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May 30, 2010...The Informant...

13Jesus answered, “Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again, 14but whoever drinks the water I give him will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life.” 21Jesus declared, “Believe me, woman, a time is coming when you will worship the Father neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem. 22You Samaritans worship what you do not know; we worship what we do know, for salvation is from the Jews. 23Yet a time is coming and has now come when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for they are the kind of worshipers the Father seeks. 24God is spirit, and his worshipers must worship in spirit and in truth.” 25The woman said, “I know that Messiah” (called Christ) “is coming. When he comes, he will explain everything to us.” 26Then Jesus declared, “I who speak to you am he.”

John 4 (various)

Steve Brown’s teaching includes:

1) connection 4) anticipation

2) consecration 5) consideration

3) communication 6) information

If someone wanted you to share the gospel with them, what would you say? There are many ways to answer this question, but whatever you say, I’d recommend that it be brief (less than 5 minutes), inviting & clear. The gospel without the cross is not the gospel. If you take the reality of sin out of the gospel, it is no longer the gospel. If you take God’s grace or man’s decision out of the gospel, it is no longer the gospel. I suppose this has happened because of our fear, embarrassment or isolation. This is unfortunate because the gospel provides specific answers to specific questions and specific needs. Your friend, co-worker, fellow student or family member needs Jesus. Sometimes, they’ll need you to hold their hand and walk them to him.

The story goes that Jim was playing golf one day and discovered a water fountain on the 7th hole. It was a hot day so the golfers were lined up trying to get a drink. Just when it was Jim’s turn a man jumped in front of him, pushed him out of the way and began drinking. He drank and drank and drank. Finally, when he was done, the man turned to Jim and made the following apology:

“I’m sorry to get in front of you like that. But one time during WWII, my ship was shot out from under me, leaving me to drift for days in the salt water without any fresh water to drink. Now, whenever I get thirsty, I begin to panic. I hope you will forgive me.”

When you have the opportunity to talk about forgiveness, then talk about it! Don’t dodge such a God-given chance. Just talk, politely, calmly, lovingly. You don’t have to convince people of their sin. That’s God’s job. When the Holy Spirit is operating on unbelievers, you don’t have to convince them how bad they are because the Spirit has shown them that. If the Spirit is not working on a person, then no matter how bad they are you’re not going to convince them; you’ll probably just get into an argument. Instead talk about what people can relate to: a Father, a Son, love, sacrifice, an opportunity to live a new, meaningful life, a new identity, a community of believers. Boy, this sure does sound like good news, doesn’t it?

 

May 23, 2010...Gotta Make a Connection...

4Now he had to go through Samaria. 5So he came to a town in Samaria called Sychar, near the plot of ground Jacob had given to his son Joseph. 6Jacob’s well was there, and Jesus, tired as he was from the journey, sat down by the well. It was about the sixth hour. 11“Sir,” the woman said, “you have nothing to draw with and the well is deep. Where can you get this living water? 12Are you greater than our father Jacob, who gave us the well and drank from it himself, as did also his sons and his flocks and herds?” 13Jesus answered, “Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again, 14but whoever drinks the water I give him will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life.” 15The woman said to him, “Sir, give me this water so that I won’t get thirsty and have to keep coming here to draw water.”

John 4:4-6, 11-15

Steve Brown’s teaching includes:

1) connection 4) anticipation

2) consecration 5) consideration

3) communication 6) information

Sharing Christ requires the right connection. On the surface, Jesus and the Samaritan woman had very little in common. They were different gender, ethnicity, and religious background. The passage should have ended with hostility, disagreements and rejection or condemnation. Of course, the complete opposite happens, and Jesus uses the occasion to bring her into the Kingdom. Though dehydrated, Jesus did not waste the opportunity. He knew where he was (Sychar), what was there (Jacob’s well) and how to connect (water). She didn’t exactly understand what Jesus was giving, but the connection was being made.

This past week was there such an opportunity for you? When your friend or co-worker was surprised by your behavior or reaction, did you tell them it was because of Jesus? When you and your girlfriend (or vice versa) ended the evening in the living room vs. the bedroom did you tell her it was because of Christ? When you could have lied, cheated, stolen or used profanity (and everybody would have understood), did you state clearly it was because of the Lord? My teacher once said, “If Christians, you and I, were faithful, every evangelist could retire.” Ouch, but so very true.

Campus Crusade for Christ has a great statement: “Before you talk to people about God, make sure you talk to God about people.” There may be some truth to the notion that you won’t share Christ with someone if you feel inferior to them (socially, economically, physically or you name it). Perhaps, the opposite is true as well: you won’t share Christ with someone you feel superior to. Well, who’s left? Your peers. That may be a present shame, but it’s a start. The future’s still tomorrow so you can deal with that then. In the meantime, pray for those you know, pray for open doors, windows.

Once in a Tampa Wal-Mart, I was looking for contact lens solution. I went up & down the pharmacy aisles, but literally could not see it. Finally, I asked a Wal-Mart worker, and she pointed right to my feet where the solution was. I said with exasperation, “I must be blind!” She looked at me & said, “You must be born again!” I was stunned…/p>

 

May 16, 2010...Anticipation of Others...

16He told her, “Go, call your husband and come back.” 17“I have no husband,” she replied. Jesus said to her, “You are right when you say you have no husband. 18The fact is, you have had five husbands, and the man you now have is not your husband. What you have just said is quite true.” 28Then, leaving her water jar, the woman went back to the town and said to the people, 29“Come, see a man who told me everything I ever did. Could this be the Christ?” 30They came out of the town and made their way toward him. 39Many of the Samaritans from that town believed in him because of the woman’s testimony, “He told me everything I ever did.” 40So when the Samaritans came to him, they urged him to stay with them, and he stayed two days. 41And because of his words many more became believers. 42They said to the woman, “We no longer believe just because of what you said; now we have heard for ourselves, and we know that this man really is the Savior of the world.”

John 4:16-18, 28-30 & 39-42

Steve Brown’s teaching includes:

1) connection 4) anticipation

2) consecration 5) consideration

3) communication 6) information

Effective evangelism requires anticipation. This passage makes me cringe. I mean, Jesus got extremely personal. The Samaritan woman could have reacted with anger or hurt or defensiveness. Let’s give her credit: she acted on her encounter with Jesus by telling other Samaritans about her encounter. She came back all right, with others! Not only that, they came to believe in Jesus themselves. This is quite a woman.

We’ve heard the expression, “When God closes a door, He opens a window.” Before that, however, when God opens a door, then for God’s sake walk through it! Maybe God opens a window because we’re afraid of the door or what’s behind it? During those times when we actually muster up enough courage and faith to share Christ with another person, I wonder where our sense of anticipation is.

When I used to sell AFLAC, there were times where I would just go through the motions and ask, “Do you want to buy this product?” (because I had to ask the question). A lot of times people said yes! My manager said what a good job I was doing; the saddest part however was my surprise that people wanted to buy. We’ve experienced that before, right? We’re actually surprised that people want to know Christ, want to come to church, want their lives to be different and better. You get to be Jesus; you get to make the offer. If he rejects it, he’s not rejecting you; if she accepts it, then rejoice with her!”

If each one of us did that for just ONE person this YEAR then, you know…

 

May 9, 2010...Consecrate Somebody...

19“Sir,” the woman said, “I can see that you are a prophet. 20Our fathers worshiped on this mountain, but you Jews claim that the place where we must worship is in Jerusalem.” 21Jesus declared, “Believe me, woman, a time is coming when you will worship the Father neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem. 22You Samaritans worship what you do not know; we worship what we do know, for salvation is from the Jews. 23Yet a time is coming and has now come when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for they are the kind of worshipers the Father seeks. 24God is spirit, and his worshipers must worship in spirit and in truth.” 25The woman said, “I know that Messiah” (called Christ) “is coming. When he comes, he will explain everything to us.” 26Then Jesus declared, “I who speak to you am he.”

John 4:19-26

Steve Brown’s teaching includes:

1) connection 4) anticipation

2) consecration 5) consideration

3) communication 6) information

Effective evangelism requires consecration. When you consecrate you are making or declaring something / someone sacred. In this passage, the highlighted word is worship & worshippers. The Samaritan woman thought she knew enough about the definition and location of worship. Faced with Jesus, she is given correction. It’s another tense moment. Of course, Jesus is more concerned about truth & consecration than he is about tension & comfort. Remember he cares about the Samaritan woman; he didn’t leave her with an “agree to disagree.” When you consecrate people, you start looking at your time, money, patience, study (fill in the blank) differently; it will cost you to reach out. Consecration costs.

Each one of us must take “personal evangelism” seriously or our church will not grow. Let me say that again, differently: our church will not grow unless each one of us takes personal evangelism seriously. How do you take it seriously? Tell another person about our church, about Jesus. It’s really as simple as that. Seriously, think about it; your responsibility is not to convert people. Your job is not to argue or prove the existence of God. Your job is simply to tell people about the good news of Jesus. That’s pretty much it. If each one of us did that for just ONE person this YEAR then our church could conceivably double in size to around 100. Can you imagine that? I can’t, but that’s because I need to let my imagination breathe.

When D.L. Moody came into town a wealthy man would try to lead others to Christ by having them listen to Moody. So each night, Moody was in town, the man would hire a horse-drawn cab and have the driver take him to Moody’s meetings. Once there, he would pay the driver for 2 hours and say to him, “I have now paid you. I want you to go in and listen to Mr. Moody while I stay here and watch your horses.”

If this church blesses you (I am assuming that’s why you’re here), then the number one way our church will grow is because you told your family members, your friends, your co-workers, your team mates, your fellow classmates about Living Water. We are not in the business of keeping this aquarium clean…

 

May 2, 2010...The Secret...

7When a Samaritan woman came to draw water, Jesus said to her, “Will you give me a drink?” 8(His disciples had gone into the town to buy food.) 9The Samaritan woman said to him, “You are a Jew and I am a Samaritan woman. How can you ask me for a drink?” (For Jews do not associate with Samaritans.) 10Jesus answered her, “If you knew the gift of God and who it is that asks you for a drink, you would have asked him and he would have given you living water.”

John 4:7-10

Because of John 4 is an extremely long passage, I will interact with it differently. If you have never read the encounter between Jesus and the Samaritan woman, please do so. If you’ve read it before, then please reread it. It’s a fascinating, tension-filled story. Part of our vision statement is “a personal evangelism.” Over the next several weeks, I will be talking about this oftentimes dreaded topic. I am indebted to Steve Brown’s teaching which includes:

1) connection 4) anticipation

2) consecration 5) consideration

3) communication 6) information

Secrets are meant to be kept. Wrong. If you treat the good news (gospel) as a secret, then you will not tell another person about Jesus. Because Jesus is a secret, and secrets are meant to be kept. You have a secretive, selfish understanding about Jesus and the good news. However, the famous singer (whose group is made up of one letter and one number) once sang, “They say a secret is something you tell one other person, so I’m telling you child.”

Telling a secret in this way is about effective communication. Notice how Jesus used this encounter to talk about spiritual things when the original issue was something as simple as water. Notice also how Jesus did not let the issue of ethnicity interfere with what was much more important. Jesus did not talk about being born again, justification, vicarious atonement or his eventual substitutionary death on the cross. Instead he talked about living water because he was thirsty and so was she (she just didn’t know it yet). You don’t have to go to seminary or have great oratory skills to tell another person about Christ. Go with what you know. Use terms that people can understand: new life, identity, child of God, forgiveness, love, answers to life’s questions.

Can you do that? Sure you can. Sure you can. Sure you can. If Living Water Ministry is more concerned about keeping the aquarium clean than being fishers of men & women, then we haven’t even communicated the good news to ourselves…