26
March 2014
Opening
Prayer/Worship
Hymn: Glorious
Things of Thee Are Spoken
Theme: The
Prophetic Message
Topic: Is the Lord
among us or not?
Reading: Exodus 17:1-7
From the wilderness of Sin the whole congregation of the
Israelites journeyed by stages, as the Lord commanded. They camped at Rephidim, but there was no
water for the people to drink.2The people quarrelled with Moses, and said,
‘Give us water to drink.’ Moses said to them, ‘Why do you quarrel with me? Why
do you test theLord?’ 3But
the people thirsted there for water; and the people complained against Moses
and said, ‘Why did you bring us out of Egypt, to kill us and our children and
livestock with thirst?’ 4So Moses cried out to the Lord,
‘What shall I do with this people? They are almost ready to stone me.’ 5The Lord said
to Moses, ‘Go on ahead of the people, and take some of the elders of Israel
with you; take in your hand the staff with which you struck the Nile, and go. 6I
will be standing there in front of you on the rock at Horeb. Strike the rock,
and water will come out of it, so that the people may drink.’ Moses did so, in
the sight of the elders of Israel. 7He called the place Massah and Meribah, because
the Israelites quarrelled and tested the Lord, saying, ‘Is the Lord among
us or not?’
Introduction
The Scripture is
filled with several promises that God is always with His people; that He will
never abandon nor forsake His own.
Although we experience this promise of God over and over in our lives,
the reality is that there are times we feel the Lord has abandoned us. We begin to ask the question- is the Lord
among us or not? If He is with us, why
are we going through the tough times- grief/death of a loved one, loss of means
of livelihood, colossal tragedies, struggles with sins and past mistakes,
injustice and hatred in the world, debilitating illness, financial distress and
so on. Although these feelings are
genuine, they are also circumstantial; if only we remember how God has
delivered us in the past, we will take solace in the fact that He knows what we
are going through, and will deliver us again.
The Israelites complained about food and water, forgetting that He who
parted the Red Sea to deliver them from slavery in Egypt, is more than able to
provide all their needs. Today, God, who
never changes, wants to remind us that He is always with us, both in the good
and bad times. His name is Emmanuel, God
with us!
Questions/Discussion
1. Discuss some of
the circumstances that make us wonder whether God is with us or not.
Matthew 27:45-56
From
noon on, darkness came over the whole land until
three in the afternoon. 46And about three
o’clock Jesus cried with a loud voice, ‘Eli, Eli, lema sabachthani?’ that is,
‘My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?’ 47When some of the
bystanders heard it, they said, ‘This man is calling for Elijah.’ 48At once one of
them ran and got a sponge, filled it with sour wine, put it on a stick, and
gave it to him to drink. 49But the others
said, ‘Wait, let us see whether Elijah will come to save him.’50Then Jesus cried
again with a loud voice and breathed his last. 51At that moment the
curtain of the temple was torn in two, from top to bottom. The earth shook, and
the rocks were split. 52The tombs also
were opened, and many bodies of the saints who had fallen asleep were raised. 53After his
resurrection they came out of the tombs and entered the holy city and appeared
to many. 54Now when the
centurion and those with him, who were keeping watch over Jesus, saw the
earthquake and what took place, they were terrified and said, ‘Truly this man
was God’s Son!’ 55 Many women were also there, looking on from a distance;
they had followed Jesus from Galilee and had provided for him. 56Among them were
Mary Magdalene, and Mary the mother of James and Joseph, and the mother of the
sons of Zebedee.
John 15:18-27
‘If
the world hates you, be aware that it hated me before it hated you. 19If you belonged to
the world, the world would love
you as its own. Because you do not belong to the world, but I have chosen you
out of the world—therefore the world hates you. 20Remember the word
that I said to you, “Servants are
not greater than their master.” If they persecuted me, they will persecute you;
if they kept my word, they will keep yours also. 21But they will do
all these things to you on account of my name, because they do not know him who
sent me. 22If I had not come
and spoken to them, they would not have sin; but now they have no excuse for
their sin. 23Whoever hates me
hates my Father also. 24If I had not done
among them the works that no one else did, they would not have sin. But now
they have seen and hated both me and my Father. 25It was to fulfil
the word that is written in their law, “They hated me without a cause.” 26 ‘When the
Advocate comes, whom I will send
to you from the Father, the Spirit of truth who comes from the Father, he will
testify on my behalf. 27You also are to
testify because you have been with me from the beginning.
2 Corinthians 11:16-33
I
repeat, let no one think that I am a fool; but if you do, then accept me as a
fool, so that I too may boast a little. 17What I am saying
in regard to this boastful confidence, I am saying not with the Lord’s
authority, but as a fool; 18since many boast
according to human standards, I
will also boast. 19For you gladly put
up with fools, being wise yourselves! 20For you put up
with it when someone makes slaves of you, or preys upon you, or takes advantage
of you, or puts on airs, or gives you a slap in the face. 21To my shame, I
must say, we were too weak for that! But whatever anyone dares to boast of—I am
speaking as a fool—I also dare to boast of that. 22Are they Hebrews?
So am I. Are they Israelites? So am I. Are they descendants of Abraham? So am
I. 23Are they ministers
of Christ? I am talking like a madman—I am a better one: with far greater
labours, far more imprisonments, with countless floggings, and often near
death. 24Five times I have
received from the Jews the forty lashes minus one. 25Three times I was
beaten with rods. Once I received a stoning. Three times I was shipwrecked; for
a night and a day I was adrift at sea; 26on frequent
journeys, in danger from rivers, danger from bandits, danger from my own
people, danger from Gentiles, danger in the city, danger in the wilderness,
danger at sea, danger from false brothers and sisters; 27in toil and
hardship, through many a sleepless night, hungry and thirsty, often without
food, cold and naked. 28And, besides other
things, I am under daily pressure because of my anxiety for all the churches. 29Who is weak, and I
am not weak? Who is made to stumble, and I am not indignant? 30 If I must
boast, I will boast of the things that show my weakness.31The God and Father
of the Lord Jesus (blessed be he for ever!) knows that I do not lie. 32In Damascus, the
governor under King Aretas set a
guard on the city of Damascus in order to seize
me, 33but I was let down
in a basket through a window in the wall, and
escaped from his hands.
2. What are the
lessons for us in John 4:5-42 regarding God’s presence in our lives?
John 4:5-42
So he
came to a Samaritan city called Sychar, near the plot of ground that Jacob had
given to his son Joseph. 6Jacob’s well was
there, and Jesus, tired out by his journey, was sitting by the well. It was
about noon. 7 A Samaritan woman came to draw water, and Jesus said to
her, ‘Give me a drink’. 8(His disciples had
gone to the city to buy food.) 9The Samaritan
woman said to him, ‘How is it that you, a Jew, ask a drink of me, a woman of
Samaria?’ (Jews do not share things in common with Samaritans.) 10Jesus 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.’ 11The woman said to
him, ‘Sir, you have no bucket, and the well is deep. Where do you get that
living water? 12Are you greater
than our ancestor Jacob, who gave us the well, and with his sons and his flocks
drank from it?’ 13Jesus said to her,
‘Everyone who drinks of this water will be thirsty again, 14but those who
drink of the water that I will give them will never be thirsty. The water that
I will give will become in them a spring of water gushing up to eternal life.’ 15The woman said to
him, ‘Sir, give me this water, so that I may never be thirsty or have to keep
coming here to draw water.’ 16 Jesus said
to her, ‘Go, call your husband, and come back.’ 17The woman answered
him, ‘I have no husband.’ Jesus said to her, ‘You are right in saying, “I have
no husband”; 18for you have had
five husbands, and the one you have now is not your husband. What you have said
is true!’ 19The woman said to
him, ‘Sir, I see that you are a prophet. 20Our ancestors
worshipped on this mountain, but you say
that the place where people must worship is in Jerusalem.’ 21Jesus said to her,
‘Woman, believe me, the hour is coming when you will worship the Father neither
on this mountain nor in Jerusalem. 22You worship what
you do not know; we worship what we know, for salvation is from the Jews. 23But the hour is
coming, and is now here, when the true worshippers will worship the Father in
spirit and truth, for the Father seeks such as these to worship him. 24God is spirit, and
those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth.’ 25The woman said to
him, ‘I know that Messiah is coming’ (who is called Christ). ‘When he comes, he
will proclaim all things to us.’ 26Jesus said to her,
‘I am he, the one who is speaking
to you.’ 27 Just then his disciples came. They were astonished that he
was speaking with a woman, but no one said, ‘What do you want?’ or, ‘Why are
you speaking with her?’ 28Then the woman
left her water-jar and went back to the city. She said to the people, 29‘Come and see a
man who told me everything I have ever done! He cannot be the Messiah, can he?’ 30They left the city
and were on their way to him. 31 Meanwhile
the disciples were urging him, ‘Rabbi, eat something.’32But he said to
them, ‘I have food to eat that you do not know about.’33So the disciples
said to one another, ‘Surely no one has brought him something to eat?’ 34Jesus said to
them, ‘My food is to do the will of him who sent me and to complete his work. 35Do you not say,
“Four months more, then comes the harvest”? But I tell you, look around you,
and see how the fields are ripe for harvesting. 36The reaper is
already receiving wages and is
gathering fruit for eternal life, so that sower and reaper may rejoice
together. 37For here the
saying holds true, “One sows and another reaps.” 38I sent you to reap
that for which you did not labour. Others have laboured, and you have entered
into their labour.’ 39 Many Samaritans from that city believed in him because of
the woman’s testimony, ‘He told me everything I have ever done.’ 40So when the
Samaritans came to him, they asked him to stay with them; and he stayed there
for two days. 41And many more
believed because of his word. 42They 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 truly the Saviour of the world.’
3. How do we live above
doubt and unbelief?
Psalm 95:1-11
1 O come, let
us sing to the Lord;
let us make a joyful noise to the rock of our salvation!
2 Let us come into his presence with thanksgiving;
let us make a joyful noise to him with songs of praise!
3 For the Lord is a great God,
and a great King above all gods.
4 In his hand are the depths of the earth;
the heights of the mountains are his also.
5 The sea is his, for he made it,
and the dry land, which his hands have formed.
let us make a joyful noise to the rock of our salvation!
2 Let us come into his presence with thanksgiving;
let us make a joyful noise to him with songs of praise!
3 For the Lord is a great God,
and a great King above all gods.
4 In his hand are the depths of the earth;
the heights of the mountains are his also.
5 The sea is his, for he made it,
and the dry land, which his hands have formed.
6 O come, let
us worship and bow down,
let us kneel before the Lord, our Maker!
7 For he is our God,
and we are the people of his pasture,
and the sheep of his hand.
let us kneel before the Lord, our Maker!
7 For he is our God,
and we are the people of his pasture,
and the sheep of his hand.
O that today you would listen to his voice!
8 Do not harden your hearts, as at Meribah,
as on the day at Massah in the wilderness,
9 when your ancestors tested me,
and put me to the proof, though they had seen my work.
10 For forty years I loathed that generation
and said, ‘They are a people whose hearts go astray,
and they do not regard my ways.’
11 Therefore in my anger I swore,
‘They shall not enter my rest.’
8 Do not harden your hearts, as at Meribah,
as on the day at Massah in the wilderness,
9 when your ancestors tested me,
and put me to the proof, though they had seen my work.
10 For forty years I loathed that generation
and said, ‘They are a people whose hearts go astray,
and they do not regard my ways.’
11 Therefore in my anger I swore,
‘They shall not enter my rest.’
Mark 9:14-29
When they came to the disciples, they saw a great crowd
around them, and some scribes arguing with them. 15When the whole crowd saw him, they were immediately
overcome with awe, and they ran forward to greet him. 16He asked them, ‘What are you arguing about with
them?’ 17Someone
from the crowd answered him, ‘Teacher, I brought you my son; he has a spirit
that makes him unable to speak;18and whenever it seizes him, it dashes him down;
and he foams and grinds his teeth and becomes rigid; and I asked your disciples
to cast it out, but they could not do so.’ 19He
answered them, ‘You faithless generation, how much longer must I be among you?
How much longer must I put up with you? Bring him to me.’ 20And they brought the boyto him. When the spirit saw him, immediately it
threw the boy into convulsions, and he fell on the ground and
rolled about, foaming at the mouth. 21Jesus asked
the father, ‘How long has this been happening to him?’ And he said, ‘From
childhood. 22It has
often cast him into the fire and into the water, to destroy him; but if you are
able to do anything, have pity on us and help us.’ 23Jesus said to him, ‘If you are able!—All things
can be done for the one who believes.’ 24Immediately
the father of the child cried out, ‘I believe; help my unbelief!’ 25When Jesus saw that a crowd came running together,
he rebuked the unclean spirit, saying to it, ‘You spirit that keep this boy
from speaking and hearing, I command you, come out of him, and never enter him
again!’ 26After
crying out and convulsing him terribly, it came out, and the boy was like a
corpse, so that most of them said, ‘He is dead.’ 27But Jesus took him by the hand and lifted him up,
and he was able to stand. 28When
he had entered the house, his disciples asked him privately, ‘Why could we not
cast it out?’ 29He
said to them, ‘This kind can come out only through prayer.’
John 20:24-29
But
Thomas (who was called the Twin), one of the twelve, was not with them when
Jesus came. 25So the other
disciples told him, ‘We have seen the Lord.’ But he said to them, ‘Unless I see
the mark of the nails in his hands, and put my finger in the mark of the nails
and my hand in his side, I will not believe.’ 26 A week later
his disciples were again in the house, and Thomas was with them. Although the
doors were shut, Jesus came and stood among them and said, ‘Peace be with you.’ 27Then he said to
Thomas, ‘Put your finger here and see my hands. Reach out your hand and put it
in my side. Do not doubt but believe.’ 28Thomas answered
him, ‘My Lord and my God!’ 29Jesus said to him,
‘Have you believed because you have seen me? Blessed are those who have not
seen and yet have come to believe.’
Intercession/Worship
Conclusion
God, whose words
can never fail, has promised never to leave nor forsake us. May we rest on the faithfulness of His Name
through the power of the Blood of the Lamb, and the conviction of the Holy
Spirit.
Closing Prayer (Collect for the Second Sunday in
Lent)
Almighty God, whose
Son Jesus Christ gives the water of eternal life, may we always thirst for you,
the spring of life and source of goodness; through him who lives and reigns
with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.