Year A Lent 3 John 4:5-42
Here are some "All Age" ideas, an "All Age" talk, and two expository sermons...
All Age Ideas
Here are some, probably familiar ideas.
The first few make the point that God accepts everyone, what ever they are like. Don't feel you need to use all of the following...
Ask anyone if they know what gurning is? It is the art (?!) of pulling faces. There are gurning competitions. Ask for some volunteers and have a competition. See how they compare with these! The point is that God loves us, whatever we look like!
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Get people to think of/list as many countries as they can either before the service starts or in 2 minutes or try to compile an A-z from the congregation. For a list see http://www.travelchampion.com/list-of-world-countries.htm The point is that God loves people wherever they come from.
Find out if any of your congregation speak a foreign language, at least relatively fluently. Ask them to say something to the children and ask them to guess what language they are speaking. The point is that God loves us whatever language we speak and that he can understand us.
Get the congregation to stand in a line with the smallest at one end ascending in height with the tallest at the other end. The point is that God loves us, whatever size we are, tall or wide!
The background to these ideas is that the Samaritans and the Jews hated one other. There had been hundreds of years of theological dispute, provocation and violence. For example, about 25 years before some Samaritans had desecrated the temple in Jerusalem at Passover time by scattering bones in it. Later, in 52 AD Samaritans massacred some pilgrims from Galilee.
The Samaritan religion closely resembled Judaism, but on key issues its followers had gone their own way. They accepted only the first five books of the Old Testament, and insisted that Mount Gerizim, not Jerusalem, was the proper place to worship God. Jews and Samaritans usually avoided each other and a devout Jew would not go near Samaria. However, Jesus wanted to reach across these barriers. This is why verse 4 said he 'had to go through Samaria'. It was due to an inward compulsion rather than this being the only route he could possibly take.
The following makes the point that Jesus is good news we can tell others about, urgently.
Play "Chinese whispers". Whisper a short sentence to one person and get them to pass it round the congregation. See how it changes from the original to the final message. The point is that the Samaritan woman spread the good news of Jesus clearly to many people who came to faith.
Ask if anyone likes ice cream. Give some people ice cream and before they can start to eat them engage them in mindless conversation about ice cream, e.g. which is their favourite, when do they normally eat ice creams, could they think of an ice cream flavour that hasn't been invented, what is the best weather for ice cream eating, etc. While this is happening the ice creams will be melting and, hopefully, the people with them will be concerned about this. Jesus said that the fields were ripe for harvest, verse 35. Just as ice creams need to be eaten quickly or else they will melt, so we need to share the good news of Jesus urgently because some people may be ready to start their relationship with Jesus now.
To illustrate the concept of living water 4:10-14 get some water in bottles or a hose pipe and pour the water into a bucket/tub. You could also talk about jacuzzis, white water rafting or hydo-electric power. Make the point that there is still water which is lifeless, going nowhere. Or you can have living, moving water which is invigorating, exciting. This is the type of life that Jesus brings with His Spirit living inside every believer. Giving power to live and witness for God.
All Age Service : John 4:4-15
4 Now he had to go through Samaria. 5 So he came to a town in Samaria called Sychar, near the plot of ground Jacob had given to his son Joseph. 6 Jacob's well was there, and Jesus, tired as he was from the journey, sat down by the well. It was about the sixth hour.7 When 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.) 9 The 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. ) 10 Jesus 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." 11 "Sir," the woman said, "you have nothing to draw with and the well is deep. Where can you get this living water? 12 Are 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?" 13 Jesus answered, "Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again, 14 but 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." 15 The 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."
Intro talk:
Play ( MIDI ) intros of following songs, people guess what song is. All have a water connection...
Bridge over troubled waters - Simon & Garfunkel
The rain in spain - My fair lady
Smoke on the water - Deep Purple
Waterloo - Abba
Waterloo Sunset - Kinks
Why does it always rain on me - Travis
Moonriver
Raindrops keep falling on my head - Sacha Distel Bert Bacharach
I can't stand the rain - Eruption
Its raining men - Geri Halliwell/Weathergirls
Main talk:
Tallest waterfall in the world? OHP
Angel Falls in Venezuela. It is a slender stream that plunges 3,212 feet (979 meters) down the face of a rugged cliff. It was named after Jimmy Angel, an American bush pilot and gold-hunting adventurer who discovered it in 1937.
In comparison the highest waterfall in England is 'High Force, in County Durham which is a 69 feet drop. 2% of Angel Falls!
The waterfall with the greatest volume of water?
Khone Falls, a series of waterfalls on the Mekong River bordering Laos and Cambodia, has about 2,500,000 gallons (9,500,000 litres) of water per second flow over their rims, nearly double the volume of
What qualities does a waterfall have?
Power, some of them are harnessed to produce electricity.
Active, alive, jumping around.
Noisy.
Jesus compared the Holy Spirit, whom He gives to every believer, to a spring of water welling up to eternal life, verse 14. The woman thought he was talking about the material, H2O, but he was referring to the spiritual.
When someone has a drink they will, in time need another one, and another one. People seek physical satisfaction in sex, alcohol, drugs, driving fast, partying, jobs, popularity, success, wealth, and so on. But these things will never be enough. They will always leave people wanting more. Yet Jesus says those who come to him for a spiritual drink will never be thirsty again. They will never seek satisfaction in anything else because knowing Jesus and having him in your soul is enough to satisfy anyone and everyone.
Jesus supply is never ending. Its even bigger than the 2.5 million gallons per second of the Khone Falls. It is always there. We can never out drink Jesus' supply. Unlike a stream which can dry up in hot conditions it will always be flowing.
It is like living or lively water, moving like a waterfall, but gushing from within like a powerful spring exploding out of rock. This spring of water that Jesus referred to contrasts with still or stagnant water, such as the lifeless pond that sheep would be led to drink from. This spring of water wells up to eternal life.
What is eternal life? Jesus answered this question ( John 17:3 ) "Now this is eternal life: that they may know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent."
Eternal life is knowing God and knowing Jesus. It is about a relationship. We start that relationship in this life and continue it more fully in glory. We can know God continual blessings in our lives. The joy of knowing, serving and worshipping him. The comfort of knowing him as our best friend. The security of knowing that we are loved and accepted by God. The resource of prayer that is available to every believer. We need never thirst again.
I'd like to read this account from someone who ran long distances...
"I've heard it. I've read it. As long as I have been running, it's always
been the same message: "drink plenty of water."
All along most race courses are water stations, and most runners slow down to drink a cup of cool water. Keeping your water level up is critical when you run. If you get slightly dehydrated, you will not run well. If you get moderately dehydrated, you will become disoriented. If you get seriously dehydrated, you can die. It's a serious business.
The first year I ran was 1991, and I was inexperienced (also younger,
slimmer, stupider, etc.) I passed water stop after water stop, occasionally drinking a swallow or two. I felt good, and I wasn't going to waste precious seconds drinking water, even though it was a hot, humid day.
Big mistake. As I neared the final mile, I "hit the wall." My energy level
dropped to zero, I began having to walk some, and I realized I would have to work hard just to finish. I did make it across the line, but only with a tremendous headache and hardly enough energy to walk. It was not much fun.
I learned an important lesson that year. Stopping for water doesn't actually slow you down. In fact, you will run a better race if you do drink water. The bottom line is that your body is simply not designed to function without water.
In this year's race, I saw a man become dehydrated just a mile from the finish. Strangely, he didn't seem to recognize that anything was wrong. He was swaying from side to side as he walked, mumbling over and over, "I'm fine. I'm fine." He was so disoriented that he didn't even recognize his own sick condition."
We have to come to Jesus again and again for top ups. There is a danger for us that we think we are too busy to pray, read the Bible, and come to church. We may fool ourselves like the man who didn't recognize he was desperately in need of water.
If we are to be serious about completing the race of life and do not spend enough time with Jesus we should change our ways before it is too late.
There may be some people here who have never realised the eternal life that Jesus offers to everyone who will just ask him, 'Jesus, give me a drink of your living water.' Maybe you have been dissatisfied with living life your way and decide you want to come to Jesus for the life and satisfaction only he can bring. Maybe you long for the security, joy, blessings and comfort that a relationship with Him brings. Maybe your own resources are exhausted and you need to come to him for the sparkling life that only he can bring. If so, you just need to ask him, like the runners in a marathon who hold out their hands to grab the water that is offered to them.
PRAY Lord Jesus, I am sorry that I have tried to run my race in my own strength. I confess that I need you to give me your living water, welling up within me to eternal life. Please give me that water now and always. Help me to follow, know, worship and serve you all my days.
Amen.
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John 4:5-42
We live in a 'scientific' age when we are taught that what is true has to be based on something that can be observed or touched again and again. We are taught that what is important is what we can see and touch. That other matters are a matter of personal belief and that everyone is entitled to have these beliefs. Apart, perhaps for the England football manager !
In today's gospel reading we have a woman who is looking at the material things, and Jesus looking at the spiritual things. As we come to look at these things we will discover that it is the spiritual that last and are more real than the physical.
First of all we need to know something of the history of the Jews and Samaritans. When one church brands another a cult, it usually creates long-standing bitterness. The Samaritans and the Jews felt that way about each other. There had been hundreds of years of theological dispute, provocation and violence. For example, about 25 years before some Samaritans had desecrated the temple in Jerusalem at Passover time by scattering bones in it. Later, in 52 AD Samaritans massacred some pilgrims from Galilee.
Samaritan religion closely resembled Judaism, but on key issues its followers had gone their own way. They accepted only the first five books of the Old Testament, and insisted that Mount Gerizim, not Jerusalem, was the proper place to worship God. Jews and Samaritans usually avoided each other and a devout Jew would not go near Samaria. However, Jesus wanted to reach across these barriers. This is why verse 4 said he 'had to go through Samaria'. It was due to an inward compulsion rather than this being the only route he could possibly take.
We will be examining this passage by looking at the spiritual truth as opposed to the physical reality. We will look at : True Water; True Worship; True Food; True Harvest; and True Joy.
True Water
The well of Jacob lies at the foot of Mount Gerizim. The place that the Samaritans said was the right place to worship God. It was the sixth hour, or 12 o'clock noon. This was an unusual time for a woman to obtain water. Perhaps her lifestyle meant that she was shunned by the other woman who would use the well earlier in the day.
The woman can get Jesus water to drink, but Jesus can offer her 'living water', verse 10. The water that the woman can get is still and comes from a well. She has to travel from where she lives to get it. She has to lower a bucket over 70 feet down and up the well. She will have to come back for more water every day. When she is thirsty she will have to take a drink. Then after a few hours she will be thirsty again and need another drink.
The true water that Jesus gives is God the Holy Spirit. Verse 13 : Jesus answered, "Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again, 14 but 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."
God the Holy Spirit is living or running water. Imagine a stream running down a mountainside. It has got bubbles, makes a sound, seems full of life, powerful, carrying debris along in it's flow. We can have that in our lives through God the Holy Spirit who lives inside every Christian. He bubbles up inside us. We don't have to go to a well to get him. We don't need to come to him again and again to quench our thirst because he meets our needs continually. This is the true water that will sustain and invigorate us in our lives.
A man is the sole survivor of an aeroplane crash in the Sahara desert. He manages to crawl to a distant outcrop of palm trees. On getting there he finds a bar. He has his wallet with him and orders a drink of water. He is told this will cost him £1,000. Looking at the price list he sees that everything is 1,000 times the price of his local pub. The bar takes credit cards and he has a credit limit that exceeds the £1,000 required. He carefully considers his options...
What should he do. Should He pay the inflated price for the water to save his own life?
God the Holy Spirit gives us eternal life. The price that we have to pay is to live for Jesus. To surrender our lives totally to him. Everyday.
True Worship.
From verse 19 the woman tries to distract Jesus by bringing up the argument that Mount Gerizim and not Jerusalem is the right place to worship God. Jesus counters this by saying, verse 24 "God is spirit, and his worshippers must worship in spirit and in truth."
Jesus is saying that God cannot be confined to a particular place and he is not confined to being a material being, like one of the false idols worshipped by other religions. However, in Jesus, God has become a man so that we can understand what God is like, and what we are meant to be like. If we want to know what God is like we look at Jesus. If we want to know what God wants us to be like, we look at Jesus.
True worship is about worshipping God in spirit. Not man made rituals and laws, but united with God through his Holy Spirit who wells up within us to pour out our praise and worship to him. Who enables us to approach God in truth, aware of our own shortcomings but also aware of our status as forgiven sinners though Jesus death and resurrection.
Although we cannot say that God can only be worshipped on Mount Gerizim, or Jerusalem, or Lichfield cathedral, or St. Martin's Church this does not give people a reason not to come together to worship. Whilst we can worship God in our hearts wherever we are, this does not mean that we should settle for this alone. We need to come together with other believers to worship, to pray, to learn, to share, to grow, to support one another and to witness and minister to the world. If the world does not see going to church as important to people who call themselves Christians, why should it even start to consider that church could be relevant to their own lives ?
True food.
The disciples had gone into Sychar for food and came back to offer it to Jesus. Jesus speaks of another type of food. The contrast is similar to that of the water.
We may feel full and satisfied after a hearty meal, but we will become hungry again won't we ? The food that the disciples have obtained is temporary. After Jesus and the disciples had eaten this food they would become hungry later and want more food to satisfy them and to be nourished. If they were to leave the food it would become stale and decay.
Verse 34, "My food," said Jesus, "is to do the will of him who sent me and to finish his work."
When we looked at the temptation of Jesus two weeks ago we saw how obeying the word of God was more important to him than food, and satisfying his own personal needs. Here we see this again. Although food is important and necessary there is something more important. Obeying the will of God.
The benefits that this brings outweighs the benefits of earthly food. Rather than providing physical life and sustenance it provides eternal life and real satisfaction. The benefits of obeying God in this life will go on into eternity. This is true life.
Matthew 4:4 : Jesus said, "It is written: `Man does not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God.'"
True harvest.
The particular will of God that Jesus was talking about from verse 35-8 was bringing people to trust in him and, therefore, into a right relationship with God. He compares people to grain, waiting to be harvested. There is an urgency about this, like a farmer gazing out on golden field of grain. As Jesus says these words the crowd from the village is on it's way to meet him.
An earthly harvest has a seasonal inevitability to it. Again and again the seed is sown, the soil ploughed, the grain grows, is harvested, and stored. Different people are involved. One sowing, one harvesting.
One day as a woman was crossing a street near a London station, an old man stopped her and said, "Excuse me, Ma'am, but I want to thank you."
"Thank me?" she exclaimed.
"Yes Ma'am. I used to be a ticket collector, and whenever you went by, you always gave me a cheerful smile and a good morning. I knew that smile must have come from inside somewhere. Then one morning I saw a little Bible in your hand. So I bought one too, and I found Jesus."
God's true harvest is of souls. Different people may be involved. It doesn't matter what someone does. What matters is that the harvest is brought in.
If we think of our own lives we can think of the people who were, and are involved in our spiritual journey. I remember my days at Sunday School and the different teachers there. The ministers of that and other churches. The couple who led the Youth Group that I attended over 20 years ago when I became a Christian. Lecturers at Theological Colleges, fellow students, fellow Christians at Churches we have served at... It will be eternity before we discover the true impact our lives and ministries have had on others.
A one-legged school teacher from Scotland came to J. Hudson Taylor to offer himself for service in China. "With only one leg, why do you think of going as a missionary?" asked Taylor. "I do not see those with two legs going," replied George Scott. He was accepted.
We are all called to play our part harvesting for Jesus. What matters most is our willingness to serve him, not how inadequate we may feel ourselves to be, or others perceive us to be.
As we serve Jesus and look forward to the day when that harvest occurs we can know...
True joy.
Verse 36, Jesus says, ' Even now the reaper draws his wages, even now he harvests the crop for eternal life, so that the sower and the reaper may be glad together.'
The word 'glad' is better translated 'rejoice' coming from the word joy.
Joy comes from God. I can think of nothing that brings more joy than hearing that someone has come to a true and saving knowledge of Jesus. G. K. Chesterton once said, "Joy is the gigantic secret of the Christian.
The Order that we should always keep things in perspective are: J-Jesus; O-Others; Y-Yourself. We can find Joy on putting Jesus and others before ourselves.
( Copyright 1999 Gibson Productions ).
We saw earlier that Jesus goal was to bring people to a saving knowledge of himself. This was the food or task given to him by God. As followers of Jesus our goal is to be the same.
By having true water. Allowing God the Holy Spirit to bubble up inside us and have his way. Bringing life and satisfaction.
By having true worship. Worshipping him in spirit and in truth, not in the flesh and in lies. Worshipping him and serving him alongside other believers in the church.
By having true food. Obeying the will of God. Living life according to his ways and revealed in the Bible. Putting God and others before ourselves.
By working for a true harvest. Sharing the good news of God's love in word and deed. It doesn't matter what role we may have. Every Christian is called and equipped by God to minister in some way in the church. The Bible says it. We all ought to do it.
By having a true joy. Not a pleasure that comes from material things like possessions, food, and drink. But a joy that comes from seeing people come to trust in Jesus and growing in their , and our love, knowledge and devotion to him.
PRAY
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John 4:1-26; 27-42.
In today's gospel we read of Jesus reaching out to a person who was despised by her own people, and a people who were despised by the Jews.
Jesus was returning Northwards from Judea to Galilee, where he lived. He had a choice. To take a "short-cut" through Samaria, or to go a longer route.
There was a great deal of hostility between the Jews and the Samaritans. They worshipped the same God, but the Samaritans only accepted the Torah, the first five books of the Bible, rejecting the Psalms and the Prophets. The Samaritans refused to worship at Jerusalem, preferring their own Temple built on Mount Gerizim, very near to where Jesus meets the woman at the well. In 128 B.C. Jews had burned this temple and there was an established hostility, suspicion and bitterness.
Today we might compare this to Protestants and Catholics in Northern Ireland, for example.
Until we realise this background cannot understand the shocking nature of Jesus' parable about the good samaritan. To a Jew there could not be a good samaritan !
A good Jew would take the long route around Samaria because it was considered that contact with a Samaritan would defile them. Making them ceremonially unclean and unable to take part in Temple worship.
Verse 4 says Jesus "had to go through Samaria". The reason he had to was not because he was lazy or unable to walk the longer route. But because it was God's will that Jesus would reach out to people outside the Jewish race. Sometimes called Gentiles.
That God would want to reach out to Gentiles was difficult for Jews to understand. That he should want to reach out to Samaritans was radical to the point of being offensive. Not only that a Samaritan woman. Women were of little importance in Jesus' day. They were treated like objects.
The well that Jesus came to was about half a mile from the town of Sychar. He was tired. Showing us the humanity of our Lord. He would have been hot too, for it was about twelve o'clock, the sixth hour, verse 6.
Sunset was the normal time that water was drawn. This woman probably came at midday to avoid the other women of the town who could have been hostile because of her promiscuity.
Jesus ignored the custom of the day which held it was improper for a man to talk on his own with a woman. Not only that he was requesting a drink from a Samaritan. A Jew drinking from the same jar used by a Samaritan was unheard of. That is why the woman questioned Jesus in verse 9. Perhaps it was tinged with sarcasm.
Jesus uses this situation to move the conversation onto a higher plane. From the material water, to the spiritual living water that only he can give. He does it in such a way as to arouse the woman's curiosity. Read verse 10.
The woman hasn't quite understood everything although she does understand that Jesus is making important claims about himself.
She is still thinking materially. Pointing out that Jesus has nothing to draw water from, and that the well was founded by Jacob. See verses 11f.
Jesus replies that the water he gives, God the Holy Spirit, will satisfy in a way that water cannot. Water may quench a thirst once, but a person will soon become thirsty again requiring more water. Another trip to the well, winching a jar 100 foot down and up before carrying it home.
The Holy Spirit living inside will satisfy in a way that no water, no wine, no fast car, luxury mansion or foreign holiday can. Not only that but the Holy Spirit will overflow from us. Living water describes running water, moving, full of life and vitality Gushing out.
The woman still hasn't caught on. She is thinking of the material. Read verse 15. If we had to go and collect water we might sympathise with her.
Jesus changes the subject in such a way as to startle her. Like a slap in the face, or an athlete pulling up short with a strained muscle or ligament. "Go call your husband and come back" he says, verse 16. Jesus should really have said this before he started talking with this woman. It was the etiquette of the day.
Jesus exposes her shameful past, and her immoral present. The teaching of the day allowed divorce, but did not tolerate more than three marriages due to divorce.
Jesus does so in a way that is initially positive, commending her fro her truthfulness, but showing who he is by his supernatural knowledge. Perhaps the woman had gone from one marriage to another trying to fill a gap in her life that could only be satisfied by God.
If Joshua is asked to do something that he doesn't want to do, at home or at school, he will try to talk his way out of it. Either by explaining that he is far too busy doing whatever he is doing, or by changing the subject.
In verse 19 the woman compliments Jesus before changing the subject. She introduces one of the subjects that divided Jews and Samaritans. Where to worship God. Jesus is not drawn into this argument but looks forward to a time when proper worship is not geographical, but spiritual. A correct attitude of worship, in spirit and in truth. Anywhere. God is not confined to a particular place.
The woman realises that Jesus is talking about the salvation through the Messiah. The anointed one from God. Perhaps wistfully she looks froward to the Messiah. In ignorance and hope. Not realising that the words that she was saying actually applied to the conversation that she was having with Jesus. Read verse 25f.
This is the only record that we have of Jesus saying I am the Messiah. Probably because of all the political overtones it would have to the Jews who expected the Messiah to be a military conqueror of the Romans.
So we have Jesus, the Messiah, reaching out and defying accepted customs and norms. Going to an immoral Samaritan woman to ask her for a drink of water. And engaging her in conversation in a clever way to bring her into a realisation of who he is.
We have a regular worshipper here. He comes here every Christmas Eve. To pray for his father who is dead. Melanie met him on a bus last month and he said to her that he didn't feel he could come to church any other time because of the clothes he wears and the earrings he has..Melanie assured him that clothes and earrings are not barriers to God, and that he would be welcome to come.
One of the things that was said at the morning service last week was that Jesus was standing at the door and knocking. That we need to open the doors of our hearts and to look out.
I am sure that many people are fearful when someone hew comes into church. But the chances are that they are twice as fearful as we are ! Perhaps rightly so, because churches can come across as insisting that people conform to their own expectations rather than those of Christ.
We are to reach out to people with the love of Jesus. Defying false expectations that create barriers. Using our contacts with people to speak of God.
John 4:27-42
Despite returning and seeing Jesus talking alone with a Samaritan woman the disciples did not question him. Perhaps they were used to Jesus doing the unusual, they trusted him, and had respect for him.
The woman was so excited she left her water pot and returned to the town to tell people about Jesus. She was so sincere and urgent this prompted the people to investigate, despite her reputation. Verse 30 conveys this urgency because it literally says "they kept on coming to him".
Meanwhile the disciples who had returned from the town with food, tried to get Jesus to eat. Jesus again alters the conversation from the physical to the spiritual. Like the woman the disciples do not realise what Jesus is talking about. Jesus informs them that there is a satisfaction in completing God's work that is greater than food. Food is temporary, it is eaten quickly, and more food is needed again to satisfy.
God's work will last forever, and will provide a satisfaction that food cannot.
That work was to bring into God's kingdom many Samaritans. Jesus uses the picture of a harvest to demonstrate this. As he spoke these words those who will be harvested are busy walking towards Jesus and the disciples !
God is involved in the harvest. Jesus talks of the time between the sowing and harvesting. A time when man can do nothing but let God work in the seed to produce a crop. Man co-operates with God. In sowing the seed and reaping the harvest.
Jesus had worked in revealing himself to the woman. She had worked in telling the townspeople about Jesus. Now the people would come to trust in Jesus and be harvested.
Every Christian has their own particular journey of faith. For many this may involve a number of relationships with people who helped us on our way. Family, a Sunday School teacher, a friend, a colleague, neighbour, a Church minister. Even those who can date the time they became a Christian may have had years of preparation for that moment. God does the growing, it is he who opens people eyes to see who Jesus is and trust him as their friend and Saviour. But we have a work to do in sowing, sharing God's love with others. And reaping, leading them to a point of commitment.
A while ago I was taking a class on evangelism for the Lichfield Diocese in Stafford. One person there shared how she had completed a questionnaire with members of the public about their beliefs. She had been very nervous about doing this, but had been pleasantly surprised at the openness of people and that no-one had been nasty. Sometimes, perhaps often, the problem is not outside but inside. Our own fear.
We would have something to be fearful about if we had to trust in ourselves. But we don't. God calls us to trust in him. To step out in faith, and work with him.
The woman met Jesus, told her neighbours about this, they came to find out more and trusted in Jesus themselves. This pattern is typical of many peoples journey to faith.
In a recent book, "Finding Faith Today" it states that 62% of Christians saw the most important factor in them becoming a Christian was a relationship with someone. These included spouses 14%, children 8%, parents 6%, friends 20% and ministers 17%. Church activities 5% and Evangelistic events 4% didn't feature as much.
Another word that was given to us last week was that God has the power to change people in a way we cannot expect or conceive. The apostle Paul is an example of this.
A visitor to Africa had to get across a deep stream by walking on a plank. Several people had crossed over it but he looked nervous. When asked why he said that he did not think that it would support him. But hundreds of people have crossed here already, came the reply. Yes, but I am taller and heavier than those who I have seen , the man replied.
Two, well built, hefty fellows crossed together to reassure the man that there was no danger. The man followed them across, unharmed. Why didn't you take our word for it and trust the plank in the first place, they said.
The man replied "You see it was not my faith in the plank which took me across. For my faith was very weak. But it was the strength of the plank, the object in which you advised me to put my trust."
We are called not to trust in ourselves but to trust in God who will work in people's lives. In doing so we are called to step out for God.
Verse 40 says that the Samaritans continued to urge Jesus to stay with them. So he stayed two days.
Their trust in Jesus became a personal one. Read verse 42.
This man really is the Saviour of the world. Jesus has come to earth, has died, risen and ascended for everyone in the world. Of whatever nationality, colour, sex, or class.
PRAY