Introduction:
When I See the Mission Like Jesus (John 4:27-42):
- Make it the Priority . (John 4:31-34)
- I see it as a Team effort. (John 4:35-38)
1 Corinthians 3:6-8 - I (Paul) planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the growth. So neither he who plants nor he who waters is anything, but only God who gives the growth. He who plants and he who waters are one, and each will receive his wages according to his labor.
- I invest in those who are Responding . (John 4:39-42)
Sermon Notes (PDF): BLANK
Hint: Highlight blanks above for answers!
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01:10-01:13
Open up your Bibles with me please to John chapter 4.
01:13-01:15
We're going to be picking up in verse 27.
01:16-01:25
And if you do not have a Bible, there are Bibles in the seat backs in front of you and you can keep that and consider it a gift from your friends at harvest.
01:26-01:30
While you're turning there, I'm going to ask if you would please to pray for me.
01:31-01:33
And I'll take a moment and pray for you.
01:34-01:34
Let's pray.
01:35-01:37
Father, we believe that you wrote this book.
01:38-01:43
And therefore, you deserve all the attention that we can possibly give.
01:44-01:48
Open our hearts and our minds, Father, to receive Your Word.
01:49-01:52
I just ask, Father, You speak through me. Get me out of the way.
01:52-01:56
Just broadcast the message through my voice today, Father.
01:57-01:58
We ask You in Jesus' name.
01:59-02:12
And all of God's people said, "Amen." Our series this year is called "Knowing Jesus." You can tell a lot about a person by what they're passionate about.
02:13-02:22
Whether it's sports, or painting, or dogs, or guitars, or exercise, or hunting, or politics.
02:23-02:27
I find it really easy to talk to people I don't know.
02:28-02:34
Because within the first minute of conversation, you can find out what they're passionate about, and you just talk about that.
02:34-02:36
And I was thinking about that this week.
02:36-02:59
Could you imagine if Jesus physically here on the earth with us today, which is going to happen someday, maybe today later, but imagine if Jesus were here today, and we took Him to lunch after church, and we said, "Jesus, why don't you share with us a little bit about what you are passionate about?" What do you think Jesus would want to talk about?
03:00-03:06
We're going to see in this passage exactly what Jesus is passionate about and what He would talk about.
03:06-03:08
Look at v. 27 with me.
03:08-03:09
John 4. Are you there?
03:10-03:13
It says, "Just then, His disciples came back.
03:13-03:16
They marveled that He was talking with a woman.
03:16-03:23
But no one said, 'What do you seek?' or 'Why are you talking with her?'" Let's stop there for a second.
03:24-03:28
There's a huge miracle that takes place in this verse.
03:29-03:30
Seriously. Did you see it?
03:31-03:33
The huge miracle took place in this verse.
03:34-03:38
You're like, "You mean that Jesus talked to a woman?" No, it wasn't that.
03:39-03:45
You're like, "Because the disciples had questions and they were able to keep their mouths shut and not ask Him?" I don't mean that either.
03:46-03:49
The huge miracle - look at the first two words.
03:50-03:57
"Just then." And I know in English we can read through that very quickly, and that's why it's such a benefit to slow down and really study.
03:58-04:01
In the Greek, this is emphasized.
04:02-04:15
It's like if you were reading it the way it was written, you would get to this place and you would say, "Just then, his disciples came back." And that's the miracle here, is the timing of all of this.
04:16-04:17
Like, well, what do you mean?
04:18-04:20
Why don't you think about the timing of this whole event?
04:20-04:28
And the previous passage we covered last week, Jesus speaking with the woman at the well, You can get online and listen to that again.
04:28-04:41
But that's where the story picks up, where Jesus witnesses to this woman about who he is, and she runs off to tell the villagers, you're going to see here in a second.
04:41-04:42
He reveals to her that he's the Messiah.
04:43-04:48
But the huge miracle here is the timing of all of this.
04:48-04:53
Do you notice Jesus arrives at the well, just when the woman is there.
04:54-05:01
The disciples had gone to get food, which is incredible because that way Jesus could speak with her alone.
05:01-05:05
I mean, the woman might not have opened up if there were a bunch of dudes standing around, right?
05:06-05:16
And then your Bible says, "Just then!" At this point in the conversation, when Jesus revealed to this woman that He is the Christ, just then the disciples came back.
05:17-05:18
And that's huge.
05:19-05:23
Because if they came back any earlier, they would have interrupted the conversation, right?
05:24-05:32
"Hey, what are you guys talking about?" And if they came back any later, they wouldn't have known that Jesus had the conversation with the woman at all.
05:33-05:37
And somebody might look at this and think that is a crazy coincidence, isn't it?
05:38-05:39
You know what coincidence is?
05:39-05:40
I heard somebody say it one time.
05:40-05:42
Coincidence is when God chooses to remain anonymous.
05:43-05:45
This isn't coincidence. This is providence.
05:46-05:48
Have you ever had a story like that in your life?
05:48-05:59
That the timing was just so insane that you're like, "God had to have orchestrated this!" I want to tell you about a time that happened in my life, just real quick.
05:59-06:00
This isn't even really part of the sermon.
06:00-06:01
This is just bonus.
06:01-06:02
We're not going to charge you any extra for that.
06:05-06:09
But years ago, I went to do a funeral for the father of a friend of mine.
06:10-06:11
It was out in Columbus, Ohio.
06:12-06:24
And I didn't want to drive all the way out there with my tie on, so I'm like, "Well, I'll just take my tie." And I'll, with the GPS, when I find a place near the funeral home, I'll just stop and get out and use the bathroom, put my tie on and then I'll go to the funeral home.
06:25-06:27
Okay, so the first place I stopped was this gas station.
06:28-06:34
I'm like, okay, I'll just see if they have a restroom here and I'm gonna gross gas station bathrooms I know.
06:34-06:38
But I pulled in and there were bars on the window of the gas station.
06:38-06:40
And I said, maybe we'll keep looking for a place.
06:41-06:46
So I saw this little diner and I pulled into this diner and I'm like, well, surely they have a restroom I can use.
06:47-06:51
And I went in and I put my tie on and you know that little voice in your head?
06:52-06:57
A lot of times for me, it's the Holy Spirit speaking and his still small voice.
06:58-07:01
Sometimes it's my conscience, I think.
07:01-07:04
Sometimes my conscience sounds exactly like my wife.
07:04-07:12
And that's why in this case, you're gonna understand here in a second, I'm not sure if this was the Holy Spirit or my wife in my head, maybe a combination of both.
07:13-07:18
But what I heard in my head was, you can't just stop in here and use the bathroom and not buy something to eat, right?
07:18-07:19
I'm like, well, I'm not hungry.
07:20-07:22
And I think that was Erin, because Erin was like, you just can't do that.
07:23-07:24
I'm like, well, I didn't really use the bathroom.
07:24-07:25
I just used the mirror.
07:25-07:26
And like, what's the rate for that?
07:27-07:29
Like, so I'm like, all right, you know what?
07:30-07:33
I know I'm gonna tell Erin this story later and she's gonna say, did you buy something there?
07:34-07:35
Because you can't just, and I'm like, all right, all right.
07:35-07:37
So I said, all right, I'm not really hungry.
07:37-07:38
So I bought a meal to go.
07:39-07:40
I'll just buy something to go.
07:40-07:43
They put it in one of those styrofoam clamshell container things.
07:43-07:46
And I walk out to my car, you know, all in my suit.
07:46-07:51
And there's this large man standing in front of my car, just weeping.
07:52-07:54
I'm like, "Oh, I don't have time for this.
07:54-08:01
I'm on my way to a funeral." And I walked up to the man, I'm like, "Can I help you?" And then all of a sudden, I couldn't believe what I saw.
08:02-08:07
This man was a very good friend of mine from 20 years ago when I used to live near Columbus.
08:08-08:12
I stayed in contact with him through social media and email and things like that, even on phone.
08:12-08:17
I was like, "What are you doing?" He lived on the other side of town.
08:18-08:20
And this is a really long story, but I'm making it really short, believe me.
08:22-08:28
He got stranded, it was winter time, and he was walking home and his shoes literally fell apart.
08:29-08:33
And being diabetic, he had some toes amputated and his feet were all bandaged.
08:33-08:36
He's walking home barefoot in the snow, just weeping.
08:36-08:37
He was in such horrible pain.
08:39-08:41
And I said, "Get in, I'll take you home.
08:41-08:54
"You don't have to, yes, I do have to get in, "I'm gonna take you home." So he got in the car. I said, "Are you hungry?" He goes, "I am so hungry." I'm like, "I got a hot meal right here!" Boom! Took him home.
08:54-08:59
We had this most amazing spiritual conversation about the Lord, about heaven, about life.
09:00-09:01
And I took him home.
09:02-09:04
And like I said, that's the extremely short version of the story.
09:04-09:09
But I stepped back from that. I'm like, "Is that coincidence?" Could that have possibly been coincidence?
09:09-09:11
Think of everything that had to happen timing-wise.
09:12-09:29
We're in downtown Columbus, Ohio, and he just happened to be walking, and he arrived at that spot while I was in this diner, which wasn't even my first choice to stop, and he was hungry, and I had a hot meal.
09:30-09:38
And somebody would say, "Wow, Jeff, that is a crazy coincidence." And I'd say, "You're insane!" That was God at work.
09:38-09:40
And that's the miracle that happens here.
09:40-09:41
The first miracle.
09:42-09:43
The timing of all of this.
09:43-09:45
Like I said, that's not even the sermon.
09:45-09:46
That's just bonus content.
09:47-09:48
Let's look at verse 28.
09:48-09:50
My point is God does that in your life.
09:50-09:52
If you have eyes to see it, you'll see it.
09:53-09:56
God orchestrates timing in crazy ways, and that's what happened here.
09:57-10:01
So, they come back and they see he was talking to a woman, nobody asked, verse 28.
10:01-10:11
"So the woman left her water jar and went away into town, and said to the people, 'Come, see a man who told me all that I ever did, can this be the Christ?
10:11-10:14
They went out of the town and were coming to him.
10:15-10:16
Stop right there for a second.
10:17-10:17
She left her jar.
10:18-10:20
Isn't that just funny?
10:21-10:22
She went to the well for water.
10:23-10:26
She meets Jesus and she completely forgets why she was there.
10:27-10:28
I totally get that.
10:28-10:31
And she rushes to tell others.
10:32-10:33
Interesting how she put it, right?
10:34-10:42
She says, "Come see a man who told me all I ever did." The things Jesus said to her weren't very complimentary/flattering, right?
10:43-10:49
He said, "You've had five husbands, and the guy you're with now isn't even your husband." And she's like, "He knows me. He knows me!
10:49-10:54
He knows who I am!" And that was the thing that impacted her.
10:55-10:58
But notice how her shame became her testimony.
10:59-11:00
That's how it is with Christ.
11:01-11:02
No matter what you've done.
11:03-11:06
No matter what you've done, you can be forgiven of your sin.
11:06-11:10
Holy, fully cleansed and forgiven of your sin.
11:10-11:12
That your past doesn't have to be shameful.
11:13-11:14
You can say, "Yeah, that's who I was.
11:15-11:16
That's not who I am anymore.
11:17-11:19
By God's grace, He transforms me.
11:19-11:20
That's not who I am anymore.
11:21-11:23
That's who I was." She wasn't ashamed of that.
11:23-11:24
She wasn't ashamed.
11:25-11:28
She says, "He knows what I did." Her shame became her testimony.
11:28-11:36
"Come and see." Then verse 30 says, "So they went to see, and they came," oh, spoiler alert, they come to believe in Him.
11:37-11:39
And what we're going to see next in this passage is huge.
11:40-11:46
Because this is where Jesus talks about the thing that He is most passionate about.
11:47-11:49
Remember we said you know somebody by what they're passionate about?
11:49-11:50
Well, here we go.
11:51-11:55
The thing that Jesus Christ is more passionate about than anything is the mission.
11:56-11:59
Seeing lost people found.
12:00-12:01
Seeing sinners forgiven.
12:03-12:10
Seeing souls that are heading to hell, rescued, and put on a new path, heading to heaven.
12:11-12:12
That fires Jesus up.
12:13-12:15
And it's His passion for the mission of the gospel.
12:16-12:17
Whatever you want to call it.
12:17-12:22
Whether you want to call it evangelism, whether you want to call it missions, whether you want to call it witnessing, whatever you want to call it.
12:22-12:23
All of the above.
12:25-12:29
But you have to see in this passage that Jesus' passion is so obvious.
12:30-12:34
And we said at the very beginning, if you want to know someone, when you have to know what they're passionate about.
12:35-12:37
And this year we're talking about knowing Jesus.
12:38-12:41
If you want to know Jesus, you need to know what Jesus is passionate about, right?
12:42-12:45
And you need to see the mission the way Jesus sees the mission.
12:46-12:48
So jot some things down on your outline, if you would, please.
12:49-12:52
When I see the mission like Jesus, this all comes right from the text here.
12:53-12:59
Number one, when I see the mission like Jesus, I make it the priority.
13:00-13:03
Luke verses 31 down through 34.
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Okay, so you have the scene, woman runs to the village.
13:06-13:07
Hey, you gotta come and see this guy.
13:08-13:09
Could he be the Christ?
13:09-13:11
And then they're coming to see him.
13:11-13:13
Meanwhile, back at the well, verse 31.
13:13-13:19
Meanwhile, the disciples were urging him, saying, "Rabbi, eat." Remember, he just hiked like 20 miles.
13:20-13:21
Like, man, you've gotta be hungry.
13:22-13:41
"Rabbi, eat." But he said to them, "I have food to eat that you do not know about." So the disciples said to one another, Has anyone brought Him something to eat?" Jesus said to them, "My food is to do the will of Him who sent Me and to accomplish His work." Stop there for a second.
13:43-13:48
Notice how once again Jesus uses the context of the situation as a teaching opportunity, right?
13:48-13:52
With the woman, it was about water, right?
13:52-14:00
They were at the well and He said, "I can give you living water." with his disciples, we go from water to food.
14:00-14:22
They're like, "Dude, you're gonna eat something." And he said, "I have food." "Where?" "My food is to do God's will, to accomplish His work." So if you were to sit down with Jesus, like we said, take Jesus to lunch, if you were to sit down with Jesus and say, "Jesus, how do you feel about missions?
14:22-14:26
How do you feel about the mission of the church?
14:27-14:29
Do you see right here? Here's exactly what Jesus would say.
14:30-14:34
Jesus would say, "It's my food. It's what I'm hungry for.
14:34-14:41
It satisfies me like nothing else does, more than anything in the world." Do you know what I want to see?
14:41-14:44
I want to see people transformed. That's what I want to see.
14:45-14:47
I want to see people forgiven of their sin.
14:48-14:50
I want to see people knew.
14:52-14:59
Jesus said, "This is way more important to me than physical food." And I've got to tell you, that's a concept that's lost on a lot of us.
15:00-15:06
Because we tend to put everything else over the mission.
15:07-15:11
And God, God gets any leftover time that we have.
15:11-15:12
Maybe He does.
15:13-15:19
But as far as making the mission the priority, It's a sad state of affairs in the American church, to be honest with you.
15:19-15:20
Everything else is a priority.
15:21-15:23
And you're like, "Oh no, no, no, Pastor Jeff, not me.
15:24-15:26
Pastor Jeff, I love missions.
15:26-15:27
Missions is my...
15:27-15:29
Mission... I'm... I'm... You know what?
15:29-15:30
I'm right there with Jesus.
15:30-15:31
Mission... Missions is my food, man.
15:31-15:32
Missions is my...
15:32-15:35
Missions is my impossible Whopper, man.
15:36-15:40
That's how much I love missions." Well, let's be objective here.
15:41-15:42
You say you love missions.
15:43-15:47
When was the last time you invited someone to church or shared the gospel with them?
15:47-15:48
When was that?
15:49-15:56
How much time have you spent in the past week praying for a pastor or a missionary or a church?
15:56-15:56
How much time?
15:58-16:02
How much money do you give to the church or to missions?
16:03-16:05
Jesus said where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.
16:06-16:09
You can tell a lot about your heart by where you spend your money, according to Jesus.
16:10-16:13
You're like, "Well, hang on there a second.
16:14-16:15
Just wait a second there.
16:15-16:18
I don't have a lot of money.
16:18-16:19
You know what?
16:19-16:22
I don't have a lot of time." Yes, you do.
16:22-16:23
Write this down.
16:23-16:28
This is a whole nother sermon, maybe someday future, but this is a truth about life.
16:28-16:32
People have time for what they want to have time for, true or false.
16:33-16:42
And the follow-up sermon to that, just in case there's somebody else that decides they're still going to come to this church, the follow-up sermon to that is, People have money for what they want to have money for.
16:43-16:43
True or false?
16:44-16:44
It's true.
16:45-16:46
It's absolutely true.
16:47-16:51
And now maybe you're like, "Oh man, maybe I don't love missions "as much as I thought I did.
16:51-16:55
"So what should I do about that?" First of all, you need to pray.
16:56-16:57
Look, I can't change your heart.
16:58-17:05
I can't get up here and give a persuasive enough speech that you're going to walk out of here today going, "Oh, oh, thanks Jeff.
17:05-17:08
"Now I care about missions like Jesus." I can't do that.
17:09-17:11
Only the Holy Spirit can do that.
17:11-17:18
And that's why you need to get on your face and you need to cry out and say, God, make me passionate about the things that you're passionate about.
17:18-17:19
Be honest with God.
17:20-17:22
Do you know when you pray, do you know God already knows your heart?
17:22-17:26
So you're not like hiding anything by not mentioning it.
17:26-17:29
Get honest with God and say, God, I'm not passionate about missions.
17:29-17:30
I'm just not.
17:31-17:31
I don't care.
17:32-17:34
I haven't been spending any time.
17:34-17:36
I haven't been spending any money.
17:36-17:40
I haven't been involved in any, God, you know. God, you know.
17:41-17:42
And God, I need you to change me.
17:43-17:44
It has to start there.
17:44-17:45
I can't do that.
17:46-17:49
God's Holy Spirit will do that if you're willing to be honest.
17:49-17:56
So pray. And secondly, after you pray, I would encourage you this, jot this down, start somewhere.
17:57-17:59
We have a missions meeting this Tuesday at 7.
18:00-18:01
Show up. We'd love to have you.
18:02-18:06
Come in to hear all the exciting things that are happening with missions in our church worldwide.
18:07-18:15
Sign up for Harvest Kids or for Arrow, or for a ministry that happens to be involved in a mission at this church.
18:16-18:24
Call a Servo or the Ronald McDonald House or some local outreach and say, "Do you have a volunteer opportunity?" Even once a month.
18:25-18:30
"Can I volunteer just once a month?" Start there. But start somewhere.
18:31-18:34
If you're willing to do that, your heart will change.
18:34-18:37
Do you know why Jesus was so fired up for missions?
18:38-18:39
Because He saw God at work.
18:40-18:42
And I'll tell you what, there's nothing in the world like that.
18:43-18:51
When we have baptism services here, and we hear people give testimony of how Jesus Christ changed their life, there is nothing more exciting than that.
18:52-18:59
I was heading to hell, I was destroying my life, and I met Jesus Christ, and everything is new.
19:00-19:01
That's why we're here, people.
19:02-19:04
There is nothing more exciting than that.
19:05-19:16
And when you first-hand see God at work, you see God's hand move, you're going to be like Jesus and say, "You know what? This, this, this is my food.
19:16-19:21
This is more important to me than eating." You've got to make it the priority.
19:22-19:23
That was Jesus.
19:24-19:31
Like, "Man, you missed lunch." He goes, "Oh, I had lunch." Number two, when I see the mission like Jesus, I see it as a team effort.
19:32-19:33
I see it as a team effort.
19:34-19:35
Look at verse 35.
19:37-19:43
Jesus continues, He said, "Do you not say there are yet four months, and then comes the harvest?
19:44-19:57
Look, I tell you, lift up your eyes and see that the fields are white for harvest." Stop there. Jesus said, "You think the harvest is four months away." Again, He's using the context to teach a spiritual lesson.
19:57-20:07
He says, "You think the harvest is four months away." He goes, "Look, lift your heads, look." He says, "The fields are white." Now, what did they see when Jesus told them to look?
20:07-20:11
I mean, Jesus very clearly wanted them to direct their gaze somewhere, right?
20:12-20:16
He says, "Lift up your eyes and see." Well, what did they see?
20:16-20:18
I'll tell you exactly what they saw.
20:19-20:21
Look at verse 30, back up.
20:21-20:22
The woman goes and tells the villagers.
20:24-20:28
Verse 30 says, "They went out of the town and were coming to him." You know what they saw?
20:28-20:29
You know what the disciples saw?
20:30-20:35
They saw these villagers coming up the hill in their white robes.
20:35-20:38
Jesus said, "Oh, you think the harvest is like four months away?
20:38-20:47
Look, look, the fields are white now as the people are walking up the hill." Jesus said, "The harvest is now, you're about to see it." Verse 36, Jesus continues.
20:47-21:07
He said, "Already the one who reaps is receiving wages and gathering fruit for eternal life so that the sower and reaper may rejoice together." "For here the saying holds true, 'One sows and another reaps.' I sent you to reap for that which you did not labor.
21:07-21:20
Others have labored, and you have entered into their labor." Jesus is saying, "You're about to receive the blessing that comes to those who are part of the harvest, part of the mission." Jesus pointed out to them, "Hey, you weren't the ones who sowed.
21:20-21:22
You weren't the ones who labored.
21:23-21:26
But you're coming in to the process later.
21:26-21:31
You're kind of like a Johnny come lately, but Johnny come lately still gets to share the blessing.
21:32-21:35
See in verse 37, look at verse 37. This is the key to the whole thing right here.
21:37-21:45
Jesus said, "For here the saying holds true, 'One sows and another reaps.'" One sows. Okay, so in this story, who was it that did the sowing?
21:46-21:48
It was the woman, right? It was the woman. She went down.
21:49-21:52
"Hey, you're gonna come see this guy. Could this be the Christ?
21:52-21:56
He told me everything I ever did. You're gonna come and see him." So she was the one who sowed.
21:56-21:59
Jesus said to the disciples, "You're coming to reap.
22:01-22:28
You're going to see people's eternal destinies change in about two minutes, guys." To use another analogy, Jesus was saying to the disciples, "That woman set the ball on the tee for you, and now you're going to watch it get hit into the Allegheny River." Or to use another analogy, Jesus said, She set the table for you, and now you're going to sit down and get to enjoy the meal.
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Or to use another analogy... do you need more analogies?
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You got it? Are we good?
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I got a million of them.
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Move on? Okay, we'll move on.
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All right.
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Verse 37 is the principle you need to understand.
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Here it is. Evangelism is a team effort.
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Evangelism is a team effort. He says, "One sows and another reaps." That's what Jesus is saying.
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She did her part. We're about to do our part.
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You need to see yourself as a link on the chain.
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That's so important, guys.
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I think some people are afraid to witness.
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"What if they ask me a question I don't know?" "What if they want to be baptized at my house?" And you get all these questions.
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Look, you're just part of the team. Right?
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You're part of the team.
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The quarterback of the football team doesn't go out and say, "I hope I win the game today." What does he say?
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We win, right?
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The whole offensive unit, the defense, the special teams, it takes all of us together.
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Same principle here.
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Everybody does their part.
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Paul talks about this in 1 Corinthians 3.
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Can we get those verses up?
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1 Corinthians 3, Paul says, "I planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the growth." So neither he who plants nor he who waters is anything, but only God who gives the growth.
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He's like, "All glory to God. I do my part. Apollos, yeah, he did his part." God is the one who does the real work here, right?
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Then he says, "He who plants and he who waters are one." Meaning one team, right?
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And each will receive his wages according to his labor.
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Like, what does that look like today?
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It looks something like this.
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Maybe someone here blesses someone that they work with, share the gospel, maybe somebody you go to school with, ministering, reaching out, sharing, you invite that person to church.
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They come to church and they're greeted and loved here by the hospitality team.
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They hear the message of the cross by whoever's up here speaking.
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Then they're invited to small group where they really begin to understand the gospel from the small group leader.
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And the person believes Jesus Christ, and at the next baptism service, they're baptized right here.
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And in that little scenario, I would ask you, "Who was responsible for that person coming to Christ?
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Who did he use?
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Oh, the Holy Spirit, yes. It was the Holy Spirit.
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But who did the Holy Spirit use?" The answer is all of the above, right?
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Every single one of those components is absolutely necessary as the Spirit is at work.
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So whether you're the inviter, or the hospitality person, or the preacher, or the small group leader, or the baptizer, you were just part of the team.
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You were just one link to bring them to Christ.
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You have to see it as a team effort.
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You know, I think we read Acts 8.
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Remember Acts 8, Philip and Ethiopian eunuch?
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Remember that story?
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Ethiopian eunuch is reading the Scriptures and Philip shows up, "Hey, what you reading?" And then he teaches, then he preaches, then he baptizes, and then he's gone.
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And people think that that's sort of how evangelism works.
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That's rare. That rarely happens.
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It's like one-stop shopping.
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Dead and sins on the way to heaven in one visit.
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That's rare.
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Jesus points out how it typically happens.
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Team effort.
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Somebody sows, somebody waters, somebody reaps.
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All glory to God.
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It's team effort.
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And finally today, number three, jot this down.
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When I see the mission like Jesus, I invest in those who are responding.
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I invest in those who are responding.
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Look at verse 39.
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says many Samaritans from the town believed in Him because of the woman's testimony.
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What testimony? It says right here, "He told me all that I ever did." So when the Samaritans came to Him, they asked Him to stay with them, and He stayed there two days.
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And many more believed because of His word.
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They said to the woman, "It is no longer because of what you said that we believe, we've heard for ourselves.
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And we know that this is indeed the Savior of the world.
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This is astronomical, because this little scene that happened right here, do you realize this never happened in a Jewish town?
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Right? Keep in mind, we talked about the Samaritans last week.
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Jesus stayed two days with them, teaching and preaching and sharing the gospel with them.
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That never happened in a Jewish town.
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In fact, by way of comparison, You can read about this in Luke 4, not now, later.
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But in Luke 4, Jesus goes back to his hometown, Nazareth.
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He preaches one sermon in Nazareth.
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Do you remember the results?
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They tried to throw him off a cliff.
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His Jewish hometown.
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Here he goes to these hated half-breed Samaritans.
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It's like mass revival.
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But here's a key to evangelism right here.
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It took me a long time to learn.
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And I'm still learning.
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I'm still growing by God's grace.
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This is something that took me a very long time to learn, and it's this.
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You need to invest your time in people who are responding.
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Look again at verses 40 and 41.
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"So when the Samaritans came to him, they asked him to stay with them.
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And he stayed there two days." Look at verse 41, "And many more believed because of his word." You need to invest your time in the people who are responding.
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I'm not saying that we don't share the Gospel with anyone and everyone.
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We absolutely do.
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I'm not saying that we shouldn't be persistent in praying and reaching out to that lost family member, that lost co-worker, that lost neighbor, that lost whatever.
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I'm not saying that at all.
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Here's what I am saying.
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I'm saying, over the last 20-some years, I've wasted a lot of time trying to drag people along who weren't interested in Jesus or His mission.
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I've wasted a lot of time.
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And my wife Erin, she's seen it.
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Because she's told me at different points along the way, she says, "Jeff, you're wasting too much time trying to get Him on board.
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You're spending so much time with Him, Jeff, He's not interested.
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You shouldn't have to drag Him.
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You shouldn't have to beg Him.
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You're wasting too much time." And I was like, "No, no, no, Eric. He's going to get it.
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He's going to get it. He's going to come along. You're going to see." And she was right.
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Jesus spent two whole days in this village teaching. Why?
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One simple reason. They were responding.
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Jesus spent His whole ministry pouring into twelve people and not the thousands in the general population.
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Why did He spend so much time with those twelve people?
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Because they were responding.
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If you were with us when we went through the book of Acts years ago, we saw how that paid off.
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I just want to encourage those of you in ministry here, I'm speaking to you specifically, whatever aspect of ministry you're in, whether you're an elder, ministry team leader, small group leader, worship leader, whatever aspect of ministry you're in, I just want to encourage you to not be dumb like me.
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In your ministry, you need to look to see who is responding, and invest in them.
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Disciple them, equip them, spend more time with them.
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Invest in people who are responding.
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So church, we have our mission to make disciples.
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It always cracks me up when I meet somebody new.
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They're like, "What's the mission of your church?" People ask me that. "What's the mission of your church?" Like, "What, do you think I made it up?
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Jesus gave us a mission!" "Duh! I don't say that." But seriously, didn't Jesus make it clear what we're supposed to do?
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Like, what do you want to do?
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I don't know. How about what Jesus said to do?
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Make disciples. He laid it all out for us.
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And it matters more than anything.
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To Jesus, it is the priority.
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And we just need to see ourselves as part of the team, investing in the people who are responding.
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So, hey, you want to know Jesus?
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Then you need to know what He is most passionate about.
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That's the mission of seeing people come to salvation.
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Father in heaven, we thank You for the mission that You gave us.
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Father, I pray for a revival in enthusiasm.
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That You would reinvigorate our passion for missions, Father.
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I thank You. I see so many people in this church involved in so many different missions, whether it's to Thailand or Haiti or Costa Rica or the Dominican.
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We've just been everywhere.
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Father, it would be real easy to sit back and pat ourselves on the back for that.
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But we're asking that You would just give us even more passion for missions.
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"Bring more people on board, Father," we ask.
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"But Father, this mission that You've given us isn't some cold, emotionally disconnected project to work on." I thank You for this passage where we get a little insight into the heart of Your Son, who saw the mission as being more important than eating, as being more important than anything.
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Father, I pray that You would, by the power of Your Spirit, I pray that You would give that to us.
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Let us see Your mission as being more important even than eating.
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Help us to see ourselves as part of a team.
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Give us wisdom and discernment, like Jesus, to invest in the people who are responding.
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All glory and credit and praise and honor goes to you, Father.
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We pray in Jesus' name, Amen.
Small Group Discussion
Read John 4:27-42
What was your big “take-away” from the passage / message?
Tell of a time you saw God’s timing in an amazing and obvious way (John 4:27).
How fired up are you about Jesus’ mission, on a scale of 1-10. Be honest!
What would fire you up more?Christmas is coming! Who are you inviting to our upcoming Christmas series?
BREAKOUT
Pray for one another, and the rest of HBC, to share Jesus’ passion for the work of God.