Jesus is there

John 4:1–26 (NIV)
1Now Jesus learned that the Pharisees had heard that he was gaining and baptizing more disciples than John— 2although in fact it was not Jesus who baptized, but his disciples. 3So he left Judea and went back once more to Galilee. 4Now he had to go through Samaria. 5So he came to a town in Samaria called Sychar, near the plot of ground Jacob had given to his son Joseph. 6Jacob’s well was there, and Jesus, tired as he was from the journey, sat down by the well. It was about noon. 7When a Samaritan woman came to draw water, Jesus said to her, “Will you give me a drink?” 8(His disciples had gone into the town to buy food.) 9The Samaritan woman said to him, “You are a Jew and I am a Samaritan woman. How can you ask me for a drink?” (For Jews do not associate with Samaritans.) 10Jesus answered her, “If you knew the gift of God and who it is that asks you for a drink, you would have asked him and he would have given you living water.” 11“Sir,” the woman said, “you have nothing to draw with and the well is deep. Where can you get this living water? 12Are you greater than our father Jacob, who gave us the well and drank from it himself, as did also his sons and his livestock?”

13Jesus answered, “Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again, 14but whoever drinks the water I give them will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give them will become in them a spring of water welling up to eternal life.” 15The 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.” 16He told her, “Go, call your husband and come back.” 17“I have no husband,” she replied. Jesus said to her, “You are right when you say you have no husband. 18The fact is, you have had five husbands, and the man you now have is not your husband. What you have just said is quite true.” 19“Sir,” the woman said, “I can see that you are a prophet. 20Our ancestors worshiped on this mountain, but you Jews claim that the place where we must worship is in Jerusalem.” 21“Woman,” Jesus replied, “believe me, a time is coming when you will worship the Father neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem.
22You Samaritans worship what you do not know; we worship what we do know, for salvation is from the Jews. 23Yet a time is coming and has now come when the true worshipers will worship the Father in the Spirit and in truth, for they are the kind of worshipers the Father seeks. 24God is spirit, and his worshipers must worship in the Spirit and in truth.”

25The woman said, “I know that Messiah” (called Christ) “is coming. When he comes, he will explain everything to us.”

26Then Jesus declared, “I, the one speaking to you—I am he.”

1. Jesus will always show up at noon.

A time when we are broken, when we hide our struggles, when we need Him most. Jesus is looking for me and wants to know me like no one else will.

John 4:6 (NIV)
6Jacob’s well was there, and Jesus, tired as he was from the journey, sat down by the well. It was about noon.

2. Jesus comes to us on our brokenness, not our greatness.

Jesus knows all of our struggles and sin, and He wants us anyway.

John 4:16 (NIV)
16He told her, “Go, call your husband and come back.”

3. Don’t miss your divine moment.

Open up to Jesus, come clean with Him.

John 4:13–14 (NIV)
13Jesus answered, “Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again,
14but whoever drinks the water I give them will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give them will become in them a spring of water welling up to eternal life.”

John 1:14 (NIV)
14The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the one and only Son, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.
John 1:16 (NIV)
16Out of his fullness we have all received grace in place of grace already given.

4. Tell your story!

John 4:27–30 (NIV)
27Just then his disciples returned and were surprised to find him talking with a woman. But no one asked, “What do you want?” or “Why are you talking with her?”
28Then, leaving her water jar, the woman went back to the town and said to the people,
29“Come, see a man who told me everything I ever did. Could this be the Messiah?”
30They came out of the town and made their way toward him.

John 4:39–42 (NIV)
39Many of the Samaritans from that town believed in him because of the woman’s testimony, “He told me everything I ever did.”
40So when the Samaritans came to him, they urged him to stay with them, and he stayed two days.
41And because of his words many more became believers.
42They said to the woman, “We no longer believe just because of what you said; now we have heard for ourselves, and we know that this man really is the Savior of the world.”

SPEAK, DON’T SPEAK

Ecclesiastes 3:7b - “[There’s] a time to be silent and a time to speak…”

Before you speak, be certain your words would be better than your silence.

Position, Problem, Prescription

Position

James 3:2 perfect means mature. We must think about our words and how they affect others.

Proverbs 18:21 – “The tongue has the power of life and death, and those who love it will eat its fruit.”

James 1:26-27 – “Those who consider themselves religious and yet do not keep a tight rein on their tongues deceive themselves, and their religion is worthless.”

James 3:2-5 - “We all stumble in many ways. Anyone who is never at fault in what they say is perfect, able to keep their whole body in check.3 When we put bits into the mouths of horses to make them obey us, we can turn the whole animal. 4 Or take ships as an example. Although they are so large and are driven by strong winds, they are steered by a very small rudder wherever the pilot wants to go. 5 Likewise, the tongue is a small part of the body, but it makes great boasts. Consider what a great forest is set on fire by a small spark.

Problem

We have a sin nature, and our words can hurt others as well as our relationships.

James 3:7-8 – “All kinds of animals, birds, reptiles and sea creatures are being tamed and have been tamed by mankind, 8 but no human being can tame the tongue. It is a restless evil, full of deadly poison.”

James 3:9-12 –9 With the tongue we praise our Lord and Father, and with it we curse human beings, who have been made in God’s likeness. 10 Out of the same mouth come praise and cursing. My brothers and sisters, this should not be. 11 Can both fresh water and salt water flow from the same spring? 12 My brothers and sisters, can a fig tree bear olives, or a grapevine bear figs? Neither can a salt spring produce fresh water.”

Prescription

Listen to the Word of God, take time to think and pray. When you do speak, use words that are God honoring and give life and encouragement.

James 1-19 – “My dear brothers and sisters, take note of this: Everyone should be quick to listen, slow to speak and slow to become angry

James 1:21Therefore, get rid of all moral filth and the evil that is so prevalent and humbly accept the word planted in you, which can save you.”

Luke 6:45 – “A good man brings good things out of the good stored up in his heart, and an evil man brings evil things out of the evil stored up in his heart. For the mouth speaks what the heart is full of.”

Proverbs 15:28 (NLT) – “The heart of the godly thinks carefully before speaking; the mouth of the wicked overflows with evil words.”

Fix the heart, fix the issues.

Cry out to God, lean into Him, take His Word to heart.

Psalm 141:3 (NLT) – “Take control of what I say, O LORD, and guard my lips.”

Psalm 19:14 (NLT) – “May the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be pleasing to you, O LORD, my rock and my redeemer.

Jesus Turned Around

Mark 5: 25-34 ESV And there was a woman who had had a discharge of blood for twelve years, and who had suffered much under many physicians, and had spent all that she had, and was no better but rather grew worse. She had heard the reports about Jesus and came up behind him in the crowd and touched his garment. For she said, “If I touch even his garments, I will be made well.” And immediately the flow of blood dried up, and she felt in her body that she was healed of her disease. And Jesus, perceiving in himself that power had gone out from him, immediately turned about in the crowd and said, “Who touched my garments?” And his disciples said to him, “You see the crowd pressing around you, and yet you say, ‘Who touched me?’” And he looked around to see who had done it. But the woman, knowing what had happened to her, came in fear and trembling and fell down before him and told him the whole truth. And he said to her, “Daughter, your faith has made you well; go in peace, and be healed of your disease.”

Jesus turned around. So awesome! Jesus will always turn around and call us a daughter or son.

Sometimes we might feel like Jesus won't like us because of the things we do. We serve a God who takes pleasure in us, who always loves us.

The woman in this story had been unclean for 12 years, she was an outcast. She tried to handle her problems by herself, but it just made her worse. So often we do this too, we turn to other things to numb the pain. The only way to be made whole is to get into the presence of Jesus. He wants us to come to Him, He loves us unconditionally. And he said to her, “Daughter, your faith has made you well; go in peace, and be healed of your disease.”

If Jesus sees us in pain or ashamed, His desire is to run to us and hold us and tell us He loves us.

Habbakuk week 1

It's ok for us to be raw and real with God.
4 Ways God answers prayer:
1. I can't hear you - when we are not in right standing with God. Ps 66:18
2. Yes. Isa 65:24
3. No. 2 Cor 12:8-9
4. Wait. Isa 55:8-9

Habakkuk 1:1-4 (NIV)
1The prophecy that Habakkuk the prophet received. 2How long, LORD, must I call for help, but you do not listen? Or cry out to you, “Violence!” but you do not save? 3Why do you make me look at injustice? Why do you tolerate wrongdoing? Destruction and violence are before me; there is strife, and conflict abounds. 4Therefore the law is paralyzed, and justice never prevails. The wicked hem in the righteous, so that justice is perverted.

Psalm 66:18 (NIV)
18If I had cherished sin in my heart, the Lord would not have listened;

Isaiah 65:24 (NIV)
24Before they call I will answer; while they are still speaking I will hear.

2 Corinthians 12:8–9 (NIV)
8Three times I pleaded with the Lord to take it away from me.
9But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me.

Isaiah 55:8–9 (NIV)
8“For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways,” declares the LORD.
9“As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.

Habakkuk 1:5-11 (NIV)
5“Look at the nations and watch— and be utterly amazed. For I am going to do something in your days that you would not believe, even if you were told. 6I am raising up the Babylonians, that ruthless and impetuous people, who sweep across the whole earth to seize dwellings not their own. 7They are a feared and dreaded people; they are a law to themselves and promote their own honor. 8Their horses are swifter than leopards, fiercer than wolves at dusk. Their cavalry gallops headlong; their horsemen come from afar. They fly like an eagle swooping to devour; 9they all come intent on violence. Their hordes advance like a desert wind and gather prisoners like sand. 10They mock kings and scoff at rulers. They laugh at all fortified cities; by building earthen ramps they capture them. 11Then they sweep past like the wind and go on— guilty people, whose own strength is their god.”

God was going to use tragedy and calamity to bring people back to Himself. God can still use hard times to bring people back to Him, and He is always at work.

1. BE honest

Habakkuk 1:2 (NIV)
2How long, LORD, must I call for help, but you do not listen? Or cry out to you, “Violence!” but you do not save?

Being a Christian doesn't exempt us from difficulty and troubling circumstances.

2. BE patient

Isaiah 5:19 (NIV)
19to those who say, “Let God hurry; let him hasten his work so we may see it. The plan of the Holy One of Israel— let it approach, let it come into view, so we may know it.”

3. DON’T give up

Psalm 73:13–14 (NIV)
13Surely in vain I have kept my heart pure and have washed my hands in innocence.
14All day long I have been afflicted, and every morning brings new punishments.

Psalm 73:16 (NIV)
16When I tried to understand all this, it troubled me deeply

Psalm 73:17 (NIV)
17till I entered the sanctuary of God; then I understood their final destiny.

Ask God for faith

4. Trust IN GOD

Habakkuk 1:5 (NIV)
5“Look at the nations and watch— and be utterly amazed. For I am going to do something in your days that you would not believe, even if you were told.

Habakkuk 2:20 (NIV)
20The LORD is in his holy temple; let all the earth be silent before him.

God is good and in control. Period. No matter what. God is at work in our struggles. He's got this.
God welcomes our questions and doubts, talk to Him, lean into Him.

Habbakuk week 2

A crisis of belief

Habakkuk 1:2 (NIV)
2How long, LORD, must I call for help, but you do not listen? Or cry out to you, “Violence!” but you do not save?

Habakkuk 1:5 (NIV)
5“Look at the nations and watch— and be utterly amazed. For I am going to do something in your days that you would not believe, even if you were told.

crisis

Habbakuk's complaint

Habakkuk 1:12–17 (NIV)
12LORD, are you not from everlasting? My God, my Holy One, you will never die. You, LORD, have appointed them to execute judgment; you, my Rock, have ordained them to punish.
13Your eyes are too pure to look on evil; you cannot tolerate wrongdoing. Why then do you tolerate the treacherous? Why are you silent while the wicked swallow up those more righteous than themselves?
14You have made people like the fish in the sea, like the sea creatures that have no ruler.
15The wicked foe pulls all of them up with hooks, he catches them in his net, he gathers them up in his dragnet; and so he rejoices and is glad.
16Therefore he sacrifices to his net and burns incense to his dragnet, for by his net he lives in luxury and enjoys the choicest food.
17Is he to keep on emptying his net, destroying nations without mercy?

listen

Take time to listen to God

Habakkuk 2:1 (NIV)
1I will stand at my watch and station myself on the ramparts; I will look to see what he will say to me, and what answer I am to give to this complaint.

write

Write down what God says to you

Habakkuk 2:2 (NIV)
2Then the LORD replied: “Write down the revelation and make it plain on tablets so that a herald may run with it.

wait

Wait for God and His plan. We can trust God's timing. Learn in the waiting.

Habakkuk 2:3 (NIV)
3For the revelation awaits an appointed time; it speaks of the end and will not prove false. Though it linger, wait for it; it will certainly come and will not delay.

Nehemiah 9:1–3 (NIV)
1On the twenty-fourth day of the same month, the Israelites gathered together, fasting and wearing sackcloth and putting dust on their heads.
2Those of Israelite descent had separated themselves from all foreigners. They stood in their places and confessed their sins and the sins of their ancestors.
3They stood where they were and read from the Book of the Law of the LORD their God for a quarter of the day, and spent another quarter in confession and in worshiping the LORD their God.

faith

Have faith that God's plan is good. Sometimes we believe in what we see, sometimes we believe in spite of what we see.

Habakkuk 2:4 (NIV)
4“See, the enemy is puffed up; his desires are not upright— but the righteous person will live by his faithfulness—

2 Corinthians 5:7 (NIV)
7For we live by faith, not by sight.

silence

God is on His throne, be silent before him and trust Him.

Habakkuk 2:20 (NIV)
20The LORD is in his holy temple; let all the earth be silent before him.

Habakkuk 2:6 (NIV)
6“Will not all of them taunt him with ridicule and scorn, saying, “ ‘Woe to him who piles up stolen goods and makes himself wealthy by extortion! How long must this go on?’

Habakkuk 2:9 (NIV)
9“Woe to him who builds his house by unjust gain, setting his nest on high to escape the clutches of ruin!

Habakkuk 2:12 (NIV)
12“Woe to him who builds a city with bloodshed and establishes a town by injustice!

God is fully aware of the sinful ways of the enemy, and can use it to bring the righteous back to Him. Fix our eyes on the eternal. Walk by faith and trust in Him.

Habakkuk 2:15 (NIV)
15“Woe to him who gives drink to his neighbors, pouring it from the wineskin till they are drunk, so that he can gaze on their naked bodies!

Habakkuk 2:19 (NIV)
19Woe to him who says to wood, ‘Come to life!’ Or to lifeless stone, ‘Wake up!’ Can it give guidance? It is covered with gold and silver; there is no breath in it.”

2 Corinthians 5:7 (NIV)
7For we live by faith, not by sight.

2 Corinthians 4:16–18 (NIV)
16Therefore we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day.
17For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all.
18So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen, since what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.

2 Corinthians 5:6–10 (NIV)
6Therefore we are always confident and know that as long as we are at home in the body we are away from the Lord.
7For we live by faith, not by sight.
8We are confident, I say, and would prefer to be away from the body and at home with the Lord.
9So we make it our goal to please him, whether we are at home in the body or away from it.
10For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each of us may receive what is due us for the things done while in the body, whether good or bad.

Habbakuk week 3

How do we respond when God doesn't act the way we want Him to?

Matthew 7:11 (NIV)
11If you, then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good gifts to those who ask him!

Habakkuk 1:2 (NIV)
2How long, LORD, must I call for help, but you do not listen? Or cry out to you, “Violence!” but you do not save?

Habakkuk 1:5-6 (NIV)
5“Look at the nations and watch— and be utterly amazed. For I am going to do something in your days that you would not believe, even if you were told. I am raising up the Babylonians, that ruthless and impetuous people, who sweep across the whole earth to seize dwellings not their own.

Habakkuk 1:12 (NIV)
12LORD, are you not from everlasting? My God, my Holy One, you will never die. You, LORD, have appointed them to execute judgment; you, my Rock, have ordained them to punish.

Habakkuk 2:1 (NIV)
1I will stand at my watch and station myself on the ramparts; I will look to see what he will say to me, and what answer I am to give to this complaint.

Habakkuk 2:3 (NIV)
3For the revelation awaits an appointed time; it speaks of the end and will not prove false. Though it linger, wait for it; it will certainly come and will not delay.

Habakkuk 2:20 (NIV)
20The LORD is in his holy temple; let all the earth be silent before him.

1. Pray.

We must pray and talk to God. Instead of spending our time complaining and talking to others, we should spend our time praying.

Habakkuk 3:1 (NIV)
1A prayer of Habakkuk the prophet. On shigionoth.

2. Remember.

Remember what God has done, trust Him. Find comfort in remembering who God is. Read the Word, think about the good things that God has done for us.

Habakkuk 3:2 (NIV)
2LORD, I have heard of your fame; I stand in awe of your deeds, LORD. Repeat them in our day, in our time make them known; in wrath remember mercy.

Habakkuk 3:3–4 (NIV)
3God came from Teman, the Holy One from Mount Paran. His glory covered the heavens and his praise filled the earth.
4His splendor was like the sunrise; rays flashed from his hand, where his power was hidden.

Habakkuk 3:5–6 (NIV)
5Plague went before him; pestilence followed his steps.
6He stood, and shook the earth; he looked, and made the nations tremble. The ancient mountains crumbled and the age-old hills collapsed— but he marches on forever.

Habakkuk 3:11 (NIV)
11Sun and moon stood still in the heavens at the glint of your flying arrows, at the lightning of your flashing spear.
Habakkuk remembers a time when Joshua was in a battle and they were winning and it was about to get dark and Joshua cried out to God, make the son stand still, and it did for 3 hours.

Habakkuk 3:13–15 (NIV)
13You came out to deliver your people, to save your anointed one. You crushed the leader of the land of wickedness, you stripped him from head to foot.
14With his own spear you pierced his head when his warriors stormed out to scatter us, gloating as though about to devour the wretched who were in hiding.
15You trampled the sea with your horses, churning the great waters.

3. Embrace.

Embrace God even in times of trouble, hold tight to Him. Love God for who He is.

Habakkuk 3:16–19 (NIV)
16I heard and my heart pounded, my lips quivered at the sound; decay crept into my bones, and my legs trembled. Yet I will wait patiently for the day of calamity to come on the nation invading us.

Habakkuk 3:17–19 (NIV)
17Though the fig tree does not bud and there are no grapes on the vines, though the olive crop fails and the fields produce no food, though there are no sheep in the pen and no cattle in the stalls,
18yet I will rejoice in the LORD, I will be joyful in God my Savior.
19The Sovereign LORD is my strength; he makes my feet like the feet of a deer, he enables me to tread on the heights. For the director of music. On my stringed instruments.

4. Shigionoth

A musical term, a lyrical poem with emotion, passion, dancing, joy. God, if you never do another thing, you are my everything.

Habakkuk 3:1 (NIV)
1A prayer of Habakkuk the prophet. On shigionoth.

And Peter

Peter, the one who denied Jesus three times, was probably full of guilt and shame. God didn't want Peter to be left out or to stay away.

Mark 16:6-7 - “Don’t be alarmed,” he said. “You are looking for Jesus the Nazarene, who was crucified. He has risen! He is not here. See the place where they laid him. 7 But go, tell his disciples and Peter, ‘He is going ahead of you into Galilee. There you will see him, just as he told you.’”

Luke 22:62 - “And he [Peter] went outside and wept bitterly.”

Failure is not fatal or defining

Failure is not the end and doesn't define us if we've accepted Jesus.

God called you in spite of your failures.

God knows everything about us, past, present, and future, and He loves us anyway.

1 John 3:20 – “If our hearts condemn us, we know that God is greater than our hearts, and he knows everything.”

Max Lucado – “You are never more saved or less saved than the moment you were first saved.”

God loves you in spite of your failures.

Jesus doesn't beat Peter up or put him down because of Peter's denial, he gently restores him. Neither the present nor the future... Nothing can separate us from God.

Romans 8:-38-39 – “For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons,[k] neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, 39 neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.”

God wants to use you in spite of your failures.

God wants a humble heart, a repentant spirit. God knows our mistakes, and He wants to use us for His Glory. He can take our mess and turn it into a beautiful message.

Luke 22:62 - “And he [Peter] went outside and wept bitterly.”

1 Peter 4:8 – “Above all, love each other deeply, because love covers over a multitude of sins.”