Latest / The Woman at the Well Ministries Podcast / 593 | The Greater Blessing - Part 3
Transcript
- 0:07Hello, friends, and welcome back to the Woman at the Well Ministries podcast
- 0:10with Kimberly Miller, where we believe that every man, woman,
- 0:14boy, and girl must come to Jesus just like the woman at the well in John chapter 4.
- 0:20Our highest priority is helping you experience the reality of God in your everyday life.
- 0:26Whether you're listening in our app, on your favorite podcast platform,
- 0:30are on our website at watwm.org.
- 0:34We invite you to sit down with us as we open the scriptures to learn more about
- 0:39who God is and to strengthen your daily walk with Jesus Christ.
- 1:03Those who wait upon the Lord receive the greater blessing.
- 1:07Isaiah 40 verse 31 tells us, But they that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength.
- 1:13They shall mount up with wings as eagles.
- 1:15They shall run and not be weary, and they shall walk and not faint.
- 1:21Life's circumstances will try to push you ahead of God, or perhaps even your
- 1:25own tendencies will try to move you in front of the plans that God has for you.
- 1:29But join us in this broadcast of Woman at the Well Ministries as Kim continues
- 1:36to take us on a journey through the scriptures to discover the reward for waiting
- 1:40on God and allowing Him to have His perfect way in your life.
- 1:45Hello, and thank you for joining us. We're in our third part of the series on
- 1:50the greater blessing and on looking at what rewards come to those that wait upon the Lord.
- 1:57And we began in John chapter 11, and we've made it to verse 20,
- 2:02and we're going to pick up there again.
- 2:03And as we get to verse 20, what we see that has taken place is that Mary and
- 2:08Martha and Lazarus were friends of Jesus Christ.
- 2:12And they had a personal relationship with him, and each one of their relationships was different.
- 2:18And they had something that was unique, and Martha's was different than Mary's,
- 2:23and Mary's was different than Lazarus. And the three of them each had a personal
- 2:27relationship with Jesus Christ.
- 2:29We see that he tells them that he loves them, that they know that they are bound
- 2:37by ties and associations of the heart.
- 2:42Because when he says, when Mary and Martha are talking, they talk about Lazarus, whom he loved.
- 2:48So they are sure of the relationship that they have and they are absolutely
- 2:54clear on what that relationship is as we move a little bit longer we see that lazarus dies.
- 3:02And Jesus delays his coming to Mary and Martha even further.
- 3:09So when that Jesus gets to Mary and Martha, Lazarus has been dead for days.
- 3:15We see that on the journey there that Jesus speaks to the disciples and he says
- 3:21to them, Lazarus sleeps.
- 3:23Well, the disciples think that Lazarus is just taking a nap.
- 3:28And so he's painstakingly, in verse 14 and 15, explains to them that Lazarus is dead.
- 3:39And he's glad that he delayed so that they could see and believe even more of who he was.
- 3:47And then we see that Jesus comes to Mary and Martha, and Martha runs to meet
- 3:54Jesus, and Mary stays back.
- 3:57And that's where we are when we pick up this wonderful lesson in the passage
- 4:03of John chapter 11 that explains to us the rewards for waiting on God,
- 4:09for being patiently loving and trusting in God, for fully living Romans 8,
- 4:1728, that says that all things work together for the good to them that love the
- 4:21Lord and that are called according to his purpose.
- 4:24What we see is two individuals
- 4:27living out their faith
- 4:31and the bible tells us in hebrews chapter 11 and
- 4:34verse 6 that but without faith it is impossible
- 4:37to please him and we must believe that he is and that he is a rewarder of them
- 4:40that diligently seek him in the last lesson we spoke of martha running to meet
- 4:47jesus in this lesson we're going to pick up with mary who stood still and knew that he was God.
- 4:54And when she had done everything that she could do, she just remained.
- 4:59Jesus was real to her and she wasn't anxious.
- 5:05She shows no signs of being angry. She's just real.
- 5:11We pick up in verse 21. He says, then said Martha unto Jesus,
- 5:15Lord, if thou had been here, my brother had not died.
- 5:18And Martha explains to Jesus her faith.
- 5:21She isn't admonishing him. She
- 5:23isn't chastising him. She's not speaking in anger. She speaks the truth.
- 5:29And she wants him to know that even though her circumstances were not what she
- 5:33wanted them to be, she knows he's still God.
- 5:37Verse 22 says, But I know that even now whatsoever thou wilt ask of God, God will give it thee.
- 5:44She reaffirms to him his power, his deity. She speaks of his majesty.
- 5:50She knows that he can say whatever he wants, asking of God, and God will give it.
- 5:57Jesus saith unto her thy brother shall rise again
- 6:00martha being so close to jesus that
- 6:03she didn't mind to ask for clarification says unto him
- 6:07i know that he shall rise again in the resurrection at the
- 6:10last day in other words you see what i'm hearing
- 6:13you say is he's going to rise again and i know that he's going to do that
- 6:15jesus said unto her he wants it to
- 6:18be clear he wants her to understand full well what he means so he says to her
- 6:26i am the resurrection and the life he that believeth in me though he were dead yet shall he live.
- 6:38And whosoever liveth and believeth in me shall never die.
- 6:44Believest thou this? So he begins to speak to Martha.
- 6:49And he tells her of something that's very hard to comprehend.
- 6:52And he has acknowledged in my mind when he says this to her that she has believed thus far.
- 6:58And that she has faith in him.
- 7:01And so then he gives her this thing that he says, whoever believeth in me though
- 7:06he were dead yet shall he live believest thou this she saith unto him yea lord
- 7:11i believe that thou art the christ the son of god which should come into the world,
- 7:19she's quick to give an answer for what she believed even when things weren't
- 7:24going her way she still believed she was still quick to go back to what she knew to be right,
- 7:32she didn't have to hesitate to think of an answer she didn't have to ponder about what she thought,
- 7:40no she knew exactly what she was supposed
- 7:43to say because she knew what was in her heart and she was in tune with the core
- 7:48of her beliefs in first peter 3 15 it says but sanctify the lord god in your
- 7:53hearts and be ready always to give an answer to every man that asketh you a
- 7:57reason of the hope that is in you with meekness and fear. What do you believe?
- 8:02Who do you believe in? And when the chips are down, do you still believe?
- 8:08In times like these that Martha is facing, you have to have a know-so salvation.
- 8:14You've got to have a know-so belief. You've got to be rooted and grounded in the Word of God.
- 8:20You've got to know what He says, and you've got to believe what He says,
- 8:23and you've got to have taken a walk through the Scriptures so that you can see
- 8:27his promises unfold so you know what to claim on to because the anchor holds
- 8:32but you've got to be holding on to the anchor.
- 8:35Martha knew when she was ready to give that answer. I implore each of you,
- 8:40whether you're going through a problem or not, to stand still and know that
- 8:46he is God and walk through the scriptures.
- 8:49Be aggressive about learning what he says.
- 8:52Be aggressive about getting to know him.
- 8:54Make it a priority. Make it a focus.
- 8:57Feed upon his word every day. Get so entangled in his words that they become yours and you God talk.
- 9:03Half of your sentences are yours and half of your sentences are scriptures become
- 9:07in love with the god of the universe because he loves you,
- 9:12when she had said so she went her way and called mary her sister secretly saying
- 9:17the master is come and calleth for thee.
- 9:23Martha had run out to meet Jesus, and that was just typical of her personality.
- 9:29Martha had run out and had spoken to him and was meeting him and had great action.
- 9:34Mary was waiting patiently, being still and knowing that he was God.
- 9:40Having done all that she could and just standing.
- 9:42And the master called her. And I want you to see what she does.
- 9:47As soon as she heard that she
- 9:51arose quickly and came unto
- 9:55him she knew her god
- 9:58she knew the power of her
- 10:00god she loved him and she
- 10:03believed in him but i want you to see he knew
- 10:07mary because he called for
- 10:10her i don't know where you are i don't know what you're doing but i know that
- 10:16he calls for you i know that he came to seek and to save those which were lost
- 10:22and that romans 3 23 says that we all are lost because we all have sinned and
- 10:27come short of the glory of god.
- 10:28And i know that in the parable of the hundred sheep
- 10:3199 were all right
- 10:34and one was gone and went after it i know
- 10:37that he believes that each one of us
- 10:40are worth his blood i don't
- 10:44understand that it boggles my imagination it
- 10:48makes absolutely positively no sense but he
- 10:51said that he came to seek and to save those
- 10:54which were lost and he said that he wanted to give us life that we might have
- 10:58it more abundantly and more importantly he said he created us in his image and
- 11:03he said he was no respecter of persons so my dear friend wherever you are whatever
- 11:07you're doing whatever you've done wherever you've been, he calleth for thee.
- 11:14He says in Revelations chapter 3 that, behold, he stands at the door and he knocks.
- 11:19If any man enter in, he'll sup with you.
- 11:23To put it in my words, not taking away from the word of God,
- 11:26but letting you see how it penetrates my heart and how it applies to me,
- 11:31I think he says, I'm knocking on your heart's door asking you to hang out with me.
- 11:37I want to spend time with you. I want to love on you.
- 11:42I want to just spend the day with you.
- 11:46I'd like to have breakfast, lunch, and dinner with you. And I've invited you
- 11:51to pray without ceasing.
- 11:52I've invited you to come boldly to the throne of God, that you could find help in time of trouble.
- 11:57I've proved to you that I love you and that I was tempted like as you are, yet without sin.
- 12:02I've shown you that I understand when you come to me, regardless of what the
- 12:06problem is. I just want you to be with me.
- 12:09So I'm calling you. No matter where you are, no matter what you've done,
- 12:15no matter what you're thinking about doing right now, drop that bottle of alcohol out of your hands.
- 12:23Throw away those drugs of sin and debauchery.
- 12:29Step out of that house with that partner that isn't your wife or your husband.
- 12:37Get away from that sin that
- 12:40so easily beset you get out of there because he's calling you and he reached
- 12:47down in his love you see you were dead in your trespasses and sins just as i
- 12:52was for the wages of sin is death but the gift of god is eternal life through jesus christ our lord,
- 12:58and you're headed right now for a life of eternal destruction and damnation
- 13:04and hell is real and it's real bad.
- 13:08There's eternal gnashing of teeth. There's everlasting punishment.
- 13:13There's eternal darkness.
- 13:15There's separation forever from the God of the universe.
- 13:19It's a hot, fiery place. And the worm dieth not, and your thirst is never quenched.
- 13:26And he doesn't want you to go there. You were never meant to go there because
- 13:30hell was meant for the devil and his angels.
- 13:34But just like when mary is sitting there
- 13:37in this situation that she has no
- 13:40idea what to do and she feels i'm sure
- 13:43at her wit's end but she knows who to
- 13:46go to and she knows who can take care of it
- 13:48and she knows who to believe and he calls her
- 13:52he's calling you right now i believe
- 13:55with every fiber of my body and every
- 13:58inch of my being that he's calling you
- 14:01right now he's calling you to a life of service or he's calling you to salvation
- 14:08in him he says that if we confess our sins he's faithful and just to forgive
- 14:12us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness in romans 10 13 he says
- 14:18that whosoever shall call upon the name of the lord shall be saved.
- 14:22Oh, how he loves you, and oh, how he loves me.
- 14:26It's time that you heard his call.
- 14:30It's time that you heeded his call. Oh, why not tonight, the songwriter wrote, wilt thou be saved?
- 14:39Pass me not, O gentle Savior, while on others thou art calling.
- 14:44Do not pass me by. It's a precious time you have right now.
- 14:51The God of the universe, through the drawing of the Holy Spirit,
- 14:55is softening your heart that you could hear his voice.
- 14:59And he's speaking to you, and he's laying in front of you the depravity of your
- 15:03sin, but he's handing you the answer to your every need.
- 15:08He's showing you that he loves us, and you can love him because he first loved us.
- 15:14And on that cruel cross of Calvary, he laid his life down for you because God
- 15:20commended his love toward us in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.
- 15:25For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son that whosoever
- 15:29believeth in him should not perish but have everlasting life.
- 15:33For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world,
- 15:36but that the world through him might be saved.
- 15:39In John chapter 14 and verse 6, he says, I am the way, the truth,
- 15:43and the life, and no man cometh unto the Father but by me.
- 15:47He's calling you just as
- 15:50sure as he called mary he's calling
- 15:54you bible says that whosoever's name was not found written in the lamb's book
- 15:59of life was cast into hellfire friend it's a real place it's a place that you
- 16:06don't want to go to revelations 2015 tells us that we've got to get our name
- 16:12written in the Lamb's Book of Life.
- 16:14How do we do that? We accept the precious sacrifice of the Lamb.
- 16:19He bore our sins.
- 16:22That we might go free. He paid the price that neither you nor me could pay.
- 16:29What does he require of us? It's a gift. For by grace are you saved through
- 16:33faith and that not of yourselves. It is the gift of God, not of works,
- 16:36lest any man should boast.
- 16:38What he says to you in Romans 10, 9 and 10 is this, that for the heart man believeth
- 16:44unto righteousness and with the mouth confession is made into salvation.
- 16:49That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe
- 16:53in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved.
- 16:57You say, Kim, that's just too easy.
- 16:59It just can't be that easy.
- 17:02You see, you know why you think it just can't be that easy? Because you want to have something in it.
- 17:07You just think you want to have something in it. You see, if you have something
- 17:11in it, then it can fail, because you can fail.
- 17:14If you've got something in it, then that means you can get it wrong. And
- 17:18maybe you can't hold on long enough but you
- 17:21see we don't have anything in it and the
- 17:24god that cannot fail it's all resting
- 17:27upon him and the god who gets
- 17:30it right every time and the god who's no respecter of persons the god who doesn't
- 17:35require anything of us but a repentant heart is the one that holds the keys
- 17:40of salvation and he broke the the keys and bonds of hell death and the grave
- 17:45and he did that because he's god,
- 17:48his son jesus christ laid everything he had on the cross of calvary that you might go free,
- 17:54and if that wasn't enough he doesn't leave you wandering around trying to find
- 17:59him he isn't lost folks he's knocking at your heart's door and the holy spirit
- 18:04is convicting you because without the drawing of holy spirit you can't be saved
- 18:08but the fact that you're listening to this the fact that you're starting to
- 18:12feel something in your heart,
- 18:13the fact that the Holy Spirit is drawing you,
- 18:16the fact that he's calling you,
- 18:19lets us all know that it's not too late.
- 18:23Because in Acts, he says, the day, today is the day of salvation.
- 18:28And now is the accepted time.
- 18:31You can receive Christ as your Savior before this broadcast ever closes.
- 18:37It doesn't require a formal minister to be standing in front of you.
- 18:42It doesn't require you to walk up an aisle of a church. It requires you to say,
- 18:47Lord, I'm a sinner in need of a Savior.
- 18:51Lord I can't get to heaven on my own because
- 18:54I'm a filthy wretched sinner and my sins
- 18:57are as filthy rags but I want you to cleanse me
- 19:00white as snow Lord I know that you
- 19:03were the sinless perfect sacrifice and
- 19:07that because you love me you shed upon the cross of Calvary
- 19:10your blood to cover my sins and God
- 19:14I don't understand it I don't even know how
- 19:17this whole thing works but I heard
- 19:20you call my name I heard you call me and Lord I'm just asking you right now
- 19:26that you just take me and you make me what you want me to be and Lord I grab
- 19:31on to you right now and Lord I claim you as my savior and Lord please come and live into my heart,
- 19:39He will, because that's who he is. And then there'll be an amazing change take place.
- 19:46The Holy Spirit will move in, and you'll have a new citizenship.
- 19:52You'll be a pilgrim and a stranger in this world, and your citizenship will
- 19:55be in heaven, and that'll be your home.
- 19:58Because he calls you. What are you going to do with that call?
- 20:02Martha had knowledge of his power, and she knew the promises of God,
- 20:06and she was sure of her salvation.
- 20:10Mary, she obeyed him when he said, come, she went immediately.
- 20:14As Christians, we need to learn from that. You see, she had stayed back.
- 20:19And no doubt, I think she was probably praying and meditating.
- 20:22I think she was probably looking.
- 20:24And I think nowadays she would be open up that wonderful King James Bible of
- 20:28hers and reading for the scriptures for comfort and answers.
- 20:32And when he called, she quickly obeyed.
- 20:35I want you to see she loved him.
- 20:37And she loved him with all of her heart and he called her it was personal it
- 20:44was personal between him and martha when she came and met him and he talked
- 20:50about the things that she knew and she talked about what she knew and she made
- 20:53her faith evident they had a real live conversation,
- 20:57and it was personal about how she really wanted some explanations and he explained
- 21:02and it was personal how he told her that he was the resurrection and the life.
- 21:06And it was personal how he said, Mary.
- 21:11Mary. A little bit later in the scriptures, you're going to see that he calls Martha by name.
- 21:18He says, Martha, Martha, back to back.
- 21:22Aren't you excited about the day? He said, Kim, I am.
- 21:27I was just a little girl and I didn't understand all that there was to understand,
- 21:32but I knew that I was a sinner and if I died at that moment,
- 21:34I was going to hell because I'd been absolutely drawn by the Holy Spirit,
- 21:38and I had seen God in my heart.
- 21:40And I know that that little girl didn't know how to pray. And I know that that
- 21:44little girl didn't know a whole lot about what was going on.
- 21:47I'd been raised in church all my life, so I knew the words. But I didn't really understand.
- 21:51I'm 41 years old right now, and I don't understand how it's God the Father,
- 21:55God the Son, and God the Holy Ghost, all three in one.
- 21:58And I don't understand why God would love me when he created me in his image,
- 22:01and I'm anything but what he intended me to be.
- 22:04And I don't understand the promises of God. And I don't understand the Holy
- 22:10Spirit inside of me, but I know he's there and I love him.
- 22:12And I believe he's there. And I love the Holy Trinity.
- 22:16And I believe that he walks with me and he talks with me and he helps me along
- 22:20my way. And I know he's my guide and I know he's my lamp unto my feet.
- 22:24And I know that I can have breakfast with the God of the universe right here
- 22:28tomorrow because I can open up my word of Bible and I can lay it beside my bowl
- 22:32of oatmeal and I can read his words because he said that the word was made flesh
- 22:36and it dwelt among men and that's Jesus.
- 22:39And you, my friends, are going to have a date with him face to face one day.
- 22:44Romans 14, 12 says, so then every one of us shall give account of ourselves towards God.
- 22:49What will your answer be when he says, believest thou this?
- 22:54What will your answer be when he says to you, Believest Thou This?
- 23:13With Kimberly Miller, where we believe that every man, woman,
- 23:17boy, and girl must come to Jesus just like the woman at the well in John chapter four.
- 23:23Our highest priority is helping you experience the reality of God in your everyday life.
- 23:28Whether you're listening in our app, on your favorite podcast platform,
- 23:33or on our website at watwm.org, we invite you to sit down with us as we open
- 23:39the scriptures to learn more about who God is and to strengthen your daily walk with Jesus Christ.