Melita! We need YOU!

It's time to play catch up again y'all. Melita has been setting a very good example for us, and somehow we faltered with her absence. Let's go everyone! We need to continue with the race. Hopefully now that she's back, we'll be on track again :)

John 4

39Many of the Samaritans from that town believed in him because of the woman's testimony[...]
41And because of his [Jesu´s] words many more became believers.

It seems that we can reach something with our testimony and own words. But the word of God is most powerful and convincing.
It also seems that the people first had to hear about Jesus and her testimony and than comming to Jesus. They neede someone to guide them. And it does not matter in which bad social position she was. She had no friend or was respected in town but still she was able to give the people the opportunity to be saved.

14 [...] I give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life

Where is the spring, when we feel thirty and longing for somthing? Are we just sitting on it and blocking the water or did we already walked too far away?
Actually there is no need anymore to feel thirsty cause we were given an source. So it is not only moving oneself to some special place as
"21 [...] a time is coming when you will worship the Father neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem." because
^"24God is spirit, and his worshipers must worship in spirit and in truth."

John 6

⁴¹ The Jews then complained about Him, because He said, “I am the bread which came down from heaven.” ⁴² And they said, “Is not this Jesus, the son of Joseph, whose father and mother we know? How is it then that He says, ‘I have come down from heaven’?”


This must be human nature, to have preconceptions of someone because of having known them before. It seems that it is easier to discredit someone and not give them the benefit of the doubt when you have known that person for a long time. It is harder to believe that the person you've known could actually change, and for the better. Even if one didn't know a person for a long time, but one knew the person before for a period of time, one tends to expect the person to remain the same as when one knew them.

For example, if a person knew someone from childhood, who went to the same elementary school. The person happened to get bad grades all the time, then you lose contact when you go to a different school. Then this person goes on and gets a PhD later in life. Many times it would be very difficult for the person that knew this PhD before to believe that these two are the same person. Same thing if you knew someone and they were always mean, but then all of a sudden they became really nice, you may think it is a trick instead of thinking the person changed and improved.

This seems to be the same attitude that these Jews have who were from Jesus' home town. They have know Him and His family. They know that His is from the family of a carpenter. How could it be possible that Jesus, the son, can be anyone great?

Many times we make the same mistake and discredit someone without realizing that perhaps this person has become someone better than they were before. Many times we may be forgiving toward ourselves, but have double standards when it comes to others. Hopefully we can learn from the mistake the Jews made against Jesus, and not make the same mistake ourselves towards others. Let us give others rooms to grow, and believe that they can become a better person even if they weren't to begin with.

John 5

Joh 5:19 Then Jesus answered and said to them, "Most assuredly, I say to you, the Son can do nothing of Himself, but what He sees the Father do; for whatever He does, the Son also does in like manner.

God is fear and austere during the period in Old Testament. The People on that time feared to see the Lord and put on the veil hastily on the face to avoid seeing directly the glory of the Lord. Even God said to Moses that you cannot see My face; for no man shall see Me, and live(Exo 33:20). Why? Because of the sins which make people unclean and not available to see the face of the sanctification. Nowadays, since Jesus Himself is the propitiation for the whole human’s sins, those who believe Him and are willing to accept the baptism for forgiveness of sins belong to God and become the son of God. These men can see God without veil. We are now very lucky to be those men who have took off the veil and face God face to face. We know Him through the bible; talk with Him with Holy Spirit. We shall like Jesus, whatever we do also do in like manner what we see our Lord do.

Mat 11:29 Take my yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.

Week of June 7-13

Reading: Genesis 31-36
Reflection: John 6

John 5

⁵ Now a certain man was there who had an infirmity thirty-eight years. ⁶ When Jesus saw him lying there, and knew that he already had been in that condition a long time, He said to him, “Do you want to be made well?”
⁷ The sick man answered Him, “Sir, I have no man to put me into the pool when the water is stirred up; but while I am coming, another steps down before me.”
⁸ Jesus said to him, “Rise, take up your bed and walk.” ⁹ And immediately the man was made well, took up his bed, and walked.


This is a touching scene, but also an ugly scene. Ugly, because it shows the selfishness of human nature, everyone for himself. When there is an advantage to be gained for oneself, other people do not matter. It does not matter if their condition is worse than yours, or they have been waiting longer than you have. At the crucial moment, everyone will fight and pursue their own benefits, trampling down others while at it. This is touching, because it shows us that Jesus sees even if no one else did; and Jesus cared when no one else cared. Jesus probably pick him out for the reason that he has been waiting the longest, and without help. Jesus sees the needs of others when no one else sees. Jesus sees the trouble of others when no one else cared to see. This is a great comfort, knowing that even if no one else sees or cares about the troubles you are going through, Jesus will, and He will pick you out from all the rest and save you.

John 5

John 5
5 Now a certain man was there who had an infirmity thirty-eight years. 6 When Jesus saw him lying there, and knew that he already had been in that condition a long time, He said to him, “Do you want to be made well?”
7 The sick man answered Him, “Sir, I have no man to put me into the pool when the water is stirred up; but while I am coming, another steps down before me.” 8 Jesus said to him, “Rise, take up your bed and walk.” 9 And immediately the man was made well, took up his bed, and walked.

Above verses confirm that our GOD indeed is a merciful GOD. He can help us whatever the situation and He has His own way to save us. No matter how difficult the situation but GOD can help and rescue us. If read verse 5, actually we can see that Jesus was the one who approached sick man first. However, At the beginning this sick man relied on his understanding (verse 7). This story tells us that in fact, GOD is always be there to help us, but sometimes we depend and struggle with our own understanding. Often we don’t realize that GOD has offered help, but we insist with our effort. We, therefore, should not rely on our own understanding, because our merciful GOD will always help and more importantly, GOD is most reliable person that
we can count on.

PS: I am on holiday for 2 weeks, thus might not be able to post for the next two weeks.

John 4

Joh 4:35 "Do you not say, 'There are still four months and then comes the harvest'? Behold, I say to you, lift up your eyes and look at the fields, for they are already white for harvest!

Evangelism for example, when troubles appear we might think that it is the end. Then we might lose attention and plead in excuse of our conduct. Excuse such like the God’s timing is not coming yet or he is not the chosen on. For preaching there is but no difference of time.

Preach the word! Be ready in season and out of season (2Ti 4:2)

“Lift up your eye and look” here symbolizes “God’s thoughts are higher than man’s”, just the same like Abraham went to offer with Isaac. When the angel of the Lord called Abraham not to hurt Isaac, at the meantime Abraham lifted his eyes and looked a ram catching in a thicket by his horns, and then he took the ram and offered it up for the burnt offering instead of his son (Gen22). Those beyond expectations reveal the great of God and his marvel. The most important is whether we can lift our eyes and look around when we are filled with despair. Looking for the guidance of God and waiting for his Help.

Luk 18:27 "The things which are impossible with men are possible with God."

Gen 22, 23

Gen. 22: 13 Then Abraham lifted his eyes and looked, and there behind him was a ram caught in a thicket by its horns.

The little word "behind" made me stop at this verse. When it is written about peopel who lifted their eyes I always thougth that they looked forward and lift their head. Like the ones in
"Psalm 123:1 I lift up my eyes to you, to you whose throne is in heaven."
But here Abrabam saw something behind him and not even far away. So then we can add something new to this up lifting of our eyes. Not only lift the head and move from down to high but also look around and look behind you. In this example the needed item is not far away but you have to turn around to notice it.

Gen. 23
16 Abraham[...] weighed out for him the price he had named in the hearing of the Hittites
17 So Ephron's field in Machpelah near Mamre[...]was deeded
18 to Abraham as his property in the presence of all the Hittites who had come to the gate of the city.

Why did Abraham not just took the land which the people would give him for free. Efron told him twice that he is willing to give him the land and the cave. But through this whole process Abraham was always very polite and did not took what he just could have taken. Maybe it was common at that time to make such offers like the Hetiter did and be on the outside very generous. If it were like this Abraham just reacted right. Cause he did what was right. Everything material has its price and when someone gives you something for free you are in debt to this person. I think to avoid this situation and to have not relationship like this Abraham payed it in the forseen way and manner. So later no one can come and take it away because it is official his own property. Legaly purchased.
A similar situation is in
Gen 14:23 that I will accept nothing belonging to you, not even a thread or the thong of a sandal, so that you will never be able to say, 'I made Abram rich.'
when Abraham refused to keep the things from the kinf of Sodom.
If we look at Abrahams live we can see that he is not a poor man. He does not need to be given or receive presents by people. And he is also just a foreign and is a stranger wherever he lives. He did not bound himself to the people there. And avoided to get too involed in complicated relationships with duties commitment to human.

John 4

^"1 Therefore, when the Lord knew that the Pharisees had heard that Jesus made and baptized more disciples than John ² (though Jesus Himself did not baptize, but His disciples), ³ He left Judea and departed again to Galilee."

Yet another verse to help with dealing with the idea of Trinity. Here, if we read these verses with a grammatically understanding, we can see that the pronoun 'He' in vs. 3 refers to the subject 'the Lord' in vs. 1. And we can see from the whole context that the 'He' mentioned in vs. 3 IS Jesus. Therefore, 'the Lord' = 'Jesus' = 'He' in vs. 3.

^"34 Jesus said to them, “My food is to do the will of Him who sent Me, and to finish His work. ³⁵ Do you not say, ‘There are still four months and then comes the harvest’? Behold, I say to you, lift up your eyes and look at the fields, for they are already white for harvest!"

This is a good verse to remind us that the harvest is always out there, in or out of season. Because our harvest is not in the physical crops, but the spiritual. There is no waiting period in the spiritual harvest. As it is Food for Jesus to do the will of God and finish His work, it should also be our food to do the same. Thank God that we have finally gotten a start on the Youth Fellowship, and a good start at that. I believe we are on our way to imitate Christ in this regard. Let us press forward so as not to be left hungry :)

John Chapter 4

34 Jesus said to them, “My food is to do the will of Him who sent Me, and to finish His work.

Physically, food is the source of our energy, in other words, without food, we will die. That’s why the disciplines concerned whether Jesus had eaten or not ( verse 33: Therefore the disciples said to one another, “Has anyone brought Him anything to eat?” ). This is true; we need food to life healthily and stay strong. However, in term of spiritual, what we need to have a healthy spiritual life? What is our spiritual food? Here Jesus told us a very important teaching which is to “do the will of GOD” as our food.