WEBVTT 00:00:00.880 --> 00:00:10.339 John Newton was a slave trader who met the Lord Jesus in the Bible and he became a Christian. 00:00:10.339 --> 00:00:14.519 ! He went on to write the famous hymn Amazing Grace. 00:00:15.640 --> 00:00:21.699 ! John Owen was a kind of questioning, sceptical Christian, I guess. 00:00:22.320 --> 00:00:28.460 He went to a service in a church with a preacher that nobody knows whose name he was. 00:00:28.460 --> 00:00:36.679 And he heard the gospel and was converted and was fully assured of his Christian faith. 00:00:37.960 --> 00:00:48.500 There's a story, it goes, of a guy who went to a Christian meeting strapped with an explosive jacket to explode and blow up the Christians in the meeting. 00:00:49.200 --> 00:00:53.600 He heard the gospel preached and he left the meeting as a Christian. 00:00:53.600 --> 00:00:58.859 It is very powerful, isn't it, to hear stories like that. 00:00:59.859 --> 00:01:08.879 There is something quite persuasive about hearing personal stories of God doing tangible things in people's lives. 00:01:10.240 --> 00:01:19.240 And in our passage today, we see the powerful effects of one person's story on the belief of others. 00:01:19.239 --> 00:01:29.159 Jesus has revealed his identity to this woman as the Messiah, to this woman who is from Samaria. 00:01:30.199 --> 00:01:39.259 We didn't read the whole conversation in the interest of time, but I want to concentrate on the aftermath in verses 39 to 42 at the bottom of your sheets there. 00:01:39.260 --> 00:01:47.160 Where we see there, don't we, that her story is the means that others come to believe. 00:01:48.460 --> 00:01:59.100 By the end of that section at the end, we see that the woman's story actually moves into the background as Jesus himself becomes the basis of their faith in him. 00:01:59.099 --> 00:02:04.379 But I want to spend time this afternoon thinking about how that works. 00:02:05.619 --> 00:02:11.000 We're looking at the subject of belief, what belief is in John's Gospel. 00:02:11.919 --> 00:02:18.639 So I want to ask the question, what is the role of the Christian story and Christian testimony? 00:02:18.639 --> 00:02:27.799 How important is your journey of faith for others looking in to Christianity? 00:02:29.019 --> 00:02:34.159 And if you are one of those people looking in, how important are the stories of other Christians? 00:02:34.500 --> 00:02:36.879 How much notice should you take of them? 00:02:37.959 --> 00:02:39.539 Just a couple of things to think about. 00:02:39.639 --> 00:02:42.500 First of all, the power of the woman's story. 00:02:43.500 --> 00:02:45.219 The power of the woman's story. 00:02:45.219 --> 00:02:53.300 We come, don't we, at the end of this encounter that this woman at the well has with Jesus Christ. 00:02:54.280 --> 00:02:57.460 You can go back and read the rest of it in John 4. 00:02:57.560 --> 00:03:03.000 It's been an intense, transformative encounter for her with him. 00:03:04.300 --> 00:03:10.560 Jesus has exposed her needs as he has scrutinised her past. 00:03:11.360 --> 00:03:13.199 The woman who's had five husbands. 00:03:13.199 --> 00:03:19.659 And by the end of it, she leaves with a clear claim that Jesus is the Messiah. 00:03:19.839 --> 00:03:20.959 That's what he says, isn't it? 00:03:22.060 --> 00:03:25.359 The basic point here is that she has met with Jesus. 00:03:26.479 --> 00:03:27.879 She has been with him. 00:03:28.919 --> 00:03:31.679 He's put his finger on a number of issues in her life. 00:03:32.359 --> 00:03:34.339 And given her hope again. 00:03:34.339 --> 00:03:39.259 He has cleared things up that have been confusing for her. 00:03:39.259 --> 00:03:44.139 We know that this woman was likely to have been a bit of an outcast. 00:03:44.259 --> 00:03:48.340 Jesus meets her at this well, we're told, at a time when everyone else was at home. 00:03:48.979 --> 00:03:50.639 At the hottest part of the day. 00:03:51.599 --> 00:03:53.439 She's a bit of a loner, isn't she? 00:03:54.759 --> 00:03:57.579 Perhaps because of her sexual history. 00:03:58.579 --> 00:04:01.060 She's a shameful character, a little bit. 00:04:01.060 --> 00:04:07.120 But she leaves the well with a totally different outlook. 00:04:07.840 --> 00:04:09.819 And a totally different feeling in her life. 00:04:10.219 --> 00:04:11.539 Look down to verse 28. 00:04:15.479 --> 00:04:20.100 So the woman left her water jar and went away into town and said to the people, 00:04:20.259 --> 00:04:22.620 Come see a man who told me all that I ever did. 00:04:23.079 --> 00:04:24.519 It's a great little detail, isn't it? 00:04:24.519 --> 00:04:26.279 She leaves her water jar. 00:04:27.319 --> 00:04:31.879 She leaves the well forgetting why she was there in the first place. 00:04:32.899 --> 00:04:35.779 She leaves the well with a totally new agenda. 00:04:36.680 --> 00:04:38.199 To tell people about Jesus. 00:04:38.359 --> 00:04:39.759 To tell her story. 00:04:41.120 --> 00:04:44.740 It's not at all what she was planning to do that day, is it? 00:04:45.899 --> 00:04:47.240 But it was real. 00:04:47.579 --> 00:04:48.899 It was a real encounter. 00:04:49.079 --> 00:04:50.719 It wasn't a made-up story. 00:04:50.720 --> 00:04:54.400 Notice how the response is in verse 30. 00:04:54.580 --> 00:04:59.300 In response to her story, the towns start coming to Jesus, don't they? 00:05:00.500 --> 00:05:04.880 It's not that this woman is just a mad, crazy lady shouting things on the street. 00:05:05.980 --> 00:05:07.720 She's not known for sensationalism. 00:05:08.480 --> 00:05:11.240 She's not known for naivety in this way. 00:05:12.380 --> 00:05:16.520 There's a kind of authenticity in her voice, in her demeanour. 00:05:17.420 --> 00:05:18.480 She's changed. 00:05:18.480 --> 00:05:21.300 Because the encounter was real. 00:05:22.480 --> 00:05:23.759 She was a sceptic. 00:05:23.879 --> 00:05:26.160 She was confused about worship. 00:05:27.140 --> 00:05:32.560 But now she's seriously considering Christ's claims and telling other people about him. 00:05:33.040 --> 00:05:35.439 And the townspeople see her, don't they? 00:05:35.740 --> 00:05:39.759 And they hear her story and are attracted to Jesus. 00:05:41.060 --> 00:05:46.740 Despite, or even because of her notorious past, it is powerful. 00:05:46.740 --> 00:05:52.699 There is great power in the words that she uses. 00:05:53.900 --> 00:05:55.319 Come see. 00:05:56.019 --> 00:05:58.720 A man who told me everything that I ever did. 00:05:59.199 --> 00:05:59.819 Come and see. 00:06:00.000 --> 00:06:04.980 They're the words that Jesus uses himself back in chapter 1 with his first disciples. 00:06:06.600 --> 00:06:08.939 Philip says, come and see. 00:06:09.519 --> 00:06:10.800 To his friend Nathaniel. 00:06:10.800 --> 00:06:17.139 There's great power in personal story, in personal invitation. 00:06:18.319 --> 00:06:18.980 Isn't there? 00:06:19.540 --> 00:06:21.920 Come and see a man who told me everything I ever did. 00:06:22.020 --> 00:06:24.900 Come and see a man who has worked me out. 00:06:25.759 --> 00:06:28.639 Who knows me and who knows all of my needs. 00:06:29.780 --> 00:06:32.580 And could he be the one that we've all been waiting for? 00:06:32.680 --> 00:06:33.660 Could he be the Christ? 00:06:33.660 --> 00:06:36.180 There is great power in the come and see. 00:06:38.439 --> 00:06:47.340 Some Bible commentators, as they look at this passage, they want to discount the power of personal stories. 00:06:48.340 --> 00:06:49.300 Personal testimony. 00:06:49.520 --> 00:06:54.540 Because in the end, what happens is the people of the town, verse 42, they say, 00:06:54.540 --> 00:06:59.720 It's no longer because of what you said, woman, that we believe. 00:07:01.040 --> 00:07:10.439 And the word in verse 42, the word said, in the original Greek, can be used to kind of mean prattle. 00:07:11.300 --> 00:07:13.020 Or just talk. 00:07:14.000 --> 00:07:15.520 It's just chit-chat. 00:07:16.700 --> 00:07:17.580 And maybe that's true. 00:07:17.640 --> 00:07:19.900 Maybe that word does have that kind of sense about it. 00:07:19.899 --> 00:07:25.639 So there's this suggestion at the end that the woman's story is not important at all. 00:07:25.799 --> 00:07:30.639 But, what those commentators do is miss out verse 39 in this. 00:07:31.519 --> 00:07:32.899 If you just look at verse 39. 00:07:34.339 --> 00:07:39.079 John shows us that in God's plan, what she said wasn't actually just prattle. 00:07:40.739 --> 00:07:41.539 Verse 39. 00:07:41.539 --> 00:07:46.299 Many Samaritans from that town believed in him because of the woman's testimony. 00:07:46.300 --> 00:07:53.280 The word used for testimony in the language that John wrote in is the word logos. 00:07:54.860 --> 00:07:55.340 Word. 00:07:56.300 --> 00:07:58.660 It's the same word that he used in the prologue. 00:07:58.759 --> 00:08:03.480 The logos, who was God and who was with God in the beginning. 00:08:03.920 --> 00:08:05.819 The logos, who became flesh. 00:08:07.060 --> 00:08:10.699 And so, the word testimony is actually a really helpful English word. 00:08:10.699 --> 00:08:15.019 Because it implies something that holds great value, doesn't it? 00:08:16.300 --> 00:08:17.180 A power. 00:08:18.160 --> 00:08:21.560 Like a testimony or a witness in court. 00:08:22.680 --> 00:08:23.800 It is a word. 00:08:23.939 --> 00:08:26.439 It is a logos that can sway a jury. 00:08:27.319 --> 00:08:28.680 It has power. 00:08:30.139 --> 00:08:35.259 And the woman's testimony, the woman's word, moves the whole town towards Jesus. 00:08:37.460 --> 00:08:42.539 We do need to note that something spectacular is happening in John 4. 00:08:42.879 --> 00:08:44.259 This is not normal, is it? 00:08:44.259 --> 00:08:47.379 In that this is a Samaritan town. 00:08:47.519 --> 00:08:49.980 It's not an ordinary testimony. 00:08:50.200 --> 00:08:51.399 It's not an ordinary day. 00:08:52.259 --> 00:09:01.100 This event, where all these people come out to Jesus, marks a moment in the work of God where Jesus will bring the nations to himself. 00:09:01.100 --> 00:09:06.639 This passage is here as the disciples get their heads around that. 00:09:06.639 --> 00:09:10.399 It's a watershed moment in the life of God's people. 00:09:10.580 --> 00:09:15.279 But it will be a ministry to non-Jews as well as the Jews. 00:09:15.279 --> 00:09:21.699 But I do think we learn in her story that there is power in the come and see. 00:09:21.700 --> 00:09:37.640 Most of the people that I know, at least, who have been in our church recently, who have come and they've been converted to Christianity or they've just started visiting, have come as a result of personal invitation. 00:09:37.639 --> 00:09:41.159 Not all of them, but many of them have. 00:09:41.159 --> 00:09:49.319 A lady who came because a work colleague got into a conversation with her about Jesus in the staff room at school. 00:09:49.539 --> 00:09:50.419 Come and see. 00:09:51.719 --> 00:09:54.719 Next door neighbours of a couple in church who invited them along. 00:09:54.819 --> 00:09:55.399 Come and see. 00:09:56.719 --> 00:10:02.240 A mum whose kid goes to the same toddler group in Hanwell as some of the other church mum's kids. 00:10:02.419 --> 00:10:03.139 Come and see. 00:10:03.139 --> 00:10:05.199 It happens, doesn't it? 00:10:05.199 --> 00:10:05.879 It happens. 00:10:06.340 --> 00:10:08.080 And it's the power of the come and see. 00:10:08.220 --> 00:10:09.480 And we underestimate it. 00:10:10.679 --> 00:10:13.319 The whole town probably won't come. 00:10:14.439 --> 00:10:17.360 But sometimes all it takes is a simple invitation. 00:10:18.439 --> 00:10:28.419 The come and see of one Christian who has been impacted with Jesus is where belief starts for many other people, isn't it? 00:10:29.379 --> 00:10:31.419 There is power in the woman's story. 00:10:33.139 --> 00:10:36.720 But secondly, I think we need to be really careful. 00:10:38.100 --> 00:10:40.000 We need to be cautious here. 00:10:41.139 --> 00:10:45.399 Because we also see the limits of the woman's story. 00:10:47.100 --> 00:10:57.539 In comparison to meeting Jesus himself, it is right actually that her talk was just that talk. 00:10:59.159 --> 00:11:02.740 John says the people believed because of the woman's testimony. 00:11:03.139 --> 00:11:13.620 But if you've been here over the last few weeks, what we've seen in John's Gospel is the word belief, the word believe, has a lot of different sides to it. 00:11:13.620 --> 00:11:16.539 There's genuine belief. 00:11:16.539 --> 00:11:18.899 There's false belief. 00:11:19.139 --> 00:11:20.539 There's beginner's belief. 00:11:21.500 --> 00:11:22.460 Skeptic's belief. 00:11:22.620 --> 00:11:23.700 Outward belief. 00:11:24.519 --> 00:11:26.100 Mature belief. 00:11:27.480 --> 00:11:34.620 And whilst the Samaritans believe at this point, there are definitely two stages of belief going on here. 00:11:34.620 --> 00:11:41.580 Because later on, after they've spent time with Jesus himself, the belief seems to graduate. 00:11:42.840 --> 00:11:44.940 It seems to be filled out more. 00:11:45.100 --> 00:11:48.200 It seems to be consolidated and strengthened. 00:11:48.200 --> 00:11:52.180 And drop your eye down to verse 42 again. 00:11:53.780 --> 00:11:59.520 No longer do we believe because of what you said, for we've heard for ourselves. 00:12:00.820 --> 00:12:03.120 There's been a shift there, hasn't there? 00:12:04.060 --> 00:12:09.600 From what was before to no longer and to what is now. 00:12:09.600 --> 00:12:18.060 From something that was powerful to something that is conclusive and personal to them. 00:12:19.180 --> 00:12:22.960 Listen to what they confess at the end of verse 42. 00:12:23.899 --> 00:12:29.580 And we know that this is indeed the saviour of the world. 00:12:31.000 --> 00:12:35.240 I just want you to realise that is a massive confession of faith. 00:12:35.240 --> 00:12:40.820 So early on in John's Gospel, it's actually pretty incredible. 00:12:41.080 --> 00:12:42.580 And I don't use that word lightly. 00:12:42.820 --> 00:12:52.899 Because that description of the Messiah, certainly in the Old Testament, is never explicitly there as a saviour, believe it or not. 00:12:53.840 --> 00:12:55.320 Those two things aren't connected. 00:12:55.480 --> 00:12:58.879 It's there in between the lines all over the Old Testament, of course. 00:12:59.519 --> 00:13:02.220 But it doesn't become explicit until the New Testament. 00:13:02.220 --> 00:13:08.000 And here they are, these Samaritans, these outsiders who see that about him. 00:13:08.980 --> 00:13:11.180 Something that many have missed about Jesus. 00:13:12.580 --> 00:13:21.259 This universal access for all types of people, Samaritans included, are of a saviour in Jesus the Messiah. 00:13:21.879 --> 00:13:30.980 It's a much more solid confession of faith, isn't it, at this point, than what the woman said in the first place. 00:13:30.980 --> 00:13:33.700 She went out saying, could this be the Christ? 00:13:34.960 --> 00:13:38.800 It's a hopeful, excited proposal, isn't it? 00:13:39.460 --> 00:13:40.379 Could it be true? 00:13:41.980 --> 00:13:51.120 And that faith has graduated now to them saying, we know he is indeed the saviour of the world. 00:13:51.120 --> 00:13:57.019 John isn't saying, on the one hand, the woman's testimony was useless. 00:13:57.980 --> 00:13:59.600 But it had its place. 00:14:00.620 --> 00:14:03.960 It had its limits in God's work. 00:14:03.960 --> 00:14:11.340 The belief they had hearing her was like a kind of beginner's belief, wasn't it? 00:14:12.420 --> 00:14:15.480 Their minds were being prepared to receive Jesus. 00:14:15.780 --> 00:14:17.139 They were being primed. 00:14:17.900 --> 00:14:21.320 They were being given a desire to meet with Jesus Christ. 00:14:21.420 --> 00:14:24.720 They wanted him to come and stay in their town for a couple of days. 00:14:24.720 --> 00:14:34.660 John is showing us here, isn't he, that it is not enough, whilst it is good, what they believe in in the first place, 00:14:34.720 --> 00:14:40.139 but it's not enough to believe only on the basis of what somebody else believes. 00:14:41.519 --> 00:14:42.899 It is powerful. 00:14:42.899 --> 00:14:57.019 If you come to our church, if you go to many churches, you can come and listen to over 100 personal testimonies of what God has done in their lives. 00:14:57.959 --> 00:14:59.740 Personal stories of belief. 00:14:59.939 --> 00:15:08.960 There's a moment in our church when, and lots of churches do it, where we say the Apostles' Creed or some kind of confession of faith together. 00:15:08.960 --> 00:15:19.720 And in that moment, if you think about it, you are hearing 100 or so people simultaneously, unanimously saying, 00:15:19.960 --> 00:15:21.080 come and see. 00:15:22.320 --> 00:15:23.540 We believe. 00:15:24.540 --> 00:15:25.840 That is powerful. 00:15:26.120 --> 00:15:27.060 Really powerful. 00:15:27.800 --> 00:15:29.320 And you could sit there, couldn't you? 00:15:29.340 --> 00:15:32.840 You should sit there and think, I want to know this Christ as well. 00:15:34.200 --> 00:15:37.080 But it's not enough to stop there. 00:15:37.080 --> 00:15:41.720 You probably remember Gethin, most of you. 00:15:42.120 --> 00:15:46.500 And Gethin used to speak in these talks and he went to work in Paris. 00:15:47.980 --> 00:15:53.700 And many of the people that he ministers to come from a Roman Catholic background. 00:15:54.960 --> 00:16:00.100 And he was telling me that a lot of these folk are just not used to asking questions. 00:16:00.100 --> 00:16:07.600 They're less used to getting answers from him about doctrine and things in the Bible. 00:16:08.680 --> 00:16:16.139 Because faith in the Roman Catholic Church is about subscribing to the doctrine of the church. 00:16:16.139 --> 00:16:21.199 It doesn't matter what, on one level, you believe. 00:16:22.159 --> 00:16:25.220 As long as you agree and you sign up with church doctrine. 00:16:26.340 --> 00:16:30.419 I know I've probably offended some of you there, but I'll probably offend all of you at some point. 00:16:30.480 --> 00:16:31.000 That's okay. 00:16:31.100 --> 00:16:31.819 That's my job. 00:16:31.820 --> 00:16:37.720 You can't piggyback though, can you, on the faith of others. 00:16:38.680 --> 00:16:40.300 Or on somebody else's belief. 00:16:40.540 --> 00:16:42.780 Or on an institutional doctrine. 00:16:44.420 --> 00:16:47.140 And you should never encourage others to do the same. 00:16:48.560 --> 00:16:53.580 You shouldn't encourage others to believe because of your story alone. 00:16:55.440 --> 00:16:57.720 Personal testimony can be a powerful tool. 00:16:57.720 --> 00:16:58.940 But beware. 00:17:00.279 --> 00:17:02.779 Because the temptation is we don't know when to stop. 00:17:04.019 --> 00:17:05.839 We don't know what the limits are. 00:17:06.960 --> 00:17:12.160 And our stories could end up being more about me than they are about the gospel. 00:17:13.180 --> 00:17:14.559 And about Jesus Christ. 00:17:15.920 --> 00:17:18.079 And maybe we hear this kind of thing, don't we? 00:17:18.180 --> 00:17:19.579 My life was a shambles. 00:17:19.720 --> 00:17:20.440 I was a wreck. 00:17:20.920 --> 00:17:22.259 I was into drugs. 00:17:22.779 --> 00:17:24.380 You know, sex and all of that. 00:17:24.380 --> 00:17:27.800 But I found meaning though in Jesus Christ. 00:17:27.960 --> 00:17:29.360 And he died for me on the cross. 00:17:29.700 --> 00:17:30.940 He changed my life. 00:17:31.040 --> 00:17:34.360 And I'm now not like the people I used to hang around with. 00:17:34.500 --> 00:17:37.220 And you can have this changed life too. 00:17:38.340 --> 00:17:39.680 That's the good news. 00:17:41.000 --> 00:17:43.540 Of course, that is part of the good news, isn't it? 00:17:44.520 --> 00:17:49.980 But the problem with personal testimony is that the focus can often be on the wrong person. 00:17:51.020 --> 00:17:52.100 Come and see. 00:17:52.099 --> 00:17:56.439 But who do you really want to come and see? 00:17:58.159 --> 00:18:05.759 And actually, changed lives, changed lives generally are a penny to the dozen. 00:18:07.139 --> 00:18:17.119 Many religions and philosophies and lifestyles and crazes, diets, mindfulness techniques, exercise regimes, offer just that, don't they? 00:18:17.179 --> 00:18:18.139 A changed life. 00:18:18.140 --> 00:18:21.320 You can go down to Ealing, can't you? 00:18:21.420 --> 00:18:24.720 And go to the health food shop and get a changed life if you want. 00:18:25.580 --> 00:18:27.200 You can get a changed life at the gym. 00:18:27.320 --> 00:18:29.620 You can have a personal testimony about that. 00:18:29.700 --> 00:18:31.420 You can write a blog about it. 00:18:32.800 --> 00:18:36.340 Personal testimonies of a changed life are a penny to the dozen. 00:18:36.339 --> 00:18:44.220 And often they just focus on getting through whatever barriers we perceive to be the problems in life. 00:18:44.399 --> 00:18:47.419 But so often they're nothing to do with the gospel at all. 00:18:48.179 --> 00:18:50.740 And they're nothing to do with the person of Jesus. 00:18:50.740 --> 00:19:01.759 The personal testimony is powerful when it knows who to point to and where to stop, where the limits are. 00:19:01.759 --> 00:19:10.200 I think this passage gives us something really crucial about the nature of saving belief. 00:19:10.200 --> 00:19:18.120 It is that God uses means to reveal his son to the world. 00:19:19.160 --> 00:19:28.140 When a person comes to believe, as the Samaritans end up doing, the reason they give though is not that they hang off the words of the woman. 00:19:28.140 --> 00:19:31.860 They were powerful in their place. 00:19:32.800 --> 00:19:36.740 But it's no longer her words that count. 00:19:38.340 --> 00:19:39.780 God uses means. 00:19:40.000 --> 00:19:41.259 He uses ministers. 00:19:41.720 --> 00:19:42.820 He uses preachers. 00:19:43.080 --> 00:19:45.040 He uses personal stories. 00:19:45.780 --> 00:19:48.259 He uses the witness of his people, doesn't he? 00:19:49.240 --> 00:19:53.940 But it's not actually for any of those reasons that the Samaritans believe in the end. 00:19:53.940 --> 00:19:58.500 They believe because of Jesus himself. 00:19:59.640 --> 00:20:04.779 They believe because of the truth itself, himself. 00:20:06.180 --> 00:20:09.519 They too realise they've had an encounter with him. 00:20:10.519 --> 00:20:14.720 They've not had an encounter with a preacher or with a church. 00:20:16.460 --> 00:20:19.320 True belief is not believing in a preacher. 00:20:20.360 --> 00:20:21.120 Believe it or not. 00:20:21.119 --> 00:20:24.659 It is not believing in a Christian friend. 00:20:25.559 --> 00:20:27.500 Or even what the church says. 00:20:28.839 --> 00:20:30.459 The Apostles' Creed. 00:20:30.859 --> 00:20:32.419 It's really well written. 00:20:33.759 --> 00:20:35.219 It says, doesn't it, 00:20:35.299 --> 00:20:38.819 I believe in the church. 00:20:39.959 --> 00:20:43.039 Not, I believe the church. 00:20:43.899 --> 00:20:45.779 There's a massive difference there. 00:20:47.859 --> 00:20:50.359 Believing here is in Christ himself. 00:20:51.119 --> 00:20:54.399 Even though he speaks through those other things. 00:20:55.399 --> 00:20:58.119 It is as Abraham did, isn't it? 00:20:58.219 --> 00:21:00.659 Who believed God. 00:21:01.639 --> 00:21:03.679 And it was counted to him as righteousness. 00:21:05.839 --> 00:21:11.459 As we close, we should be aware that there is something very unique about the woman's testimony. 00:21:11.460 --> 00:21:19.799 She was, after all, an eyewitness to the physical, Jesus Christ, in bodily form. 00:21:20.880 --> 00:21:26.519 And we can't say, come and see, in the same way that she did, can we? 00:21:26.519 --> 00:21:31.400 We can't show people Christ physically. 00:21:32.799 --> 00:21:35.279 But there is still power in the come and see. 00:21:36.579 --> 00:21:38.900 Sounds just really basic, doesn't it? 00:21:39.440 --> 00:21:42.420 Saying to someone, do you fancy coming to church on Sunday? 00:21:43.559 --> 00:21:45.500 Do you want to read the Bible with me? 00:21:45.500 --> 00:21:48.880 It might get a really weird look. 00:21:49.960 --> 00:21:52.859 But there is power in the come and see. 00:21:52.940 --> 00:21:54.599 There is power in your story. 00:21:55.380 --> 00:21:56.460 And in your witness. 00:21:58.160 --> 00:22:02.559 And so it is worth reflecting on what that story is, isn't it? 00:22:03.319 --> 00:22:04.500 If you are a Christian. 00:22:04.500 --> 00:22:07.740 However normal it may seem to you. 00:22:07.839 --> 00:22:10.920 It doesn't have to be a rags to riches story, does it? 00:22:10.960 --> 00:22:13.240 Because every Christian story is miraculous. 00:22:15.059 --> 00:22:21.099 And it is amazing that God speaks through means through these talks, even, every Tuesday. 00:22:22.779 --> 00:22:27.859 But if any of you ever leave this room on a Tuesday afternoon, 00:22:27.859 --> 00:22:34.839 thinking about what the guy at the front said more than what Jesus is saying to you, 00:22:34.879 --> 00:22:35.799 then we have failed. 00:22:37.519 --> 00:22:42.019 Because these are means to lead you to Christ Jesus. 00:22:43.179 --> 00:22:46.479 Speaking to you and to hang off of his words. 00:22:47.179 --> 00:22:47.719 Not mine. 00:22:47.939 --> 00:22:49.199 Not anyone else who speaks here. 00:22:50.579 --> 00:22:53.599 And as we all share and witness in different ways, 00:22:53.719 --> 00:22:56.919 we want to, in a way, do ourselves out of a job, don't we? 00:22:57.859 --> 00:23:00.879 We don't want people hanging off of our words, 00:23:01.659 --> 00:23:04.319 but rather to meet with Jesus himself. 00:23:05.719 --> 00:23:07.799 We want people to say, 00:23:08.240 --> 00:23:12.359 it's no longer because of what you said that I believe. 00:23:13.679 --> 00:23:17.659 For I've heard for myself that he is the saviour of the world. 00:23:18.919 --> 00:23:19.659 Let's pray.