Sunday May 18, 2014
Fernando Ruata
Key Scriptures: John 3, Numbers 21
This message is about 2 people who desperately needed Jesus: Nicodemus & the Samaritan Woman at the Well. If we focus on lack we'll loathe God's provision. If we allow ourselves to become isolated we'll form people issues. We must release the past, remember our commitments to God, and receive the new wine. These are my personal notes; not an exact transcript.
The kingdom of God is invading that orphanage with His presence and bringing healing to those kids.
Daniel [missionary who served in orphanage] shared about kid who couldn’t walk.
After 2 months of loving care he could walk!
The power of God can change everything.
John 3 is the story of Nicodemus.
He was a good, moral man.
Clean, good Pharisee.
He lived a clean life.
In between the story for some reason Jesus brings Nicodemus to the Old Testament to show him the power of redemption.
In the next chapter you see a woman who is totally the opposite of Nicodemus.
She’s probably [what we’d consider] moral decadency.
But Jesus brings to her the power of family and love.
You see the power of the Father changing two people’s lives.
I don’t want you to look at these lives as Nicodemus or the Samaritan woman.
I want you to look at these lives in the light of your walk with God and where you’ve been and where you are.
Pharisee Nicodemus was a ruler of the Jews who came to Jesus by night.
Said “Rabbi we know you come as a teacher for no one can do what you do unless God is with him.”
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| Nicodemus |
Nicodemus has come to a breaking point because of the miracles he’s seen Jesus do.
In Canaan Jesus turned water into wine, Nicodemus probably knew about it.
Nicodemus realized what he had wasn’t enough to do what he’d anticipated all his life.
His wine had failed him.
In Chapter 3 Jesus introduces him to the kingdom.
Vs. 5 unless you enter into the kingdom you can’t experience the fullness of God.
Jesus answered, “Very truly I tell you, no one can enter the kingdom of God unless they are born of water and the Spirit.
In our culture today Nicodemus would be a good Christian man.
But God has more for him.
Just as He has more for you and I today.
Regardless of your experiences and where you’ve been.
Somewhere here we have to transcend culture.
So we’re not satisfied with what has happened and we’re always pursuing more of God.
Jesus says in vs. 11 Very truly I tell you, we speak of what we know, and we testify to what we have seen, but still you people do not accept our testimony.
Nicodemus has been waiting for the kingdom but he thinks it’s going to be the restoration of the Davidic Empire.
Why - because they are tired of being under the Roman rule.
Jesus isn’t talking about Jewish, He’s talking about the kingdom that comes down from heaven and changes whatever it touches.
2 different people talking about 2 different kingdoms.
The only way to do miracles is to allow the things of heaven to touch the things of earth in your life.
You and I need more of God’s manifest kingdom in order to do what He’s called us to do or we’ll end up where Nicodemus was.
His wine has failed him.
He meets him at a point of need.
Vs. 14-16 14 Just as Moses lifted up the snake in the wilderness, so the Son of Man must be lifted up, 15 that everyone who believes may have eternal life in him.”
16 For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.
The wine Jesus brings is the new wine.
But to experience this power redemption comes first.
Numbers 21
6 things to write down:
1st thing they did is made a vow to God.
These people quickly forgot their vows.
Has anyone ever been in trouble and said Lord if You just get me out of this one…
You made a vow.
You went on with your life and forgot about it but God didn’t.
Fernando said “God take my life, use it for Your glory, I am Yours”.
Sometimes he’s forgotten that vow and wanted to do his own thing.
That’s where Nicodemus is.
He must remember the vows he made to God.
The people became impatient because of their journey.
How many have been in a struggle/battle for year? 2-3 years? And it’s affected you?
They became impatient and forgot their commitments.
Numbers 21:5 they spoke against God and against Moses, and said, “Why have you brought us up out of Egypt to die in the wilderness? There is no bread! There is no water! And we detest this miserable food!”
They got impatient and they spoke against God.
Get in trouble, go through difficulties and there will be a time and place when you say “God I have had enough of this, if this is You I want nothing to do with it.”
Has anyone experienced this?
I must remember my vows.
I must not allow the journey to make me impatient and speak against the God I love.
Why have you brought us out here in the wilderness to die where there’s no food and water?
The lack of food and water got to them.
Have you faced situations where there is lack?
Has that lack gotten to you?
Because if you allow the lack to get to you you’ll do what they did next.
They started loathing God’s provision.
Whatever God did for them they saw as not enough.
This isn’t good enough for me.
These are dangerous places God is speaking to so Nicodemus can come to full redemption.
The wine that you and I need needs to be “God I’m not satisfied with where I’m at but I need more of your presence.”
I must not allow the lack to get to me.
Their mindset changed.
Jesus brings Nicodemus back to that experience – why?
God raises up a serpent in the desert and says whoever looks upon it will be healed.
What happens when a serpent bites?
It poisons.
God raises up a greater serpent and says to Nicodemus “That which has poisoned my people will be destroyed.”
It’s a picture of the cross, and I know the cross speaks about sacrifice but I’m talking about allowing the cross to bring sweetness to those bad experiences you’ve gone through.
So you can look to the future for fresh wine.
We’ve got to become a people of redemption.
A people that remember our commitments to God.
God sees a man waiting to come to the end of himself so he gives him the key to heaven.
It gets better.
In the next chapter the Samaritan woman is the opposite of Nicodemus.
She’s not attractive to the religious world.
Nicodemus represented the best; this woman the worst.
Jesus met them both at their point of need.
Look to the cross and turn those bitter experiences into sweet.
Don’t let your mindset be determined by lack or what didn’t happen.
The journey has a way of blocking beliefs.
This woman is tired.
Is anyone tired?
John 4:15. The woman said to him, “Sir, give me this water so that I won’t get thirsty and have to keep coming here to draw water.”
| Samaritan Woman at the Well |
She is empty and tired of going to this well all the time.
Are you lonely and tired of going back to the same place only to find that you still need more water for the next day?
Jesus said if you’d take some of my water/wine you won’t be thirsty anymore.
Rivers of water will spring up in you.
The woman admits she’s tired of coming to that place.
Not only is she tired and lonely (vs. 17) she says she has no husband.
She’s lost purpose in family.
She’s had 5 experiences of something she thought was family and it left her empty; to not want to try it again.
With Nicodemus Jesus waits for him to come to the end of himself.
This woman had 6 experiences and it wasn’t until she met Jesus the 7th man she found what she needed.
If the enemy can isolate you he’s achieved a purpose in stopping you.
John 4:19 “Sir,” the woman said, “I can see that you are a prophet.
[Jesus you’re reading my mail]
Look at her issues:
Our fathers worshipped in this mountain.
This lady is tired, she’s lonely, she has no family; but she wants no one to tell her where to worship or how to worship.
The Samaritans built the temple in Mount Gerizim and they worshipped loudly with much zeal.
The Israelites built a temple according to the law.
The 2 greatest enemies of worship are zeal without truth, and truth without spirit.
Both are decadent of the new wine.
God is saying look to Me; don’t worry about Gerizim or Jerusalem.
It’s not about the mountain anymore.
It’s about My family.
It’s about my Father coming into your life.
This woman had some issues with people.
“You people…" [John 4:20]
Maybe you’re in a journey and you’re tired of people.
Wives do your husbands ever get grumpy?
Angie says Fernando gets grumpy at times.
I get isolated.
And I don’t want to talk to anybody.
And I start developing issues with everybody.
That’s why I’m by myself.
At times we need to pursue seclusion for a season, but seclusion is there to seek God’s presence.
Isolation is a tool of the enemy to get you away from the people who love you.
Instead of a people gospel you end up having issues with your neighbors.
God is changing the perspective of this woman.
So the woman can find family, submission and covenant with God.
Vs. 23-24 so she can worship as intended.
In spirit and in truth.
We can have the best worship but if our hearts aren’t in it God has a problem with it.
(That’s in Mark 7.)
Do you want to see the healing and redemption Nicodemus experienced?
Remember your vows.
This woman is so empty and lonely God is getting ready to offer her water which will quench the thirst.
Numbers 21:16 From there they continued on to Beer, the well where the Lord said to Moses, “Gather the people together and I will give them water.”
That’s what God is saying to the woman.
You’ve worked hard, you’re tired, and you’re lonely.
Instead of digging wells in your own strength sink into it.
In Psalm 84 David said when I was going through the valley of tears I turned it into a spring of water…
There is a place where you can declare the goodness of God over your life.
Lord I am recovering my song of worship.
I will not yield to isolation.
I will recover the song of my soul again.
It’s crucial to recover those things or we will allow the journey to get to us.
Don’t think you’re so special you’ll never get touched by life.
I’ve been through enough pain and betrayals…
Israel allowed the journey to get through them.
They lost their song.
Let’s recover our song.
Make a joyful noise.
Break up the fallow ground with worship.
Don’t become isolated, or you will be in need of more wine.
Jesus introduces this woman to agape.
It’s no longer phileo love.
Agape suffers long and is kind.
Phileo grows bitter under pressure.
Agape isn’t envious or jealous.
Phileo gets jealous.
Agape is not easily provoked.
Phileo is sensitive and hard to handle.
Maybe today we need to come to the well and say God I want a divine exchange.
Don’t let the past experiences cloud what God is doing.
Israel saw the lack of food as a bad thing.
Could it be possible God was trying to get them ready to possess the Promised Land?
They couldn’t see the transition.
All they could see is I don’t have enough.
Don’t allow that to keep you from the fresh wine God has for us.
Ask God for fresh wine.
Remember your commitments to God.
Today there’s living water for you.
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