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[0:00] Thank you very much, David. That's fantastic. I fell and hurt myself on the ice. That's my excuse for not dancing. I don't know what yours is. Maybe you just don't know a Hebrew dance, but that's fantastic.

[0:16] I think it's such a great thing to get a bigger perspective than we're so used to thinking about us here in the West. So hearing something like that is just wonderful.

[0:26] And there's actually a story about this pastor who was from America, and he went out to visit a pastor in the Middle East. And he was showing him about, and he was showing him everything that was going on in the church there.

[0:41] And the pastor was so amazed that in a place that is under such persecution, the church could be grown so much. Yet the pastor in the Middle East reminded him, he says, don't you remember that the Lord was from the East, not from the West?

[0:58] This religion started in the East, not in the West. Sometimes we forget that, you know. So it's good to think about those things. And today we're going to open up John's Gospel.

[1:09] John was Jewish, and he's writing about a woman in Samaria, and he's writing about the Jewish Messiah meeting her.

[1:21] So John chapter 4, and we're going to read verses 1 to 42. And then afterwards we're going to hear another song, and then we'll get into the text. So John chapter 4.

[1:33] Now when Jesus learned that the Pharisees had heard that Jesus was making and baptizing more disciples than John, although Jesus himself did not baptize but only his disciples, he left Judea and departed again for Galilee.

[1:51] And he had to pass through Samaria. So he came to a town of Samaria called Sychar, near a field that Jacob had given to his son Joseph. Jacob's well was there.

[2:03] So Jesus, wearied as he was from his journey, was sitting beside the well. It was about the sixth hour. A woman from Samaria came to draw water.

[2:15] Jesus said to her, Give me a drink. For his disciples had gone away into the city to buy food. Samaritan woman said to him, How is it that you, a Jew, asked for a drink from me, a woman of Samaria?

[2:32] For Jews had no dealings with Samaritans. Jesus answered her, If you knew the gift of God and who it is that is saying to you, give me a drink, you would have asked him, and he would have given you living water.

[2:46] The woman said to him, Sir, you have nothing to draw water with, and the well is deep. Where do you get that living water? Are you greater than our father Jacob? He gave us the well and drank from it himself, as did his sons and his livestock.

[3:02] Jesus said to her, Everyone who drinks of this water will thirst again. But whoever drinks of the water that I will give him will never be thirsty again. The water that I will give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life.

[3:20] The woman said to him, Sir, give me this water, so that I will not be thirsty or have to come here to draw water. Jesus said to her, Go, call your husband and come here.

[3:34] The woman answered him, I have no husband. Jesus said, You are right in saying I have no husband, For you have had five husbands, And the one you are now with, The one you now have, Is not your husband.

[3:47] What you have said is true. And the woman said to him, Sir, I perceive that you are a prophet. Your fathers worshipped in this mountain, But you say that in Jerusalem is the place where people ought to worship.

[3:59] Jesus said to her, Women, Believe me, The hour is coming when neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem will you worship the Father. See, you worship what you do not know, We worship what we know, For salvation is from the Jews.

[4:13] But the hour is coming and is now here, When the true worshippers will worship the Father in spirit and truth. For the Father is seeking such people to worship him.

[4:24] God is spirit, And those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth. The woman said to him, I know that Messiah is coming, He who is called Christ.

[4:37] When he comes, He will tell us all things. Jesus said to her, I who speak to you am he. Just then his disciples came back, They marveled that he was talking with a woman, But no one said, What do you seek?

[4:52] Or why are you talking with her? So the woman left her water jar, And went away into the town and said to the people, Come see a man who told me all that I ever did. Can this be the Christ?

[5:04] They went out of the town and they were coming to him. Meanwhile the disciples were urging him, Saying, Rabbi, eat. But he said to them, I have food to eat that you do not know about. So the disciples said to one another, Has anyone brought him something to eat?

[5:19] Jesus said to them, My food is to do the will of him who sent me, And to accomplish his work. Do you not say there are yet four months, Then comes the harvest?

[5:30] Look, I tell you, Lift up your eyes, And see that the fields are white for harvest. Already the one who reaps is receiving wages, And gathering fruit for eternal life, So that the sower and reaper may rejoice together.

[5:42] For here the saying holds true, One sows and another reaps. I sent you to reap that for which you did not labour. Others have laboured, And now you have entered into their labour.

[5:53] Many Samaritans from that town believed in him, Because of the women's testimony, He told me all that I ever did. So when the Samaritans came to him, They asked him to stay with them, And he stayed there two days, And many more believed, Because of his word.

[6:13] They said to the women, It is no longer because of what you said that we believe, For we have heard for ourselves, And we know that this is indeed the saviour of the world. May God bless the reading of his word.

[6:26] Amen. Thank you very much. Well, let me pray. God, our heavenly Father, We thank you that we can come here and gather today.

[6:40] We thank you that we can freely gather, In the name of Jesus. We know that many of your people around the world cannot do that, Without being persecuted, Without that in and of itself being illegal.

[6:56] We cannot open your word without it being illegal. Lord, we thank you, That we can do that in relative freedom today, Even if we are limited in number, we can.

[7:09] And so we thank you that we are. We thank you that you are with us today. You have always been with us. That Jesus said, I am with you even to the end of the age.

[7:24] So Lord, speak to us now through your spirit. Be with us and stir our hearts to hope. In your son's name.

[7:35] Amen. Well, John chapter 4, It's a big, big account. Many, many words have been said on this.

[7:49] Actually, a few years back, John preached on this, And he split it into three messages. So, we're not going to cover everything today. We're not going to get near it.

[8:01] If you were doing a lecture on this, You would focus on particular things. If you were preaching on this, Other things. If you were doing a Bible study, Other things. There's so much in this account.

[8:13] We're not going to cover all of it. But what we are going to focus in on Is the woman's testimony. And then Jesus' own words. But it's an amazing account.

[8:26] And this is a person who Who is really quite unexpected. And certainly, you know, We're used to this kind of stuff. Reading in hindsight. But the disciples were Really quite surprised That Jesus was doing this right then.

[8:41] And in fact, when you go through the Bible, God has done this over And over and over again. Has he not Drawn in the most unexpected people? Has his own son In the flesh not come through A lineage of people Who were outside Of the community of faith That were brought in Such as Ruth.

[9:06] You know, many, many people. And are we ourselves Not ones Who really shouldn't have belonged? At least that's what some people think.

[9:20] At least that's what surprised the Jews. But here we are. And we thank the Lord for it. Well, let me ask you There are names of well-known Christians That most of us will know Maybe you could shout one out Someone A well-known Christian Billy Graham My grandpa's called Billy Graham But he's not the Billy Graham Do anyone know Who brought Billy Graham To Christ?

[9:46] Maybe you do A guy called Mordecai What about I don't know Someone else John Piper Do anyone know Who brought John Piper To Christ?

[10:00] I believe it was his mother When he was a young lad Or who else? Do anyone know Who brought Charles Spurgeon To Christ? Sorry?

[10:14] Nobody does? Yeah, that's right That's right Just some random preacher Who preached on Isaiah 45-22 And the story is That he didn't say much about it You know, thank the Lord That he uses Us fools John always used to say to me If God can use a donkey to speak John has been loving and gracious But he's always kept me humble So here's the question Who's qualified to tell others About Christ, really?

[10:54] I mean, we know of people Who are well-known in the faith Throughout history Whether it's Augustine Or Martin Luther Or Charles Spurgeon Or whoever You know, the apostles themselves Brothers brought brothers And friends brought friends Who's qualified to tell others About Christ?

[11:13] Or what compels someone To tell others about Jesus? Or who can meet Jesus? Who can get an appointment With the King of Kings?

[11:26] And what does Jesus himself say? So here we have Jesus He's going to a famous well Make no mistake about it Jacob's well Was well-known And It was in a field Near a town In Samaria Called Sychar And this is a place Where no good Jew Would actually go In fact They would circle around Samaria Just to avoid going there And there's many reasons For that There was a long-standing feud Between the Jews And the Samaritans And they each had Their own version Of the Bible They each had Their own holy place To worship Both different One in Jerusalem For the Jews And Samaria For the Samaritans And they disagreed Over this They disagreed Over many things Mixing with foreigners Or their religion Being diluted And compromised And this made the Jews Really look down On the Samaritans And not only that It was actually Really uncommon And against etiquette For a man To speak to a woman In public Really And certainly For a Jew

[12:26] To speak with a Samaritan Or go anywhere Near Samaria But Jesus did many things That challenged Social and spiritual norms So in verse 6 We're told That it was the 6th hour Which was about noon And there's a footnote That says that Now when the sun Is at its hottest In a hot country That's really not the time To go on a heavy water run But here's this woman Who turns up at the well Nobody else is there But Jesus is Now it says That Jesus Had stopped there And sat down Wearied as he was From his journey And John's really focusing On Jesus' humanity At that point But make no mistake Jesus knows What he's doing And the disciples He sends into the town To go and get food He wants a moment With this woman He knows that this well Is famous He knows that it's noontime He knows this woman Is going to be here

[13:27] And really This should be a time Where nobody would be At that well Nobody should be out there In fact The woman used to gather To go to the well And it would make sense For safety reasons To go in a group But the woman would go In a group Early in the morning And maybe later on Again in the evening To get water But this woman Is going on her own And why is she Going on her own In fact As Jesus interacts With her We get a sense Of the answer In fact She's been through Husband After husband After husband Why does she have So many husbands Why Does nobody want To stay with this woman We don't know The answers To all these things But Jesus did In her words He seemed to know Everything about her It's clear That the Jews Don't want anything To do with the Samaritans

[14:27] That's clear But then as we Get to this moment It's clear From all the husbands That no man Wants anything To do with this woman And in fact The fact that She's at the well On her own In the hottest Time of the day It's clear That not even The women Want anything To do with this woman The Samaritans Were outcasts To the Jews She's an outcast Of outcasts Nobody wants Anything to do With this woman Nobody wants Anything to do With this woman Except Jesus Now if it wasn't For a number of details You would think That Jesus doesn't Have a clue About this woman Otherwise Why would he Go anywhere near her But Jesus knew That he was there He knew he was In Samaria He made the choice To go there He knew he was At a famous well He made the choice To stop there He knew it was Noontime He knew she was A woman He knew she was Alone At the well At noon And as they speak Jesus seemed to Know everything About this woman There's a thing

[15:28] They do in high school They do a yearbook I don't know if any Of you got a yearbook They do this thing It's more common In America They have a high school Yearbook And in the yearbook They put these Superlatives Of something That you would be Likely to do You know So Most likely to be A rock star Would be You know Chad Smith Or something like that Or most likely to be A comedian Or most likely to be Prom queen Or you know Whatever Now this woman In Samaria If she had a high school Yearbook The little superlative Under her name Would probably be Something like Most likely To be rejected By everybody Or most likely To end up Alone Certainly no one At this point No one would ever Think that her High school yearbook Superlative would be Most likely To meet the Christ Nobody would think That she would be Most likely To be accepted

[16:29] By God And certainly No one On earth Would think That her High school Yearbook Superlative Would be Most likely To start A revival Not her Not a Samaritan Not even a Samaritan Man Not a Samaritan Woman Who's rejected By Samaritan Women No Here's the question See if you had A high school Yearbook What would your Superlative be?

[16:56] How do you Think of yourself Even at this Moment? Where do you Fit into all of that? Have you Counted yourself out?

[17:09] Now if you've been In church for a while You're probably At the stage Where you do Know that you Can be accepted By God Maybe you're At the stage Of knowing That God Really does Want you It's an Astounding Thing Such a Wonderful Place to be Such a Wonderful Thing to know Not only can you Be forgiven And accepted By God But he wants You And loves You Yet I wonder If you have Written off The possibility That God Could use Even you See despite The differences Between the Jews and Samaritans They both Knew that A Messiah Was coming Jews and Samaritans Know that One day This man Would appear Not just A teacher Not just A religious Person Not just Another rabbi Or scribe Or priest Not even Just a prophet But someone Greater Not even Just another King Someone Greater You see For about A thousand Years since King David To this point There have been

[18:09] Many other kings There have been Plenty of prophets There have been Countless rabbis Teachers and priests But no one Has really made A difference In a thousand Years Neither rabbis Neither teachers Neither priests Neither prophets Neither kings No one's made a Difference In a thousand Years And this woman's Encounter goes From reluctantly Talking to some Random Jewish Man who Shouldn't really Be there And to then Perceiving that He's a prophet And to be honest That's probably The last person That she wants To talk to Is a prophet A holy man Of God But then she Tries to start A debate about Where the proper Place of worship Is And Jesus Gives her an Answer that She doesn't Expect But then she Changes the Subject She says One thing Jesus answers As she Changes the Subject Have you ever Experienced that When you're Talking with Someone Especially if You're talking With someone About Jesus Or about Faith Or about Hope Keep sidestepping Change the

[19:09] Topic Jesus Reveals Reveals Reveals Reveals Stuff About her That only She Knew So she Says You're A prophet Well you Will know This Then You're A prophet You'll Know This What about This worship Business Who's Right Us The Jews And Jesus Sees right Through And tells Her that Basically both Have missed What worship Is about She then Changes the Subject She didn't Get the Answer she Wanted from The prophet So she Says Well you Know when Messiah Comes He will Tell us All things I know That Messiah Is coming I know That When he Comes He will Tell us All things Now if You want A place Where Jesus Explicitly Says who He is Then look At verse 26 Jesus Himself In his Own Words Is calling Himself The Messiah That's a Huge thing That got him Into a lot Of trouble Later in His ministry Whatever

[20:09] Anyone else Says about Jesus You will Come across Places like This where Jesus Himself Claims to Be the Christ He's Claiming to Be the One The chosen King The promised Sent by God The one Who will Free his People The one Who will Defeat The enemy And bring Peace To the World The one As they Say at The end Of this Passage The saviour Of the World That is Who Jesus Is claiming To be See she Says Yeah Yeah Okay Mr.

[20:39] Prophet When the Chosen One Comes He will Tell us All things And Jesus Says I who Speak To you Am he I am The Christ I have Come I'm Here So then She runs Into town She says Come see A man Who told Me all That I Ever Did Remember She said When Messiah Comes he Will tell Us all Things Is that Not what Jesus Just did Come see A man Who told Me Everything He did What she Said The Christ Would do And that's Why she Then said Can this Be the Christ Many Believed Because of Her Testimony Whatever Their Beliefs Were I'm Sure No one Would Think Especially Her That when The Christ Actually Did Come That it Would Be to This Place Samaria And Certainly Not to This Woman But Jesus Went out His Way To A place Jews Would Not Normally Go To Interact With Her

[22:07] See In That Encounter Her Question About Worship Is Not Only Answered But Is Experienced Now That the Christ Has Arrived Even Today People Get Mixed Up About What Worship Is All About But Here We See In The Samaritan Women's Question When Jesus Leads Her Through It She Doesn't Get An Answer She Gets An Experience She Finds Out What True Worship Is About See Now That The Christ Has Arrived Questions About Which Mountain Or Temple Are Irrelevant Belief In The One Who God Sent Is The Worship He Requires See Faith In Christ Is The Worship In Spirit And Truth Because Faith In Christ Is The Proper Posture Of The Heart Towards God To Accept The Father Is To Accept The One That He Sent His

[23:07] Son No One Can Come To The Father Except Through The Son I Had An Experience A Few Years Back When I Was Going To Egypt And At The Airport I Saw This This Group Of Jewish Men And How Could I Tell Because They Had The Hats The Soots The Curly Bits And All That Kind Of Stuff And The Big Beards And I Thought To Myself These People Are Probably Incredibly More Devoted Than I Am Their Daily Devotion Far Exceeds Mines Most Likely In Fact Unlike Other Religions They Worship The True God They Actually Worship The True Living God The God Of Israel The God Of Abraham Isaac And Jacob That's Who Their God Is The One True God And Their Devotion Far Exceeds Mines Likely How Is It That I Can Be In Proper standing With God And Them Not How Is It I

[24:09] Mean We Know How Inadequate We Are And How Unworthy We Are We Know Our Own Failings But In That Moment I Remembered The Gospel And It Just Was So Clear Crystal Clear To Reject The Son Is To Reject The Father To Accept The Son Is To Accept The Father You Cannot Worship God The Father Without Believing In The Son It's As Simple As That He Is The One Who Was Sent And Jesus Told A Parable About That Didn't He About The Folks Who Who Were Running The Vineyard They Were Running The Vineyard And God Sent The Servants To Collect Which Was The Prophets And They Killed Everyone And Then God Said Well Maybe If I Send My Son They'll Respect That He Sent His Son And They Wanted The Inheritance So They Killed The Son It's As Simple As That To Believe In The

[25:09] Son Is The True Worship So She Has An Experience Of What True Worship Is She Doesn't Just Get An Answer She Has An Experience It's Not About A Church Building It's Not About A Mountain Or A Temple It's Actually About Putting Your Faith In The Son Who Was Sent That Is The Worship That He Thing So In This Very Encounter Her Heart Is Changed And She Experiences True Worship Irrespective Of Her Location True Worship In Samaria Unthinkable To A Jew But She Sees Jesus As The Christ And She Believes And In This Encounter Is The Very Thing That Compels Her To Tell Others About Christ Now If You're A Christian Then You Are A Christian Because You Have Had An Encounter

[26:09] With Christ Whether You See It That Way Or Not If You Have Faith That Jesus Is The Christ Whether You Were Brought Up In A Church Or Not At Some Point Your Heart Has Turned Toward God Through Jesus I'm Not Saying That Everyone Has A Big Definitive Experience Like This Woman But If You Truly Have Faith If You Your Heart That Your Affections Were Suddenly Turned On To God Through Jesus That You Knew That He Was The Saviour The Son Of God That You Felt In Your Heart The Peace Of Your Sins Forgiven And You Being Right Before God That You Felt In Your Heart The Love Of God Toward Even You And A Sudden Love And Longing For God Yourself That Has Happened If You Are A Christian Is That Not What Peter Says In Peter's Letter Though You Have Not Seen Him You Love Him How

[27:10] Is That Possible I Don't Know About You But I Was Once An Enemy Of God I Once Cursed God I Once Walked By A Church Every Other Day With A Big Statement Of Jesus And I Cursed It Though You Have Not Seen Him You Love That's Me And You Blessed And Why Does He Say That To Thomas Because Not Everybody Is Going To See Jesus Like Thomas Did But Rather Thomas Needs To Know That As A Witness Of Jesus He Will Be Asking Others To Believe Upon His Testimony Something That He Wasn't Willing To Do At First When The Other Disciples Came And Gave Testimony Jesus Isn't Looking For People Who Will Only Believe When They See But Rather

[28:10] Those Who Will Believe The Testimony Of Truth Something We Are Seeing Throughout Acts And Something We Must Trust That God Empowers Even Us In Our Own Lives As We Testify About Jesus To Others And This Is What This Samaritan Woman Felt And Full Of New Life And Enthusiasm She Ran And Told Everyone Everyone In Town And You Might Think Well Isn't That Nice The Enthusiasm Of A New Believer Lovely But Is That Not One Of The Best Things To Motivate And Compel Someone To Tell Others That You Have Had An Encounter With Jesus For Yourself And The Effects Of The Good News Applied To Your Own Life When You Know How Good The Good News Is You Want To Share It And We Have All Likely Been At Various Wells In Our Lives Drawing From Various Sources Over And Over Again Yet Never Satisfied Always Wanting But When You Know That In Jesus Is Eternal Life You Needn't Look Anywhere Else Ever Again What

[29:11] You Felt The Hour You First Believed Shouldn't Be Left In A Category Of Past Experiences It Should Make You Glad Every Day Because It's The Essence Of How The Good News Applies To You Every Day It's The Present Reality Of The Good News Is So Good So Good Even Me Unless We Truly Feel That And Experience That We Likely Will Not Go Out And Tell Others Or If We Are Bold Enough And We Do With Our Words We Might Not Be Very Convincing See The Kind Of Person Who Is Able To Tell Others About Jesus Isn't Just A Trained And Ordained It's Anyone Who's Met Jesus For Themselves Now I'm

[30:11] Going To Guess That All Of You Who Have Had A Church Experience Through Your Life Believe That You Believe That You Know That Even If It's Just In Theory But What Do We Do In Practice Who Is Qualified To Tell Others About Jesus See We Look At The Disciples This Ragtag Bunch Of Fishermen And All Sorts We Think Yeah Anyone Can Do This But Jesus Then Commissioned Them And Trained Them And They Became Apostles They Became Set Apart And We Think Okay That's The Work For Them Not Us And Do We Do The Same Thing With With Pastors Or Evangelists Or Whoever Anyone Jesus Can Use Anyone And Anything And He Will A Pastor A Minister Only Leaders Or People That Have Studied Theology Or Maybe Only Those Who Have Been Training In Evangelism The Woman

[31:12] Of Samaria Destroys All Of These Presuppositions And Pre Requisites You Might Think But Who Is Going To Listen To Me Who Is Going To Listen To Me I'm Not Good With Words I'm Not Popular Who Is Going To Listen To Me Who Is Going To Believe Me Who Would Listen To This Woman Why Do You Think Anyone Listened To This Woman Why Do You Think Verse 39 Anyone Believed Because Of Her Testimony It Wasn't Because She Was Trained Wasn't Because She Was Ordained Wasn't Because She Was Upstanding Citizen Wasn't As If She Was Popular Or Even Credible She Wasn't Even Liked She Could Have Made The Whole Thing Up It Could Have Been A Cry For Help But It Wasn't I I Think People Listened And Believed Because She Was So Convinced About This Man That He Was Here And She Was Accepted By Him They

[32:12] Were So Convinced That She Had Some Sort Of Encounter That She Believed She Met The Actual Messiah And She Told Him That He Told Her Everything That She Ever Did They Saw It In The Manner Of Her Movement Running Into Town Without The Water Jars That She Took Why Why Would You Travel All The Way Out In The Middle Of The Day In The Hottest Part Of The Day With These Heavy Jars To Get Water And Then Come Back With Nothing She Came Back With Everything She Told Everyone About It And They Saw It You Get That Sometimes You See It In A Person Wow This Is Real They Really Believe This So Much So She Left Her Water Jars For Her There Was No More Need For Jacob's Well That's The Thing If You Go Through John's Gospel You See This You See This Contrast Between Old Water And

[33:12] New Water All The Things Of The Old System Being Left Behind I Don't Know Are You Carrying About Your Your Old Water Jars Still Have You Left Your Old Water Jars Behind Are You Still Lugging At About Trying To Quench The Thirst Of Your Soul With Other Things It's Not Going To Work It's Never Going To Work Old Water And New Water Jesus Water Is Living Water Eternal Life So Who Is Qualified To Tell Others About Jesus Every Single Person In This Room Without Exception Everyone Is More Than Able To Tell Others About Jesus Because If You've Encountered Him For Yourself You Have A Story About Jesus You Might Think I Don't Have A Great Testimony But Let Let Let Let Tell You A Bit About That Word It's Used In Unhelpful Ways You'll Hear A Lot About That Word In Court Because You're Asked To

[34:12] Testify To The Truth Of Things You're Not Asked To Give An Account About Your Own Life Your Testimony Is About Him Not You The Truth Is Every Christian Has The Most Amazing Testimony Because Their Testimony Is About Jesus And Not Them Now Don't Get Me Wrong Your Encounter Is Quite Unique To You That Is Your Story But It's Not Quite About You We Sometimes Think Of A Good Testimony In Terms Of A Radical Change And Maybe The Case That Somebody Is Radically Not About Our Lives For Instance Imagine Hearing This Woman's Testimony Imagine She Runs Into Town And She Starts Airing Out Her Dirty Laundry I Was Once This Yeah We Know We Know Who You Are That's Why We Don't Want Anything To Do With You But She Goes In And She Tells Them About Jesus Any One Of Us Can Tell Someone Something About Jesus And Without Feeling

[35:12] At All Inadequate Because Of Who We Are Or What's Going On In Our Life You Don't Need To Be Ordained You Don't Need To Be In Any Position You Don't Need To Be Good At Public Speaking You Certainly Don't Need To Have Some Radical Change In Your Life It's Not About Us We Testify About The Messiah Who He Is What He Has Done Our Story Is About How That Came To Apply To Us The Good News Who Can Tell Others About Jesus Any One Of Us Is That Not What Peter Says Be Prepared To Give A Reason For The Hope That Is In You He Doesn't Even Say Be Prepared To Give A Defense Of The Faith Which Is A Good Thing But He's Talking About Suffering And The Fact That Christians Have This Strange Peculiar Hope That Should Beg The Question Of Others Why Is It Amidst All Of This That You Have Hope Because We Don't I

[36:15] Don't Know What It's Like In The World Maybe People Have This Great Hope In 2021 And I Hate To Say It's Going To Disappoint Hope Is In All The Wrong Things Don't Put Your Hope In A New Year Put Your Hope In The One Who Brings New Life We Hold A Hope That This World Cannot Offer People We Should Hold It Out To Them We Know About The Light That Overcomes The Darkness Of This World We Should Shine It We Know About The Good News Amidst This Constant Barrage Of Bad News Should We Not Tell Others About It Doesn't Mean You Need To Be An Evangelist Doesn't Mean You Need To Be A Public Speaker Or Anything Just Find That Thing That You Can Tell Someone About Jesus Something Something Of The Hope That You Have The Joy That You Have The Promise That You Have The Life That Is In Him Something

[37:17] About The Reality Of Who He Is And How That Makes The World Of Difference What Compels Anyone To Tell Us About Jesus Your Your Own You To Tell Us Now Let Me Be Realistic As Well I Know That Not Everyone Here Will Feel Like They Are Fresh Off An Encounter With Christ And We Live In A World Where The Good News Is Thought Of Simply As Old News And Not Particularly Good Anyway And Maybe You've Had A Hard Time Recently Maybe You've Had A Hard Time In Which The Good News Which You Once New Now Seems A Bit Old And Maybe Not Even Good Let Me Remind You Who Jesus Is Jesus Wasn't Just A Man Who Became God Or Even The Son Of God At Some Certain Point The Son Of God Became Man And Was Named Jesus Not Just Another Priest Not Just Another Rabbi Not Just Another Teacher Not A Good Teacher Not

[38:17] A Moral Teacher Not Any Of That Not Just The One Who Is Coming Into The World The Savior Of The World And The Beginning Was The Word And The Word Was With God And The Word Was God This Is Talking About The Historical Man Jesus Jesus Is That One Who Was In The Beginning With God All Things Were Made Through Him And Without Him Was Not Anything Made That Was Made The Real Historical Jesus Was The Creator Of All He Created All Things That Were Ever Created And In Him Is Life The Life Is The Light Of Man And The Light Shines In The Darkness The Darkness Has Not Overcome It The True Light Which Gives Light To Everything Who Gives Life To Everything He Was Coming Into The World This Is What The Woman Said Isn't It Messiah Is Coming The Savior Of The World

[39:17] The Word Became Flesh The Son Of God Became Man He Dwelt Amongst Us And His Name Was Jesus He Turned The Water Into Wine He Multiplied Bread And Fish He Calmed The Storm He Walked On The Sea He Cast Out Demons And He He Raised The Dead Only God Can Do This Only The Creator Can Control The Elements But This Is The Real Historical Jesus Doing These Things The Man He He Knows The Heart And Thoughts Of Every Man He Sees Each One Of Us Right Now And Can Tell Us All That We Have Ever Did Jesus Knows All That We Have Ever Did Yet Despite Knowing The Worst About Us He Came To Die In Our Place So That We Could Be For All Of It That's Who Jesus Is Of Course We Should Tell Others About Him He You

[40:21] Will End Up Dead But In Him Is Life And Him Alone Is Eternal Life For He Is The Source Of All Life So We Look To Him Our Faith Is In Him And In Him We Will Never Thirst Again You Will See In The End When The World Disappoints Because It Will But Any And All Who Trust In The Christ Will Never Be Disappointed See This Jesus Might But He's

[41:22] The Word Who Was In The Beginning He Became Flesh And He Gave Us The Word So That Through His Word We Could We Could Come To Him And He Could Come To Us And We Could Meet Jesus Look At The Woman Of Samaria If Jesus Went Out His Way To Meet Her Don't You Think That Shows That He's Not Partial If He Could Accept Her Surely He And He Has If It Was Up To Jesus Disciples To Arrange His Appointments This Woman Wouldn't Get A Look In And By The Way Neither Would Me Or You But Jesus Knows Something They Don't In fact Jesus Knew Everything About This Woman And He Knows Everything About Us If The Disciples Knew Half Of What Jesus Knew About Her She Definitely Wouldn't Get An Appointment But Jesus We Ask And How Someone Appears On The

[42:22] Outside Doesn't Necessarily Indicate How They Are On The Inside If It Was Up To Us To Make Appointments For Jesus How Many People Would We Rule Out I Tell You What I Would Probably Rule Myself Out I Would Probably Walk Across The Other Side Of The Street If I Saw Myself 20 Years Ago We Shouldn't Ever Think That Someone Can't Encounter Jesus Just Because Of How Complicated Or Messed Up Or How Far Away We Think They Are Imagine If Jesus Was Physically Present In His Church Today Imagine If Jesus Was Here At Our Service We Wouldn't Hesitate To Invite People To Church And Of Course That Would Be The Case Come And Meet Jesus Who Wouldn't Come Everyone Would Come But He Isn't Visible Here Like Me Just Abstract That We Are Talking About Well I Think That People Can Meet Jesus We Are Just Going To Look At Two Ways Number

[43:22] One Indirectly Through You And Directly Through Through The Living Word So What Does Jesus Say Himself See You Can Tell People About Jesus And You Can Also Bring Them To His Word And Let Him Do The Talking If You Are A F F Jesus Then You Have A Story Of Why You Follow Him And You Also Have Access To His Word Which You Can Open With Anyone At Any Time And Let Jesus Do The Talking Or You Can Answer Their Questions With His Word With The Truth Give Your Testimony Why Do You Follow Jesus Does That Not Intrigue People I Remember When I First Became A Christian My Family Are Not Believers My Family My Mum My Dad My Brother Taking A Wee Sneak Peek At My Bible In My Room I Want To Know What This

[44:23] Is About That I Got In In And Thanks To The Grace Of God That I Did Not Spoil Any Witness And All The Foolish Things That I Did When I Was A First Believer But May He Never Let That Enthusiasm Go Away To Know The Good News And Be Able To Share It And Be Living As Such That Hope And Light Just Exudes From You Because You Know Jesus God Is At Work In People Long Before We Get There Don't Ever Think That You Are The First Person On The Scene It's Not It's Not Just This Big Moment That You You Have To Make Right You Have To Get The Words Right If God Can Use Me Up Here He Can Use Anyone Of You If God Can Use A Donkey To Speak He Can Use Me And He Can Use You He Can Use Any Of Our Words When We Give Testimony About His Son Because He's Likely Been Doing A Working People Long Before We Ever Got There Long Before That Isn't

[45:25] This What Jesus Said Himself About All The Stuff About The Harvest God Had Been There Long Before Them Doing A Work In These People They Were Just Reaping A Harvest That Somebody Else Had Labored Encounter Jesus Through His Word We Were Doing A Book Called Words Of Life By Timothy Ward In College And In The Book He Says That God Identifies Himself Such With His Promises That To Encounter His Promises Is To Encounter God In Action See This Is Not A Dead Word It's Not Just An Old Dusty Book This Is The Living Word Of God These Are Words Of Life Remember When Jesus Turned To The Disciples And Said Do You Want To Leave As Well And Peter Said Lord To Whom Would We Go You Are The One With The Words Of Life You And Do We Not Feel It Do We Not Feel It When We That

[46:33] Is In It Refresh Yourself In The Good News As Often As You Can For Yourself To Encounter Jesus And The Good News And His Promises He Is Coming To You And His Promises Because That Will Be One Of The Most Powerful Things To Compel You To Tell Others There's This Story About Billy Graham At A Dinner Party Where He Was Asked Billy Have You He Could Have Started Preaching At That Moment He Could Have Launched Into A Sermon Seized The Opportunity Or Going On In Response He He He He Said No I Used To Hate Going To Church Until I Was 18 And Something Happened That Completely Changed My Mind That Was All He Said Now The Person Could Have Said Interesting And Then Moved On But We Know That Nobody Is Going To Do That When That That You Can Probably Guess

[47:33] What They Said Tell Tell Billy What Happened If You Hated This And Something Changed What Happened See We Don't We Don't Need To Shove A Gob Stopper Down People's Throats Just Give Them A Little Bit A Little Bit Of Bread A Little Bit Of The Bread Of Life A Little Taste Taste And See That The Lord Is Good Ask Questions As Well You Can Have A Great Conversation By Just Listening To People And Asking Them Questions Asking Questions About What They Believe Why They Believe It Rather Than Just Making Statements About What We Believe They Might Say I Don't Believe This Because Of This And We Might Say Well I Do Because Of This And That's The End Of The Conversation But Instead You Can Ask Well Where Does That Leave You In Terms Of Hope Or Whatever What Is What Is It That Gives

[48:33] You Reason To Hope That 2021 Is Going To Be Any Better What Makes You Think That Any One Of Us Can Avoid Death And What Gives You Any Sort Of Comfort In Death The More Questions That You Ask The Less Likely You'll Be Tempted To Shoehorn Jesus In But An Even Better Way Is Just To Let Him Do The Speaking Himself The Words The Word Of God Is Powerful Bringing People To His Word Is Going To Be More Powerful Than Any Other Words From Any Other People Out There You Have A Wonderful Story About Why You Follow Jesus And That's Like The Woman Who Ran Into Syker Shouting About The Christ Many Believe Because Of Our Testimony

[49:34] But Many More Believed When They Heard The Words Of Jesus They Said Now We Do Not Believe Just Because Of Your Words But We Have Heard Ourselves We Don't Even Need To Worry About Defending God's Word God Can Do That Himself This Has Been Under Scrutiny And Persecution For Thousands Of Years And It Is Held Up The Whole Universe Will Pass Away Before The Word Of The Lord Passes Away We Don't Any Worry About Making A Defense For God Just Bring People To The Word Let The Spirit Speak Let The Truth Speak For Itself Let Jesus Speak For Himself Don't Be Afraid To Encourage Someone To Open A Bible Or Share A Verse With Them See What God Does With It See Let Me Encourage You To Both Remember Who Told You About Jesus And Also Remember Why You Believe And Let That Compel You To Tell Others About The Greatest News That You Have Ever Heard I'm

[50:35] So Grateful The Only Reason Why Any Of Us Are Here Is Because Jesus Is The Christ The Son Of God The Only Reason Why Any Of Us Are Here Is Because John Told Us About The Water That He Gives And We Are Now Experiencing That Spring Of Water Welling Up To Eternal Life For Ourselves As John Said At The End Of His Book By Believing That Jesus Is The Christ The Son Of God You Will Have Life In His Name And Boy Do We Need That Let's Not Have Ourselves Put Any Sort Of Hope In 2021 Or Any Sort Of Hope And These Things That Might Be Promises From The World To Make Things Better It's Never Going To Last That's Not To Say We Can't Enjoy And Celebrate These Good Things But Let Us Let Us Have Our Hope And Faith And The One Who Makes All Things New The One Who Is Coming Who Has

[51:35] Come And Is Coming Again And When We See The World Scrambling About We Have The Answer Let Us Not Be Shy To Let Not Withhold It And Let Us Not Be Shy To Share It Don't Worry About Stumbling Over Your Words Just See What God Can Do With Someone Like Me And You Amen Well David's Going To Bring Us A Song Just Now And We're Going To Give Thanks To The Lord Knowing That The True Worship Is A Posture Of A Heart Towards Christ The One Who Was Seen Heavenly Father We Thank You That Someone Told Us The Good News About Your Son Jesus We Could Know About You The God Of Israel But Never Know About Jesus Your Son Or We Could Listen To So Many People Throughout History Who Have Rejected Jesus Or So Many People In Our Own Time Who Still Reject Jesus Who Say Many Things About Jesus Who

[52:35]  He Is And Who He Isn't But Lord We Thank You That Someone Told Us The Truth And Gave Testimony About Your Son Jesus That He Is The Savior Of The World And Because Of That We Now Experience Life In His Name Lord Give Us The Boldness To Share That And Let Us Celebrate And Rejoice And Give You Glory And Worship Forever Through Your Son Jesus Amen