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Water for a Thirsty Woman Msg 8 12 · INSIGHT FOR LIVING: Biblical Wisdom For Everyday Living

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Speaker 1: In the highly prejudiced society of first century Palestine, few
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Speaker 1: people were valued less in the system than a Samaritan woman.
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Speaker 1: That was especially true of those known for their loose living,
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Speaker 1: Like the Samaritan woman Jesus met by a well in Psychar.
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Speaker 1: From the moment she came into view, Jesus could see
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Speaker 1: the scars etched on the heart of this wounded woman.
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Speaker 1: He valued her as a person and spoke to her
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Speaker 1: with both respect and compassion. How easy it is for
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Speaker 1: us not only to overlook people who seem different than we,
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Speaker 1: but in doing so, we can inadvertently diminish their intrinsic worth.
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Speaker 1: People we encounter every day, like table servers or bank teller,
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Speaker 1: teenagers on skateboards, or even our neighbors, carry with them
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Speaker 1: deep scars from painful pasts, fears of rejection, and often
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Speaker 1: debilitating insecurities. Left to our busy, self absorbed ways, we
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Speaker 1: see them as little more than passing objects, servants to
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Speaker 1: our needs, and, at times even annoying interrupters of our schedule.
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Speaker 1: How very sad, but how true. No such attitude ought
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Speaker 1: to mark anyone who claims the name of Christ. In fact,
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Speaker 1: as we shall see, Jesus not only noticed people. He
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Speaker 1: went there with people. Everywhere he traveled, he saw them,
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Speaker 1: He looked deeply into their experience, and he went there
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Speaker 1: in love and kindness. In this remarkably personal encounter John
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Speaker 1: records in chapter four, we witness Jesus going there with
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Speaker 1: a Samaritan woman. John vividly depicts the scene. Sensing her
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Speaker 1: deepest longings, Jesus gently peels back layers of resistance without
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Speaker 1: once shaming her or arguing with her, or causing her
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Speaker 1: to feel judged. Through John's careful record, we're able to
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Speaker 1: listen in as the Master skillfully and tenderly offers living
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Speaker 1: water for her spiritually thirsty soul. I'll tell you I
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Speaker 1: love this story. There is so much for us to
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Speaker 1: learn from our Lord's example. So let's pay close attention
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Speaker 1: to the reading of God's word today. I'll be reading
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Speaker 1: John chapter four, verses one through forty two in order
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Speaker 1: to set the full context of this remarkable story. So
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Speaker 1: please join me as I read these words from chapter four.
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Speaker 1: I'll be reading from the New Living Translation. Beginning at
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Speaker 1: verse one of John four, Jesus knew the Pharisees had
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Speaker 1: heard that he was baptizing and making more disciples than John.
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Speaker 1: Though Jesus himself didn't baptize them, his disciples did.
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Speaker 2: So.
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Speaker 1: He left Judea and returned to Galilee. He had to
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Speaker 1: go through Samaria on the way. Eventually he came to
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Speaker 1: the Samaritan village of Cyclar, near the field that Jacob
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Speaker 1: gave to his son Joseph. Jacob's well was there, and Jesus,
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Speaker 1: tired from the long walk, set wearily beside the well
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Speaker 1: about noontime. Soon a Samaritan woman came to draw water,
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Speaker 1: and Jesus said to her, please give me a drink.
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Speaker 1: He was alone at the time because his disciples had
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Speaker 1: gone into the village to buy some food. The woman
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Speaker 1: was surprised for Jews refused to have anything to do
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Speaker 1: with Samaritans. She said to Jesus, you are a Jew
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Speaker 1: and I am a Samaritan woman. Why are you asking
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Speaker 1: me for a drink? Jesus replied, if you only knew
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Speaker 1: the gift God has for you and who you are
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Speaker 1: speaking to, you would ask me and I would give
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Speaker 1: you living water. But sir, you don't have a rope
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Speaker 1: or a bucket, she said, and this well is very deep.
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Speaker 1: Where would you get this living water? And Besides, do
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Speaker 1: you think you're greater than our ancestor Jacob, who gave
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Speaker 1: us this? Well, how can you offer better water than
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Speaker 1: he and his sons and his animals enjoyed? Jesus replied,
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Speaker 1: anyone who drinks this water will soon become thirsty again.
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Speaker 1: But those who drink the water I give will never
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Speaker 1: be thirsty again. It becomes a fresh bubbling spring within them,
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Speaker 1: giving them eternal life. Please, sir, the woman said, give
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Speaker 1: me this water, then I'll never be thirsty again, and
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Speaker 1: I won't have to come here to get water. Go
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Speaker 1: and get your husband, Jesus told her, I don't have
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Speaker 1: a husband. The woman replied. Jesus said, you're right, you
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Speaker 1: don't have a husband, for you have had five husbands
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Speaker 1: and you aren't even married to the man you're living with.
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Speaker 2: Now.
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Speaker 1: You certainly spoke the truth, sir. The woman said, you
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Speaker 1: must be a prophet, so tell me why is it
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Speaker 1: that you choose insists that Jerusalem is the only place
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Speaker 1: of worship, while we Samaritans claim it is here at
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Speaker 1: Mount Geryzemee, where our ancestors worshiped. Jesus replied, believe me,
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Speaker 1: dear woman, the time is coming when it will.
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Speaker 2: No longer matter.
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Speaker 1: For the you worship the Father on this mountain or
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Speaker 1: in Jerusalem, you Samaritans know very little about the one
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Speaker 1: you worship, while we Jews know all about him, for
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Speaker 1: salvation comes through the Jews. But the time is coming. Indeed,
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Speaker 1: it is here now when true worshipers will worship the
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Speaker 1: Father in spirit and in truth. The Father is looking
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Speaker 1: for those who will worship him that way, for God
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Speaker 1: is spirit, so those who worship him must worship in
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Speaker 1: spirit and in truth. The woman said, I know the
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Speaker 1: Messiah is coming, the one who is called Christ. When
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Speaker 1: he comes, he will explain everything to us. Then Jesus
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Speaker 1: told her I am the Messiah. Just then his disciples
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Speaker 1: came back. They were shocked to find him talking to
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Speaker 1: a woman, but none of them had the nerve to
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Speaker 1: ask what do you want with her? Or why are
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Speaker 1: you talking to her. The woman left her water jar
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Speaker 1: beside the well and ran back to the village, telling everyone,
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Speaker 1: come and see a man who told me everything I
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Speaker 1: ever did. Could he possibly be the Messiah? So the
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Speaker 1: people came streaming from the village to see him. Meanwhile,
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Speaker 1: the disciples were urging Jesus Rabbi eat something, but Jesus replied,
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Speaker 1: I have a kind of food you know nothing about.
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Speaker 1: Did someone bring him food while we were gone? The
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Speaker 1: disciples ask each other. Then Jesus explained, my nourishment comes
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Speaker 1: from doing the will of God who sent me, and
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Speaker 1: from finishing his work. You know the saying four months
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Speaker 1: between planting and harvest. But I say, wake up and
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Speaker 1: look around. The fields are already ripe for harvest. The
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Speaker 1: harvesters are paid good wages, and the fruit they harvest
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Speaker 1: is people brought to eternal life. What joy awaits both
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Speaker 1: the planter and the harvester alike. You know the saying
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Speaker 1: one plants and another harvests, And it's true, I sent
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Speaker 1: you to harvest where you didn't plant. Others had already
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Speaker 1: done the work, and now you will get together the harvest.
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Speaker 1: Many Samaritans from the village believed in Jesus because the
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Speaker 1: woman had said, he told me everything I ever did.
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Speaker 1: When they came out to see him, they begged him
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Speaker 1: to stay in their village. So he stayed for two days,
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Speaker 1: long enough for many more to hear his message and believe.
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Speaker 1: Then they said to the woman, now we believe not
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Speaker 1: just because of what you told us, but because we
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Speaker 1: have heard him ourselves. Now we know that he is
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Speaker 1: indeed the savior of the world.
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Speaker 2: The greatest appeal of the Bible is its constant relevance.
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Speaker 2: It doesn't need to be made relevant. It is relevant
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Speaker 2: more than any other book I have ever read. This
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Speaker 2: book continues to speak to my needs and the needs
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Speaker 2: of our day more than any other book or any
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Speaker 2: other publication. You might be interested to know that it
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Speaker 2: was this particular point the evans of the Bible, that
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Speaker 2: drew me as a major factor into the ministry. I
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Speaker 2: realized that if I spent my life declaring the truths
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Speaker 2: of this relevant book, it would be, without question, for
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Speaker 2: my life, the most rewarded and exciting experience I could
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Speaker 2: ever go through. So I'm spending my days talking about
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Speaker 2: and instructing people from the book. That never fails. I
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Speaker 2: have three objectives in my preaching ministry accuracy, clarity, practicality.
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Speaker 2: In that order, I want the ministry of the Word
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Speaker 2: to be accurate. Then I want it to be clear,
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Speaker 2: and third I wanted to be practical for everyday living.
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Speaker 2: And with a book like the Bible, you can't lose.
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Speaker 2: It has it all together. As my old prof who
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Speaker 2: taught me how to study the word used to say.
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Speaker 2: The Bible scratches you where you is. If you're lonely
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Speaker 2: with the itch of loneliness, it scratches you with companionship.
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Speaker 2: If you're discouraged and filled with doubt, it brings assurance.
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Speaker 2: It scratches you there. If you're sinful, feeling guilty, pricked
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Speaker 2: in your conscience, it brings about that assurance that you
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Speaker 2: need that forgiveness, It scratches you with that this morning.
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Speaker 2: If you have the need for instruction in witnessing soul winning,
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Speaker 2: it scratches you there. The fourth chapter of the Gospel
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Speaker 2: of John is better than any book you could ever
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Speaker 2: read on the subject of soul winning, and there are
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Speaker 2: one hundred or more out today. It gives you a
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Speaker 2: technique that is flawless, one that works, and it's good.
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Speaker 2: In fact, it is the best, because it is Jesus
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Speaker 2: himself who is doing the witnessing. When you get through
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Speaker 2: reading these first forty two verses of chapter four of John,
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Speaker 2: you walk away with that quiet sense that it works.
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Speaker 2: It is worth remembering. I will in fact apply that
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Speaker 2: to my life, or at least that should be our response. Now.
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Speaker 2: The setting that sets the pace for this witnessing encounter
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Speaker 2: between Jesus and the Samaritan woman at the well is
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Speaker 2: in some ways surprising. First, it's surprising because it took
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Speaker 2: place as a result result of a conflict Philosophically. The
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Speaker 2: Pharisees heard that Jesus was gaining a greater following than
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Speaker 2: John the first two verses describing, and Jesus knew that
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Speaker 2: if he stayed there and increased the following of his disciples,
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Speaker 2: sure as the world the cross would come earlier than
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Speaker 2: it was due. The Pharisees would put him to death.
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Speaker 2: They could handle John's disciples because John never said he
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Speaker 2: was Messiah, but Jesus declaring to be Messiah and leading
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Speaker 2: a great company of people who followed him as Messiah
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Speaker 2: was sure to overthrow their system, and they couldn't stand it.
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Speaker 2: So Jesus left quietly. He vanished from that scene. Now, geographically,
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Speaker 2: the setting is also surprising, because he went from Judea
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Speaker 2: to Galile through Samaria. A Jew didn't do that. They
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Speaker 2: had a thing going between them, that is, the Jews
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Speaker 2: and the Samaritans, where you did not run across each other,
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Speaker 2: Certainly you didn't spend time in each other's company. Or
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Speaker 2: in each other's territory. The ethnic conflict between the Jews
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Speaker 2: and the Samaritans can hardly be described in words today.
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Speaker 2: From centuries back, there had been this feeling that the
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Speaker 2: Samaritans had intermingled and corrupted the Jewish people, and these
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Speaker 2: half breeds had landed in an area called Samaria that
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Speaker 2: was sandwiched between Judea in the south and Galilee to
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Speaker 2: the north. They were such hated people that when the
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Speaker 2: Jews traveled north from Judea, they went around Samaria, over
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Speaker 2: the Jordan, up that territory, and back again into the
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Speaker 2: land of Galilee. They would not go through that territory.
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Speaker 2: The scripture reads, however, verse four, that he had to
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Speaker 2: pass through Samaria, but he didn't. He could have gone
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Speaker 2: the normal route, but he didn't. Why not? I think
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Speaker 2: that Jesus went this way to illustrate to his disciples
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Speaker 2: the fact that his gospel was to permeate the world,
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Speaker 2: not just Jewish territories. Furthermore, there was an encounter there
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Speaker 2: that was to be remembered throughout time, with this woman
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Speaker 2: at the well. Now, I suppose that the best way
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Speaker 2: to give you some concept of the Samaritan Jewish prejudice
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Speaker 2: would to be and I've thought about it would be
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Speaker 2: to describe it this way. It would be like a
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Speaker 2: sheriff from Savannah, Georgia in full uniform walking the streets
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Speaker 2: of Harlem Saturday night. That'll give you some idea. And
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Speaker 2: you don't do that if you're a sheriff from Savannah, Georgia,
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Speaker 2: and you don't do that if you're a Jew going
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Speaker 2: to Galilee. But he did. The beautiful thing about all
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Speaker 2: of this is that Jesus was never sidetracked because of
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Speaker 2: some external prejudice. But we're not through. There was a
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Speaker 2: personal setting also. Verse six tells us that he came
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Speaker 2: to Jacob's well and he was weary, he was tired.
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Speaker 2: He sat down by the well, and it was the
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Speaker 2: sixth hour, it was hot. He had walked from that
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Speaker 2: section of Judea north to Jacob's well, and he was tired.
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Speaker 2: And they were hungry. We know that because of verse eight,
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Speaker 2: where he sent them away to the local safeway or
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Speaker 2: maybe McDonald's. His disciples had gone away into the city
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Speaker 2: to buy food while they were gone, and you will
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Speaker 2: be eternally grateful that they weren't there. When I described
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Speaker 2: to you the reason in just a minute. While they
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Speaker 2: were gone, and an unsuspecting woman with a very sordid
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Speaker 2: past came to the scene. We read that she came
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Speaker 2: verse seven to draw water. The way it reads, it
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Speaker 2: gives you a hint that there's something more than just
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Speaker 2: drawing water. You see. The Pharisees taught the Jews that
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Speaker 2: no man was ever to speak to a woman on
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Speaker 2: the street. They had this instruction, and I quoted from
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Speaker 2: one of their works, let no man talk with a
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Speaker 2: woman on the streets. No, not even with his own wife,
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Speaker 2: our daughter, our sister. Never a Samaritan. It says in
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Speaker 2: verse seven, a woman of Samaria came on the scene.
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Speaker 2: Let me tell you something that will just not Yeah.
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Speaker 2: The Pharisees had a group of them that were so rigid.
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Speaker 2: They were called the bruised and bleeding ones. You know what,
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Speaker 2: because when they saw a woman on the street, they
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Speaker 2: would close their eyes and run into walls and buildings
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Speaker 2: and houses. Now I've seen guys run into walls and buildings,
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Speaker 2: but they didn't have their eyes closed as they were looking.
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Speaker 2: This is the opposite problem. They were so rigid, so strict,
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Speaker 2: so legal, that they actually shut their eyes. That's how
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Speaker 2: set in concrete. This whole system was the way the
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Speaker 2: scripture reads. She was not only a woman, she was
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Speaker 2: a Samaritan woman. And not only was she a Samaritan woman,
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Speaker 2: she was a woman with a notorious past. She living
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Speaker 2: with her sixth man, who was not even her husband.
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Speaker 2: And Jesus, once the disciples were gone, was unafraid of
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Speaker 2: those barriers. And he pro write in the more you
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Speaker 2: study the life of Jesus, the more you will be
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Speaker 2: impressed with his absolute genuine love for people. I'd venture
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Speaker 2: to say, if we had lived in that day, the
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Speaker 2: great majority of us, myself included, would have written her off,
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Speaker 2: but not Jesus. That's the beauty of the story. Now,
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Speaker 2: in the conversation verses seven through twenty six, we have
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Speaker 2: six separate appeals and responses. Jesus offered an appeal, and
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Speaker 2: she responded. He offered another appeal, She brought another response,
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Speaker 2: another appeal, another response. That syndrome appears six times in
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Speaker 2: these verses. His first appeal was to her kindness. Look
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Speaker 2: at verse seven, He said to her, give me a drink.
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Speaker 2: Not only did he look at her, which was a
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Speaker 2: no no, he talked to her, and he said to
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Speaker 2: her would you get me a drink? If you've known
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Speaker 2: anything about human nature, and Jesus Christ is perhaps the
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Speaker 2: cutting edge of this particular area of life. He knows
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Speaker 2: man and woman better than anybody ever knows man and woman.
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Speaker 2: You know that one of the ways to break down
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Speaker 2: a strange cool feeling with a stranger is to ask
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Speaker 2: a favor. Would you mind handing me there? Or would
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Speaker 2: you let me help you with this? Would you mind
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Speaker 2: getting me there? That was the approach he used. He
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Speaker 2: appealed to her kindness, would you get me a drink?
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Speaker 2: Her response was defensive. Literally, she said, how you, being
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Speaker 2: a Jew from me asks a drink a woman a Samaritan.
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Speaker 2: That's the idea. With a little bit of dramatics, that's
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Speaker 2: exactly the way she responded. He said, what are you
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Speaker 2: doing asking me for a drink? Don't you know the rules?
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Speaker 2: We don't talk to each other. I mean that's been
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Speaker 2: set up from the centuries. We don't have anything to
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Speaker 2: do with each other. She said to him verse nine,
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Speaker 2: how is it that you, being a Jew, asked me
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Speaker 2: for a drink? I'm a Samaritan woman. If you take
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Speaker 2: your pencil and underscore, you'll find six times in verses
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Speaker 2: four through nine. The word samaria. It's wanting to get
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Speaker 2: across a point. It's telling you how they don't mix.
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Speaker 2: And Jesus was determined to share himself with her. She
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Speaker 2: was defensive. Sometime an act of kindness backfires. Have you
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Speaker 2: ever offered an act of kindness and had it backfire
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Speaker 2: on you? I did that recently in one of my
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Speaker 2: rare kind moments. I was going from a car rental
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Speaker 2: place to the airport in another city. And I was
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Speaker 2: on the little jitney that takes you with bags and
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Speaker 2: all from the car rental to the airport. And it
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Speaker 2: was a very crowded little shuttle bus. I'd gotten on early,
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Speaker 2: and I had a seat right behind the driver, and
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Speaker 2: I noticed some were gonna have to stand. One or
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Speaker 2: two of these were some women who were standing with
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Speaker 2: their bags, and I thought, that's a shame, and I
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Speaker 2: thought I'll offer them a seat, and I stood up
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Speaker 2: and I said, would you like? She said, what's wrong?
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Speaker 2: I said, nothing? Uh? Would you like? No? I can
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Speaker 2: stand bye. You know, I'll be glad to let you stand.
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Speaker 2: Is it because out of the feeling now, I don't
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Speaker 2: know what it was. Maybe i'd said it the wrong way,
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Speaker 2: or perhaps said she was you know of another persuasion
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Speaker 2: that women aren't weak, and you know that they can
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Speaker 2: stand like anybody else. And I looked toward the back,
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Speaker 2: and there was another woman towards the back that kind
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Speaker 2: of looked at me. And the fellow next to me
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Speaker 2: said something like, you can't win, you know. And I mean,
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Speaker 2: he's sort of like, what are you doing? Trying to
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Speaker 2: show a little kindness? It doesn't work. It's sometime at backfires. Now,
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Speaker 2: Jesus simply said, to give me a drink, and she says,
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Speaker 2: what's the deal. We don't talk to each other. That's
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Speaker 2: the tone. But Jesus did not retaliate. That's a beautiful
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Speaker 2: part of it. He did not retaliate. He simply responded
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Speaker 2: by appealing to her curiosity. Verse ten. He said, if
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Speaker 2: you knew the gift of God and who it is
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Speaker 2: who says to you, give me a drink, you would
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Speaker 2: have asked him and he would have given you water,
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Speaker 2: that is living water. The syntax the way it's constructed
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Speaker 2: in the original emphasizes the adjective living. He would have
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Speaker 2: offered you water, I mean, the living kind. Now, what
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Speaker 2: did he appeal to, Well, he appeal to her curiosity.
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Speaker 2: He said, ah, my good woman, if you only knew
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Speaker 2: the gift and the giver, if you only realize what
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Speaker 2: living water could do for you, oh, you would have
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Speaker 2: gotten that drink as soon as I asked for it.
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Speaker 2: Her response is sarcasm verse eleven. Sir, you have nothing
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Speaker 2: to draw with, and the well is deep. Where then
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Speaker 2: do you get that living water? Same construction water, I mean,
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Speaker 2: the living kind. You're not greater than our father Jacob?
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Speaker 2: Are you who gave us the well and drank from
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Speaker 2: it himself and his sons and his cattle. Now there's
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Speaker 2: a hint of inquisitive nature in all of us. But
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Speaker 2: in this case she got hung up with the well
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Speaker 2: and the owner of the well and how he planned
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Speaker 2: to draw the water out, on and on and on.
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Speaker 2: And I would venture to say that the average Christian
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Speaker 2: today would have gotten sidetracked and would have been willing
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Speaker 2: to talk about who the will really belonged to, because
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Speaker 2: that was the controversial question, who really owns this well?
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Speaker 2: Is it a Samaritan will? Is it a Jewish well?
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Speaker 2: Isn't it amazing how we can get sidetracked when we
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Speaker 2: talk to someone about the Lord Jesus, isn't it remarkable
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Speaker 2: how the enemy knows just the button to punch to
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Speaker 2: scoot us off the issue and to get us in
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Speaker 2: an area that's perhaps a lot more exciting and even
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Speaker 2: interesting humanly speaking. She responded with that comment, and Jesus
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Speaker 2: came right back and appealed to her desire, First her kindness,
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Speaker 2: than her curiosity, and now her desire. He said to
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Speaker 2: her verse eleven, verse thirteen, everyone who drinks of this
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Speaker 2: water sill thirst again. But whoever drinks of the water
29:10
Speaker 2: I shall give him shall never thirst. Now I notice
29:15
Speaker 2: what he says. But the water I shall give him
29:19
Speaker 2: shall become in him a well of water springing up
29:25
Speaker 2: to eternal life. She didn't hear that, And I make
29:29
Speaker 2: a point of it because when you witness and when eyewitness,
29:33
Speaker 2: we want to be very specific with the issues. But
29:37
Speaker 2: you've got to realize you're talking to people that are
29:39
Speaker 2: plugged in to the human viewpoint the horizontal. That's her response.
29:45
Speaker 2: She did not hear him refer to eternal She didn't
29:49
Speaker 2: plug into the idea of water in him. She was
29:55
Speaker 2: strictly talking about physical water. Look at her response. Fifteen.
30:00
Speaker 2: She said, sir, give me this water, So I will
30:05
Speaker 2: not be thirsty, nor come all the way here to
30:08
Speaker 2: draw man that walk from psycher to hear as a drag.
30:13
Speaker 2: I'd love to find water that just springs up when
30:16
Speaker 2: I need it. She didn't get the spiritual tone. Will
30:22
Speaker 2: you realize that when you share Jesus Christ, you have
30:27
Speaker 2: to be very careful understanding the perspective of the listener.
30:34
Speaker 2: How often we assume more than we should. The average
30:41
Speaker 2: American today has never heard clearly the Gospel of Jesus
30:47
Speaker 2: Christ in black and white. He's heard religion, and he's
30:54
Speaker 2: heard all the tones related to church, but he has,
30:58
Speaker 2: at least it's been my experience. He has never been
31:02
Speaker 2: clear in the issue concerning faith plus nothing in Jesus Christ. Now,
31:10
Speaker 2: this woman did not hear what he said. She said,
31:14
Speaker 2: I'd love to have a drink. That's great, But the
31:18
Speaker 2: spiritual tone was as foreign as Egyptian hieroglyphics. She did
31:23
Speaker 2: not get it, and so he appeals to her personal interest.
31:28
Speaker 2: I love the way he changes the pace. Verse sixteen.
31:32
Speaker 2: He said to her, go call your husband and come here.
31:40
Speaker 2: Now did Jesus know her situation? Absolutely? Jesus knew that
31:46
Speaker 2: she was a woman who had lived a life of promiscuity,
31:52
Speaker 2: but she was an unbeliever. She was a woman who
31:56
Speaker 2: had never given herself to God. That kind of lifestyle
31:59
Speaker 2: is to be expected of the lost, as a matter
32:03
Speaker 2: of fact. To be very honest with you, I am
32:05
Speaker 2: amazed when I find a moral unbeliever. It is the
32:13
Speaker 2: lifestyle of the lost person to be immoral, and this
32:20
Speaker 2: woman is no exception. He said, call your husband. Now.
32:24
Speaker 2: I think Jesus is something like the attorney who has
32:28
Speaker 2: a portfolio of facts and drops a question on the witness,
32:33
Speaker 2: knowing from the facts in his portfolio that he's about
32:37
Speaker 2: to present what the answer should be. And so he
32:40
Speaker 2: asks the question and waits with that quiet sense of
32:46
Speaker 2: absolute knowledge. I have the facts on you. So he
32:51
Speaker 2: said to her, call your husband. She responds by changing
32:56
Speaker 2: the subject because I don't have a husband. No, that
33:03
Speaker 2: was the truth. She didn't. She said, I'm not married.
33:07
Speaker 2: I'll have a husband. And she thought, little do you
33:12
Speaker 2: know the whole story? Little do you know? We all
33:20
Speaker 2: have secrets that we jealously guard, don't we. Some of
33:26
Speaker 2: you look at me this morning like you don't, but
33:28
Speaker 2: I know that you do. I have some in my past,
33:32
Speaker 2: and I'm ashamed of you have some in your past.
33:37
Speaker 2: Some of us were worse than others, but we're all
33:41
Speaker 2: grateful that those things are under the blood. Sometime we
33:47
Speaker 2: fear that they'll be found out. Let's face it. Some
33:53
Speaker 2: time we live with that shattered, deep sense of insecurity.
33:59
Speaker 2: What if? Not by God, because we can handle it,
34:03
Speaker 2: but with man with woman. This was brought home to
34:07
Speaker 2: me in an illustration that I saw actually some time
34:10
Speaker 2: ago in the newspaper. A fellow, a couple actually went
34:17
Speaker 2: into a chicken dinner place they were going to. They
34:21
Speaker 2: ordered two dinners. They were going to take it down
34:25
Speaker 2: to Newport Beach and sit down and enjoy it in
34:27
Speaker 2: the afternoon sun. And so in one of those Kentucky
34:32
Speaker 2: Fried chicken places there in Long Beach, he got it.
34:36
Speaker 2: He made his order, and he got the sack back,
34:38
Speaker 2: and he walked out, and they took off, and inadvertently
34:42
Speaker 2: there had been passed to him the proceeds of the day,
34:45
Speaker 2: eight and twenty five dollars in cold cash. And when
34:51
Speaker 2: he sat down at the beach to eat the chicken dinner,
34:56
Speaker 2: he opened the bank. Oh man, there was more than
34:59
Speaker 2: chicken there. There was money there. But he is a
35:03
Speaker 2: rare fellow. You know what he did, rolled us back
35:06
Speaker 2: back up, took her with him, got back in the pickup,
35:09
Speaker 2: drove all the way back to Long Beach, and said
35:11
Speaker 2: you made a mistake. In the meantime, they had contacted
35:14
Speaker 2: the police. They were just frightened to death and they oh, man,
35:18
Speaker 2: this is great, thanks very much. We want to tell
35:22
Speaker 2: the police. We want to announce this that there are
35:24
Speaker 2: a few honest people left. He says, no, don't do that.
35:27
Speaker 2: The woman I'm with is not my wife. Isn't it
35:33
Speaker 2: interesting that on the surface there's honesty, but underneath there
35:42
Speaker 2: is corruption. The woman said, huh, I don't have a husband.
35:50
Speaker 2: She changed the subject. Jesus appealed to her conscience. Look
36:00
Speaker 2: at verse seventeen. You have well said I have no husband.
36:08
Speaker 2: You've told the truth. You have no husband. That's right,
36:14
Speaker 2: for you have had five men, literally, and the one
36:19
Speaker 2: whom you now have is not your husband. This you
36:25
Speaker 2: have said truly. You know. I am so impressed with
36:31
Speaker 2: the fact. He did not condemn her. He didn't agree
36:36
Speaker 2: with that lifestyle, but he did not nail her. He said,
36:41
Speaker 2: you've told the truth. I commend you. The man you
36:46
Speaker 2: have is not your husband. He's the sixth and a
36:49
Speaker 2: long line of that kind of life. She responded by
36:55
Speaker 2: a controversial issue. Look at how she handled it. A
37:00
Speaker 2: guilty conscience that won't face up to it turns to
37:04
Speaker 2: a controversial issue. She said to him, Sir, I perceive
37:10
Speaker 2: that you are prophet. And speaking of that, we worship
37:13
Speaker 2: at Mount Garrazine and the Jews worship at Jerusalem. Now,
37:18
Speaker 2: which do you think is right? Should men worship at
37:21
Speaker 2: Garyzine here in Samaria or should they go worship at
37:24
Speaker 2: Jerusalem the Jewish Center? Ever had that happen? Sure you had? Well?
37:34
Speaker 2: Do you really believe there's a hell?
37:37
Speaker 1: Or?
37:39
Speaker 2: Oh? And speaking of God and religion, what do you
37:43
Speaker 2: think about transcendential meditation or yoga? You think yoga would
37:47
Speaker 2: really be a good thing for me? Or the Eastern religions?
37:51
Speaker 2: Or now take that Bible you've been talking about the Bible?
37:54
Speaker 2: Is that the word of man or the word of God?
37:58
Speaker 2: Or as one fellow said to me, you know I'm Jewish?
38:04
Speaker 2: I love well, big deal, friend, you still have needs.
38:08
Speaker 2: What was his desire was to get me off in
38:11
Speaker 2: the whole area of the Jewish way of life. Look,
38:15
Speaker 2: this woman said, now where should we worship. What should
38:18
Speaker 2: we do? What do you believe about radical theology? Is
38:21
Speaker 2: God dead or dead or just remote? Where is God?
38:28
Speaker 2: What do you believe about neo Orthodoxy? Now do I
38:33
Speaker 2: mean by this that we're not to have answers? I
38:35
Speaker 2: don't mean that. I'm saying, when you are witnessing the
38:38
Speaker 2: lost person, when under conviction, will skirt to an issue
38:44
Speaker 2: that will get you off. Jesus did not get off.
38:47
Speaker 2: He drove right home and appealed. After she responded with
38:51
Speaker 2: this controversial issue, he appealed to her will. The sixth
38:56
Speaker 2: response of Jesus is he appeals to her will look
38:59
Speaker 2: at it, He said, Woman, believe me three things you're
39:07
Speaker 2: to believe. First, earthly location is unimportant in eternity. That's
39:13
Speaker 2: verse twenty one. An hour is coming when neither in
39:18
Speaker 2: this mountain nor Jerusalem will you worship. When eternity dawns,
39:23
Speaker 2: this world will be passed away and will have no significance.
39:27
Speaker 2: Don't get hung up with where we're gonna worship. Second,
39:31
Speaker 2: the object of worship is ultra important, he said to
39:35
Speaker 2: her in verse twenty two. You don't even know whom
39:38
Speaker 2: you worship. We know God has been pleased to reveal
39:43
Speaker 2: his plan through the jew we know, we know the
39:47
Speaker 2: object of worship. And thirdly, he said to her, God
39:51
Speaker 2: seeks true worshipers verse twenty three, the kind that come
39:58
Speaker 2: to him in spirit and in truth. After the appeal
40:04
Speaker 2: to her will, do you notice her response? It's the
40:07
Speaker 2: sharpest arrow and the enemy's quiver. Delay, She says to
40:14
Speaker 2: him in verse twenty five. I know that Messiah is coming,
40:20
Speaker 2: and when that one comes, he will declare all these
40:22
Speaker 2: things to us. Then I'll listen. I want to put
40:27
Speaker 2: that aside for a while, and later, when I have
40:29
Speaker 2: the time and realize that Messiah has come, then I'm interested.
40:34
Speaker 2: If you know your Bible, you know that sounds just
40:36
Speaker 2: like Felix the last few verses of Acts chapter twenty four,
40:41
Speaker 2: when he told Paul, now when I have a convenience season,
40:46
Speaker 2: you go away for the present time, and when I
40:49
Speaker 2: find time, i'll call you back. And the very next
40:52
Speaker 2: few verses say two years later Paul was contacted. The
40:59
Speaker 2: sharpest part of the enemy is put it off delay,
41:03
Speaker 2: and she used it right here. Jesus declared to her
41:07
Speaker 2: in the twenty sixth verse, I am he Now the
41:14
Speaker 2: passage has built toward a climax. Maybe you have sensed it.
41:19
Speaker 2: He begins with this appeal to her kindness, and he's
41:22
Speaker 2: built all the way to the appeal to her will.
41:25
Speaker 2: And he said, believe me. And guess what happened? He
41:33
Speaker 2: said to her, I am the Messiah, and the disciples
41:38
Speaker 2: came back with a lunch. When you look at verse
41:42
Speaker 2: twenty seven, at this point, the disciples came and they marveled.
41:53
Speaker 2: Don't think that it was not written on their faces.
41:56
Speaker 2: It says they didn't say anything, what do you say?
42:00
Speaker 2: Or why do you talk with her? But it was
42:03
Speaker 2: written all over their faces. Never have that happened, Oh
42:07
Speaker 2: surely you have. If you've witnessed for Christ, you have
42:10
Speaker 2: come to that strategic moment, encountered the whole area of
42:15
Speaker 2: need for Christ, and the person is just about ready
42:19
Speaker 2: to make a decision, and interruption comes. I was in
42:23
Speaker 2: this church with a close friend, in this church, witnessing
42:26
Speaker 2: to a lost person in this church one Sunday night,
42:31
Speaker 2: right at that crucial moment of applying the message of
42:35
Speaker 2: the evening to his soul, and somebody came and said, okay,
42:39
Speaker 2: lights up, turn the lights up. Oh no, man, don't
42:44
Speaker 2: turn them out right now. We're about to turn them
42:46
Speaker 2: on in this fella. And guess what. That diverted the
42:50
Speaker 2: issue and we went three different directions. The man is
42:54
Speaker 2: still lost. It happens. It happened. It's just as if
43:01
Speaker 2: it were planned with the enemy. Right when he said
43:05
Speaker 2: woman believed, here came the disciple. Here they are Lord
43:11
Speaker 2: got him. Yours gonna get cold out, let's eat. But
43:16
Speaker 2: before we look at the disciples, look at this Samaritan
43:20
Speaker 2: group Verse twenty eight. The woman left her water plot.
43:24
Speaker 2: She was in a hurry. That was her out, and
43:27
Speaker 2: she took off, went to psycher and said to the men,
43:32
Speaker 2: come see a man who told me all the things
43:38
Speaker 2: that I have done. Let me tell you something. For
43:41
Speaker 2: her to say that, she had to feel secure at
43:44
Speaker 2: his presence. He told me everything I've done, And she implies,
43:50
Speaker 2: he never condemned me. He unzipped my whole life, and
43:54
Speaker 2: I saw it as it is. This isn't the Messiah,
43:58
Speaker 2: is it? That's the feeling you get. We haven't encountered
44:02
Speaker 2: the Son of God, have we? And they believed, Yes,
44:06
Speaker 2: we have. They were coming out of the city to
44:09
Speaker 2: him verse thirty nine. From that city many believed in
44:14
Speaker 2: him because of her testimony. Verse forty they said, stay
44:19
Speaker 2: on two days Messiah, and many more believed because of
44:24
Speaker 2: his word. And they were saying to the woman, it's
44:27
Speaker 2: no longer because you said that. We believe because of
44:32
Speaker 2: what you said, for we have heard for ourselves and
44:34
Speaker 2: we know that he is indeed the Savior, the Savior
44:40
Speaker 2: of the world. You have a pencil handy. I want
44:43
Speaker 2: you to look at something quickly now. Verse nine, she
44:48
Speaker 2: calls him a Jew. Verse fifteen, she calls him sir,
44:55
Speaker 2: which is a kind word for lord. Verse nineteen, she
45:00
Speaker 2: calls him a prophet. Nine is the Jew, fifteen is sir,
45:07
Speaker 2: nineteen is the prophet, twenty five the Messiah, forty two
45:14
Speaker 2: the Savior of the world. There's a climax that's built
45:18
Speaker 2: in this passage, and they come from ignorance and unbelief
45:22
Speaker 2: to great belief. I want to camp on eight point
45:27
Speaker 2: forward through, but I want to go back for just
45:29
Speaker 2: a minute and picked up the verse and pick up
45:31
Speaker 2: the verses I missed, because it is classic. Back to
45:35
Speaker 2: the disciples. Verse thirty one. I remember that the Samaritans
45:41
Speaker 2: are starting to come. They're coming to greet him and
45:45
Speaker 2: to hear about him and to believe in him. Where
45:49
Speaker 2: were the disciples? They were hungry, and they said, Rabbi
45:55
Speaker 2: e And he said to them, I have food that
46:02
Speaker 2: you do not know about. And they said, no one
46:07
Speaker 2: brought him anything to eat? Did they? Can you believe that? Eat? Lord? Eat?
46:17
Speaker 2: Listen man, I've got things that are much deeper. You
46:19
Speaker 2: an't even served. Where'd you get yours? So nobody served him?
46:23
Speaker 2: Did they? They're all involve with the meal cooks, homemakers
46:31
Speaker 2: here today. You ever hear that, ever have that feeling?
46:34
Speaker 2: All this family wants to do is eat. As a
46:40
Speaker 2: matter of fact, while they were passing the ketchup and
46:43
Speaker 2: the mustard, the hamburgers back and forth in the French fire,
46:46
Speaker 2: their eyes were down on the table. Where were Jesus eyes?
46:53
Speaker 2: Look Verse thirty four. My food is to do the
46:58
Speaker 2: will of him who sent me to accomplish his work.
47:03
Speaker 2: Do not say there are four months and then we
47:05
Speaker 2: can have the harvest. The harvest is now. It's white
47:11
Speaker 2: unto harvest. One very insightful writer said that at this
47:15
Speaker 2: particular location you could easily have seen these white robed
47:19
Speaker 2: people coming out of the city of psychhar up to
47:22
Speaker 2: the well. And he saw those fields white, and he said, men,
47:27
Speaker 2: that's my food, those white under harvest. And then he
47:33
Speaker 2: said to them in verse thirty eight, I sent you
47:36
Speaker 2: to reap businessmen that are here today. He sent you
47:45
Speaker 2: to reap. What a title for a missionary conference, What
47:50
Speaker 2: a motto to live by, What a life to fulfill?
47:56
Speaker 2: Students graduating? He sent you to reap mother's family growing
48:03
Speaker 2: are grown. He sent you to reap salesman, traveling, busy,
48:11
Speaker 2: pressed with those demands of your commission, and all involved.
48:15
Speaker 2: He sent you to reap. What are you doing with
48:20
Speaker 2: your life? I have a very close friend, Dave Roper,
48:25
Speaker 2: who tells the most touching story. When he was on
48:28
Speaker 2: the Stanford campus. He just comes to me right now,
48:32
Speaker 2: he said, Chuck. I was walking on the campus and
48:35
Speaker 2: I was ready to meet three fellows regarding their faith
48:37
Speaker 2: in Jesus Christ. And I looked over and I saw
48:40
Speaker 2: a bird bath, beautiful ornate bird bath wrapped around with vines,
48:46
Speaker 2: filled with trash, overgrown by the trees around it. And
48:52
Speaker 2: I went over. It had a few minutes and I
48:54
Speaker 2: pushed aside the vines in the most intricate work around
48:57
Speaker 2: this bird bath beautiful, and I thought, Lord God, keep
49:02
Speaker 2: me from building burg baths all my life. That means
49:09
Speaker 2: nothing to the mainstream of life. I sent you to
49:14
Speaker 2: reap roper, that's what God says to me, to you.
49:21
Speaker 2: Why aren't we reaping? Why? I think the disciples provide
49:27
Speaker 2: four answers in application. First, because we're turned off by
49:32
Speaker 2: the externals. They saw him talking to the woman and
49:37
Speaker 2: they couldn't believe it. We have something in an external
49:42
Speaker 2: chemistry that turns us off, so we don't want to
49:44
Speaker 2: give him the gospel. I hate him, I can't stand
49:49
Speaker 2: that person. The externals turn us off and we turn away.
49:55
Speaker 2: That's why we don't read or maybe yours is the
49:59
Speaker 2: next one. We're over involved with the so called necessities
50:03
Speaker 2: of life, just fixing meals and eating, just keeping schedules,
50:12
Speaker 2: just making a living. Have you ever sat down and
50:17
Speaker 2: made any specific plans to infiltrate the Gospel into your work, man, women,
50:26
Speaker 2: any specific plans to implement the Gospel into your neighborhood
50:33
Speaker 2: to reap. That's why you sent us over involved with
50:39
Speaker 2: the necessities of life. Third, we simply put it off
50:47
Speaker 2: Verse thirty five. Don't say there are four months, man,
50:52
Speaker 2: it's now four months. There's not a one from sycar
50:56
Speaker 2: that'll still be standing here. They're now here. Procrastination. Fourth,
51:06
Speaker 2: because we never get specific regarding Jesus Christ key opportunities.
51:14
Speaker 2: The doors open, we've walked in. God's closed the door
51:19
Speaker 2: behind us. There's no question He's ready, and we never
51:22
Speaker 2: get specific, never press for a decision. There's not a
51:28
Speaker 2: salesman here today that could ever say he ever made
51:31
Speaker 2: a sail, at least rarely made a sail without pressing
51:35
Speaker 2: for the decision. I say to you this morning before
51:41
Speaker 2: God that those that are engaged in faithful personal evangelism,
51:48
Speaker 2: in reaping never have time to be petty. In the
51:54
Speaker 2: Christian life. You become critical in your attitude. Have you
52:01
Speaker 2: become petty? Notoriously rigid and prejudiced? You become negative, pessimistic.
52:16
Speaker 2: Let me ask you in the military terms. Is it
52:18
Speaker 2: because you're on the front lines or behind the lines.
52:26
Speaker 2: One of my Marine Corps friends, who went through more
52:28
Speaker 2: battles than I want to ever remember, said to me,
52:31
Speaker 2: the people on the front lines never complained about the
52:34
Speaker 2: food because they were fighting a life in death battle.
52:38
Speaker 2: It's the guys behind the lines that fussed. No problem
52:43
Speaker 2: with vision. For those that are on the front lines,
52:48
Speaker 2: no problem with faith, no problem with accepting what God
52:54
Speaker 2: is giving in life. If you're in the battle for
52:57
Speaker 2: souls sent us to read. Is the Bible relevant? Does
53:08
Speaker 2: it speak to today's needs? Indeed it does? May we
53:14
Speaker 2: bow together? That's I fail to practice what I preach.
53:19
Speaker 2: I want to take a few moments right now to
53:21
Speaker 2: ask you, right where you're sitting, can you look back
53:29
Speaker 2: to a time in your life when you said, Lord Jesus,
53:36
Speaker 2: come into my heart. I believe you died and rose
53:42
Speaker 2: for me. I want to be your child. I want
53:47
Speaker 2: to have eternal life. I want it right now. You
53:55
Speaker 2: have never made that decision. Friend, You're lost. You are lost.
54:05
Speaker 2: You are no closer because you gave something in an offering.
54:09
Speaker 2: Are because you've attended a church service. You are no
54:13
Speaker 2: closer because your whole family is Christian. You're no closer
54:17
Speaker 2: because you're doing a good job of raising them. Or
54:21
Speaker 2: you're a good student. Are you're a faithful parent? Are
54:27
Speaker 2: you a good, upstanding, honest business man. I'm impressed that
54:34
Speaker 2: Jesus never threatened a woman with hell. He offered her
54:38
Speaker 2: heaven water that never runs dry. Giving your heart to
54:46
Speaker 2: Jesus Christ is a personal matter. I press you at
54:49
Speaker 2: this moment, make that personal decision right now, right now.
55:03
Speaker 2: And with that searching question, Christian, are you reaping? Are
55:13
Speaker 2: you reaping? Heavenly Father, because Jesus Christ is in the
55:22
Speaker 2: business of changing lives. Because you met the woman where
55:27
Speaker 2: she was and offered her water that springs up to
55:34
Speaker 2: eternal life, we are able to claim today that very
55:39
Speaker 2: same invitation at the will of salvation. With joy we
55:46
Speaker 2: draw from it. With delight we give you thanks for it.
55:52
Speaker 2: But with great passion we pray for those that are
55:57
Speaker 2: under the conviction of God having never received his son
56:02
Speaker 2: right now, that you'd bring them quietly to this place
56:07
Speaker 2: of decision, and if they delay, that you would increase
56:12
Speaker 2: their misery until the decision is made. Thank you for
56:21
Speaker 2: the love affair you have begun with this world, that
56:26
Speaker 2: it will never end till your son comes back, which
56:32
Speaker 2: could be this afternoon. In Jesus' blessed name, we pray Amen.
56:43
Speaker 3: The preceding message Water for a Thirsty Woman was copyrighted
56:47
Speaker 3: in nineteen seventy five, nineteen eighty seven, two thousand and
56:51
Speaker 3: twenty eighteen, and the sound recording was copyrighted in twenty
56:56
Speaker 3: eighteen by Charles R. S. Went all eight, All right,
56:59
Speaker 3: now it's a reserved worldwide. Duplication of copyrighted material for
57:04
Speaker 3: commercial use is strictly prohibited