INFLUENCING CITIES – Tuesday
March 28th 2017
Memorise: Then
Philip went down to the city of Samaria, and preached Christ unto them. Acts
8:5
Read: John
4:5-39(King James Version)
5 Then cometh he to a city of Samaria,
which is called Sychar, near to the parcel of ground that Jacob gave to his son
Joseph.
6 Now Jacob's well was there. Jesus
therefore, being wearied with his journey, sat thus on the well: and it was
about the sixth hour.
7 There cometh a woman of Samaria to
draw water: Jesus saith unto her, Give me to drink.
8 (For his disciples were gone away
unto the city to buy meat.)
9 Then saith the woman of Samaria unto
him, How is it that thou, being a Jew, askest drink of me, which am a woman of
Samaria? for the Jews have no dealings with the Samaritans.
10 Jesus answered and said unto her, If
thou knewest the gift of God, and who it is that saith to thee, Give me to
drink; thou wouldest have asked of him, and he would have given thee living
water.
11 The woman saith unto him, Sir, thou
hast nothing to draw with, and the well is deep: from whence then hast thou
that living water?
12 Art thou greater than our father
Jacob, which gave us the well, and drank thereof himself, and his children, and
his cattle?
13 Jesus answered and said unto her,
Whosoever drinketh of this water shall thirst again:
14 But whosoever drinketh of the water
that I shall give him shall never thirst; but the water that I shall give him
shall be in him a well of water springing up into everlasting life.
15 The woman saith unto him, Sir, give
me this water, that I thirst not, neither come hither to draw.
16 Jesus saith unto her, Go, call thy
husband, and come hither.
17 The woman answered and said, I have
no husband. Jesus said unto her, Thou hast well said, I have no husband:
18 For thou hast had five husbands; and
he whom thou now hast is not thy husband: in that saidst thou truly.
19 The woman saith unto him, Sir, I
perceive that thou art a prophet.
20 Our fathers worshipped in this
mountain; and ye say, that in Jerusalem is the place where men ought to
worship.
21 Jesus saith unto her, Woman, believe
me, the hour cometh, when ye shall neither in this mountain, nor yet at
Jerusalem, worship the Father.
22 Ye worship ye know not what: we know
what we worship: for salvation is of the Jews.
23 But the hour cometh, and now is, when
the true worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth: for the
Father seeketh such to worship him.
24 God is a Spirit: and they that
worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth.
25 The woman saith unto him, I know that
Messias cometh, which is called Christ: when he is come, he will tell us all
things.
26 Jesus saith unto her, I that speak
unto thee am he.
27 And upon this came his disciples, and
marvelled that he talked with the woman: yet no man said, What seekest thou?
or, Why talkest thou with her?
28 The woman then left her waterpot, and
went her way into the city, and saith to the men,
29 Come, see a man, which told me all
things that ever I did: is not this the Christ?
30 Then they went out of the city, and
came unto him.
31 In the mean while his disciples
prayed him, saying, Master, eat.
32 But he said unto them, I have meat to
eat that ye know not of.
33 Therefore said the disciples one to
another, Hath any man brought him ought to eat?
34 Jesus saith unto them, My meat is to
do the will of him that sent me, and to finish his work.
35 Say not ye, There are yet four
months, and then cometh harvest? behold, I say unto you, Lift up your eyes, and
look on the fields; for they are white already to harvest.
36 And he that reapeth receiveth wages,
and gathereth fruit unto life eternal: that both he that soweth and he that
reapeth may rejoice together.
37 And herein is that saying true, One
soweth, and another reapeth.
38 I sent you to reap that whereon ye
bestowed no labour: other men laboured, and ye are entered into their labours.
39 And many of the Samaritans of that
city believed on him for the saying of the woman, which testified, He told me
all that ever I did.
Bible in one
year: Exodus 33-34, Jeremiah 3:11-4:2, Hymn: Sing hymn 13
MESSAGE:
Jesus is
the greatest change agent that ever lived. A genuine encounter with Him always
brings about positive change in the life a person. Not only does this encounter
bring about change, it also transforms the changed individual into a change
agent. In other words, after changing you, the Lord Jesus Christ can use you to
change your city. In our Bible reading, we see a woman who had been married and
divorced five times, who was then living with a sixth man. At that point, she
did not even bother with marriage. After she encountered Jesus, He changed the
course of her life, and He used her to change her city. This is quite
remarkable! How can you claim to have been born again 10 years or more, and you
have not introduced any level of change into your town or village? No matter
how tiny the light may be, it will shine in the midst of darkness and overcome
it. What impact have you made on your village, community, town or city? How
many of your folks know you to be a Christian? A pastor died some time ago, and
when his extended family members gathered to plan his burial, some of them
thought of burying him the traditional way. His close relatives protested this
and had to inform the other family members that he was a pastor. In your
village, do people know you to be a born-again Christian? How many of them can
say their lives have changed for the better since they encountered Jesus
through you?
Moreover,
if your encounter with Jesus is taken seriously, He can even use you to change
your nation. Never underestimate the power of transformation that starts from
just one fellow. Most of us are not pulling our weight spiritually in our
nations. If you look at the Acts of the Apostles, you will find some change
agents that God used to win whole cities and to turn around nations for Christ. Acts
13:43-44 says,
“Now when
the congregation was broken up, many of the Jews and religious proselytes
followed Paul and Barnabas: who, speaking to them, persuaded them to continue
in the grace of God. And the next Sabbath day came almost the whole city
together to hear the word of God.”
However,
the extent to which God can use you will be determined by the degree of change
you have allowed Him to perform in you. It will also depend on your mindset,
love for God, level of alignment of God’s desire with yours, and the level of
sacrifice you are ready to make. While some people are only leading a few souls
to Christ, some others are leading whole cities or nations to Him. How
impactful do you want to be?
Key Point
Your heavenly
rewards will be determined by you here on earth.
Open Heaven Daily Devotional, written by Pastor E.A Adeboye,
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