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June 2000 Issue of Christian Crusader

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Inside this issue:

Jesus Speaks Many Parables
This Month's Trivia Question
Wise Sayings
Discussion - The Samaritan Woman

JESUS SPEAKS MANY PARABLES
This Article is Reprinted from April 1997

Jesus was speaking to the multitudes and told them, "The kingdom of heaven may be compared to a man who sowed good seed in his field. At night his enemy came and sowed tares (similar to weeds) along with the wheat and left. When the wheat began to bear grain, the tares became evident also. The slaves told him of these things and asked if they should gather up the tares, but the man replied, 'No, lest while you are gathering up the tares, you may root up the wheat with them. Allow both to grow together until the harvest, and in the time of harvest, I will say to the reapers, "First gather up the tares and bind them in bundles to burn, and then gather the wheat into my barn."'"

Jesus then presented another parable saying, the kingdom of heaven is like a mustard seed, which a man took and sowed in his field. This seed is smaller than all other seeds, but when it is full grown, it is larger than the garden plants, and becomes a tree, so that the birds of the air come and nest in its branches."

Jesus told a third parable saying, "The kingdom of heaven is like leaven, which a woman took, and hid in three pecks of meal until it was all leavened." All these things Jesus spoke fulfilling what the prophet Asaph said in Psalm 78:2.

Jesus left the multitudes with His disciples to the house. His disciples asked Jesus to explain the parable of the tares, so Jesus said, "The one who sows the good seed is the Son of Man, and the field is the world. As for the good seed, these are the sons of the kingdom. The tares are sons of the evil one, and the enemy who sowed them is the devil. The harvest is the end of the age and the reapers are angels. Just as the trees are gathered up and burned with fire, so shall it be at the end of the age. The Son of Man will send forth His angels to gather out of His kingdom all stumbling blocks and those who commit lawlessness and cast them into the furnace of fire where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. The righteous will shine forth as the sun in the kingdom of their Father." Jesus continued telling parables and then asked his disciples, "Have you understood all these things?" His disciples answered, "Yes." After Jesus finished He departed from there.

For more information read Matthew 13:24-53 and Mark 4:21-34.

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TRIVIA

Which epistles compare baptism to a burial?

Click here to reveal the answer.

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Sayings of the Wise

"Every man’s way is right in his own eyes, but the Lord weighs the heart." - Proverbs 21:2 (NASB)

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Discussion - The Samaritan Women

Submitted by: Jenny Bristow

The Samaritan woman at the well in John 4:7-42 was probably not expecting Jesus to talk to her when she saw Him sitting at the well. He was a Jew, she was a Samaritan. He was a man, she was a woman. He was holy, she was a sinner. These none of these groups associated with each other. They would not be seen speaking to one another in public. But Jesus did speak to her, and with four words He began to open to her a whole new way of looking at life, and overcame centuries of resentment and rejection at the same time.

Her curiosity was aroused and she began to question Him "How is it that you, being a Jew, ask me for a drink, since I am a Samaritan woman?" He began to tell her of living water, eternal water that would result in eternal life, water that would cause anyone who drank it to never thirst again, and she wanted that water. She did not fully understand what He was saying, but she did know that she wanted the water He spoke of.  Jesus told her to go and get her husband and bring him back to Jesus. She had to admit that she had no husband, and Jesus replied "You have said well ‘I have no husband’ for you have had five husbands and the one you have now is not your husband. This you have said truly." She was amazed. How could he have known so much about her? She knew that He must be a prophet, and so ask Him how to worship God: whether the Jews, who worshipped in the temple, or the Samaritans, who worshipped on a mountain, were correct, but Jesus told her that God was not really concerned about the place of worship, but the attitude of the worshipper, "For a time is coming, and now is, when the true worshippers shall worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth; for such people the Father seeks to be His worshipers. God is spirit, and those who worship Him must worship Him in spirit and in truth." And when Jesus told her that He was the Messiah, she left her water pot and ran to tell the men of her city what had happened to her, and that she had found the Messiah. 

What is it that people really want out of life? Isn’t it to be accepted despite of your sins, despite of your differences from others? Isn’t it love, recognition, and peace of mind? What is life all about, anyway? Is it really just to get all we can out of it before we die, because we only have now? Is it really just about doing whatever is the most fun at the moment, regardless of the consequences? What is really lasting and really satisfying? Isn’t what people want is to be treated at an equal? To be accepted despite reputation or past? To be recognized as having value and something to contribute to life? 

There was no one else at the well. Jesus could have treated the woman like dirt. Or he could have ignored her, which would have been a worse insult. But He didn’t do any of these things, because He was God, and God loves us and wants us for His own. That is why He gave His life for us, why He allowed Himself to be crucified. He did it to pay for our sins, to save us from Satan and from hell and to make us His children. 

Jesus also told to story of the prodigal son in Luke 15:11-31. The son had left home with his portion of his inheritance from his father, gone to another country, and wasted his money in "loose living," doing things
the way he wanted, and living his life only to please himself. Eventually, however, he ran out of money and was abandoned by his friends. There was a famine in the land he was living in, and he was forced to feed pigs, a disgraceful task for a Jew, who considered pigs unclean, and was so hungry that he wanted to eat the pig food. Eventually, he came to his senses and realized that even the servants in his father’s house had it better than he did. He was humble, and realized that he had done wrong both to his father and to God. He planned to ask his father to allow him to be a servant in his house. But when the son came home, the father treated him like a son, and rejoiced that he had returned home.

The love that the prodigal son’s father had for him is the same love that God has for us. We leave his home and waste what He has given us when we sin, but when we repent he accepts us, and rejoices that we have returned.

Why didn’t the prodigal son and the woman at the well have lasting happiness? Because they didn’t have lasting relationships. The prodigal son based his relationships on his money, the woman seemed to have based hers on physical relationships. There are two kinds of happiness in life: immediate pleasure, such as the prodigal son and Samaritan woman probably experienced, and the happiness that comes from commitment and dedication to Jesus Christ.

It is not easy for anyone to change your lifestyle. It takes dedication, courage, and the desire to live as Christ has commanded us. Jesus never said that living a Christian life would be easy. He said "If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself, take up his cross, and follow me. For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me will find it." (Matthew 16:24-25).

Neil Gallagher, author of Don’t Go Overseas Until You’ve Read This Book (Bethany Fellowship, Minneapolis, Mn., pgs 33-35, Copyright 1277) wrote of the change in his life after he finally became a Christian "I’ve learned that only people who are first comfortable with God are comfortable with themselves and others. Formerly, I played like I was somebody. I was straining to prove to myself and others that I was indeed somebody. I had to prove that I was cool and self sufficient. I didn’t know that true self sufficiency comes from entrusting oneself to God…I’ve learned that Christians have something going for them that fills them with more fun and serenity than liquor ever provided. And more. I’ve learned what it means to be free. I’m no longer yielding to the approval of peers. I’m no longer powerless to withstand the war of vices in me. Power and love and hope dwell in me because God lives in me."

The satisfying water Jesus spoke of is so satisfying He literally shouted to the people, "If any man is thirsty, let him come to me and drink. He who believes in me, as the Scripture said, ‘From his innermost being shall flow rivers of living water.’" (John 7:37-38) The rivers of living water Jesus spoke of are the Holy Spirit (John 7:39), who was given to Jesus’ followers on the day of Pentecost (Acts 2). 

There is only one way to find the satisfaction, acceptance, love, and forgiveness that man craves so much, and that is through Jesus Christ. The good news, which is of first importance, as Paul writes in I Corinthians 15:3-4 is "…that Christ died for our sins, according to the Scriptures, and that He was buried, and that He was raised again on the third day, according to the Scriptures." This is good news because we "all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God." (Romans 3:23) 

God has promised that everyone who 

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