Life Lessons with Dr. Steve Schell

26 - The Importance of Power

People generally come to God for one of two reasons: either their life has ended up in shambles and they’re left with no other option, or they find themselves in a situation where the presence of the Holy Spirit becomes so strong that their resistance and confusion melt away and they rush into God’s arms. In other words most people turn to God either because they’re desperate or because they’ve been awakened by the power of the Holy Spirit. 

What Jesus taught His disciples before the crowds of Samaritans arrived at Jacob’s well was that they were about to see many turn to God because a miracle would take place. Large numbers of people were going to quickly come under conviction and surrender to God. The time between hearing and believing would be miraculously shortened to such a degree that those who were presenting the gospel would end up working side by side with those who were helping people receive Jesus as their Savior and Lord. The disciples were about to be part of a quick work, so Jesus was preparing them so they would understand what was happening; and at the same time He was cautioning them to remain humble in the midst of such amazing fruitfulness. In Judea Jesus had already begun seeing great fruitfulness (Jn 4:1), but in the future that fruitfulness would only continue to increase; and His disciples needed to know why it was happening, and they needed to know how to react when it happened. They needed to understand that the huge ingathering of souls that would begin in a few minutes was the result of the power of God, and so do we. 

25 - Interruptible

Jesus saw the moment: they had stepped into a “divine appointment.” The people there were ready to hear the gospel. This woman was ready, the city of Sychar was ready, but He was exhausted and in a hurry. He had only stopped to rest and get something to eat. What would He do? Would He explain the condition they were in and politely postpone, promising to come back at a more convenient time? After all He still hadn’t eaten anything, and He and His disciples had been walking for hours, possibly through the night.

When we read such passages, you and I need to remember that Jesus was as human as we are. The Son of God came from heaven to become a man with a body like ours. So He was as hungry and tired as you and I would be in that situation. He felt the way we would feel if we had gone without food and walked until we had to stop. Yet Jesus saw something in that moment that His disciples didn’t see. He saw what God was doing in that place and realized that meeting this woman wasn’t an accident. So His love for people and His desire to give them eternal life caused Him to set aside His own needs and trust that the Holy Spirit would sustain Him until He could finally eat and rest. The disciples were standing there offering Him food, but He didn’t touch it. Instead He began to prepare Himself spiritually while a stream of people poured out of the city rushing toward Jacob’s well. 

24 - Bringing God Joy

It’s so easy to stand there praying, saying all the right things, with my mind still asleep or focused on something else. I can be halfway through the Lord’s Prayer (Mt 6:9-13) and suddenly realize I haven’t a clue what I just said, and am saying things with no particular awareness that God is listening to me. I’m just reciting words that I’ve memorized. They’re good words, if you actually stop to think about them, but until I wake up inside, until I become conscious of the One to whom I was supposedly talking, it’s just a morning ritual that I do so I can check it off my list. 

But if I stop and wake up my spirit, if I become aware of God and sense that He is with me in that room, if I wake up my mind and really think about what I’m saying, those same words will guide me into one important exchange after another; a conversation will take place between my spirit and Him. I know that when that change takes place inside me I can certainly tell the difference, and what Jesus teaches us today is that God can too, and that when that happens I bring Him great joy. Jesus said He actually searches for people who will worship Him this way. Resting beside Jacob’s well Jesus explained to a Samaritan woman what it means to truly worship God. Let’s listen. 

23 - Thirsty For God

After a very dramatic confrontation with the temple leaders in Jerusalem (Jn 2:13-25) Jesus left the city and moved His ministry out to the towns and villages scattered throughout the Judean countryside. There He preached and undoubtedly healed and delivered people from spiritual oppression. His disciples also baptized the people. Judging from clues John gives us Jesus apparently remained in Judea for about eight months. But at some point, a warning arrived that the Pharisees, who already shared with the temple leadership a hatred for Jesus (Jn 5:18, 7:1, 25, 30, 47-48; 8:3), had discovered where He was and what was happening. John says they knew that Jesus was “making and baptizing more disciples than John (the Baptist)” (v1) which meant Jesus was now in great danger. Normally the Pharisees despised the temple leaders in Jerusalem (for good reason), but they were also practical enough to partner with them when they needed their political power to punish some offender. So when this report reached Jesus, He took it as a warning that He would soon be arrested. But it was far too early in His ministry to allow that to happen. His disciples needed much more teaching and training, and there were many who had not yet been saved, healed or delivered. So He immediately left Judea and headed back to Galilee by the shortest possible route, straight through Samaria. 

22 - Eternity Begins Now

Many of the truths Jesus taught can be found in the Old Testament. He explained and applied them brilliantly, but when He taught those truths He wasn’t revealing anything new, just showing us what Moses and the prophets really meant. But there were a few select truths which He taught that were absolutely fresh revelations. They were, in fact, truths that He brought with Him from heaven. Of course there are glimpses of these truths all through the Old Testament so that if a reader truly understood what they were reading they would discover many prophecies that point directly to Jesus. That’s why after Jesus came to earth and did all that He did we can look back, and without stretching or forcing anything, see one passage after another that was trying to tell us about Jesus. Yet until He came they remained hidden from the human mind, shrouded in mystery (1Pe 1:10-12). And these few select truths that Jesus brought with Him from heaven had to do with Jesus Himself: who He is and why He came. These were the central truths that He spoke clearly and often, and they were the statements that got Him in trouble. Jesus wasn’t like other rabbis who were teaching people how to obey the Law of Moses. Nor did He try to introduce a new set of religious laws. He asked people to believe what He said about Himself, and those words form the foundation stones of true Christianity. They are truths we must believe. 

21 - Embracing Change

I think it’s easier to handle failure than it is to deliberately walk away from success. When we fail, we have no choice but to face reality sooner or later and admit that we’ve fallen short. But when we succeed at something we tend to grow proud, and as much as we may complain about all that such success demands of us, we cling to it desperately. It gives us meaning. It validates our existence. It becomes more than what we do; it defines who we are. So to even contemplate letting go becomes a very personal threat. We view it as an attack and those who dare to suggest it to us, as enemies. But the seasons of our lives must change, and the fact is there’s no stopping that change even if we try. So we must hold all things loosely. Not grip them. In other words, see the blessings and success in our lives as gifts on loan from God, not permanent possessions that we’ll keep forever.

20 - Responding To the Light

When God sent His Son into the world it was like placing a bright lamp in a dark room. Things that had been hidden were suddenly revealed. Wherever He went His presence and His message exposed the deepest attitudes in each person’s heart. Whether or not they fully understood who Jesus was, their human spirit intuitively recognized Him and reacted immediately. Some hated Him and some loved Him. Some pulled away and some drew near. And when God who knows everything about us watched this take place, here is what He concluded: People didn’t reject Jesus because they were unaware of who He was but because they didn’t want Him to examine their lives and tell them to change. It really didn’t matter if a person was religious or non-religious; the issue that caused people to react differently was submission: would they or would they not allow God to control their lives? Those who would not basically didn’t want to submit to a moral God. Those who made a practice of doing bad things actually hated the thought of having those behaviors exposed and corrected. They would rather flee from situations or people that made them feel guilty.

19 - Something New

What if I told you that you could be guided by God just like Jesus was guided by God? What if I told you that the same power which was at work through Jesus was available to work through you today? Would you believe me? Would you want a relationship with God like that? Now, let me ask those same questions again, but this time let me ask them another way: What if Jesus told you that you could be guided by God like He was? What if He told you that the same power which was at work through Him was available to you? Now would you believe? Would His words awaken in you a hunger for a relationship with God like that? Because today as we listen to this conversation between Jesus and Nicodemus we’ll hear Jesus offer these amazing gifts to all of us. We’ll hear Him invite everyone who believes in Him to enter His kingdom and experience those realities now. He says they’re available now. And who among us doesn’t need such guidance, and who doesn’t long to have God’s power work in and through us just like it was at work in and through Jesus? The truth Jesus taught that night should become much more than a fact we retain in our minds; it’s a promise we need to spend the rest of our lives learning to put into practice. This truth must be lived. 

18 - Saving a Pharisee

Most people fall into one of two categories: They’re either trying to save themselves, or they’ve realized that they can’t and that they need a Savior. People are either pursuing God’s justice or clinging to His mercy. They either expect to be rewarded or forgiven. And those two attitudes are so deeply different—they lie in such opposite directions—a person can’t pursue both at the same time. No one can try to earn God’s approval while they are receiving His mercy as a gift. It’s just not possible. The heart must look one way or the other. And, I admit, there is a third option, which is some form of hopeless indifference. That person stops trying altogether and simply looks for ways to cope until death arrives. This is the saddest option of all. Some end up there because they’ve stopped believing eternal life exists. Others believe it exists but are convinced they’ve done something that prevents them from ever receiving it. The root problem in this third option is spiritual deception. The person is believing a lie which needs to be broken by prayer. 

17 - Trustworthy

While He was in Jerusalem during the Feast of the Passover and the week of Unleavened Bread which followed it, Jesus must have begun His ministry of healing the sick and delivering those oppressed by demons because John says, “many believed in His name beholding Him (because of) the signs which He was doing” (literal). And then John adds the strangest statement. He says, “But Jesus, on His part, was not entrusting Himself to them, for He knew all men.” Then he reinforces that statement by saying, “because He did not need anyone to testify concerning man (humankind), for He Himself knew what was in man.”