Had

I will try to do a word study on the word "had" as it appears in the New American Standard Bible pertaining to John:4:4. Scripture says: "And He [had] to pass through aSamaria".

I thought it interesting that Paul said that he took every thought captive. Our Lord did one better, he took every step he ever took here on earth captive. I think He knew exactly how much time it would take Him to get to any destination. Yes I think so. He never willy nilly went somewhere just to go there. He always had a reason and a time to do it. He had no time to waste.

My thought includes the John 4:4 passage "and He [had to]...Christ had to do many things throughout His life on earth at the exact moment or He would have missed certain people in certain parts of the day or night to Proclaim Himself (the Gospel).

Here in this passage Christ [had] to meet an adultress Samaritan. He had to be at the Jacobs well at the same time she came from the city to get water. So the text says ...and He had...

Take a look at a partial definition from Strong's Greek.


had
Strong's Greek #1163
1163 [dei /die/] v. Third person singular active present of 1210; TDNT 2:21; TDNTA 140; GK 1256; 106 occurrences; AV translates as “must” 58 times, “ought” 31 times, “must needs” five times, “should” four times, it is necessary, there is need of, it behooves, is right and proper. 1c necessity in reference to what is required to attain some end.



All this to say one thing. I would pray that Christ would prick my conscience the same way. That I would have such a passion for souls, my mind would think in such a way as the "1c" definition.

I would also pray that one day He would grant me a way to teach people how to evangelize.

One more prayer, that He would allow me to work in full time ministry within evangelism.



My friend and brother in Christ Tom Sadowski two Thursdays ago came out with me. I could say Tom [had] wanted to come out with me. He had a long chat with a man who was lost as far as we could tell. Going to the truck stop is not a serene place to minister to the sinner. Although there are plenty of lost people it takes some ingnorance to minister there. I say ignorance in the sense of, one having to ingore the obvious.

The obvious would be to ignore the urine smell. When a driver has filled to capacity the "pee jug" he will pour it out on the pavement close to his truck. If the jug is not full then they might need to pee quickly after parking the truck. Next you need to ignore the smell of the deisel. Trucks are left running all night if they aren't using "Idleair". Also you need to ignore the noise. You'll get out of there with a scratchy throat after talking for a few hours. Then the thing you can't get away from is the heat. It gets hot everywhere, but it gets hotter there next to the trucks that are left running while the exhaust is in your face, oh, yes, you do breath the exhaust.
You can't be a Todd Friel type of man, you know, always worried about germs.
Last Thursady was a gorgeous day to breath in the odors, take in the noise, and best of all have predetermined by God conversations. Plenty of people to talk to including those who named His name and could not explain Him.

I hope I can get others to think the same way as our Lord "He had to go to Samaria.
I hope I can get myself to think the same way our Lord thought about His message to the lost.

Pilot Truck Stop Last Night with My Son

Last night was so sweet, it had to be of Christ and His mercy to those I had a predetermined conversation. Again and again my expectation are small about the way things will unfold. But God in His determination to have His Gospel delivered to the exact people He had chosen delivered a knock out blow to my fleshly mind.

I keep pinching myself in a way because I would have never thought Christ would choose me to deliver such an important precise message as is the Gospel. The Good News of salvation through Jesus Christ. Repentance and trust in Him, knowing the law, what sin is, and the message of the cross. This brings about true conversion.

Rom 1:16
For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ: for it is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth; to the Jew first, and also to the Greek.

If you change the message you change the One who

brought it, Jesus Christ. If you change the message you make it powerless to change anything.

The message to all three of these gentlemen is that they are doomed without salvation of Jesus Christ.

Their "strivings" will never be good enough. Imagine that. I talked to 3 different men and all of them, a sinner and his own beliefs, a JW with baggage, and a Hindu. What a night. All three men had the same belief within different religions, the sin of unbelief.

They all tried to be "good". They all sought to do the "right thing". In the end all our righteousness is filthy rags to God. No matter whose religion, it comes down to how good can I be to attain "heaven".

They all want the same thing, heaven. They just don't want God to be there. There own reasoning of what heaven should be is one big giant tent of "good people". Their god would overlook their sins of lying, stealing, adultery, coveting, idolatry. That's the god they worship and that's the god that will drag them to hell.

Don't play with the time God has given you. Consider it His mercy on your soul. Don't waste time, now is the time for Salvation, you don't know what tomorrow will bring, your days are numbered.

You just don't know what number is yours.

Back from Fort Benning

Just a change of subject type to let all my readers know that my son who is single is back from Fort Benning, GA.

We flew to Georgia, rented a car, drove 2 hours to the Fort Benning area to see my son graduate from basic, and advanced training.

To the left is my sweet lovely P31 wife, Daniel, and Caleb. Remember Daniel is single. Besides being single he is not married either.

We had a good time helping him settle down in the civilian world by eating real world food and sleeping until the sun came up. Now he will continue his job at the Fort Worth jail, go to school and possibly take flight lessons from someone who attends our church. I think the next biggest thing besides going through boot camp and surviving is the weight he lost. About 80 lbs. He is holding at 200lbs and looks good.

He alson loves to attend the church Tommy Nelson pastors, Denton Bible Church.

I couldn't sign off without writing about his baptism. Yes he finally took the plunge. As a boot camp enlisted soldier, perspective becomes clear. I don't know what the base chaplain talked about but, whatever it was, my son made the clear decision to obey Christ our Lord by getting baptized.

He understands the Gospel and is working out his salvation. With his dad around he is also examining himself in light of the scriptures.

I praise my Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ for His mercy on both my son and me. There are many fathers who are saved with sons that live for the devil. Praise Him who saves to the uttermost. It is Christ, it is God, it is we who bow low before Him.