Mt. Lassen Community Church

Have you heard the phrase - “Here’s mud in your eye”? It is a common toast to another’s good health while drinking.

The origins of this phrase is unknown—but the best theory is that it comes from this Sunday’s passage in John 9, as Jesus heals the blind man by putting mud in his eyes.

In our study this Sunday, we will see 4 major lessons from this chapter.

• The Gospel

• The nature of Jesus

• Standing strong in our faith

• Responding to Jesus

To ponder before Sunday—What were you doing in your life when Jesus saw you, stopped to apply some spitty–dirt in your eyes, and offer you true sight in Him? Did you at first resist going to “Siloam” to wash and receive this new sight? Or did you respond instantly to this offer?

Spend some time thanking God for your salvation today. And thank Him for whatever discomfort was necessary to get your attention and send you to Siloam.

Here’s mud in your eye!

This Sunday we will look at the next two signs in the book of John: Jesus feeding the 5000 men (plus even more women and children) from five loaves of bread and two fish, and then Jesus walking on water.

The ongoing theme through this passage is trusting God when there seems to be limitations—when we’ve run out of options and provisions. So, through this passage we will highlight 10 powerful lessons for walking with Jesus when we are being tested.

Something to ponder as you prepare for Sunday’s study: When your resources run thin (time, treasure, talent), how do you typically react? Are you in the FLESH—Frustrated, Fearful, or Frantic? Or are you able to turn to God and look expectantly for His provisions, walking in the SPIRIT? Let’s do a heart–inventory and prepare to step into the sandals of a disciple this Sunday.

For 38 years the crippled man came to the pools of Bethesda, the waters supposedly offering healing. There in the “House of Mercy” (Bet-Hesda) the desperate man longed for healing, but was denied. For 38 long years—he found no mercy in the “house of mercy.”

And then Jesus showed up.

We have all wasted time, energy, effort, emotions, and money to find solutions to what ails us—when we should have looked unto the True House of Mercy—Jesus Himself.

What are you looking unto in your life? Where are you searching for mercy and help? Is it Jesus alone? Or is it an empty substitute and an imitation of our True Merciful King?

Look unto Him alone!

Put yourself in the sandals of the Samaritan woman who met Jesus at Jacob’s Well.

Your fellow town-folk know of your sins. Word got out. And in your shame, and in their scorn, you become a social outcast. You’d rather not face the upturned noses, and the furrowed eyebrows. So, you draw your water in the heat of the day instead of the cool of the morning, when no one else would come to the well for water.

Like the town-folk, Jesus also knows everything about you. He knows your past sins. He knows your current sins. He even knows your future sins!

But with Jesus it is different. No upturned nose. No furrowed eyebrow. 

And He has met you where you are at—alone in the heat of day, hiding from awkward and painful interactions.

And Jesus doesn’t reject you, even though He knows everything about you. He has a conversation. He listens. He asks questions. He offers truth.

And instead of CONDEMNATION, you experience KINDNESS, maybe for the first time in many, many years—even with the shocking realization that He is Prophet and Messiah.

So, question: What do you do now?

(a) Run in terror?

Or (b) run into town to tell everyone about Jesus!?

The Samaritan woman chose rightly, becoming the first evangelist of the Gospel to the Samaritans and launching a city–wide revival that turned their world upside down.

John 3:16 begins “For God…”

“For” is a connecting word, so we must look back at the context to understand it.

And boy, is it a doozy! It speaks of Moses and a weird serpent in the wilderness. Check it out—

As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up; so that whoever believes will in Him have eternal life. For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life. 

What is the connection? How does John 3:16 relate to this obscure Old Testament account? Why Jesus even refer to it?

We are going to have a wild ride together this Sunday through this amazing and well known passage.

Buckle up!

In our text this week, John takes us behind the scenes, as Jesus turns water to wine at a wedding, without the wedding couple or even the headwaiter knowing that a miracle had taken place.

We often think of the spiritual discipline of “waiting” upon the Lord (as servants), but there is also “waiting” upon the Lord for His perfecting timing in our lives. “Waiting” is often our experience with God, but in our story this Sunday, we will see there are times that God works immediately! Maybe even before we know there was a problem, God has already stepped in to fix it for us. And we are unaware of it—like the wedding party and the headwaiter in this story.

So—let me urge you to GIVE THANKS  For the many answers to prayers that were never even prayed! God providing and protecting and working on your behalf without you even realizing there was a problem.

This is just one of many lessons to be “gleaned” from the story of water to wine. Another lesson: Jesus takes the ordinary and makes it extraordinary. This is my prayer for you this week—that as you walk in His Spirit, the ordinary things would be extraordinary.