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Gospel of John – Gitte, Elizabeth and Lindsay

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“Indeed, the water I give them will become in them a spring of water welling up to eternal life….many of the Samaritans from that town believed in him, because of the woman’s testimony”. – John 4: 13, 39

Jesus gives the world eternal life. It is the most astounding offer a person could ever receive. The great unconquerable, death, is finally overcome in Christ, ‘the firstborn raised from the dead’.  It took a bit of time, but when that Samaritan woman finally grasped what was on offer, she dropped everything, forgot about her appalling life, and ran off to tell someone. As you read this passage, soak in what Jesus is actually offering you, what is your reaction? Are you inclined to drop everything, forget about all that is wrong with your life and run to someone…either him or someone to tell. She was mesmerised.

We see the power of Jesus come alive whenever we speak of him to others. His very name lights up people’s often miserable lives. What he promises, is that one day he will do that for eternity to all who put their faith in him. I can think of nothing more profound than that promise. Nothing else in this world comes close.

Last weekend, as my wife and me were about to go home after a fairly bland day on the streets, we stopped to speak to Gitte, Elizabeth and Lindsay. Between them, they shared more sickness than most; chronic stress, cancer, 2 strokes and traumatic stress disorder. Not bad for an odd little threesome on the street. We have rarely seen people welcome prayer more enthusiastically.  We shared the Gospel of Jesus equally enthusiastically with them, and they promised to remain in touch. Hopefully, they will be persons of peace and we can start a Discovery Bible Study with them when we get back. We are so genuinely excited!

We stopped to talk to them right outside a large and well-known ‘church’, where people go regularly to worship God. As Jesus said though, a time is coming when people won’t worship God either on this mountain (building) or that mountain, but in Spirit and in Truth.  All the time we are told that it is different here, that Aussies don’t want to hear the Gospel, that you can’t just roll up to people and start discussing religion, especially in this area, people are too closed. Instead, we ask them to come into a culture that they don’t understand, nor wish to know about and one that doesn’t always welcome them. Honestly though, I don’t see Jesus doing that at all in the Gospels.

We emphatically believe that God put those people in front of us, because we bothered to go out looking for them, and he did so right at the end when we were about to go home. It was a source of great encouragement, quite probably for him and us. The point of telling you all this, is not to blow our trumpets – trust me, there have been many times when Sunday lunch or a Saturday surf is much more appealing than telling people the Gospel. No, the point is that anyone can do it and it needs to be done. Why? Not because we need to feel good about ourselves, although there is nothing like the feeling that comes after sharing Jesus. No, it needs to be done because Jesus commanded us, and because if not us, then who?

Jesus tells us that he offers people – all people, living water that springs up into eternal life. Nobody else has an offer like that to make to the world. The method by which he chooses to spread that message, is through you and me. I read this week, that in Manchester, 2 teams of 7 people, 14 in all spent a few hours on the streets. Before they went, the ‘church’ presented them with the same arguments as to why it wouldn’t work. Really? Try prayer and gospel sharing with 56 people, of which 4 people put their faith in Christ, 11 want to meet again to hear more, and many more were interested. Just in an afteranoon.

Do we believe that we go out into the world empty-handed? Jesus, the Lord of all the Universe promises to be there in person, to prepare the way, and to prepare the hearts of people he wants us to meet. He does almost all the work, we simply need to pray and show up.

As believers, we have something that many in the world are desperately seeking. You are quite likely the very person God wants to use to show them the way. You can have a vote in helping someone to eternal life in Christ, so can I ask, do any of us having anything better to do this weekend?

Gospel of John – George Gennor

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But I say, wake up and look around. The fields are already ripe for harvest. The harvesters are paid good wages, and the fruit they harvest is people brought to eternal life. What joy awaits both the planter and the harvester alike!  You know the saying, ‘One plants and another harvests.’ And it’s true. I sent you to harvest where you didn’t plant; others had already done the work, and now you will get to gather the harvest. – John 4: 35-38

Two weeks before the end of his life, George Gennor finally found out that his lifetime’s work had borne fruit. Some 40 years before, Mr Gennor was led to Christ as a young merchant seaman, and his life moved from night to day. Such was the complete transformation in his life because of his encounter with Jesus, that he committed before the Lord to try to tell at least 10 people a day about his Saviour. Almost every day of his life, he would set out for George St in Sydney, and stand there and hand out his little tracts. Not a soul outside of heaven, knew what he was doing.

Mr Gennor would approach passers-by with the simple question, “if you died tonight would you know where you were going?” (it’s one of the same questions we use when we’re out in the streets talking with people, and it really does stop people in their tracks, especially the nominal church goers!). He received many rejections, in fact over 40 years he never saw a single person come to Christ. Yet, in spite of that, he was faithful to his commitment to his Saviour, and he managed to get to George Street most days of that 40 years.

Towards the end of his life, on the other side of the world, a young English pastor began to encounter people who gave their testimony as starting with a funny little man who asked them the simple question, “if you died tonight, do you know where you would go?” and handed them a tract. Over the course of 12 months or so, the young pastor encountered many people, most of whom were now serving the Lord, who had come to a relationship with Jesus because of this George St encounter. Some initially hated the fact that this little man had intruded into their lives, but all in due course came to bow the knee, and acknowledge Jesus as their Lord. He came across pastors in American, missionaries in India, others serving the Lord in England, New Zealand and Africa but all had in common the starting point in their conversion, as this little man on George Street. Nobody even knew his name.

Finally, the young pastor found himself in Sydney and made a point of asking around, did anyone know of this man, who went out onto George St and told people about Jesus, but nobody had heard of him. Eventually, somebody gave him a clue, and he went to visit Mr Gennor in person. Mr Gennor was now very old, and lived alone in a simple apartment in Sydney. He could no longer get out, but for 40 years he testified that almost every day he had stood on a corner of George St and handed out his tracts and spoken to people of Christ. The pastor stood amazed, as this little man told his own testimony, of how the person of Jesus Christ, God in the flesh had so transformed him that he wanted to express his gratitude back to God, and he did so by telling others.

In 40 years, Mr Gennor never heard a single story of anyone he spoke to ever coming to faith in Jesus Christ.

As he and the young pastor spoke, the pastor was able to tell him of the people he had met, who on account of Mr Gennor’s faithfulness, had started a relationship with Jesus and gone onto serve him all over the world. George Gennor wept with disbelief. Two weeks later, he died.

Back in England, the pastor carefully put together all the stories that he had encountered about Mr Gennor, as well as more that he heard since and he came to this conclusion – over his lifetime, George Gennor had been directly or indirectly responsible for leading nearly 146,000 people to faith in Jesus Christ because of his simple actions.

Friends, when we go out of a weekend onto the streets of Sydney and have a dry time; when people seem disinterested, or rude or we simply can’t seem to get the words out, we remember what Jesus tells us. Some plant, some harvest, but all will one day be joyful as they stand in the presence of Jesus, knowing they have contributed to his work. I recall the story of George Gennor, and it motivates us to keep going, because we never know what the Lord will do with our simple obedience. It keeps us humble, when we see fruit and encounter a response, because we are reminded it is other’s work that we have built on, and ultimately God does the final work of transformation.

Be encouraged as you go out and tell. God calls you to be faithful and obedient, but he sees what others, even you don’t see. Think, 40 years without a single clue of success, yet still faithful. Imagine his reward.

The harvest is great, but the workers are few – will you be faithful in the harvest with Christ?

Gospel of John – woman at the well

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“if you only knew the gift God has for you and who you are speaking to, you would ask me and I would give you living water” – John 3: 10

The person of Jesus Christ never ceases to amaze me. As I think throughout the week about the passages of the Bible I am reading, Jesus is always at the forefront. This particular passage is so deep, so rich in the promises of God, that we could spend months hiding in here without moving on.

How about a few of these? Ever wondered how or why Jesus always seemed to hit with such precision, the very people God was preparing? Jesus must have prayed intently, frequently (and I suspect for long periods of time).

The church founded here, as a result on the innocuous midday meeting around a well with a Mrs Nobody, has lasted at least until today. In turn, it has founded many other churches in the region. Few would know the longest running empire in the world belongs to the Son.

The Son provides the exclusive gateway to the Father. Few understand this, and many, many people wish that wasn’t the case, while even more believe in almost anything but that (incl many ‘near Christian’ “denominations”).  The war currently going on in this world, at every level, is based around this simple fact. The world is at war with the Christ, the risen Son of God. Darkness has rejected the light.

We could go on.

Step aside though, and let us look at God’s incomparable beauty and grace found in Jesus Christ today, and do a small test – how do we measure up? That is not cynical, as I believe that Jesus wants us to measure up, and will empower us, if we would just submit.

Firstly, Jesus speaks to those he met with searing precision, and doesn’t dance around the issues that are such high stakes in their lives – that is, our sinfulness before God is an issue. To Jesus, sin is always the problem and it needs dealing with. When did you last begin sharing the Gospel with someone from the perspective of “you’re not good enough to meet God, so there is a problem?”

Around a table a few weeks ago, we were discussing speaking into some people’s lives we had met; their lives were, well, messy and we were cautious in our approach. Someone at the table, who had experienced life in a similar vein suggested that often speaking directly to the problem was the answer, rather than always being circumspect. How true that is!

Yet then there is no condemnation found in Christ Jesus; while he offers us a true reflection of who we really our, the relationship doesn’t end there. It invites us to accept that which is on offer, that which can be found nowhere else. Living Water, Jesus the living Son of God. Jesus always offers us the opportunity to repent, and then to believe in who he is.

Repentance, when bracketed with belief in Christ, leads God to immediately respond in a person’s life with grace and forgiveness. Such is the overcoming power of that response for many people, that their reaction is one of ecstatic delight – “surely not” we say, “how can it be, this amazing grace that saved a wretch like me.”

In this instance, the woman, so rejected and dejected that she is shunned into drawing water when there is nobody else around, now finds the Messiah, the one promised in Isaiah who would come to save the world from its sin. Her repentance, her belief leads her to cast aside her unworthy status and run to tell those around her about what she has found. She, of all people, has found favour with God, because of him!

As I write this, we are ministering to people who have all the hallmarks of the woman at the well. Rejected from an early age, they have no belief that anything or anyone can help them escape from a life that has gone so totally out of control.

We believe – utterly believe that Jesus can restore all that they have lost in their lives, and transform them into something that neither they, nor us, can even imagine. We know that, because we see it, and read it everywhere. Around the world, and in our backyard, Jesus is transforming lives. It is not always easy, but it is a reality.

Friends, let me leave you with this simple truth. The effects of sin are devastating. Death, decay and destruction are apparent in every corner of the world. On a personal level, people today are traumatised almost out of existence. But the death of Christ, has superceded the effects of sin, such that nobody – not a single person is beyond God’s matchless and transforming power, through Jesus Christ.

So, how did we go in the test? We must tell everyone we come across the full story of the Gospel, and never be surprised at who responds.

Gospel of John – the woman at the well

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Jesus therefore, being tired from his journey, sat down by the well. It was about the sixth hour.
– John 4

Perhaps one of the most well-known passages in Scripture, what can we take from this that would be useful to us this week?

We could look at things from Jesus perspective and see much that is remarkable in an unremarkable everyday passage. Historically, Samaria was the worship place of the northern kingdom of Israel, before it was taken captive by the Assyrians, never to be rejoined to the southern tribes (Judea) from which Jesus came. The nation split after Solomon’s reign, and the Northern tribes moved the place of worship from Jerusalem. But the nation became ‘contaminated’ after it was captured, and they intermarried to produce a mixed race, something the orthodox Jews despised because it contradicted their law.

Further, we get an important clue about this woman because of the time she came to the well. It was midday, the heat of the day. Normal people, women in general (who drew water in those days) came in the morning and evening. This was a person who was shunned, probably ashamed.
When Jesus spoke to Nicodemus, it was in the night. He couldn’t afford to be seen with the Messiah during normal business hours, it risked his reputation. The conversation he desperately wanted had to be had at night.

But for Jesus, there was no pride concerning one race, or even gender over another. Decades later, Paul would note that we were all ‘one blood under Christ’, highlighting God’s perspective on his creation. The woman was surprised that he would talk to a Samaritan, and his disciples were surprised that he would talk to a woman. Only Jesus appeared entirely comfortable.

How often our pride gets in the way of our opportunities, as we choose who is suitable for the Kingdom of God. I was reading only this week, that bad people make great disciples because their deeds make good fertiliser. Do we know any bad people; do we go looking for ‘bad people’ or do we spend our lives hanging out with good people? As we walk and talk with people about the Gospel, we almost always find that the greatest interest comes from those who don’t consider themselves good enough, and are lacking in any religious background. Dare we say it, those of ethnic background seem so much more interested in our God, than we do.

When I look closely at Jesus’ conversations, there is almost always a vulnerability about him as he talks with others. The Lord of the Universe never seems to overpower, or take the conversational high ground, rather he comes at things with openness and humility, meeting people in their current state. There is no condemnation nor judgement.

We see also that people matter to Christ. In 1 Peter, we are told that all of the heavenly realm – angels, principalities and authorities (both dark and light) accept the absolute authority of Jesus Christ as Lord of all, and yet he deems a despised, adulterous Samaritan woman worthy of a conversation. It seems he almost went looking for her. To converse with such people, a woman especially, was considered by the Jewish elite to make oneself unclean before God, yet here is God’s Son, deciding that she needed his attention.

Recently I was cooking at a bbq for the Salvation Army, and I found myself with a hanger on, who talked incessantly; the man was out of his mind, addled by a heavy drug addiction and he made no sense. In a short period of time, he assured me that he had been a well-known surgeon, an explorer and a successful businessman in a life that was still quite young. I confess that I didn’t bother to give him the time of day, but every now and then in the conversation he would suddenly ask me if I was listening, or if I just wished he would go away. He caught me off guard with his perception of my patronising attitude and I was ashamed. There is none of that here. Jesus is on a mission and this woman was important.

The array of people that Jesus spoke to is simply staggering. He appears delighted to be in anyone’s company, and was willing to draw near to all; he simply shared, and shared simply the purpose of his mission without allowing any prejudice to get in the way. Prostitutes, tax gatherers, ethnic minorities, people with deep shame, the sick the lame, even the religious elite – Jesus went looking for them all.

What does he teach us? Firstly, that you, that I, – we, are important to God. He loves us all. Then, he teaches us that we must never assume to need to measure up before we come to him. We don’t measure up, he knows that and we know that, but we must come anyway. We shall not be turned away.

Finally, for those who believe we must change our thinking. In churches, too often I hear us tell people to come to Jesus, but before that happens we must take him to people. With one so great, so magnificent, so full of God’s grace, why would you want to keep it a secret?

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