.

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So are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts Well, we just read Isaiah 55 1 to 9 and not anything in there in context is about shrinking your vision so that you can

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Be more successful in life to get to the top 20 % they study a little bit harder

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They work a little bit longer they put in a little bit more effort You ever tried to make your body just a little bit better So you started working out a little bit more eat a little bit less and till you went to Walmart You got hungry about frozen pizza while you got your eyes checked.

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Amen But to get to the 10 times The 10x you see the top 2 % of people have 10 times the power 10 times it and this is just absolutely

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Inappropriate as a message on a Sunday morning in church Fluence and many times 10 times the income of the top 20 %

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So dr. Benjamin Hardy started doing all these studies and he was like why do these people make so much more and here it is

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They stopped focusing on everything and started focusing on one thing And where does the

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Bible teach even if this were true and I can't even say that is Where does the Bible actually teach this and what on earth does this have to do with John 4?

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Dr. Benjamin Hardy said this the problem is that most people to get to their best self. They just try a little bit harder

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They change the 20 % of what they do and they leave the 80 % alone Listen Christianity isn't about behavior modification in order to get to your best self it's about confessing that you have transgressed

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God's holy law and Hearing the comforting good news that Christ has bled and died for our sins and then bearing fruit in keeping with repentance

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By the power of the Holy Spirit daily mortifying our sinful flesh and being conformed into the image of Christ That isn't that's not a formula for success in the world.

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In fact, the world might hate you for that Man, this is terrifying.

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So I'm gonna just fast -forward because I'm super curious here You know what like step two is gonna be.

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All right, so here step to get exposed Exposure changes everything.

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All right, let's take a look I'm just gonna scroll through here until I find step three step three get your vision check before your vision gets wrecked

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Just so bad And then let's see here. Look we get to four.

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All right step four. Can you focus your vision? This is this is terrible

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Step five fight to keep your vision sight And let's see six guys got to come after that let's see here

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I'm trying to find it. Here we go. It's it's behind her.

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There we go how to get superhero vision is step six and Then step seven is share the vision and ensure the victory

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Yeah, that has nothing to do with Christ his words anything to do with John chapter 4

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Like I said, the Bible is so much better so much more Amazing than Nicole crank would lead you to believe because Christ isn't about Giving you seven steps so that you can be more successful He's about Calling you to repentance so that you can be forgiven and pardoned so that he can give you eternal life as a gift

48:08

Yeah, just saying so if you found this to be helpful all the information on how you can share the video is down below in The description and a quick shout out to all of you who support us financially.

48:17

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48:23

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48:31

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48:36

Of money every month and though that little bit of money goes a long way to help us to keep to pay our bills and to Keep things moving here at fighting for the faith

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So until next time may God richly bless you in the grace and mercy won by Jesus Christ and his vicarious death on the cross for all of your sins