The Church Is In A Hurry To Close…

“My food,” Jesus said to them, “is to obey the will of the one who sent me and to finish the work he gave me to do. You have a saying, ‘Four more months and then the harvest.’ But I tell you, take a good look at the fields; the crops are now ripe and ready to be harvested! – John 4:34-35 

Do you ever wonder why the church is so distant from the world? Why is it staying away from the world, when all it could do is lend a helping hand? Are we being good disciples of His word?

Today’s message is an excerpt from my upcoming new book titled “The Oneness: Hammering of the gold metal into a lampstand.” The message title (The church is in a hurry to close, but the service is not over yet) dropped in my spirit as I was writing this book. As a church (Community of God’s people), we have more people in this world to reach out and lead to Christ. 

The church is in a hurry to close service, but the church is in a world where salvation is.  

Why is the church in a hurry to close service, when all the church need is this world? We have so much work to do than we think. Jesus, in John 4:35, said to His disciples to take a good look at the fields; the crops are now ripe and ready to be harvested.

Open your eyes to this world and see its readiness to be saved by Christ, but all the church can see, is the troubles of this world and its divisions. The world is ready for God’s salvation. It is in a position where salvation is ready to come to it, but the church is in a hurry to close its service. It is not fulfilling the commission the Lord gave in Matthew 28:16-20. It is running away from the harvest because the commission requires commitment, self-sacrifice, long-suffering, pain, love, and dedication.

You cannot go through life without pain. The church has to go through some acclaimed prohibited lands – it has to reach out to those it does share the same beliefs or practice the same faith. It has to do what is not norm. It is easier for the church to say they believe in God, than fulfilling His will. And it is easier to proclaim ourselves as followers of Jesus Christ than sharing in His sufferings. 

The Church Is In A Hurry To Close…

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Jesus knew that by now everything had been completed; and in order to make the scripture come true, he said, “I am thirsty.” – John 19:28

The church is failing in a world that needs it to be prominent in its decision-making. This cannot be said, as it is failing the world of its moral system. It has to stand up to its high morals in raising champions for the Lord. The church needs to embrace the word of God and show the world where it stands. It is in its last days, in defining what it is or the world will dictate to the church what its beliefs should be. The church is on its last legs and needs revival if not, the world will take over the church and give it its definition.

“Make a lampstand of pure gold. Make its base and its shaft of hammered gold; its decorative flowers, including buds and petals, are to form one piece with it. Six branches shall extend from its sides, three from each side. Each of the six branches is to have three decorative flowers shaped like almond blossoms with buds and petals. – Exodus 25:31-33

When God spoke about the six branches extending from the sides of the shaft of the lampstand in Exodus 25:31-40, He was talking about the growth of the church by grafting. The instructions for the construction of the lampstand were all about God’s oneness of the church. This process is to graft these churches (branches) into the faithful church (shaft).

The graft union is the edge of Jesus’ garment where the woman with the issue of blood touched [By His Stripes] and stands for the bond between them. It brings the church together with Christ. If God is going to bring the churches together in oneness with Christ, then he will heal their brokenness with a bud. The bud joins them together in one place. what does the bud represent? You cannot talk about the church, grafting, and branches, without mentioning or visiting the Samaritan woman at Jacob’s well in the Gospel of John chapter 4:1-42.

The seven gold lampstands represent the seven churches in the equal division. God shares among them the same anointing and judgment. Among the lampstands in the Holy Place is Jesus Christ. He provides illumination to the churches. He is the light of the lampstands and in the Holy Place.

In the meantime the disciples were begging Jesus, “Teacher, have something to eat!”  But he answered, “I have food to eat that you know nothing about.” So the disciples started asking among themselves, “Could somebody have brought him food?”  “My food,” Jesus said to them, “is to obey the will of the one who sent me and to finish the work he gave me to do. You have a saying, ‘Four more months and then the harvest.’ But I tell you, take a good look at the fields; the crops are now ripe and ready to be harvested! The one who reaps the harvest is being paid and gathers the crops for eternal life; so the one who plants and the one who reaps will be glad together. For the saying is true, ‘Someone plants, someone else reaps.’  I have sent you to reap a harvest in a field where you did not work; others worked there, and you profit from their work.”  – John 4:31-38 

Jesus stopped by Jacob’s well because He was tired from his journey from Judea back to Galilee through Samaria. According to the Jewish laws, He cannot associate himself with a Samaritan. He cannot be seen anywhere in Samaria or share anything with a Samaritan. But He went through Samaria against the laws for the will of God to be established – Union. He has relations with the well.

At the well, a Samaritan woman met Jesus as she came to draw water. At the well Jesus spoke with her; they shared intimate secrets. At the well, the Lord saved her by offering His companionship. He related to her in ways that no one understood, and shared His will with her by providing her the eternal life in Him. All she thirsts for is acceptance, and Jesus offered through her faith.

He shared His will with her through faith and ushered her into it – that is grafting. Although she is not a Jew; He still accepted her as she was and grafted her in Him. The simple symposium of who Christ is – the Savior.
Jesus came to bring down those visible and invisible barriers, including deception.

The text of John 4:1-42 reveals Jesus giving a revelation of what God gives to His children and His true nature to the Samaritan woman. Jesus asked the Samaritan woman to quench His thirst, and He will, in turn, quench her thirst with His life-giving water.
Why did Jesus present Himself as life-giving water to the Samaritan woman? Why the need for water to quench her thirst? It is because she came to the well to draw water, so Jesus associated Himself with her as the life-giving water. They were on common ground and the common ground is the well of Jacob.

He is the life-giving water to the Samaritans. He quenches their thirst in the time of need. He is the one to bring them out of their need – rising above nonacceptance. Jesus then becomes the root-stock to which they are grafted – to quench their thirst and make them acceptable. The Samaritans became grafted to Jesus for acceptance. His life-giving water nourishes and gives eternal life. Life-giving water is who Jesus is to the “unaccepted” and the considered “unclean.”

Comparing verses of John 4:5, 11-12, Jesus came from the house of Jacob through the line of David. In verse 12, the Samaritan woman claims that Jacob, their ancestor, his children, and his flocks all drank from this well. What is the difference between the two? Is it the cup and the bowl? He is a Jew, and she is a Samaritan. The Jews do not drink from the same cups and bowls as the Samaritans. The difference between them is the sharing of the same cup and bowl, but their ancestor, Jacob, his children and flocks all drank from this same well.

Who is this Samaritan woman at the well?
For the church to be grafted to the cross on Calvary, we need to work on revival, so not to fail the process. The church is in its dying need to fulfill the will of God. Destiny has been written, but it is in our hands. Try not to mess up your destiny for the sake of the world. Bring your destiny in line with the will of God!

Jesus said to her, “Believe me, woman, the time will come when people will not worship the Father either on this mountain or in Jerusalem. You Samaritans do not really know whom you worship; but we Jews know whom we worship, because it is from the Jews that salvation comes. But the time is coming and is already here, when by the power of God’s Spirit people will worship the Father as he really is, offering him the true worship that he wants. God is Spirit, and only by the power of his Spirit can people worship him as he really is.” – John 4:21-24 

Jesus used one thirsty woman to transform a city. (John 4:1-42)

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Then, leaving her water jar, the woman went back to the town and said to the people, “Come, see a man who told me everything I ever did. Could this be the Messiah?” (John 4:28-29 NIV) 

Many of the Samaritans from that town believed in him because of the woman’s testimony, “He told me everything I ever did.” So when the Samaritans came to him, they urged him to stay with them, and he stayed two days. And because of his words many more became believers. (John 4:39-41 NIV)

The church today is in a hurry to close its doors to the world that needs it.

If only we can;

• listen more
• reach out more
• understand more
• love all
• judge less
• discriminate less

Let’s keep the church service open!

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Written by

Eunice Forson

Picture credit: Ultimate Bible Picture Collection