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Good morning.

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Appreciate each and every one of you being here this morning.

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And uh as was mentioned, uh Justin is out, but I do appreciate the mention that was made
concerning the bookmarks.

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If you do have your bookmark, hold it up.

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Grab it out.

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Don't put it back away yet, even if you've already held it up.

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Here's what we're going to do.

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We're going to take one minute of silence and your job is to pray for the names that
you've got on this bookmark.

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They hear the gospel, that they're receptive to the gospel, pray for them silently by
name, review that list.

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You don't have to close your eyes.

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You can pray with your eyes open.

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Look at the list and let's spend one minute praying for those who are lost.

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want us to spend a moment talking about this list.

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Because some of you may say, Aaron, I'm having a really hard time figuring out how to get
10 names on this list.

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Or maybe what you might actually be struggling with is not.

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Thinking of 10 people you know who are lost, whose names could go on the list, you may be
having a hard time thinking of 10 people who you think will actually be receptive to being

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open to a Bible study to go on the list.

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So one of the things that we do when we learn something new is we try and assimilate the
things we already know to better understand the things we don't already know.

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So as you're thinking about those names, you're thinking, well, I know that this person
needs to be interested in God.

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I know that they need to be open to a Bible study.

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I know they need to be willing to sit down and have a discussion about religious matters,
and I can tick off a whole list of people who aren't any of those things.

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Can't put them on the list.

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Wrong.

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This list...

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is not about people who you think will be willing to have a Bible study.

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This list is about 10 people who you know who are lost.

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That may be your CPA.

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That may be your bookkeeper.

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That may be that person that you grew up with who lives a few doors down the road from
you.

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Maybe your neighbor who's a Muslim.

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That may be the person who you greet who always has a smile on their face at Kroger and
you may not even know their name, person who smiles at Kroger on the list.

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This is about you remembering.

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that you are not the ultimate solution to the problem of them being lost, that the power
of the word of God and God is.

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So the goal of this list is 10 people.

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And you may, when you get your thinking about it, go, I'm gonna need more than one card.

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That's fine, get more than one card.

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If you've got two cards, three cards, or four cards, that's fine, fill them up.

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These are people you're praying for, and the prayer might be, Lord, I have no idea how...

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This person who is a devout Muslim is going to be open to hearing the gospel, but I am
quite certain that you can do it.

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And that's your prayer for them.

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It's not about you having the answers.

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It's not about you knowing how it's gonna work out.

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It's about you being willing to put their name down and trust God enough to pray for them.

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that he can figure it out.

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Sometimes the scenarios in life that we find that open doors can take a really long time.

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There's a family member of my mother's side of the family who has known about the church
for years because my mother's parents

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were once members of the body of Christ and became unfaithful when she was 12 and never
have darkened the doors of the building since.

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But her uncle was aware of the church, but he married someone who was from a denomination
and just always did whatever she did.

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My mother has been working on having discussions and conversations and trying to get a
Bible study with her uncle for...

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40 years.

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So not long ago, back at end of last year in September, you might remember that there was
a hurricane that hit the western part of North Carolina.

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It just so happened that the western part of North Carolina was where my parents, my
family, and my brother's families were all headed to three days after the hurricane hit.

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Well, we didn't go because there weren't any roads to get to the place where we were
supposed to go.

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My parents had already left home.

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They were already left Missouri.

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They were taking it in multiple days.

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They were in middle Tennessee when everything got canceled.

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And they were trying to figure out what they were going to do.

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Were they going to go south and go see my oldest brother in Alabama?

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Were they going to turn around and go home?

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And mom looked at dad and said, why don't we go to Michigan, which happens to be where
Uncle Larry resides.

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Because mom and Uncle Larry had finally

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started having Bible studies, finally had started having serious discussions after his
wife had passed away.

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So they went up to Michigan for one reason, to go spend some time with Uncle Larry.

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As a result of a hurricane and a whole lot of disasters and a canceled vacation and a
missed opportunity to see family, my parents ended up in Michigan for a week and my great

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uncle was baptized.

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They found out he had been going to the local congregation for a number of weeks, but he,
because of his religious background, was under the assumption that he needed a, in his

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mind, ordained preacher to baptize him, and the congregation, the small congregation in
Michigan doesn't have a full-time preacher.

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So he had been at that congregation desiring to be baptized but hadn't said anything about
it because he thought there was no preacher there to baptize him.

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My whole point in that story is this.

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Was there anything miraculous about a hurricane?

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No, there was a lot of devastation as a of that hurricane.

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Do I think God caused a hurricane to cancel our trip so that my parents went to Michigan?

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No.

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My point is this.

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You don't know.

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What door will be open?

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So this list is not about you knowing how it's going to happen.

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This list is about belief in the power of prayer.

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that it can happen.

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One other reminder.

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Scripture tells us that God's Word will not come back to him void.

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That is a warning, not a promise.

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It is a warning to God's people that when God's Word is spoken and God's Word goes forth,
it's going to end up in one of two scenarios.

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It's going to end up in blessing or judgment.

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One of the reasons why sometimes we don't put names on a list and we don't pray for people
and we don't have awkward conversations is we don't want to ruin a good relationship on

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this earth.

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Brethren, a reminder.

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If you spend your entire life having a good relationship on this earth with someone who
ends up in hell, you didn't love them nearly enough

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to take the chance on ruining a relationship to save their soul.

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So the people who you put on the list sometimes will be people who you say, don't know how
I'm going to do this without ruining our relationship.

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But remember, it's not about you knowing how.

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It's about you having confidence in God that the word of God can bear fruit.

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Paul makes the point that the one who sows the seed,

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puts the seed in the ground and waits.

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He doesn't know, especially in Paul's day and time, first century, he doesn't know how
that seed germinates.

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He didn't have a microscope.

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He didn't have a couple hundred years of biology built up to figure out how this
germination process works.

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He puts the seed in the ground and trusts that it's going to produce fruit.

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Why?

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because God designed a world where every seed bears fruit after its own kind.

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So because of the power of the Word of God that declares that every seed shall bear fruit
after its own kind, a farmer can put corn seed in the ground and expect corn to come

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forth.

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What do we plant as Christians?

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What do we plan as Christians?

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the Word of God, okay, which is the seed that we sow.

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All right, now we're talking about Jesus, the master evangelist.

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Jesus in John chapter 4 demonstrates a number of things that we need to understand, a
number of techniques that we need to evaluate, a number of things that we need to

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conceptualize and synthesize in our own hearts and minds so that we understand how to
teach people.

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Because sometimes

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When you use a hammer as a wrench, you're not going to reach success.

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Why?

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You're using the tool wrong.

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So we need to learn from someone who's skilled.

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If you know anything about people who work in trades, you know that the best tradesmen are
those who know how to teach the next generation how to do the job.

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And Jesus,

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is getting ready to teach his disciples.

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But as we considered last week, Jesus did not let culture close doors to souls.

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Jesus was willing to teach a Samaritan woman concerning the kingdom.

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Jesus overcame fatigue.

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The text specifically tells us that Jesus was wearied, yet Jesus was wearied and found an
opportunity

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to reach the lost Jesus began engaging in friendly conversation.

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Jesus didn't start off with the fact that the woman needed to be obedient to God and
needed to correct her immoral life.

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He started with, "Give me a drink of water." Consider as well that Jesus chose a time when
others were not around.

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Do you remember, and if you don't remember, we're going to see it as we get to it, the
disciples' reaction when they see as they come back from the city where they've gone to

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buy food, their reaction when they observe Jesus talking with a Samaritan woman?

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they would have been a roadblock to his conversation with her.

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So Jesus found a time when the disciples were not present in order to teach this woman.

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Jesus was not put off by potentially offensive statements.

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The woman will say, you Jews have no dealings with Samaritans.

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She pointed out a fact that was culturally true, but was not true about Jesus.

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Yet Jesus wasn't offended.

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Jesus didn't throw up his hands and storm away because she had

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misjudged his character.

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Rather, Jesus taught her anyway.

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Jesus offered her something more than she had.

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If you look at a person's life who is not a Christian and every day you wish you had their
life, you're gonna have a hard time reaching them with the gospel.

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until Christians realize that they have something that the world does not have.

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The richest man on earth does not have what you have.

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For what shall a man profit if he shall gain the whole world and lose his own soul?

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If you can't offer someone who's in a completely different wealth strata than you are,

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The one thing they don't have, the hope of eternity in the gospel, because you're too
focused on getting what they do have?

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we have a problem.

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Jesus offered her what she did not have.

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Now this is our goal.

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This is our goal for this year, six to ten baptisms.

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But that's going to involve more than six to ten Bible studies.

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That's going to involve many more visitors and it's going to involve considerably more
contacts and prospects.

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Because seed...

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needs a lot of seed sown to produce.

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One the things that I was always a little confused about growing up in life is when we had
a garden.

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We had a garden and I was told as we were going, I think it was beans we were planting, as
you go you drop three or four seeds down there in the same hole.

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I'm like, why do multiple seeds need to be in the hole in order for, well aren't you gonna
get multiple plants?

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Does every seed produce fruit?

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No, it doesn't.

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So I was told put three or four seeds in a hole.

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And sometimes we ended up with two or three or four plants that grew out of the same hole.

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But the reality was most of the time we only ended up with one.

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Because not every seed is going to bear fruit.

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Now,

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Consider some additional points.

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We turn to John chapter 4.

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If you're not already there, please turn to John chapter 4.

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We're going to pick up around verse 11.

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In John chapter 4 and in verse 11, notice what we read.

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The woman said to him, sir, you have nothing to draw with.

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Jesus has asked this woman to dip down in the well and give him a drink.

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She questioned why he being a Jew would ask that of her, a Samaritan woman, because the
Jews have no dealings with Samaritans.

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And he says, if you knew who I was, you would have asked for a drink from me.

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And yet she responds and she says, sir, you have nothing to draw with and the well is
deep.

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Where then do you get that living water?

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The woman wants.

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to know how he is going to accomplish this thing because he has none of the physical
tools.

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He has none of the correct resources with which to get down into that well and get her
this living water.

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And even if he got the water out of the well, he'd be getting the same water she could
have gotten.

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So what resource does he have?

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What magic does he have?

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What thing that he knows about that she doesn't know about does he have in order

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to give her what he's offered her.

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oh

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Jesus is going to point her in a direction.

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He doesn't say, you had asked of Me water, I would have given you a drink.

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He qualifies it.

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He says the water that He has to offer is living water.

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The thing which He has to offer is different than everything she already has.

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Notice what the text says.

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thirst again.

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But whoever drinks of the water that I shall give him will never thirst.

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But the water that I shall give him will become in him a fountain of water springing up
into everlasting life." As the woman stands there and is discussing this with Jesus,

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Jesus points out that there is something different about what he's offering her.

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He is creating interest.

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He is creating in her mind curiosity.

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There are some things in life you can't teach me, no matter how well you know them,
because I have no desire to learn.

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I'm going be honest here for a moment.

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There are some things around the house that my wife has tried to teach me to do her way,
like load the dishwasher.

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We have now been married many years.

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I still can't load the dishwasher the right way.

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Why?

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I don't have any interest in learning.

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Be honest with you, I don't have any interest in learning to do it her way instead of my
way.

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And in my mind, the dishes come out just as clean.

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She'll argue over that, but in my mind, they come out just as clean.

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So I'm going to keep doing it my way.

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You can't teach someone who has no interest something they don't want to learn.

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but Jesus used words to create interest.

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Jesus used words that meant something, living.

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Jesus used terminology that meant something, whoever drinks of this water will thirst
again.

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He told her something she already knew, true or false, every woman who had been to that
well, who had drawn water out

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that if they drank that water they would eventually get thirsty again.

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Everybody knows that.

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Why is Jesus wasting his breath?

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He's not.

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He's building a bridge between what she knows to what she thinks she knows but doesn't.

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But he's got to start with where she is.

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It is going to be very hard for you to convince someone about something they're not
interested in learning that they don't know that they need when they have no foundation

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upon which both of you can stand to start to build the conversation.

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But Jesus builds the conversation on the fact that she's back to draw water again just
like she was yesterday.

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And the day before, and the day before.

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and the day before, and the day before.

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Jesus says, whoever drinks of the water that I shall give him will never thirst.

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But the water that I

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shall give him will become in him a fountain of water springing up into everlasting life.

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The woman said to him, Sir, give me this water that I may not thirst nor come here to
draw.

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Jesus said to her, Go call your husband and come here." Consider as well that Jesus did
not ignore sins that potentially closed the door.

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The woman says, I'm interested in whatever you're selling.

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I want this water because I don't like coming here in order to draw water.

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It is uncomfortable, it's a lot of work, it takes time out of my day that I could spend
doing other things.

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I'm interested.

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If you've got water, that will make me where I never thirst again.

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want some.

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Jesus says, go call your husband.

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Jesus did not avoid the very clear and apparent landmine that existed in this
conversation.

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We have some kind-hearted, well-meaning brethren in the body of Christ who will do
everything they can to avoid talking about the sin in a person's life as they're trying to

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get them into the water.

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Brethren, can't do that.

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You cannot be saved and born again out of a desire for heaven without a recognition of
sin.

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because salvation involves a death to sin.

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And you can't die to something you don't know anything about.

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You can't give up and repent of something you've never heard of.

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And you can't correct something you don't know is wrong.

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Jesus did not ignore sins that potentially closed the door.

242
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Rather, Jesus introduced them into the conversation.

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Now did Jesus begin by saying, I know that you're living in a wrong relationship?

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No, he didn't.

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You see, one of the things that Rob taught during the seminar and one of the things that I
think is incredibly valuable for us to learn is you don't get very far telling people

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they're wrong.

247
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especially about very sensitive matters.

248
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But you can get a lot farther if they tell themselves they're wrong.

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There was a prophet who was sent to David.

250
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The prophet came to David with a story.

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The story was there was a rich man who had abundance, had flocks and herds, and a traveler
came to his door.

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and the man who was wealthy desired to provide for this one who was traveling.

253
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And so the wealthy man went and took the neighbor that he had, he went and took that one
ewe lamb, that only lamb that his neighbor had, that lamb that was treated like a member

254
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of the family, the lamb that ate from his very table, that rich neighbor who had flocks
and herds took that one ewe lamb and took it and killed it and served it to the man

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traveling.

256
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What was David's reaction?

257
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Who is this man?

258
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I'm going to kill him.

259
00:26:28,612 --> 00:26:45,774
David's righteous indignation at this rich man's actions as a king brought forth his
immediate judgment of the man for his actions and the prophets reply, you are the man.

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Would that prophet have been as successful in reaching David if the prophet had walked in
and said, I know what you did with Bathsheba?

261
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The answer is no.

262
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thing to realize, everyone knew what David did with Bathsheba.

263
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It wasn't done in secret.

264
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Everybody may not have known every action that David took, but everyone around the court,
everyone, who did he send to go get Bathsheba?

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Did he go get her himself?

266
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No, he sent his servants.

267
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All the servants knew what David did with Bathsheba.

268
00:27:31,768 --> 00:27:36,240
becomes pregnant and the child and she's in labor, guess what?

269
00:27:36,541 --> 00:27:39,543
Everybody knows Uriah isn't the father of that child.

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Everybody knew what David did with Bashiba.

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Nobody was addressing it.

272
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Would he have been as successful just because somebody came along and said, know what you
did?

273
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No.

274
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David needed to be reached by David in order to be convinced that what he was doing was
wrong and that he needed to change.

275
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Also consider he had had abundant time to change and yet he hadn't.

276
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Jesus did not ignore sins that potentially closed the door.

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Notice what we read, verse 17, the woman answered and said, I have no husband.

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Jesus said to her, you have well said I have no husband, for you have had five husbands,
and the one whom you now have is not your husband, in that you spoke truly.

279
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Jesus had not met this woman.

280
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Jesus did not grow up in the same town with this woman.

281
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Jesus had not interviewed this woman's parents, daughters, families, relatives.

282
00:28:51,838 --> 00:29:01,364
Jesus had had no interaction with this woman, yet Jesus, as the woman will later testify,
told her everything she ever did.

283
00:29:03,607 --> 00:29:10,148
Jesus said, know that you've had one husband, two husbands, three husbands, four husbands,
five husbands.

284
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You got somebody who can go on this list who's been married five times and you think, man,
this person has so messed up their marital life they will never be reached with the

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gospel.

286
00:29:27,059 --> 00:29:28,541
You could be wrong.

287
00:29:30,785 --> 00:29:43,780
You got somebody who's currently living in adultery with a person or living in fornication
with a person who is not their spouse and you think, man, they're lost, but in the

288
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lifestyle they're in right now, they won't hear.

289
00:29:47,972 --> 00:29:49,452
Put them on this list.

290
00:29:50,373 --> 00:29:52,745
Start praying for them.

291
00:29:53,254 --> 00:30:00,197
Jesus said, the one you now have is not your.

292
00:30:00,363 --> 00:30:01,393
husband.

293
00:30:02,694 --> 00:30:06,736
This woman was living in fornication.

294
00:30:07,878 --> 00:30:18,704
And Jesus did not say, you will just simply change your life and be obedient to the
gospel, then all your sins will be washed away and you can go back to living the same way

295
00:30:18,704 --> 00:30:19,864
you're living.

296
00:30:20,885 --> 00:30:27,969
You cannot resolve an adulterous marriage in the watery grave of baptism.

297
00:30:28,321 --> 00:30:32,224
It doesn't become a righteous marriage because somebody gets baptized.

298
00:30:32,385 --> 00:30:41,013
You cannot fix a problem of a person living in sin and living in fornication because
they're baptized.

299
00:30:42,736 --> 00:30:51,505
Now they can be forgiven of the sins they've committed in the past, but you have to be
dealing with the problem of the sins they're committing right now.

300
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oh

301
00:30:53,109 --> 00:30:57,092
and the sins they're gonna go back to if they continue to live the way that they've lived.

302
00:30:57,092 --> 00:31:10,653
You can't ignore a potentially door-closing sin just to get them in water because they
have to repent of it.

303
00:31:10,653 --> 00:31:13,165
What comes first, repentance or baptism?

304
00:31:13,165 --> 00:31:14,566
Repentance.

305
00:31:15,587 --> 00:31:17,288
They have to repent of it.

306
00:31:17,849 --> 00:31:18,679
Now.

307
00:31:19,447 --> 00:31:21,318
You say, Aaron, that's great.

308
00:31:21,318 --> 00:31:31,354
That is why what we do here at our congregation is we first make contact with them when we
wait for them to visit, then we sit down and ask them if they'd to have a Bible study, and

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00:31:31,354 --> 00:31:44,781
then we embark on a 17-week Bible study in which we explain to them every single thing the
Bible says that is sinful so they can correct their lives before they get baptized.

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00:31:44,781 --> 00:31:47,072
Is that what the Scriptures tell us to do?

311
00:31:47,072 --> 00:31:48,033
No.

312
00:31:50,797 --> 00:31:55,260
There are some sins people have to grow out of.

313
00:31:56,521 --> 00:32:01,383
There are some sins that people have to mature out of.

314
00:32:01,864 --> 00:32:05,966
How are you going to help the person who needs to repent over anger?

315
00:32:06,107 --> 00:32:10,049
You don't wait until they're never angry again before you baptize them?

316
00:32:10,690 --> 00:32:12,471
No, I don't think so.

317
00:32:12,471 --> 00:32:15,593
There are some sins that you have to...

318
00:32:16,195 --> 00:32:20,880
grow them out of by the power of the Word of God and the maturity as Christians.

319
00:32:20,880 --> 00:32:30,311
Paul wrote, as we discussed in our Bible class this morning, about the fact that there
were those in Corinth who were still carnally minded because they had not matured

320
00:32:30,311 --> 00:32:33,564
themselves to be spiritually minded.

321
00:32:33,905 --> 00:32:36,257
Was it wrong for them to be carnally minded?

322
00:32:36,257 --> 00:32:37,528
Yes!

323
00:32:38,155 --> 00:32:42,095
But what is the only thing that would get them out of being carnally minded?

324
00:32:42,095 --> 00:32:47,448
It wasn't baptism, it was maturing as Christians.

325
00:32:49,795 --> 00:32:59,977
but there are some sins that must be stopped in order for a person to repent.

326
00:33:02,297 --> 00:33:03,818
True or false?

327
00:33:04,318 --> 00:33:13,163
We can baptize the serial killer and allow them to continue committing the murders.

328
00:33:15,105 --> 00:33:17,886
No, we all know that.

329
00:33:18,167 --> 00:33:22,989
Well, if it's true about the serial killer, it's true about the serial fornicator.

330
00:33:23,850 --> 00:33:25,882
And it's true about the serial drunkard.

331
00:33:25,882 --> 00:33:28,473
Okay?

332
00:33:28,909 --> 00:33:34,992
There are some sins that must be addressed in order for repentance to occur.

333
00:33:35,593 --> 00:33:42,776
But then consider as well Jesus emphasized sincerity and truth.

334
00:33:44,318 --> 00:33:51,461
One of the biggest lies that the denominational world will tell you is that sincerity is
enough.

335
00:33:53,062 --> 00:33:57,064
That if you just have a good heart, that's enough.

336
00:33:57,064 --> 00:33:58,455
God will accept it.

337
00:33:59,425 --> 00:34:01,526
Jesus didn't teach that to this woman.

338
00:34:01,526 --> 00:34:08,349
Notice he said, the one who you have is not your husband in that you spoke truly.

339
00:34:08,349 --> 00:34:11,851
The woman said to him, sir, I perceive that you are a prophet.

340
00:34:11,851 --> 00:34:18,254
Our fathers worshiped on this mountain and you Jews say that in Jerusalem is the place
where one ought to worship.

341
00:34:18,254 --> 00:34:25,117
Jesus said to her, woman, believe me, the hour is coming when you will neither on this
mountain nor in Jerusalem worship the father.

342
00:34:25,117 --> 00:34:29,459
By the way, that's one of those occasions where Jesus did answer a question.

343
00:34:30,221 --> 00:34:38,740
because the woman had already shown she was honest about her life.

344
00:34:40,121 --> 00:34:45,821
And Jesus responds to her statement, but then Jesus helps her understand.

345
00:34:45,821 --> 00:34:48,941
This is a woman who's interested in the truth.

346
00:34:48,941 --> 00:34:55,901
He says, worship what you do not know, and we know what we worship, for salvation is of
the Jews.

347
00:34:55,901 --> 00:35:05,501
But the hour is coming, and now is, when true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit
and in truth, for the Father is seeking such to worship Him.

348
00:35:05,501 --> 00:35:10,135
God is a spirit, and those who worship Him must worship Him

349
00:35:10,135 --> 00:35:12,197
in spirit and in truth.

350
00:35:13,098 --> 00:35:20,726
Jesus said, I know that your people are sincere in their desire to worship God.

351
00:35:21,548 --> 00:35:26,452
The problem is that they're not doing it in truth.

352
00:35:27,009 --> 00:35:30,951
They're not doing it in accordance with God's commandments.

353
00:35:30,951 --> 00:35:35,554
As a matter of fact, you have those in this scenario where you have Samaritans.

354
00:35:35,554 --> 00:35:40,947
You have these individuals who say, know what, Abraham was our father, Jacob was our
father.

355
00:35:40,947 --> 00:35:43,929
As a matter of fact, it was Jacob's whose well this was.

356
00:35:43,929 --> 00:35:48,461
And so here we have a woman who recognizes the Old Testament.

357
00:35:48,461 --> 00:35:54,325
She recognizes the covenant of Abraham, and yet they worship on the mountain.

358
00:35:56,727 --> 00:36:07,584
God had specifically told the Israelites, God had told those individuals who were their
ancestors, you don't worship on the mountains.

359
00:36:08,565 --> 00:36:13,148
You come to one place to worship me, and it's Jerusalem.

360
00:36:13,148 --> 00:36:18,152
You don't worship under every grove, you don't worship on all the high places, you don't
do that.

361
00:36:18,152 --> 00:36:22,594
You worship where I tell you to worship.

362
00:36:23,415 --> 00:36:26,007
Jesus does not allow

363
00:36:26,007 --> 00:36:33,902
her to have a free pass at, well, our fathers worshiped here, so if it's good enough for
our fathers, it's good enough for us.

364
00:36:35,724 --> 00:36:40,387
Jesus said, you're ignorant about what you're doing.

365
00:36:41,809 --> 00:36:44,570
But He didn't do it in a demeaning way.

366
00:36:44,911 --> 00:36:48,093
Rather, He pointed her towards a solution.

367
00:36:48,237 --> 00:36:50,360
He pointed her towards a truth.

368
00:36:50,360 --> 00:37:04,776
He emphasized that if she was going to be acceptable to God, she was both going to have to
do so out of a sincere heart, one that was desirous of obedience, but also obedience.

369
00:37:07,565 --> 00:37:15,792
The biggest struggle that people have in this world today and in this country today is not
their desire to please God.

370
00:37:17,313 --> 00:37:21,757
It's that no one has told them how to do it the right way.

371
00:37:22,765 --> 00:37:26,300
And instead they've actively lied to them about it.

372
00:37:29,142 --> 00:37:30,478
just the other day.

373
00:37:32,281 --> 00:37:47,661
was noticing something online, and I happened to come across a religious individual
preaching, and he had a great sermon just point after point after point about the

374
00:37:47,661 --> 00:37:59,961
knowledge of God, about the willingness to admit concerning sin, and he got all the way to
the point of even reading a passage about baptism and then made no application.

375
00:38:03,169 --> 00:38:06,332
because he doesn't believe that baptism is necessary for salvation.

376
00:38:07,654 --> 00:38:21,108
And it was glaringly obvious that he just passed over it when he had gone through verse
after verse after verse in a context that led you to baptism.

377
00:38:23,491 --> 00:38:26,775
consider as well that Jesus identified the Savior.

378
00:38:28,977 --> 00:38:41,005
One thing we need to remember, and this cannot be missed, you do not convert people to the
church.

379
00:38:42,701 --> 00:38:49,008
Let me say that again, you do not convert people to the church.

380
00:38:51,223 --> 00:38:53,114
you convert them to Christ.

381
00:38:54,737 --> 00:38:59,121
When they are converted to Christ, they are added to the body of Christ.

382
00:38:59,121 --> 00:39:01,723
They are added to the church.

383
00:39:03,506 --> 00:39:14,237
All the good works that we do should never be enough to convince someone to be part of the
church.

384
00:39:15,927 --> 00:39:30,319
Their love and willingness to obey God ought to be what convinces them to submit to His
will, in which they are added to the body of Christ and they can become part of a group of

385
00:39:30,319 --> 00:39:35,854
people who are obedient to Him, but we don't convert them to the church.

386
00:39:35,854 --> 00:39:43,060
We do not convince them because we are such great people that they ought to do what we do.

387
00:39:44,865 --> 00:39:49,649
Those great things that we do ought to open doors, but they should never be the end.

388
00:39:51,391 --> 00:39:58,677
Do you want to know what happens to congregations that grow and grow and grow and are
involved in great things and people see those great things and they want to be a part of

389
00:39:58,677 --> 00:39:59,578
those great things?

390
00:39:59,578 --> 00:40:12,188
And so they grow and grow and grow and grow and grow and somewhere along the way obedience
to God stops being the motive for growth.

391
00:40:14,113 --> 00:40:17,599
we do not convert people to the Church of Christ.

392
00:40:18,622 --> 00:40:25,014
We convert people to Christ in which He adds them into His Church.

393
00:40:28,247 --> 00:40:30,238
Jesus identified the Savior.

394
00:40:30,238 --> 00:40:35,499
Consider, He says, the woman said to Him, I know that Messiah is coming.

395
00:40:35,599 --> 00:40:37,140
Who is called Christ?

396
00:40:37,140 --> 00:40:39,920
When He comes, He will tell us all things.

397
00:40:39,920 --> 00:40:43,241
Jesus said to her, I who speak to you am He.

398
00:40:44,422 --> 00:40:46,552
She says, I know the one I'm waiting for.

399
00:40:46,552 --> 00:40:49,483
I'm waiting for the Messiah.

400
00:40:49,703 --> 00:40:54,965
And as soon as He arrives, we're going to do exactly what He says.

401
00:40:56,683 --> 00:40:58,715
She had already acknowledged he was a prophet.

402
00:40:58,715 --> 00:41:01,937
She knew that whatever came out of his mouth came from God.

403
00:41:01,937 --> 00:41:13,696
When he said, one who speaks to you is he, she didn't have any doubt because she already
knew that what he said came from God.

404
00:41:13,696 --> 00:41:18,389
Now here's the thing we have to be clear on.

405
00:41:20,759 --> 00:41:34,101
If we teach people that they ought to be doing what we do because of us, when we fail,
they'll leave.

406
00:41:36,417 --> 00:41:43,348
When they are converted to us and we're imperfect, they'll leave.

407
00:41:45,741 --> 00:42:01,474
But when they're converted to Christ, who will never fail, who is perfect, who is sinless,
when we stumble, when we struggle, they'll be faithful.

408
00:42:02,256 --> 00:42:07,620
They'll be the ones helping us up because they were converted to Christ and not us.

409
00:42:08,061 --> 00:42:12,825
But then consider as well Jesus used one contact to lead to many others.

410
00:42:13,913 --> 00:42:20,013
At this point his disciples came and they marveled, verse 27, that he talked with a woman.

411
00:42:20,373 --> 00:42:22,924
Yet no one said, What do you seek?

412
00:42:22,924 --> 00:42:24,625
or Why are you talking with her?

413
00:42:24,625 --> 00:42:33,048
The woman then left her water pot, went her way into the city, and said to the men, Come,
see a man who told me all things that I ever did.

414
00:42:33,048 --> 00:42:36,260
Could this be the Christ, the Messiah?

415
00:42:36,420 --> 00:42:38,931
Then they went out of the city and came to him.

416
00:42:38,931 --> 00:42:43,302
In the meantime, his disciples urged him, saying, Rabbi, eat.

417
00:42:43,483 --> 00:42:48,165
But he said to them, I have food to eat of which you do not know.

418
00:42:49,057 --> 00:42:51,378
The woman departs from his presence.

419
00:42:51,378 --> 00:42:53,598
She's not done anything yet.

420
00:42:55,459 --> 00:43:03,921
Is there going to potentially be a point where somebody says, I'm ready, I know what I
need to do, but I need to go get somebody else first?

421
00:43:04,221 --> 00:43:05,201
Maybe.

422
00:43:06,082 --> 00:43:07,422
That's what she does.

423
00:43:07,742 --> 00:43:09,282
She goes to the city.

424
00:43:09,403 --> 00:43:17,005
She goes back into the city to start telling the people who she knows, who she loves, who
she cares about that Messiah has come.

425
00:43:17,005 --> 00:43:18,845
She wants to spread the good news.

426
00:43:20,159 --> 00:43:22,279
She doesn't tell them and then stay there.

427
00:43:22,279 --> 00:43:25,951
She tells them and brings them back out to him.

428
00:43:29,347 --> 00:43:33,838
She says, come and see a man who told me all things that I ever did.

429
00:43:33,838 --> 00:43:34,909
Could this be the Christ?

430
00:43:34,909 --> 00:43:37,960
The word come implies she's going back.

431
00:43:38,900 --> 00:43:41,521
They're coming with her.

432
00:43:41,521 --> 00:43:47,943
But then consider as well Jesus took advantage of a spiritual opportunity at the cost of
physical loss.

433
00:43:48,363 --> 00:43:54,965
You know, as you think about this next statement, consider...

434
00:43:57,133 --> 00:44:02,576
that if we're going to be successful, we're going to have to prioritize spiritual matters
over physical.

435
00:44:03,797 --> 00:44:10,381
There's going to be times where we're going to have to say no to physical things in order
for evangelism to be successful.

436
00:44:11,463 --> 00:44:16,426
Jesus said, I have food to eat of which you do not know.

437
00:44:16,426 --> 00:44:21,229
Therefore the disciples said to one another, has anyone brought him anything to eat?

438
00:44:21,835 --> 00:44:28,953
Jesus said to them, my food is to do the will of Him who sent me and to finish His work.

439
00:44:29,335 --> 00:44:34,087
Do you not say there is still four months and then comes the harvest?

440
00:44:34,087 --> 00:44:41,831
Behold I say to you, lift up your eyes and look at the fields for they are already white
for harvest.

441
00:44:41,831 --> 00:44:50,375
And he who reaps receives wages and gathers fruit for eternal life that both he who sows
and he who reaps may rejoice together.

442
00:44:50,375 --> 00:44:56,798
For in this the saying is true, one sows another reaps.

443
00:44:56,798 --> 00:44:59,309
I sent you to reap that for which you have

444
00:44:59,309 --> 00:45:13,319
not labored, others have labored, and you have entered into their labors." Jesus is one
who is going to teach his disciples to focus on the spiritual things, to sustain

445
00:45:13,319 --> 00:45:18,132
themselves on the spiritual things, not the physical things.

446
00:45:18,132 --> 00:45:25,867
But then again, Jesus also believed that there are always souls ready for harvest.

447
00:45:28,749 --> 00:45:38,828
There are 7.7 billion people in this planet that do not live in this country.

448
00:45:40,961 --> 00:45:47,363
That's one of the reasons I'm grateful for the work that Louis Rushmore does and that many
others do.

449
00:45:47,844 --> 00:45:57,437
So I encourage you to be back here this afternoon as he gives us a presentation on his
most recent mission trip because there's a whole lot of people out there that are souls

450
00:45:57,437 --> 00:46:02,289
ready for harvest, but we must not forget.

451
00:46:06,327 --> 00:46:11,079
There are souls ready for harvest here too.

452
00:46:14,681 --> 00:46:20,752
If you're here this morning and you're outside the body of Christ, understand this.

453
00:46:23,007 --> 00:46:40,323
that woman who sincerely thought she worshiped who sincerely believed in the Messiah, who
was anxiously waiting for the Messiah, who was so invested in her desire to find the

454
00:46:40,323 --> 00:46:47,705
Messiah that the moment she knew about the Messiah she told an entire city she had found
the Messiah.

455
00:46:50,103 --> 00:46:58,837
that woman was still lost in her sins and headed towards judgment with God.

456
00:47:00,907 --> 00:47:07,861
All the sincerity in the world won't save a soul, but the gospel will.

457
00:47:08,402 --> 00:47:22,852
And if you have questions about how to be obedient to the gospel plan of salvation, how to
achieve fellowship with God and salvation in Christ and forgiveness of sins, don't leave

458
00:47:22,852 --> 00:47:26,274
today without asking those questions.

459
00:47:26,274 --> 00:47:30,037
If you have need of the invitation, why not come now as we stand and as we sing?