As Jesus made his way toward Galilee, he came to Jacob's Well in Samaria. Weary from the journey, he stopped to rest there, while his disciples went to buy food. In the meantime, a Samaritan woman came to the well to draw water. Jesus made a simple request of her: "Give me to drink" (John 4:7).
Here on the streets of New York City, you can buy a Rolex watch for fifteen dollars. A salesman yells, "Get your Rolex here," and he flashes a shiny timepiece with the word "Rolex" on its face. As you examine the watch, everything about it looks like a Rolex. But, as every New Yorker knows, these watches aren't truly Rolexes. They're simply "knockoffs" - cheap copies of the original.
Incapacitated - what a frightening word! It means "deprived of capacity or power to perform; rendered unfit, useless; disqualified."
According to God's word, sin is the great incapacitator. It affects ministers and laymen alike - robbing them of all power and usefulness, leaving them dry and empty, and removing all ability to fulfill the eternal purposes of Christ.
A crack-addicted mother killed her own six-year-old daughter, Elisa, suffocating her with a pillow.
Four-year-old Nadine starved to death in her mother's house in the Bronx. Police found the girl locked in a bedroom — shriveled, emaciated, curled up in the fetal position. All her cries for help had gone unheeded by her crack-addicted mother.
"They that go down to the sea in ships, that do business in great waters; these see the works of the Lord, and his wonders in the deep. For he commandeth, and raiseth the stormy wind, which lifteth up the waves thereof.
"They mount up to the heaven, they go down again to the depths: their soul is melted because of trouble. They reel to and fro, and stagger like a drunken man, and are at their wit's end" (Psalm 107:23-27).
The devil does everything in his power to make his voice heard in this world. At one point he even had the audacity to interrupt Jesus while the Lord was speaking in the synagogue:
In just a few short years, the Spirit of God has raised up a strong testimony to the power of Christ — right in the heart of America's largest city — New York.
In the Mark Hellinger Theater, one of New York's largest, most beautiful theaters, God has established a church where hundreds of repentant believers from many nationalities are reaching out to the poorest and neediest in this crumbling city.
The press has been surprised by the continual growth and outreaches of Times Square Church. New York City papers ran stories about "Standing Room Only For Jesus On Broadway."
"For from the least of them even unto the greatest of them every one is given to covetousness; and from the prophet even unto the priest every one dealeth falsely.... Were they ashamed when they had committed abomination? nay, they were not at all ashamed, neither could they blush: therefore they shall fall among them that fall: at the time that I visit them they shall be cast down, saith the Lord" (Jeremiah 6:13,15, KJV).
There is a portion of Scripture that convicts me deeply. It involves a great and terrible responsibility that no true disciple of Jesus Christ can ignore. Jesus said, "I am the vine, and my Father is the husbandman. Every branch in me that beareth not fruit he taketh away; and every branch that beareth fruit, he purgeth it, that it may bring forth more fruit...If a man abide not in me, he is cast forth as a branch, and is withered; and men gather them and cast them into the fire, and they are burned..." (John 15:1-2,6).
"According as it is written, God hath given them the spirit of slumber, eyes that they should not see, and ears that they should not hear, unto this day" (Romans 11:8).
"For the Lord hath poured out upon you the Spirit of deep sleep, and hath closed your eyes: the prophets and your leaders, the seers hath he covered. And the vision of all is become unto you as the words of a book that is sealed" (Isaiah 29:10-11).
