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Audio teaching

An Encounter With Jesus Changes Everything.

An Encounter With Jesus Changes Everything
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An Encounter With Jesus Changes Everything
00:00 / 32:46
  1. 0:00 And so I want to bring a message to you, literally, about the generations, to be honest.
  2. 0:07 And it's actually the story of the Samaritan woman, but how that story had a massive impact.
  3. 0:14 And I pray that as I speak, what threads through is our role, what we can receive from God, but also what we can then bring to others.
  4. 0:23 So the Samaritan woman, I'm sure that many of you will be familiar with this story, but for those that are not, and also for those that are, I'm going to frame it.
  5. 0:33 The portion of scripture is found in John 4, verses 7 to 30.
  6. 0:37 And what we see is a woman at the well, but not just a woman, a Samaritan woman.
  7. 0:44 And it's particularly important for us to understand the significance of this Samaritan woman.
  8. 0:51 You see, the Samaritans were a race that were despised by the Jews.
  9. 0:56 For different reasons, they were a mixed race.
  10. 1:00 So centuries before, the Jewish people had mixed with other, what they would class as pagan,
  11. 1:08 pagan nations.
  12. 1:09 And from that came the Samaritans.
  13. 1:12 So they were despised by the Jewish people.
  14. 1:15 So even though they worshipped Yahweh, the Jews hated them because they worshipped him differently, and there were different places of significance to the Samaritans that the Jewish people did not agree with.
  15. 1:27 So they weren't just, you know, they were despised, they were hated, and they were rejected.
  16. 1:32 And what we see about this Samaritan woman is that she came to a well to receive water, fresh drinking water.
  17. 1:40 She came to a well, Jacob's well, which had been built by Jacob, the grandson of Abraham, hundreds of years beforehand.
  18. 1:49 And this is significant that we see this.
  19. 1:51 For me personally, because I realized that wells that were dug in ancient times, they were dug to provide for future generations.
  20. 2:00 And Jacob's well did just that.
  21. 2:02 It provided for future generations.
  22. 2:04 And here we see the Samaritan woman coming to draw water.
  23. 2:08 But you know what, you and I are here today, and we're not just here for me, myself, and I. We are, by nature, the time in which we live, we're very much part of a consumer culture.
  24. 2:21 Consumer, and you know, nothing about delayed gratification.
  25. 2:25 It's all about consumer and now, and if it's not now, I move on.
  26. 2:29 But that's not what the kingdom of God is about.
  27. 2:32 The kingdom of God is about longevity.
  28. 2:34 The kingdom of God is about deepness.
  29. 2:36 The kingdom of God is about the future.
  30. 2:38 It's about here and the future.
  31. 2:41 Amen?
  32. 2:41 It's about eternity, ultimately.
  33. 2:45 But this well, Jacob's well, as I said, was still serving the generations.
  34. 2:51 It was built to serve a greater purpose than the here and now.
  35. 2:55 And that is the same for you and I. We are here to serve a greater purpose than the here and now.
  36. 3:03 We're here to have a significant impact, just like that well was significant.
  37. 3:07 And the word significant, it means important, consequential, meaningful, purposeful.
  38. 3:16 That's what you and I are here for.
  39. 3:18 That's why our church exists.
  40. 3:20 Our church exists, as Levi said earlier, not just to entertain the saints.
  41. 3:25 We are not an entertainment centre, as much as we love the song.
  42. 3:29 We're not an entertainment centre.
  43. 3:32 We are spirit-filled people with a plan and a purpose.
  44. 3:35 We are spirit-filled people.
  45. 3:36 We have got the spirit of God within us, not just for me, myself and I, but for a lost world.
  46. 3:42 A world that needs to know that there's a God in heaven that loves them.
  47. 3:46 A God in heaven who has a plan for them and a purpose for them.
  48. 3:49 A God in heaven who gave everything so that they could be found.
  49. 3:54 We have a God in heaven who has so much grace, amazing grace.
  50. 3:59 How sweet the sound that saved a wretch like me.
  51. 4:02 I once was lost, but now I'm found.
  52. 4:05 Was blind, but now I see.
  53. 4:07 And that is not just for you and I, that is for the world.
  54. 4:11 That's for the world.
  55. 4:12 And you and I have a part to play in bringing that message of amazing grace to the world.
  56. 4:18 Amen?
  57. 4:20 Don't count yourself out.
  58. 4:21 Don't disqualify yourself.
  59. 4:24 We're not insignificance.
  60. 4:27 Insignificant means minor, means it's just a small little part, the smallest part.
  61. 4:31 You and I all have a part to play.
  62. 4:35 And this, my dears, is not a personality attribute.
  63. 4:38 It is not.
  64. 4:39 It's a godly calling.
  65. 4:41 It's a godly calling.
  66. 4:44 What we do here is holy.
  67. 4:46 What we're a part of is holy.
  68. 4:49 And I'm sure if I said to all of you, who wants to live a significant life?
  69. 4:54 I think you would all raise your hands.
  70. 4:56 And if I said to you, who wants to live an insignificant life?
  71. 5:01 If any of you raised your hands, well then you and I need to talk because I'm going to pour some godly wisdom into you.
  72. 5:07 So come and find me at the end.
  73. 5:09 Yes?
  74. 5:13 Why would we want to live an insignificant life when we have a magnificent god?
  75. 5:18 When we have a glorious message of salvation to share?
  76. 5:22 Amen?
  77. 5:22 We can live a life of meaning for our children, for the generations to come, for our families, for our work colleagues.
  78. 5:30 We can live a meaningful life for society and the world at large.
  79. 5:35 You know, it's in Matthew 5 verses 13 to 14 that says we're to be salt and light.
  80. 5:42 Salt brings flavor.
  81. 5:44 You know, when I cook, I often don't put enough salt in.
  82. 5:47 My mother used to say, there's not enough salt better.
  83. 5:51 That's what she used to say.
  84. 5:52 Because you know what?
  85. 5:52 My dad used to say to me, you can always add more salt, but once it's in, you can't take it out.
  86. 5:56 It still affects me as a 61-year -old when I'm cooking.
  87. 5:59 But no, salt brings flavor.
  88. 6:01 My mother was right.
  89. 6:02 Just chuck another teaspoon in, Joyce.
  90. 6:05 Salt.
  91. 6:05 And that's what you and I are supposed to do.
  92. 6:07 We are supposed to bring salt and light.
  93. 6:11 The light which brings hope and joy and peace.
  94. 6:14 Amen?
  95. 6:15 Which our world is so much in need of.
  96. 6:19 Amen?
  97. 6:20 We can bring salt and light.
  98. 6:22 That's what we're here to do.
  99. 6:23 That's why we are here.
  100. 6:24 That's what we are to do.
  101. 6:26 You can live a significant life full of meaning and purpose and fulfill the plan that God has for you for this generation.
  102. 6:35 It's outworked differently, yet it is still significant.
  103. 6:40 It's outworked differently.
  104. 6:41 You know, my grandmother, my lovely grandmother that we called Aji, which means father's mother, basically, she never left the Fiji Islands.
  105. 6:50 But she was incredibly significant because she prayed and she prayed.
  106. 6:57 You know, in 1974, we went to Fiji for four months.
  107. 7:01 My parents took us out of school for six months.
  108. 7:04 Like nowadays, that just wouldn't go down very well.
  109. 7:08 They never took a textbook with us.
  110. 7:11 Like, I mean, Indo-Fijians, they never took a textbook.
  111. 7:14 We didn't do any maths, English, science or anything while we were gone.
  112. 7:17 Like, are they really Indo-Fijian?
  113. 7:18 Is there Indian blood in my parents?
  114. 7:20 But you know what?
  115. 7:21 We got to Fiji, spent four months there.
  116. 7:25 My uncle and aunt were ahead of a school there and they were horrified that my parents didn't have one textbook.
  117. 7:31 And my mother would say, this is experience.
  118. 7:34 This is them learning.
  119. 7:35 And my auntie, my mother's older sister, well, she sorted that out and we had to go to school when we were there.
  120. 7:41 But in any case, that was the four months.
  121. 7:44 And only those four months did I ever know my grandmother, my father's mother.
  122. 7:49 But she had a significant impact on my life.
  123. 7:52 She taught me how to crochet.
  124. 7:54 She looked after me when I had a fever and gave me crab curry.
  125. 7:57 But I just remember with great fondness seeing my grandmother on her knees by her bed praying every day.
  126. 8:08 And I believe that my father and his siblings and then myself and my siblings are a direct, and my children are a direct result of my significant grandmother's significant prayers.
  127. 8:25 And she never left the shores of Fiji.
  128. 8:29 So it can look very different.
  129. 8:31 That's why I say to you, do not discount yourself and your role in your path.
  130. 8:35 We're all significant in the kingdom and we all have something to actually contribute even when you've broken your shoulder.
  131. 8:44 You're still here.
  132. 8:45 Surgery tomorrow, so pray for Johnny, everybody.
  133. 8:48 In Jesus' name.
  134. 8:50 So we're not going to live a significant life because we don't have any challenges.
  135. 8:57 We're going to live a significant life in spite of the challenges because we have the backing of heaven.
  136. 9:04 And as we daily make decisions to remain in Christ and keep drawing from the well of salvation like the Samaritan woman did, we will live significant lives.
  137. 9:16 So let's go back to the Samaritan woman.
  138. 9:18 She came to draw water from Jacob's well at noon.
  139. 9:22 So normally, culturally and historically, we see that women traditionally would come to draw water in the morning because it was cooler.
  140. 9:35 Like it's very unusual to go in the heat of the day to draw water from the well.
  141. 9:39 So we can pretty much surmise from that that she was avoiding the other women because normally they would come in the morning.
  142. 9:46 They would have a chat.
  143. 9:47 It was like the sisterhood, their sisterhood gathering.
  144. 9:50 And by the way, lads, the sisterhood girls gathered at seven o 'clock on Friday morning online.
  145. 9:57 And there were many of us there.
  146. 10:00 Yeah, just saying.
  147. 10:02 It was great.
  148. 10:04 We did Psalm 63.
  149. 10:06 We broke into little rooms and then we came back and prayed.
  150. 10:09 It was great.
  151. 10:10 And we'll do more of that, girls.
  152. 10:12 But in any case, the Samaritan woman, we can surmise from this that she was not only an outcast by nature of being a Samaritan, she was also an outcast amongst her own people.
  153. 10:25 And when Jesus encountered her, we discover as we read on in John 4 that she had had five husbands and the man she was living with currently was not her husband.
  154. 10:36 So there was obviously a lot that the other ladies could have been talking about concerning this woman.
  155. 10:43 But Jesus, I love what Jesus did.
  156. 10:45 He did the opposite.
  157. 10:47 And he didn't ridicule her.
  158. 10:50 He didn't condemn her.
  159. 10:52 He didn't say, you filthy, dirty sinner.
  160. 10:54 He didn't do any of that.
  161. 10:56 He did the absolute opposite.
  162. 10:59 And that's the first thing I want to share, is that Jesus placed value on the Samaritan woman.
  163. 11:05 He placed value on her.
  164. 11:07 He was intentional about meeting her.
  165. 11:10 This wasn't just like, oh, a chance, accident meeting.
  166. 11:14 No, he was intentional.
  167. 11:15 He stayed at the well while his disciples had gone on to get food.
  168. 11:19 He stayed there.
  169. 11:20 He planned to be there.
  170. 11:21 He planned to meet her.
  171. 11:23 And he made room for her.
  172. 11:25 And by doing so, he placed value on her.
  173. 11:28 And you know what?
  174. 11:29 It's the same today.
  175. 11:30 Right now, right this moment, the same loving Savior has made intentional plans to meet you, to meet you where you are at.
  176. 11:43 Where are you at in life right now?
  177. 11:47 And wherever it is, he's intentionally planned to meet you there.
  178. 11:52 Right now.
  179. 11:53 Right now.
  180. 11:56 He placed value on her.
  181. 11:57 You know, apparently she's the first person to which he revealed that he was the Messiah.
  182. 12:03 Can you imagine that?
  183. 12:04 Of all the people he'd been hanging out with, all the people he could have said it to, like the Pharisees and the Sadducees, he chooses to say to the Samaritan woman at the well, and we see that in John 4, verse 25 to 26.
  184. 12:16 He tells her that he is the Messiah.
  185. 12:18 He offered her salvation.
  186. 12:21 He offered her salvation as the Messiah, and he spoke to her potential.
  187. 12:27 And that's what he wants to do to each and every one of us today.
  188. 12:30 He wants to speak to our potential.
  189. 12:33 And you know, potential, there's five specific things that pertain towards the word potential, and it is dormant ability, reserved power, untapped strength, hidden talents, and capped capabilities.
  190. 12:49 That is potential.
  191. 12:52 Whatever is your dormant ability, your reserved power, your untapped strength, your hidden talents, and your capped capabilities, that is the potential that is within you.
  192. 13:02 And you know the Spirit of God is here to lift off the cap and let all that he put in you come up and out.
  193. 13:11 Amen?
  194. 13:12 Take a picture.
  195. 13:15 The only time you're allowed to use your phone.
  196. 13:17 You know, potential, it speaks to all you can be, but are not yet.
  197. 13:25 All you can do, but have not yet done.
  198. 13:29 I'm going to say that again.
  199. 13:30 Potential, it speaks to all you can be, but are not yet.
  200. 13:35 And it actually speaks to all you can do, but have not yet done.
  201. 13:40 And you and I can do all things through Christ who strengthens us.
  202. 13:46 You can do all things.
  203. 13:47 The relationships, the work, the demands.
  204. 13:50 You can do it all not in your own strength because you're amazing and you are amazing, but you can do it in God's strength.
  205. 13:56 Amen?
  206. 13:57 And we need God's strength.
  207. 13:59 This is not a time for us to try and figure this out on our own.
  208. 14:03 We need to be at the foot of the cross, drawing from wisdom itself.
  209. 14:08 And his name is Jesus.
  210. 14:10 His name is Jesus.
  211. 14:11 Amen?
  212. 14:13 So what Jesus did was he didn't deny her reality, but he actually gave her hope for the future.
  213. 14:19 And that's exactly the same today.
  214. 14:20 I cannot repeat it enough.
  215. 14:22 It's the same today.
  216. 14:23 He wants to do it.
  217. 14:25 Are we willing to receive?
  218. 14:27 She encountered Jesus who spoke to her and offered her an opportunity to draw from an eternal life-giving will.
  219. 14:35 And so we're going to read about it in John 4, verse 10 to 14.
  220. 14:39 And the scripture before is when Jesus asks the Samaritan woman for some water, and she's kind of like horrified that not only would he even speak to her, but that he would even ask her for something.
  221. 14:51 And then Jesus says in verse 10, he answered her, if you knew about God's gift of eternal life and who it is who says, give me a drink, you would have asked him instead, and he would have given you living water, eternal life.
  222. 15:09 She said to him, sir, you have nothing to draw with, no bucket and rope, and the well is deep.
  223. 15:15 Where, then, do you get that living water?
  224. 15:17 Are you greater than our father, Jacob, who gave us the well and who used to drink from it himself and his sons and his cattle also?
  225. 15:25 Jesus answered her, everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again.
  226. 15:33 But whoever drinks the water that I give him will never be thirsty again.
  227. 15:38 But the water that I give him will become in him a spring of water satisfying his thirst for God, welling up, continually flowing, bubbling within him to eternal life.
  228. 15:53 How beautiful and encouraging and reassuring is this scripture?
  229. 16:00 This was Jesus speaking about the impact of salvation to a Samaritan woman 2 ,000 plus years ago, the impact of which changed her life.
  230. 16:09 And the impact is the same for you and I today.
  231. 16:13 It will change our lives.
  232. 16:15 My second point is that Jesus, Jesus gave this precious woman the gift of no condemnation.
  233. 16:25 No condemnation.
  234. 16:26 He didn't wag his finger at her.
  235. 16:28 I mean, here he is, God in the flesh, and he just extended so much love and mercy and kindness.
  236. 16:35 And the gift of no condemnation, we read about it in Romans 8 verses one to three, where it says,
  237. 16:58 I just love that.
  238. 17:00 The power, there is power in the name of Jesus.
  239. 17:03 There's power in the blood of Jesus.
  240. 17:05 There is power.
  241. 17:06 The power of the life-giving spirit has freed you from the power of sin that leads to death.
  242. 17:14 The law of Moses was unable to save us because of the weakness of our sinful nature.
  243. 17:20 So God did what the law could not do.
  244. 17:22 He sent his own son in a body like the bodies we sinners have.
  245. 17:27 And in that body, God declared an end to sin's control over us by giving his son as a sacrifice for our sins.
  246. 17:37 Oh, my days.
  247. 17:39 You know, if we just spent the rest of the year just looking on that scripture, it will just transform our lives when we realise what Jesus has done for us.
  248. 17:49 There is no condemnation.
  249. 17:52 Now, that's not a licence to go and live the way you want to live.
  250. 17:55 It's not a licence.
  251. 17:56 It's just a fact there's no condemnation because his love is far greater.
  252. 18:00 His love is far greater.
  253. 18:03 His grace is far greater.
  254. 18:05 His mercy is far greater.
  255. 18:06 And then when we experience our prayer, my prayer is that we will all just honour that gift of no condemnation.
  256. 18:14 And we won't throw it to the side and live how we want to, but we will honour it and live, live for him.
  257. 18:21 Amen?
  258. 18:23 And you know, the impact of this encounter with Jesus can be seen in verse 28 of John 4, where she left her jar that she had come to collect water with.
  259. 18:33 She left it at the well and she ran back to the village to tell people about Jesus, the Jesus that she had encountered.
  260. 18:42 And it's really significant for me when I see that this jar, she left it.
  261. 18:47 Mentioning the jar is just not a throwaway statement.
  262. 18:49 It could have just said, oh, she ran off.
  263. 18:51 But it actually specifically says she left her jar.
  264. 18:55 And when you look in Jeremiah 2, verse 13, it speaks about, it's a very thought-provoking scripture, which I will just speak and then share a little bit on.
  265. 19:03 But in Jeremiah 2, verse 13, it says, for my people have done two evil things.
  266. 19:11 They have abandoned me, the fountain of living water.
  267. 19:14 This is God speaking.
  268. 19:15 And they have dug for themselves cracked cisterns that can hold no water at all.
  269. 19:22 And so when I read this scripture, it reminds me of this woman, Samaritan woman, leaving her man-made jar at the well and running to the other people.
  270. 19:32 Because you see, this scripture is twofold.
  271. 19:34 It speaks initially of God's children abandoning him and forsaking their faithful God, who is the very spring from which life-giving water flows.
  272. 19:46 And then secondly, have replaced that amazing God, the life-giving water God,
  273. 19:54 with man-made cracked jars that can't even hold water because they've all got cracks and gaps in them.
  274. 20:01 And I think before we kind of wag our finger at these Jeremiah 2, verse 13 scripture and go, strange people that they would do that, we do that.
  275. 20:10 We could be Jeremiah 2, verse 13 people doing that.
  276. 20:13 We try it in our own strength, in our own man-made ways.
  277. 20:16 We try to do what needs to be done spiritually, but we try and just do it with natural ways.
  278. 20:21 You know, coming in here and praising God and worshiping God, that is a spiritual, spiritual force.
  279. 20:27 It's a spiritual weapon that we have to do business in the heavenlies.
  280. 20:32 And if we think we can just come without an awareness of that and just go through the motions and just do it naturally.
  281. 20:40 You know, if all we do is we just sing the songs and there's no faith to it, all we're doing is singing.
  282. 20:47 But when we put faith to it, oh my gosh.
  283. 20:50 Oh my gosh, we do business in the heavenlies.
  284. 20:53 When we put faith to it with our praise, I'm telling you now, it confuses the enemy.
  285. 20:58 We see that in scripture.
  286. 20:59 It turns the lights on.
  287. 21:01 We see that in scripture.
  288. 21:02 Amen.
  289. 21:04 It brings freedom.
  290. 21:05 We see that in scripture.
  291. 21:06 That's what praise does.
  292. 21:08 When we worship and we honor God for who he is, not just what he does, but who he is.
  293. 21:15 That's what worship is.
  294. 21:17 Worth ship comes from an old English.
  295. 21:20 Worth ship.
  296. 21:21 That's what worship is.
  297. 21:23 We understand and begin to comprehend what he's worthy of.
  298. 21:28 And then we respond.
  299. 21:29 That's what worship is.
  300. 21:31 So we're not just singing songs.
  301. 21:32 And if we get a revelation of this, the sound in this room will change.
  302. 21:36 There'll be something about the sound in this room that is not a natural voices, but it's a spiritual force.
  303. 21:42 Amen.
  304. 21:43 Amen.
  305. 21:49 So the third point I want to bring to us is that her encounter with Jesus resulted in transformation.
  306. 21:56 The Samaritan woman received grace, mercy, kindness.
  307. 22:01 Goodness.
  308. 22:01 She received forgiveness.
  309. 22:03 And she was therefore able to extend forgiveness to others because she ran into the village.
  310. 22:09 She ran into the village.
  311. 22:11 Forgiveness didn't make what was done to her right by the others.
  312. 22:15 Christ's forgiveness for the Samaritan woman didn't make what she had done right.
  313. 22:19 It was in spite of that.
  314. 22:21 It was a spiritual force of forgiveness.
  315. 22:24 And so we can see she was transformed because you know what?
  316. 22:28 People don't run to people who have hurt them and mistreated them with good news unless they've forgiven them.
  317. 22:35 Yeah?
  318. 22:37 And she did that.
  319. 22:39 She'd experienced the grace and forgiveness of the Messiah.
  320. 22:42 She ran back to the village and every one of them encountered Jesus.
  321. 22:48 Everyone, the scripture tells us.
  322. 22:50 And you know what?
  323. 22:50 She didn't keep it to herself and go, I'm going to keep this to myself because they've hurt me and mistreated me so badly.
  324. 22:56 They don't deserve this.
  325. 22:57 I'm going to keep it to myself.
  326. 22:58 She did quite the opposite.
  327. 23:00 She ran back and I love the words that she said.
  328. 23:02 She said, come and see.
  329. 23:05 Come and see.
  330. 23:07 I pray we will be a church that do not forget when we encounter Jesus and we will extend an invitation to those in our world to come and see what the Lord has done.
  331. 23:17 Come and see and experience the goodness of a loving Heavenly Father.
  332. 23:21 Come and experience what it means to have Jesus as your Lord and Saviour.
  333. 23:25 Come and experience what it means to be filled with the Holy Spirit.
  334. 23:29 Amen?
  335. 23:29 Amen.
  336. 23:31 The fourth point.
  337. 23:33 An encounter with Jesus lifted her life, then her life lifted the lives of other people.
  338. 23:41 An encounter with Jesus lifted her life and her life then lifted other people's lives.
  339. 23:48 And that's what we're supposed to do as well.
  340. 23:52 Let's read John 4, verse 41.
  341. 23:54 It says, many more believed in him with a deep abiding trust because of his word, his personal message to them.
  342. 24:03 And they told the woman, we no longer believe that because of what you said, for now we have heard him for ourselves and know with confident assurance that this one is truly the Saviour of all the world.
  343. 24:21 The Saviour of all the world.
  344. 24:24 That has not changed.
  345. 24:26 That has not changed.
  346. 24:28 And I wonder, just to ask a question,
  347. 24:33 do you remember the day you encountered Jesus?
  348. 24:37 Do you remember the day that he captured your heart?
  349. 24:45 The sheer joy of knowing that you are loved, you are forgiven, you are accepted, that you're free?
  350. 24:54 The day you had the revelation that you were no longer a slave to sin, but you are now a child of God.
  351. 25:03 Do you remember it?
  352. 25:06 You know, statistics say that when people give their lives to Jesus, they're excited about the encounter for up to three years, like excited, telling people about it for up to three years.
  353. 25:19 But thereafter, it starts to die down till approximately about ten years when they're just pretty much in their own bubble.
  354. 25:30 And I'm reading these statistics, I started to think about the fact that Berlin, we will be celebrating 16 years of weekly public services in October.
  355. 25:43 And my prayer is, dear God, do not let that be us.
  356. 25:49 Do not let us just be in our own bubble and just be satisfied with coming and having this moment once a week.
  357. 25:58 Let us not just be satisfied meeting in community groups once every two weeks.
  358. 26:04 But I pray to God that we will always be like this Samaritan woman who was so excited that she ran to share the joy of salvation with others.
  359. 26:16 I pray that something will stir up within us.
  360. 26:19 And it won't just be verbal, it won't just be talking to people about Jesus, it will actually be showing them Jesus.
  361. 26:27 Showing Jesus by our deeds, showing Jesus by our kindness.
  362. 26:33 Friends bringing friends.
  363. 26:36 You know, we've been singing earlier about Jesus, I shout Jesus over the streets.
  364. 26:41 Do you know what I did?
  365. 26:42 I shouted some names, some streets out during that moment.
  366. 26:46 Where I know, like I'm thinking, I need to declare this over my apartment block.
  367. 26:52 I need to declare this over specific streets.
  368. 26:55 What is the street you live on?
  369. 26:58 I was declaring this over streets where I've got family that live on and I know their addresses.
  370. 27:03 There's nothing spooky here.
  371. 27:09 What can we do?
  372. 27:11 What can we do with prayer, with declaration, but also indeed?
  373. 27:17 So as I conclude this message today, I just want to ask us to do two things.
  374. 27:26 And the first thing is what I'm referring to right now is to be stirred up afresh for those who don't know Jesus.
  375. 27:36 To be stirred up afresh to bring the Gospel, the good news.
  376. 27:42 To be stirred up afresh to look for opportunities to tell people about Jesus and to show people Jesus.
  377. 27:49 You know, many years ago when we first started church, people were not giving their lives to Jesus.
  378. 27:54 And it was, we had to cultivate that.
  379. 27:57 Friends bringing friends.
  380. 27:59 That's why we're here.
  381. 28:01 Because friends brought friends.
  382. 28:03 Because there's an element of trust with your friends.
  383. 28:07 Friends brought friends.
  384. 28:08 But I remember for many years, hardly anybody giving their lives to Jesus in this city.
  385. 28:14 And so we put on a card, John 3 verse 16, and on the flip side of it left a space for a name.
  386. 28:21 And I remember putting the name of my friend and her husband on that card and praying for them.
  387. 28:26 And it was in my purse.
  388. 28:27 I always saw it.
  389. 28:30 And I remember one time being in the kitchen and just praying for them.
  390. 28:32 And I was like, gosh, Joycey, are you still praying for those guys?
  391. 28:35 Especially my friend.
  392. 28:37 Are you still praying for them?
  393. 28:38 That's amazing.
  394. 28:39 I'm like, yes, I am.
  395. 28:40 This was years.
  396. 28:42 And then one day, my friend actually encountered Jesus in her bedroom.
  397. 28:48 She fell on her knees.
  398. 28:51 And then she was like, I need a Bible.
  399. 28:53 I need a Bible.
  400. 28:54 And she remembered that years before, I had given her a Bible.
  401. 29:00 And at the time she had gone, OK, lovely.
  402. 29:03 Thank you.
  403. 29:03 It's very kind.
  404. 29:05 But inside she was like, what on earth?
  405. 29:08 But she ran to her bookshelf.
  406. 29:10 And in between Shakespeare's works and encyclopedias was this Bible.
  407. 29:16 And she got it out.
  408. 29:18 And she started to read the genealogy of Jesus.
  409. 29:22 And she literally saw herself in that genealogy, how all had led to Christ.
  410. 29:29 And now through Christ, all had led to her and her life.
  411. 29:32 She gave her life to Jesus years and years later.
  412. 29:37 So I say that to say this.
  413. 29:39 Don't give up.
  414. 29:40 Don't give up.
  415. 29:42 Souls are too precious.
  416. 29:43 We cannot take anything into eternity except souls.
  417. 29:48 That's all we can take into eternity.
  418. 29:52 Don't give up.
  419. 30:04 And the last thing I want to encourage us before the team lead us.
  420. 30:08 I want to ask all of us to just dig deeper.
  421. 30:15 Will you dig deeper into the well of salvation?
  422. 30:19 Will you make a decision to dig deeper?
  423. 30:24 Mark and I, we've been in Moldova.
  424. 30:25 We've been in different cities in Norway recently.
  425. 30:28 That's why we've not been here the last two weeks.
  426. 30:30 And when we were in Norway on Tuesday morning, I woke up with a very clear directive from the Spirit of God.
  427. 30:37 I know it.
  428. 30:38 Don't hear the Spirit of God.
  429. 30:40 I don't hear His voice audibly.
  430. 30:41 But in here, it was a clear directive.
  431. 30:45 And it was a directive to dig a deep well.
  432. 30:49 It was a directive to draw from the well.
  433. 30:54 It was a directive to lean in to the things of God like never before.
  434. 31:01 Church, I believe that there is a harvest that is waiting for us to dig deep and draw.
  435. 31:11 And as we do that, a harvest of salvation,
  436. 31:16 a harvest of salvation will take place.
  437. 31:22 Just recently, I received a prophecy that had been shared.
  438. 31:29 And the minister that shared it used Psalm 37 and prophesied over the next generation.
  439. 31:41 And for those of you who are part of the next generation prayer meeting on a Thursday morning, you will know that the scripture that has framed us for the last 12 years has been Ezekiel 37, where the valley of dry bones come together and they come up and out of that valley, a mighty vast army for the King of Kings and the Lord of
  440. 32:06 Lords.
  441. 32:08 So when I heard that, knowing that the next generation, that's what we've been praying over, and then he said, Psalm 37, and he said, the next generation, somebody who I have only met once, I believe God is up to something.
  442. 32:25 And in the name of Jesus, let us take our significant part and play our significant role in this glorious, glorious mission of bringing Heaven to Earth through the message of Jesus Christ.
  443. 32:42 Amen and amen.
Data
14 de maio de 2025
Duração
32:46