“OH MY, LET ME SHARE!”
GOOD MORING! OK, YOU WILL NEED A BIG CUP OF COFFEE TODAY! YOU WILL NEED A FEW MORE MINUTES TODAY WITH JESUS! YOU WILL NEED A HEART THAT IS OPEN TODAY TO THE HOLY SPIRIT WHO WILL MOVE TO USE YOU TO BE A WITNESS!
Read John 4:27-42
PROFOUND QUESTION THROUGHOUT THIS REFLECTION:
“Am I, like the Samaritan woman, WILLING to take the first step and share my encounter of Jesus with someone else?” Let us step out of the boat and go deeper, am I willing to share my encounter with Jesus with someone at work who does not go to church? YES, my brothers and sisters, our Heavenly Father desires to USE us to share HIS grace, His forgiveness, His presence with those who do not know him and with those who have a longing deep in their heart and have no idea who or where to fill that deep void!
I am going to ask you a deeper and wider question, not intending to make you quit, but rather to get you to reflect on turning on the faucet in your relationships with those outside the church and to those whom God so loves and desires to USE to share His love with them!
FOUNDATIONAL QUESTION: This past year, whom have I shared Jesus with, outside of my worship community, Sunday
School and my small group? This past year, did you move with the prompting of the Holy Spirit, step out in faith, and share a prayer or a witness with someone in need? Were you used by Jesus to bring a co-worker to experience a peace that only comes from HIM? Were you used by HIM, to bring salvation to another of God’s children who had no idea of what they were missing, but heard and saw Jesus in you?
WHY ARE WE CHRISTIANS? Do you remember the most basic command Jesus gave us? “Go and make disciples!” Pastors and church members should ALL want their church to grow, AMEN, BUT WHO IS SHARING HIM WITH THOSE IN OUR COMMUNITY, OUR WORK, OUR SPORTS EVENTS, WHO DO NOT KNOW HIM? Have we become so complacent and content with our walk with Jesus that we have neglected to DO the one thing HE clearly asked of us to accomplish? As a pastor, let me share this truth with you—you have more opportunities than I do, every week, to be a witness of Jesus to someone, to pray for someone, to love on someone in need, whom I will never know, until the Holy Spirit uses YOU to bring them to our faith community!
It is time, my brothers and sisters, for us to stop allowing our culture to hold us back! As HE IS ON THE MOVE NOW, it is time to share, to love, to be ready to flow with the Holy Spirit and allow HIM to use our mind, our heart, our soul experiences with others who need a fresh anointing and have no idea where to go or who to trust.
PAUSE: Let me ask the question this way. As a believer, when we encounter Jesus in Heaven, which I so look forward to, who will HE know that your life and witness was pivotal in bringing them to HIM?
We may be a good pastor, a good believer, a good husband or wife, even a good parent or worker, but when we pass from this side of Heaven and go HOME ….who outside the church was used by HIM to experience transformational salvation?
BIBLICAL EXAMPLE:
“The Samaritan woman has just heard an extraordinary declaration from Jesus: that He is the Messiah who can give the gift of living water. In these verses, we see Jesus’ disciples and the response of the Samaritans side by side.”
“The Samaritan woman wastes no time – she goes back to her town and tells everyone she knows that they need to meet Jesus (4:29). Like the first disciples back in chapter 1, she invites people to come and see… to consider the possibility that this might be the Messiah Himself.”
“Meanwhile, the disciples are thinking about lunch. They’re surprised to find Jesus talking to a woman, and want Him to eat something. When Jesus declares that He has ‘food to eat’ that they don’t know about, they are confused; who could have brought Him lunch?”
NOTE: If you, by chance, are feeling down or discouraged, in reading this reflection so far, please do not be! LOOK, HEAR, READ, ABOUT THE DISCIPLES! They totally missed the magnitude of what Jesus is about! They totally missed the witness of the Samaritan woman! Yet, Jesus dearly loved them as HE dearly loves YOU! Our Heavenly Father understands we all need to learn and we all need grace, and HE is so patient with us!
So brothers and sisters, as we learn, please do not allow what you have not done to define you in your relationship with HIM, but rather decide today how your future in and with HIM defines you!
Due to this sinful, unfaithful, Samaritan woman ( just using significant and true words in case anyone reading this message thinks you are not worthy, or lack the knowledge, of sharing Jesus with someone else!) many of her community became believers!
“Many of the Samaritans come to believe in Jesus. Their first step is because of the woman’s testimony – her evidence of what Jesus had known about her. But that isn’t everything. They stay and hear from Jesus, so they can say their faith is not secondhand. They have heard for themselves and know that Jesus really is the Saviour (4:42).”
How amazing that this message of the Messiah, the ONE WHO IS ETERNAL LIFE, offers to each of us an opportunity weekly to share HIS love, HIS peace, HIS joy, HIS comfort, with someone else!
And what an extraordinary promise that Jesus’ followers can play a part in bringing in the harvest, which is our Heavenly Fathers GREATEST DESIRE AND JOY!
If we’re followers of Jesus, we are included, just like the Samaritan woman, to BE willing, to honestly share with others through our presence, our words, our actions, so they clearly see Jesus within us! How amazing is it that the Holy Spirit can flow from us to others in our daily encounters! Indeed you may be the ONLY GOSPEL they see and hear!
ARE YOU AS EXCITED AS I AM TO ALLOW THE HOLY SPIRIT TO USE YOU THIS WEEK, AS HIS MESSAGE, JUST BY LIVING OUT YOUR FAITH? I SURE HOPE SO! COME HOLY SPIRIT. MAKE IT SO, WITHIN ALL WHO READ THIS REFLECTION!
(Inspired by: “The Heavenly Harvest,” in Bible App)
