Archives for February 2018

16 He 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.18 The 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. 20 Our 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. 22 You Samaritans worship what you do not know; we worship what we do know, for salvation is from the Jews. 23 Yet 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. 24 God is spirit, and his worshipers must worship in the Spirit and in truth.”
25 The woman said, “I know that Messiah” (called Christ) “is coming. When he comes, he will explain everything to us.”
26 Then Jesus declared, “I, the one speaking to you—I am he.”

Big View: Person of Peace
Small View: Passing Relationships – Power – Proclamation

Tom Patitucci
Itinerant Worship Leader/Preacher – Diablo Valley CA

Observation: In this encounter, I see Jesus interacting with someone He has just met. And in this meeting, He uses both power and proclamation to share the Gospel with her. Jesus tells the woman something He would have had no way of knowing about her, regarding her history with men. And then, He very bluntly tells her that He is the Messiah!

Action: This week, I will look for open doors to speak very plainly about who Jesus is, even in passing or “casual encounters!”

11 “Sir,” the woman said, “you have nothing to draw with and the well is deep. Where can you get this living water? 12 Are you greater than our father Jacob, who gave us the well and drank from it himself, as did also his sons and his flocks and herds?”
13 Jesus answered, “Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again, 14 but whoever drinks the water I give him will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life.”
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.”

Big View: Person of Peace
Small View: Perception – Passing Relationships

Bill Francis
Morello Hills Christian – Pleasant Hill CA

Observation: I am impressed, intrigued, and motivated by Jesus’ way of entering into a deeper/spiritual conversation with this woman. She will basically talk herself right into faith in Jesus.

Action: Lately, I have been praying and looking for the people God wants me to connect with wherever I happen to be in that day. And, God has been providing so many opportunities it’s been amazing! My plan is to institute more of Jesus’ way, questions that help people move deeper.

Now when Jesus learned that the Pharisees had heard, “Jesus is making and baptizing more disciples than John” 2 —although it was not Jesus himself but his disciples who baptized— 3 he left Judea and started back to Galilee. 4 But he had to go through Samaria. 5 So he came to a Samaritan city called Sychar, near the plot of ground that Jacob had given to his son Joseph. 6 Jacob’s well was there, and Jesus, tired out by his journey, was sitting by the well. It was about noon.
7 A Samaritan woman came to draw water, and Jesus said to her, “Give me a drink.” 8 (His disciples had gone to the city to buy food.) 9 The Samaritan woman said to him, “How is it that you, a Jew, ask a drink of me, a woman of Samaria?” (Jews do not share things in common with Samaritans.) 10 Jesus answered her, “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.”

Big View: Person of Peace
Small View: Perception – Presence – Power – Passing/Permanent Relationships

Lisa Strom
Rock of the Foothills – La Verne CA

Observation: While traveling in the heat of the day, Jesus takes a break at a well where he finds a woman most likely avoiding her neighbors. Breaking a short list of radical barriers, Jesus asks her for a drink. The woman in her shock has to ask, “How is it that you, a Jew, ask a drink of me, a woman of Samaria?” Jesus sees the potential to begin the harvest of a whole community through one of its most marginalized citizens. He begins a conversation with this woman, and through invitation and challenge, opens her eyes to the gift of living water.

Action: I am going to pay attention, intentionally perceiving when God is asking me to take the inconvenient road. God is probably often asking me to take routes that I would not chose because he has something for me that is not on my list of usual errands. I need to listen and obey those nudgings and take the detours the Father asks me to.

Also, when I am anywhere, especially on an errand I will look for the marginalized person to see where God might be at work. I will watch for the person who doesn’t fit in, who has lost their reputation, who doesn’t look like me or act like me, the person there to serve, not to be served. God is asking me to break down these social barriers and begin meaningful conversation, all the while looking for the opportunity to introduce them to the gift of living water.

3 Now there was a Pharisee, a man named Nicodemus who was a member of the Jewish ruling council. 2 He came to Jesus at night and said, “Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher who has come from God. For no one could perform the signs you are doing if God were not with him.”
3 Jesus replied, “Very truly I tell you, no one can see the kingdom of God unless they are born again.”
4 “How can someone be born when they are old?” Nicodemus asked. “Surely they cannot enter a second time into their mother’s womb to be born!”
5 Jesus answered, “Very truly I tell you, no one can enter the kingdom of God unless they are born of water and the Spirit. 6 Flesh gives birth to flesh, but the Spirit gives birth to spirit. 7 You should not be surprised at my saying, ‘You must be born again.’

Big View: Person of Peace
Small View: Perception – Permanent Relationships – Proclamation

Chris Norman
3DM – Fort Wayne IN

Observation: John the Baptist sought Jesus out to ask him questions and listened closely to his responses. In the midst of his fellow Pharisees, Nicodemus was intrigued with who Jesus was and wanted to know more. He was open to Jesus.

Action: Yesterday someone came to our church on a Saturday afternoon to find out the times of our services. This lady said that she and her husband have not been to a church in years and have so many questions. My wife and I are planning to follow up with her and see where God leads it.

The next day John was there again with two of his disciples. When he saw Jesus passing by, he said, “Look, the Lamb of God!”

When the two disciples heard him say this, they followed Jesus. Turning around, Jesus saw them following and asked, “What do you want?” They said, “Rabbi” (which means Teacher), “where are you staying?” “Come,” he replied, “and you will see.” So they went and saw where he was staying, and spent that day with him. It was about the tenth hour.

Big View: Person of Peace
Small View: Permanent Relationships – Preparation – Perception

Doug McCoy
First Christian Church – Pleasant Hill CA

Observation: I see both John and Jesus being perceptive to the people of peace around them. I see that John knew these disciples of his were open to becoming disciples of Jesus and so first proclaimed Jesus to them and then passed them on to Jesus. I see that Jesus was aware that people of peace had been sent to Him and were following Him. I see further that when Jesus became aware of the people of peace He opened Himself up to them, inviting them to where He was staying and allowing them to spend the day with Him.

Action: I often see the people of peace concept as something for myself. I look for those who will be people of peace to me, who will stick with me, who will stay in relationship with and focus on me. But John understood that he was gathering people not for himself but for something greater than himself (that is, for the Kingdom) and he was willing to relinquish them to that greater thing. Today I will remind myself that I am not the Kingdom but merely a proclaimer of the Kingdom and will allow myself to pass my people on peace on to Jesus.

The next day Jesus decided to go to Galilee. He found Philip and said to him, “Come, follow me.” Philip was from Bethsaida, Andrew and Peter’s hometown. Philip went to look for Nathanael and told him, “We have found the very person Moses and the prophets wrote about! His name is Jesus, the son of Joseph from Nazareth.” “Nazareth!” exclaimed Nathanael. “Can anything good come from Nazareth?” “Come and see for yourself,” Philip replied. As they approached, Jesus said, “Now here is a genuine son of Israel—a man of complete integrity.” “How do you know about me?” Nathanael asked. Jesus replied, “I could see you under the fig tree before Philip found you.” Then Nathanael exclaimed, “Rabbi, you are the Son of God—the King of Israel!””
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Irene Snyder
Destiny City Church – Tacoma WA

Big View: Person of Peace
Small View: Preparation – Passing Relationships

Observation: I love the connection in these men, a true conversation and truth being spoken. Jesus is not swayed by actions, but only by what He knows and He speaks this truth to Nathanael…… “a true and genuine son of Israel” – a man of complete integrity! I wonder if this is just what Nathanael needed to hear and be reminded of this day. Wouldn’t that just be like Jesus to come in the midst of a tough day and speak truth over us and who we are.

Action: I am surrounded daily by people who need to hear an encouraging word of God knowing who they are. It’s a crazy hustle and bustle I live in, and so often I deal with self pity and my eyes are on myself and my own circumstances. My action plan is to take my eyes off me and place my eyes on and be on the look out for people of peace that are ready and waiting to be reminded of what God says about them…… His love poured out through me to them in an amazing connection.