So when the Samaritans came to him, they asked him to stay with them, and he stayed there two days. And many more believed because of his word. 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.” John 4:40-42
The other day I put up the video of Monty Williams (NBA assistant coach for the OKC Thunder) speaking at his wife’s memorial service. She was 44 with five children. A woman crossed the centerline and hit Ingrid Williams, and she was killed in the crash. The other driver died too. (See Deadspin article: Monty Williams Calls For Forgiveness In Powerful Speech At Wife’s Memorial Service)
Monty’s inspired words at that memorial service resonated around the world to basketball fans and non-basketball fans alike. He spoke of his love for his wife. He spoke of his faith in God. And he spoke of forgiveness for the driver of the car that crossed the centerline. Monty Williams spoke that way because he’s a man who “heard for himself.” He hasn’t only heard from others about Jesus, but like the Samaritans, he’s spent days with him. For the Samaritans it was two days. For Monty Williams it’s been many days.
That personal time with Jesus is what moved the Samaritans to say, “…we know that this is indeed the Savior of the world.”
His personal time with Jesus is what moved Monty Williams to speak those powerful and inspired words at his wife’s memorial service.
Can I give you my best advice? Spend days with Jesus and hear for yourself. Find a church full of people who love God and His Son with everything they have and go there, ask questions of those people, get to know those people. Read the gospels. Pray as Jesus instructed us to pray. (Luke 18:1-8)
Spend days with Jesus in these ways to hear for yourself, then make your decision about him. Like Monty Williams, you’ll find Him to be a source of strength and grace and love, even while walking through the darkest and most gut-wrenching of times.
See and hear for yourself.
(If you have a question, feel free to email me at kurt@kurtbennettbooks.com)
It is interesting also that the “two” days he spent with these Samaritans could represent the 2,000 years in which He has been gone as representing the Samaritans/Christians/Gentiles who have been grafted into His family. Perhaps the end of the two days/2,000 years are represented as the close of the “church age”.
From what I’m seeing these days many churches are not even on life support as they keep mutating the original congregation that Messiah preached to in His time here and what His disciples taught. For now we have New Age, Mysticism, Emergent churches who are sending their youth to lay on the graves of dead evangelists to soak up their anointed spirits. We’re in trouble Kurt. Why, I was shocked to see online that a Messianic church in Phoenix has a prayer room and is involved in “soaking prayer” which represents laying on the floor with soft music and no audible prayers. Folks need to be very aware of these issues. Check this site below which explains exactly what it means.
Yes, we need fellowship with believers, but we need to know exactly what is being taught and what is happening in the churches in these days so folks won’t be entrapped in the wrong place.
This clarifies what I’m trying to convey from this site:
http://www.gotquestions.org/soaking-prayer.html.
“Soaking prayer focuses on obtaining a spiritual experience by seeking out the presence of God through mystical exercises. In this it is similar to ”contemplative prayer” and contemplative spirituality, which are equally unbiblical. Biblical prayer is talking to God with His will in mind (1 John 5:14). A biblically praying believer already understands that God’s presence is always with him (Psalm 139:7; Matthew 28:20; 1 Corinthians 6:19; 1 Thessalonians 4:8; 2 Timothy 1:14), and he doesn’t need to experience any type of physical sensation to prove it”.
My home is my sanctuary; I spend time with My Savior from the time I sing to Him in the shower, in reading His Word, in studying to show myself approved by Him by rightly dividing His Word. The best times in my life are spending time with HIM and I’d encourage others to do likewise. Dig into the Word; He loves it!