Author: MBC

4 September 2022 (Fathers’ Day)

Our speaker – Rev Rick Pierce

Galatians

3²⁶ So in Christ Jesus you are all children of God through faith, ²⁷ for all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ. ²⁸ There is neither Jew nor Gentile, neither slave nor free, nor is there male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus. ²⁹ If you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to the promise.

4 What I am saying is that as long as an heir is underage, he is no different from a slave, although he owns the whole estate. ² The heir is subject to guardians and trustees until the time set by his father. ³ So also, when we were underage, we were in slavery under the elemental spiritual forces of the world. ⁴ But when the set time had fully come, God sent his Son, born of a woman, born under the law, ⁵ to redeem those under the law, that we might receive adoption to sonship. ⁶ Because you are his sons, God sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, the Spirit who calls out, “Abba, Father.” ⁷ So you are no longer a slave, but God’s child; and since you are his child, God has made you also an heir.

 

Service audio:

Prayer of Intercession

Reading

Sermon: Living as Abba’s Children (followed by Communion) – Rick Pierce 

28August 2022

The final week of our Missions Month.

Our speaker was Alan Jamieson, NZ Baptist Missionary Society.

Alan continued and expanded upon the story of the Samaritan woman at the well

John 4

Jesus and the Samaritan Woman

4 The Pharisees heard that Jesus was winning and baptizing more disciples than John. (² Actually, Jesus himself did not baptize anyone; only his disciples did.) ³ So when Jesus heard what was being said, he left Judea and went back to Galilee; ⁴ on his way there he had to go through Samaria.

⁵ In Samaria he came to a town named Sychar, which was not far from the field that Jacob had given to his son Joseph. ⁶ Jacob’s well was there, and Jesus, tired out by the trip, sat down by the well. It was about noon.

⁷ A Samaritan woman came to draw some water, and Jesus said to her, “Give me a drink of water.” (⁸ His disciples had gone into town to buy food.)

⁹ The woman answered, “You are a Jew, and I am a Samaritan—so how can you ask me for a drink?” (Jews will not use the same cups and bowls that Samaritans use.)^[a]

¹⁰ Jesus answered, “If you only knew what God gives and who it is that is asking you for a drink, you would ask him, and he would give you life-giving water.”

¹¹ “Sir,” the woman said, “you don’t have a bucket, and the well is deep. Where would you get that life-giving water? ¹² It was our ancestor Jacob who gave us this well; he and his children and his flocks all drank from it. You don’t claim to be greater than Jacob, do you?”

¹³ Jesus answered, “Those who drink this water will get thirsty again, ¹⁴ but those who drink the water that I will give them will never be thirsty again. The water that I will give them will become in them a spring which will provide them with life-giving water and give them eternal life.”

¹⁵ “Sir,” the woman said, “give me that water! Then I will never be thirsty again, nor will I have to come here to draw water.”

¹⁶ “Go and call your husband,” Jesus told her, “and come back.”

¹⁷ “I don’t have a husband,” she answered.

Jesus replied, “You are right when you say you don’t have a husband. ¹⁸ You have been married to five men, and the man you live with now is not really your husband. You have told me the truth.”

¹⁹ “I see you are a prophet, sir,” the woman said. ²⁰ “My Samaritan ancestors worshiped God on this mountain, but you Jews say that Jerusalem is the place where we should worship God.”

²¹ 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. ²² 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. ²³ 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. ²⁴ God is Spirit, and only by the power of his Spirit can people worship him as he really is.”

²⁵ The woman said to him, “I know that the Messiah will come, and when he comes, he will tell us everything.”

²⁶ Jesus answered, “I am he, I who am talking with you.”

²⁷ At that moment Jesus’ disciples returned, and they were greatly surprised to find him talking with a woman. But none of them said to her, “What do you want?” or asked him, “Why are you talking with her?”

²⁸ Then the woman left her water jar, went back to the town, and said to the people there, ²⁹ “Come and see the man who told me everything I have ever done. Could he be the Messiah?” ³⁰ So they left the town and went to Jesus.

³¹ In the meantime the disciples were begging Jesus, “Teacher, have something to eat!”

³² But he answered, “I have food to eat that you know nothing about.”

³³ So the disciples started asking among themselves, “Could somebody have brought him food?”

³⁴ “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. ³⁵ 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! ³⁶ 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. ³⁷ For the saying is true, ‘Someone plants, someone else reaps.’ ³⁸ 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.”

³⁹ Many of the Samaritans in that town believed in Jesus because the woman had said, “He told me everything I have ever done.” ⁴⁰ So when the Samaritans came to him, they begged him to stay with them, and Jesus stayed there two days.

⁴¹ Many more believed because of his message, ⁴² and they told the woman, “We believe now, not because of what you said, but because we ourselves have heard him, and we know that he really is the Saviour of the world.”

Service audio:

Prayer of Intercession

Reading

The woman, the water, the well – Alan Jamieson

Rev Rick Pierce and MBC Leadership pray with and for Brian and Jo Lima as they conclude their ministry at MBC

 

 

 

21 August 2022

The third week of our Missions Month.

Our speaker was SHARON WALLS, Communications Manager, Mercy Ships New Zealand

John 4

Jesus and the Samaritan Woman

4 The Pharisees heard that Jesus was winning and baptizing more disciples than John. (² Actually, Jesus himself did not baptize anyone; only his disciples did.) ³ So when Jesus heard what was being said, he left Judea and went back to Galilee; ⁴ on his way there he had to go through Samaria.

⁵ In Samaria he came to a town named Sychar, which was not far from the field that Jacob had given to his son Joseph. ⁶ Jacob’s well was there, and Jesus, tired out by the trip, sat down by the well. It was about noon.

⁷ A Samaritan woman came to draw some water, and Jesus said to her, “Give me a drink of water.” (⁸ His disciples had gone into town to buy food.)

⁹ The woman answered, “You are a Jew, and I am a Samaritan—so how can you ask me for a drink?” (Jews will not use the same cups and bowls that Samaritans use.)^[a]

¹⁰ Jesus answered, “If you only knew what God gives and who it is that is asking you for a drink, you would ask him, and he would give you life-giving water.”

¹¹ “Sir,” the woman said, “you don’t have a bucket, and the well is deep. Where would you get that life-giving water? ¹² It was our ancestor Jacob who gave us this well; he and his children and his flocks all drank from it. You don’t claim to be greater than Jacob, do you?”

¹³ Jesus answered, “Those who drink this water will get thirsty again, ¹⁴ but those who drink the water that I will give them will never be thirsty again. The water that I will give them will become in them a spring which will provide them with life-giving water and give them eternal life.”

¹⁵ “Sir,” the woman said, “give me that water! Then I will never be thirsty again, nor will I have to come here to draw water.”

¹⁶ “Go and call your husband,” Jesus told her, “and come back.”

¹⁷ “I don’t have a husband,” she answered.

Jesus replied, “You are right when you say you don’t have a husband. ¹⁸ You have been married to five men, and the man you live with now is not really your husband. You have told me the truth.”

¹⁹ “I see you are a prophet, sir,” the woman said. ²⁰ “My Samaritan ancestors worshiped God on this mountain, but you Jews say that Jerusalem is the place where we should worship God.”

²¹ 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. ²² 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. ²³ 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. ²⁴ God is Spirit, and only by the power of his Spirit can people worship him as he really is.”

²⁵ The woman said to him, “I know that the Messiah will come, and when he comes, he will tell us everything.”

²⁶ Jesus answered, “I am he, I who am talking with you.”

²⁷ At that moment Jesus’ disciples returned, and they were greatly surprised to find him talking with a woman. But none of them said to her, “What do you want?” or asked him, “Why are you talking with her?”

²⁸ Then the woman left her water jar, went back to the town, and said to the people there, ²⁹ “Come and see the man who told me everything I have ever done. Could he be the Messiah?” ³⁰ So they left the town and went to Jesus.

³¹ In the meantime the disciples were begging Jesus, “Teacher, have something to eat!”

³² But he answered, “I have food to eat that you know nothing about.”

³³ So the disciples started asking among themselves, “Could somebody have brought him food?”

³⁴ “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. ³⁵ 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! ³⁶ 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. ³⁷ For the saying is true, ‘Someone plants, someone else reaps.’ ³⁸ 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.”

³⁹ Many of the Samaritans in that town believed in Jesus because the woman had said, “He told me everything I have ever done.” ⁴⁰ So when the Samaritans came to him, they begged him to stay with them, and Jesus stayed there two days.

⁴¹ Many more believed because of his message, ⁴² and they told the woman, “We believe now, not because of what you said, but because we ourselves have heard him, and we know that he really is the Saviour of the world.”

 

Listen to the sermon: Blessed to be a Blessing

In the sermon, Sharon plays this video clip

“You may never have heard of Photini, yet you know her story. This is the name the Eastern Orthodox church has given to the Samaritan woman at the well in John 4….” – from ‘Know Your Mothers’

The story of St. Photini, the Samaritan Woman (from Antiochian Orthodox Christian Archdiocese of North America