Newsletter 2015/1/11

Lord’s Day Message: John 4

Bible Verses: (ESV)

¹ Now when Jesus learned that the Pharisees had heard that Jesus was making and baptizing more disciples than John ² (although Jesus himself did not baptize, but only his disciples), ³ he left Judea and departed again for Galilee. ⁴ And he had to pass through Samaria. ⁵ So he came to a town of Samaria called Sychar, near the field that Jacob had given to his son Joseph. ⁶ Jacob’s well was there; so Jesus, wearied as he was from his journey, was sitting beside the well. It was about the sixth hour.

⁷ A woman from Samaria came to draw water. Jesus said to her, “Give me a drink.” ⁸ (For his disciples had gone away into the city to buy food.) ⁹ The Samaritan woman said to him, “How is it that you, a Jew, ask for a drink from me, a woman of Samaria?” (For Jews have no dealings 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.” ¹¹ The woman said to him, “Sir, you have nothing to draw water with, and the well is deep. Where do you get that living water? ¹² Are you greater than our father Jacob? He gave us the well and drank from it himself, as did his sons and his livestock.” ¹³ Jesus said to her, “Everyone who drinks of this water will be thirsty again, ¹⁴ but whoever drinks of the water that I will give him will never be thirsty again. The water that I will 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 will not be thirsty or have to come here to draw water.”

¹⁶ Jesus said to her, “Go, call your husband, and come here.” ¹⁷ The woman answered him, “I have no husband.” Jesus said to her, “You are right in saying, ‘I have no husband’; ¹⁸ for you have had five husbands, and the one you now have is not your husband. What you have said is true.” ¹⁹ The woman said to him, “Sir, I perceive that you are a prophet. ²⁰ Our fathers worshiped on this mountain, but you say that in Jerusalem is the place where people ought to worship.” ²¹ Jesus said to her, “Woman, believe me, the hour is coming when neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem will you worship the Father. ²² You worship what you do not know; we worship what we know, for salvation is from the Jews. ²³ But the hour is coming, and is now here, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for the Father is seeking such people to worship him. ²⁴ God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth.” ²⁵ The woman said to him, “I know that Messiah is coming (he who is called Christ). When he comes, he will tell us all things.” ²⁶ Jesus said to her, “I who speak to you am he.”

²⁷ Just then his disciples came back. They marveled that he was talking with a woman, but no one said, “What do you seek?” or, “Why are you talking with her?” ²⁸ So the woman left her water jar and went away into town and said to the people, ²⁹ “Come, see a man who told me all that I ever did. Can this be the Christ?” ³⁰ They went out of the town and were coming to him.

³¹ Meanwhile the disciples were urging him, saying, “Rabbi, eat.” ³² But he said to them, “I have food to eat that you do not know about.” ³³ So the disciples said to one another, “Has anyone brought him something to eat?” ³⁴ Jesus said to them, “My food is to do the will of him who sent me and to accomplish his work. ³⁵ Do you not say, ‘There are yet four months, then comes the harvest’? Look, I tell you, lift up your eyes, and see that the fields are white for harvest. ³⁶ Already the one who reaps is receiving wages and gathering fruit for eternal life, so that sower and reaper may rejoice together. ³⁷ For here the saying holds true, ‘One sows and another reaps.’ ³⁸ I sent you to reap that for which you did not labor. Others have labored, and you have entered into their labor.”

³⁹ Many Samaritans from that town believed in him because of the woman’s testimony, “He told me all that I ever did.” ⁴⁰ So when the Samaritans came to him, they asked him to stay with them, and he stayed there two days. ⁴¹ And many more believed because of his word. ⁴² They said to the woman, “It is no longer because of what you said that we believe, for we have heard for ourselves, and we know that this is indeed the Savior of the world.”

Message Outline

1. God so loves the world: Jesus desires both Nicodemus and the Samaritan woman to be saved
2. The background of the Samaritan
3. The conversation

• Give me a drink: the humility of the Lord
• The gift of God and the Lord as a giver: God’s will and the way to receive His salvation
• The living water which makes man never thirst and becomes a spring of water in man: Knowing the true satisfaction of man
• The real situation of man: dissatisfaction and living in sin
• The true worshipping: in spirit and truth
• Knowing Jesus is Christ

4.  The teaching for the disciples

• The real food: to do the will of God and to accomplish His work
• To sow and to reap: the labor and the enjoyment

5.  The believers in town

• Through the testimony of the Samaritan woman
• Hearing the words of Jesus by themselves

Next Topics: Special topics

Church Meetings/Time/Place

Home Meeting: 12/1 Mon., 7:30pm, (Dinner @ 7pm)  Richard Cui’s

Bible study in Chinese: 13/1 Tue., 10:00am, Hall

Young Professionals Meeting: 13/1 Tue. 7:30pm Cancelled

Sister meeting: 14/1 Wed. 10:00am, cancelled

Prayer Meeting:14/1 Wed. 7:30pm, Meeting Hall

Bible study in English: 15/1 Thu., 10:00am, Hall

Pursuing of Words: 16/1 Fri., 8:00pm, cancelled

Young People Meeting/Pursuing for Adults：17/1 Sat. 7:30pm, Jason & Susan’s

 

Announcements:

1. We welcome all the new ones who are joining us today and hope that you can leave your information for us to contact you in the future.
2. We also welcome two Chinese speaking coworkers, Joseph Chin and Richard Yeh who visit us.

From the 16 evening to 17 all day we will a pursuit meeting at Blue Mountain to help us to live in the church life. If you are willing to participate, please register today with Brother Yu-Lin Wang. We will depart at 3:30 pm (16) and come back after dinner at 17. The fee for the room is about 60 dollars.

On 18 we will also have a small conference. In addition to the regular Lord’s Day meeting, we will have second message at 1 pm.

3. We encourage all the brothers and sisters to establish a Bible reading habit in year 2015. Please take the Bible Reading Supplement to help your Bible reading.

If any brother or sister is willing to open your home for a short time/small pursuing of hymns, spiritual books, church history, or anything related to the Christian living, please contact Brother Yu-Lin Wang.

<Reminder>

1. Please come on time for the meeting. During the meeting, please turn off your mobile phone or put the volume on silence.
2. When you prepare the love feast for Lord’s Day lunch, please do not prepare any food containing nuts that someone may have food allergy. After the love feast, please remember to bring back your plates.

 Intercession:

1. May the Lord lead and bless our church in year 2015 that all saints can grow in gospel preaching and in spiritual pursuit.
2. Pray for the visiting of two coworkers from China that the brothers and sisters can receive the spiritual revelation and help.
3. Praise the Lord for the last gospel meeting that He brought many friends into our midst. Please pray for these friends so that the Lord can lead them into salvation.

Pray for the gospel friends among us, especially the young people and our family members, so that our Lord can open their hearts to see God’s salvation and be willing to receive the Lord and become the member in God’s family.

4. Pray for the brothers and sisters who are weak in body or spirit. May the Lord care for them and give them grace.

Serving Today: (Jan. 11)

1. Sharing:  Richard Chen & Yulin Wang
2. Breaking the Bread:  Richard Chen & Jason Wang
3. Serving Bread and Cup:  Benchu Guo, Jack Lee & Jason Wang
4. Pianist:  Hannah Cui
5. Cleaning:  Brett & Linda Family, Jack & Sarah Family, Sean Dong & Wei Qiong Family, Lisa Tao Family, Margret Yang

Serving Next Week: (Jan. 18)

1. Sharing:  Richard Yeh & Joseph Chin
2. Breaking the Bread:  Shanwon Chow & Richard Cui
3. Serving Bread and Cup:  Jack Lee, Jason Wang & Richard Cui
4. Pianist:  Hannah Cui
5. Cleaning:  Brett & Linda Family, Jack & Sarah Family, Sean Dong & Wei Qiong Family, Lisa Tao Family, Margret Yang