"You have shown me the path of life."

The Woman At The Well

John 4

Jesus Talks With a Samaritan Woman

 ¹The Pharisees heard that Jesus was gaining and baptizing more disciples than John, ²although in fact it was not Jesus who baptized, but his disciples. ³When the Lord learned of this, he left Judea and went back once more to Galilee.

 ⁴Now he had to go through Samaria. ⁵So he came to a town in Samaria called Sychar, near the plot of ground Jacob had given to his son Joseph. ⁶Jacob's well was there, and Jesus, tired as he was from the journey, sat down by the well. It was about the sixth hour.

 ⁷When a Samaritan woman came to draw water, Jesus said to her, "Will you give me a drink?" ⁸(His disciples had gone into the town to buy food.)

 ⁹The Samaritan woman said to him, "You are a Jew and I am a Samaritan woman. How can you ask me for a drink?" (For Jews do not associate with Samaritans.^[a])

 ¹⁰Jesus answered her, "If you knew the gift of God and who it is that asks you for a drink, you would have asked him and he would have given you living water."

 ¹¹"Sir," the woman said, "you have nothing to draw with and the well is deep. Where can you get this living water? ¹²Are you greater than our father Jacob, who gave us the well and drank from it himself, as did also his sons and his flocks and herds?"

 ¹³Jesus answered, "Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again, ¹⁴but whoever drinks the water I give him will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life."

 ¹⁵The woman said to him, "Sir, give me this water so that I won't get thirsty and have to keep coming here to draw water."

 ¹⁶He told her, "Go, call your husband and come back."

 ¹⁷"I have no husband," she replied.

   Jesus said to her, "You are right when you say you have no husband. ¹⁸The fact is, you have had five husbands, and the man you now have is not your husband. What you have just said is quite true."

 ¹⁹"Sir," the woman said, "I can see that you are a prophet. ²⁰Our fathers worshiped on this mountain, but you Jews claim that the place where we must worship is in Jerusalem."

 ²¹Jesus declared, "Believe me, woman, a time is coming when you will worship the Father neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem. ²²You Samaritans worship what you do not know; we worship what we do know, for salvation is from the Jews. ²³Yet a time is coming and has now come when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for they are the kind of worshipers the Father seeks. ²⁴God is spirit, and his worshipers must worship in spirit and in truth."

 ²⁵The woman said, "I know that Messiah" (called Christ) "is coming. When he comes, he will explain everything to us."

 ²⁶Then Jesus declared, "I who speak to you am he."

The Disciples Rejoin Jesus

 ²⁷Just then his disciples returned and were surprised to find him talking with a woman. But no one asked, "What do you want?" or "Why are you talking with her?"

 ²⁸Then, leaving her water jar, the woman went back to the town and said to the people, ²⁹"Come, see a man who told me everything I ever did. Could this be the Christ^[b]?" ³⁰They came out of the town and made their way toward him.

 ³¹Meanwhile his disciples urged him, "Rabbi, eat something."

 ³²But he said to them, "I have food to eat that you know nothing about."

 ³³Then his disciples said to each other, "Could someone have brought him food?"

 ³⁴"My food," said Jesus, "is to do the will of him who sent me and to finish his work. ³⁵Do you not say, 'Four months more and then the harvest'? I tell you, open your eyes and look at the fields! They are ripe for harvest. ³⁶Even now the reaper draws his wages, even now he harvests the crop for eternal life, so that the sower and the reaper may be glad together. ³⁷Thus the saying 'One sows and another reaps' is true. ³⁸I sent you to reap what you have not worked for. Others have done the hard work, and you have reaped the benefits of their labor."

Many Samaritans Believe

 ³⁹Many of the Samaritans from that town believed in him because of the woman's testimony, "He told me everything I ever did." ⁴⁰So when the Samaritans came to him, they urged him to stay with them, and he stayed two days. ⁴¹And because of his words many more became believers.

 ⁴²They said to the woman, "We no longer believe just because of what you said; now we have heard for ourselves, and we know that this man really is the Savior of the world."

Ever have one of those moments where a song just really ministers and speaks loudly to your heart?
The song "The Motions" by Matthew West did just that to me today! The Chorus goes:

Ever just feel like you are just going through the motion on your Christian Walk? Ever just feel that you are not as close as you were to HIM once before?
I do not want to just go through the motions. I want to have a love so strong that I can not even function without out HIM!
Lord help me to give you my WHOLE heart. Lord light a fire and passion inside of me! In Jesus Mighty Name!

Here the song here:

My pastor gave an awesome sermon yesterday and I wanted to share it all with you:
You can listen at Generations Church



Or you can read it here:
Are we in the Eleventh Hour?
Matthew 25:13
"Therefore keep watch, because you do not know the day or the hour."

The Eleventh Hour
The Ten Virgins
Matthew 25:1-13

Can you believe the price of gas? For a while there gas was getting close to five bucks a gallon. It became more and more costly to go to the gas station. So much so that many times I would delay buying gas, even when running low, and then I sometimes would buy only part of a tank because of the cost to fill up. As a matter of fact, one time it cost me $80 to fill our SUV.

When I am low of gas a little gas pump appears and stays lit until you get gas. Usually you can go 30 or 40 more miles when this happens. Yes, I’ve tested it!

In fact, I can go to my navigation screen and hit a button that will tell me how many miles I can go before I run out of gas.

To be honest, I have gone to zero a number of times and still seemed to have a few miles or so of gas. I think I have gotten pretty close, but I have not run out of gas yet. Kellee always tells me how bad it is to run it to nothing because of the sediment and debris that is in the bottom of the tank.

I want you to imagine the story of a college kid coming home from school who was not as fortunate.

He made it as far as 25 miles out of town when his gas light came on. If he made it home, his parents would buy the gas and he could use his money to go out for the weekend. He figured he could make it.

He had the radio in his car cranking some awesome tunes and forgot about the gas situation. However, with about 8 miles to go, he ran out of gas.

It was about 1 in the morning and the road was dark. He figured he would flag down a car and get a ride. But a car coming by didn’t see him and side swiped him and killed him.

Ultimately, all this happened because he did not heed the warnings that he was low on fuel. Unfortunately the story is true. Unfortunately the story is also way too true of our spiritual state in the church today.

Matthew 25:1-13.

“Then the kingdom of heaven shall be likened to ten virgins who took their lamps and went out to meet the bridegroom.  Now five of them were wise, and five were foolish. Those who were foolish took their lamps and took no oil with them, but the wise took oil in their vessels with their lamps. But while the bridegroom was delayed,  they all slumbered and slept. “And at midnight a cry was heard: ‘Behold, the bridegroom is coming; go out to meet him!’ Then all those virgins arose and  trimmed their lamps. And the foolish said to the wise, ‘Give us some of your oil, for our lamps are going out.’ But the wise answered, saying, ‘No, lest there should not be enough for us and you; but go rather to those who sell, and buy for yourselves.’ And while they went to buy, the bridegroom came, and those who were ready went in with him to the wedding; and the door was shut. “Afterward the other virgins came also, saying, ‘Lord, Lord, open to us!’ But he answered and said, ‘Assuredly, I say to you,  I do not know you.’  “Watch therefore, for you know neither the day nor the hour in which the Son of Man is coming.”
The Context
Now it is important that we understand the context for Jesus telling this story.

Jesus is in the midst of speaking to the disciples privately on matters concerning the end times in what is commonly known as the Olivet Discourse. It begins back at the beginning of Matthew 24.

In this discourse Jesus talks about some of the signs that the end is approaching. He speaks of wars and rumors of wars, famines, earthquakes which are birth pangs. And he tells us that while we should be able to recognize the season of His coming, the day and the hour of Christ’s return is unknown. So he goes on to tell several different parables warning the disciples and us to watch and be ready.

Now each of these parables have a few things in common. They all were written to encourage the listeners to be ready for the kingdom of heaven and warn them of consequences of not being ready. They all distinguish one group of people from another, the faithful or wise from the lazy or foolish.

So Jesus tells several different stories to illustrate different aspects about how the kingdom of heaven will be for those who gain entrance and those who don’t. This is so important that He emphasizes this in 3 different stories.

It is important because of what being in the kingdom of heaven and being out of the kingdom of heaven means.

Being in the kingdom means being with Jesus for eternity. Being excluded from the kingdom means being eternally separated from Jesus in a place of outer darkness where there is weeping and gnashing of teeth.

There are only 2 options, in or out.

We need to be ready so that we can go in and not be left out like the 5 foolish virgins.

So let’s take a look at this story and see what we might learn so that we are found ready and waiting when Jesus comes for us.
In the first verse we are introduced to the main characters of this story. The ten virgins and the bridegroom.

The Bridegroom represents Jesus. 
Throughout Scripture, we see Jesus described as a bridegroom. We see him describe himself that way in Matthew 9:14-15:
“Then John’s disciples came and asked him, "How is it that we and the Pharisees fast, but your disciples do not fast?" Jesus answered, "How can the guests of the bridegroom mourn while he is with them? The time will come when the bridegroom will be taken from them; then they will fast.”

And even John the Baptist uses this imagery
John 3:28-29
“You yourselves can testify that I said, ’I am not the Christ but am sent ahead of him.’ The bride belongs to the bridegroom. The friend who attends the bridegroom waits and listens for him, and is full of joy when he hears the bridegroom’s voice. That joy is mine, and it is now complete.”

In our story, the bridegroom is the central focus even though he is not there a lot.
It is him who people are waiting for.
It is Him who was a longtime in coming.
It was him who the virgins were able to enter with.
For us today, Jesus should be our central focus.

We should be waiting for Him.
We should be living our lives for Him.
We should be longing to be found faithful when He arrives.
Jesus should be the central focus of the church and of the people of the church.

In this section, Jesus is not speaking to the crowds or the religious leaders. He is speaking to the disciples, and to His church.

This is a warning for those who are in the church and I believe it is a picture of where we stand today in this eleventh hour.

The Virgins represent Professing Christians
Notice that outwardly, all of these virgins look alike. There is nothing in their appearance that you could tell them apart by.

But in the next verse we do find there is a difference. We find that 5 were wise and 5 were foolish.

By looking at them, we could not necessarily tell which were the wise ones and which were the foolish ones.
All ten of these virgins were waiting for the bridegroom.
All ten of these virgins had lamps
All ten of these virgins looked like they were ready for the bridegroom to appear.
But 5 of them were really not ready. Jesus calls them foolish. What is it that determined if these virgins were wise or foolish?

It was the possession of oil for their lamps that determined if they were wise or foolish. What does the oil represent in this story?

The Oil represents the Holy Spirit
And it was their lack of oil when the bridegroom came that excluded them from entering into the wedding banquet.

There are professing Christians today
who go to church,
who give,
who look just like other Christians,

Yet they are not real Christians because they do not have the Holy Spirit; they are not filled with the Holy Spirit.

These last words that the 5 foolish virgins spoke are eerily reminiscent of a story Jesus told in Matthew 7:21-23:
“Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father in heaven. Many will say to Me in that day, ‘Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Your name, cast out demons in Your name, and done many wonders in Your name?’ And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness!”

In our story the foolish virgins arrive after the bridegroom has already come and say
‘Lord, Lord, open to us!’ But he answered and said, ‘Assuredly, I say to you,  I do not know you.’

Application
There are people today who are thinking, just like then, I have been pretty good, good enough to at least make it to the end.
And even if I don’t, I still have time to really get serious about my relationship with the Lord.

Getting serious about my relationship with Jesus can wait until I live life some more. Sure, I will
go to church and give a little something, be a good person, sing some songs about Jesus, but I sure don’t want to go overboard with this religion thing.

It might cost me by having to change my lifestyle.
It might cost me my weekends by having to go be with God’s people instead of sleeping in or doing what I want.
It might cost me my place on the throne of my own life.

No, I don’t want to fill my tank with Jesus. I’ll just take $10 bucks worth and hope that gets me to the time where I can get serious. After all, there’s plenty of time because people have been saying He’s coming back for years and we’re still here.
Notice this was the attitude of the 5 virgins. “We will have time in the morning to get oil if we really need it.” “He has been away a long time already. What are the chances he will come back during the night?”

I am sure that every one of us have felt like it is taking Jesus a long time to return. Why is it taking so long? There were those even in the days of the Apostles who wondered that. Peter warns in 2 Peter 3:3-4, 9-10:
“…knowing this first: that scoffers will come in the last days, walking according to their own lusts, and saying, “Where is the promise of His coming? For since the fathers fell asleep, all things continue as they were from the beginning of creation… The Lord is not slack concerning His promise, as some count slackness, but is longsuffering toward  us, not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance. But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night, in which the heavens will pass away with a great noise, and the elements will melt with fervent heat; both the earth and the works that are in it will be burned up.”

We need to realize that the day of the Lord is going to come unexpectedly and we must be ready in this Eleventh Hour.

None of the virgins knew for sure when the bridegroom would come. None of us know for sure when Jesus will return. But Jesus tells us in
Matthew 24:36:

“But of that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels of heaven, but My Father only.”

It is not about knowing the day or the hour, but being ready when He does come,

If Jesus came for you right now, would you be ready? Would you be able to enter with Him into the wedding banquet? Or would you be trying to scramble to fill your lamp?
We are closer to his arrival today than we were yesterday. It is the eleventh hour. The time to get ready is Now!

There is going to come a point where it is too late. There is going to come a time that you run out of gas. Don’t delay.

Listen to what it says in
Revelation 19:5-9

“Then a voice came from the throne, saying, “Praise our God, all you His servants and those who fear Him, both small and great!” And I heard, as it were, the voice of a great multitude, as the sound of many waters and as the sound of mighty thunderings, saying, “Alleluia! For the Lord God Omnipotent reigns! Let us be glad and rejoice and give Him glory, for the marriage of the Lamb has come, and His wife has made herself ready.” And to her it was granted to be arrayed in fine linen, clean and bright, for the fine linen is the righteous acts of the saints. Then he said to me, “Write: ‘Blessed are those who are called to the marriage supper of the Lamb!’ ” And he said to me, “These are the true sayings of God.”

Are you on the guest list? You have only this lifetime before Jesus returns to make arrangements for this eternal celebration.
As I look around, I see birth pangs. I see wars and rumors of wars, I see famines across the world and earthquakes and natural disasters. I do not know the exact moment of His coming, but it would seem that we are in the 11th hour, and that the season is upon us.

Nobody can do this for you, though.
Your parents can’t believe for you
Your friends can’t believe for you
Your pastor can’t believe for you

John 1:12
“But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, to those who believe in His name:”
Believing is more than just acknowledging facts.
It is a complete giving of one’s self to the Person of Christ. It is acting upon what we believe.

If you have not received Christ as your Savior, or if you have been thinking I just need a little Jesus, understand there is no “just a little Jesus.”

There is a little bit of religion, but religion never saved anyone. Jesus is an all or none proposition. You are in relationship with Him or you are not.

The gas light is on.
Will you heed the warnings?


The leaves are turning.
Will you heed the warnings?



The clock is ticking.
Will you heed the warnings?

This post is for a friend who is considering Homeschooling and what Curriculum she should use! I hope it blesses all who read it:
I have used so many different Curriculums over the last 7 years  and have taught every grade through 9th.
Some of my favorite are:
Weaver Curriculum
Lifepacs
Abeka
Math-U-See



Some of my favorite Homeschool Unit Study Sites are:
Homeschool Share
In The Hands of a Child
Currclick
Homeschool In The Woods
Enchanted Learning
ABC Teach




Some Great Sites to get Plugged Into:
Here at Homeschool Blogger
The Homeschool Lounge
 


My favorite most Encouraging all around site:
Cindy Rushton's
She often has online Homeschool Seminars that are awesome! She covers EVERTHING from homeschool to cleaning and cooking and marriages! She is awesome and inspiring!



A Great Magazine Worth Subscribing to:
The Old Schoolhouse




I could probably go on forever...Homeschool has become such a passion and I  just love helping others get started, so please feel free to continue drilling me!

Oh Ya, a must for all Homeschoolers:
HSLDA
They fight for us Homeschoolers and support you ever step of the way, if it were not for them Homeschooling would be illegal in California right now, and I would be living somewhere else!

My God Bless you on your Homeschool Journey!

The Yoga Deception

The Lord has given me a great burden for the newest and latest work out craze, YOGA! I have found that many of my close friends have been using yoga as a new work out technique. I could not understand how grounded Christians could begin such a practice, yet I know very little of the subject myself, thus I kept my mouth shut! But after days of wrestling with the Lord as to speak up or not, I have decided to dive in to some research on the subject and see what I find. I must say it is much Worse than  I even began to imagine!
All Scripture is Given by God and is useful for teaching and for showing people what is wrong in their lives. It is useful for correcting faults and teaching how to live right. 2 Timothy 3:16
As we look at scriptures I hope you will see how deceptive Yoga is and choose to turn away from this practice!
Yoga is a Hindu-based spiritual practice that can expose those who participate in it to demonic influences!
Agape Press
30 million people are practicing yoga in the United States alone.
The term yoga comes from a Sanskrit word which means yoke or union.
Practicing Yoga is Yoking yourself to the Hindu gods. The various physical and mental disciplines of yoga were seen as a method for individuals to attain union with the divine.
God gave very clear instructions to Moses as to How we are to Worship Him, We were told to have no other God before Him!!! Israel was strictly told not to worship as the other nations worship their gods all through the Old Testament.
Deut. 12:2-4 "Do not worship the Lord your God that way!"
Deut. 18:9 "You will enter the land the Lord your God is giving you. But don't learn to do the terrible things the other nations do!"
Take a look at what Laurette Willis, who had been involved in yoga and the New Age for 22 years before coming to Christ, has to say to Christians concerning Yoga: CBN.com
Many Christians have been deceived into thinking that yoga is just relaxation and exercise. Nothing could be further from the truth.  Yoga is intended to put one into an altered state of consciousness. Believers who think they’re “just exercising” are being swept into a counterfeit religion.
1 Corinthians 10:23 says "We are allowed to do all things. Yes. But not all things are good for us to do." We have a freedom in Christ, but do we want to use this freedom to bring ourselves into bondage?
Galatians 5:1 "It was for freedom that Christ set us free; therefore keep standing firm and do not be subject again to a yoke of slavery."
2 Corinthians. 6:14 says, “For what do righteousness and wickedness have in common? Or what fellowship can light have with darkness?”
Yoga is a Hindu or Buddhist practice and has no place in a Christian church.

Thank you for reading and may God Bless you as you strive to live a life pleasing and acceptable before God!

I have to blog this before I forget!
My little one's 4 and 5  years were in my bathroom while I was getting ready one day. I was doing my make-up and hair when I realized that they were not just "PLAYING" with the water, One of them had gone underneath the sink while the other stayed on top turning on and off the water.  Next thing I know she is taking my stuff out from underneath and yells up to her sister "turn it on, I hear it but I can't see it", I had to laugh so hard and at the same time I was so happy and thankful that my two little ones were curious enough to try to find out what happens to the water from the sink, where does it go, It was my most favorite teachable moment that just happened out of the blue! Boy it made me appreciate HOMESCHOOLING all the more. We are so blessed to be able to teach our kids and watch them grow and want to learn all on their own!   

I am sure we could all use some help this holiday season! How about a chance to win a $100 Gift card to Wal-Mart!!!
Sign up at Common Sense With Money

Check it out

I finally got me some good deals today. Without Double coupons anywhere any more, great deals have been Much harder to come by!
I got $241.34 in Groceries and medicine and other items for only $49.78. Want to see how? Come on over to:
Keepers At Home
Here I will show you what i got and how I did it!