Talking to a Perfect Stranger - Pastor Jeff Schreve

[Music] I'm pastor Jeff Shrieve thanks for joining us today I'm from his heart you know when I first became a Christian I can remember an overwhelming desire to tell other people about Jesus have you ever felt like that you know the Lord said the last thing before he ascended to heaven he told his disciples but you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you and you shall be my witnesses we're in a series called witness and we're learning how to shine for Christ and share what great things he has done for us so grab a Bible follow along and prepare your heart for a blessing [Music] [Music] we're in a series call witness God has called us to be his witnesses jesus said the last thing he said before he ascended to heaven but you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you and you shall be my witnesses and so we want to be the witnesses God wants us to be and there are two key words with being a witness there's shine and their share to shine for Christ Jesus said you know you are the light of the world Matthew five a city set on a hill cannot be hidden let your light therefore shine among men in such a way that they may see your good works and glorify your father who's in heaven and then we want to share so you shine with your life you share with your lips now most of us when it comes to the subject of witnessing and we think of the two words shine and share we think I'm a lot more comfortable doing that one shining I mean I know there there's a lot of there are a lot of areas in me that don't shine very well but but I want to work on shining for Christ that my testimony and my life would be one that that brings glory to God and so we'll work on that one now this one share mmm that's a little harder because that requires me to talk that requires me to open my mouth and by my lips tell someone what the Lord has done for me share the good news with someone else and for many of us man that just makes us nervous and we think to ourselves I don't know what to say I don't know how to do that I wouldn't be very good at that but according to the Lord he said you you all those who believe in me you shall be my witnesses so God did not give us I did not leave us without an example and there's a beautiful example in John chapter 4 of how to talk to people about the Lord how to talk to them about salvation how to share and how to even talk not only to a friend not only to a neighbor but to a perfect stranger and strike up a conversation where you can tell that person about Jesus who is mighty to save such an interesting contrast in John chapter three in John chapter four John chapter 3 is the chapter that talks about being born again John chapter 3 is the encounter Jesus has with Nicodemus Nicodemus comes to him at night Nicodemus is the top of the food chain he is the most moral guy in all of Israel he's part of the Jewish Supreme Court he's on the Sanhedrin Jesus said he was a ruler of the Jews he is a moral man and then you shift gears in John chapter 4 and in John chapter 4 he talks to a Samaritan woman who's immoral so what does that tell us from the top of the food chain so to speak from the most moral of mankind to the most immoral of mankind from top to bottom everyone in between needs Jesus we all need Jesus and Jesus is available to all of us John chapter 4 the scripture says this when therefore the Lord knew that the Pharisees had heard that Jesus was making and baptizing more disciples than John John the Baptist that is although Jesus himself was not baptizing but his disciples were he left Judea and departed again into Galilee and he had to pass through Samaria so he came to a city of Samaria called Sychar near the parcel of ground that Jacob gave to his son Joseph and Jacob's Well was there Jesus therefore being wearied from his journey was sitting thus by the well it was about the sixth hour there came a woman of Samaria to draw water jesus said to her give me a drink now here's our question for today how can you talk to people even perfect strangers about Jesus let me give you four steps from this key passage of Scripture step number one you want to talk to people about Jesus you want to really be able to share not only shine but share step number one pray for divine appointments pray for divine appointments we're going to see that this was a divine appointment and Jesus was a man of Prayer Jesus although he was God in the flesh he didn't operate and didn't live his life on earth as God in the flesh he lived his life as a man depending upon God talking to the Father constantly and depending on the power that came from the Holy Spirit that's important because if he lived life as God in the flesh he couldn't say follow me because you're not God in the flesh I'm not God in the flesh nobody's God in the flesh so nobody can do that but if he lived lives his life as a man depending upon God and being constantly filled and controlled by the Holy Spirit he can be the example that says hey follow me because you can be a man a woman a boy or girl that depends on the Lord well Jesus would get up and he would pray and he would get up early in the morning and he would pray where he we read about that in the scripture over and over how he did that well no doubt he was always praying he was always in the Father's will right in the crosshairs of the Father's will and he was always on schedule with the father's schedule see Jesus came to seek and to save that which was lost and the father had different places for him to go and different people for him to talk to and a timetable for him to follow and Jesus was right on target with that Jesus was shows up at the well in Samaria in a little town called Sychar right at the time that this woman was showing up at the well hey pray for divine appointments now this woman is a very unlikely candidate for the Lord to want to talk to her because she is the lowest of the low she's a Samaritan she's a woman she's an immoral woman now to be a Samaritan you got to get the mindset of a Jew Samaritans were Jewish half-breeds they were Jews who had intermingled with the pagan and so they were half Jewish half polluted with Gentile blood and so that that suit wasn't and not the MOT to a Jew you didn't do that you didn't pollute the race like that so they became the Samaritans because the capital city of that area was Samaria so they call them Samaritans well the Jews couldn't stand them the Jews just thought you guys are horrible you wouldn't say the word Samaritan and a Jew would just hoped he'd spit he's a Samaritan they're the worst of the worst so bad that when a Jew would travel from Jerusalem which is in Judah and if you had to go to Galilee Galilee's up in the north and Jerusalem is in the southern part of Israel in between is Samaria so we all know the shortest distance between two points is a straight line but the Jews would not take a straight line because if you did that you had to go through Samaria so what they would do if you were looking on a map what they would do is they would go around Samaria they would go on the other side of the Jordan River they would go to the east in a land called Perea and they would walk in Perea until they could get over to galilee so they would never set their feet in that pagan land in that polluted land the land of Samaria now Jesus it says in verse 4 he had to pass through Samaria why did he have to pass through Samaria because there was a woman there that he was supposed to meet at the well at about the sixth hour which I believe was about noon the sixth hour and so he is moving pretty fast from Judea to get to sidecar because there's an appointment that God had appointed for him and this woman at the well at citecar they pray for divine appointments that's one of the things you know when we talk about shine and share oftentimes we're not thinking in terms of what am I supposed to do today okay what is my job today before the Lord to love him yes to grow in my relationship with him yes what else to shine and share because that's why he's left us here to be his witnesses so let me give you three things to pray for all along this line of praying for divine appointments I've told you this before but it bears repeating I heard this from dr. Paige Patterson and I just love it and he's a great soul winner and he challenged us as students to do this he said number one you pray God give me an opportunity today to talk to somebody about you very first thing in your prayer time God give you an opportunity today to talk to somebody about you second part of that prayer and God help me to know when that opportunity presents itself help me to be sensitive to the person that you say that's the one and number three God when the opportunity comes and I'm sensitive to that opportunity and I know that's the one you want me to talk to help me to not chicken out because it's so easy to get afraid and say I just can't do it I don't know what to say I better not so lord give me an opportunity lord help me to recognize the opportunity and lord help me to not chicken out when the opportunity comes know this there are people you meet who are ready to hear the gospel people that you meet are ready to hear the gospel just like this woman was ready to hear the gospel we don't know who they are but Jesus said in John chapter four and verse 35 do you not say there are yet four months and then comes the harvest behold I say to you lift up your eyes and look on the fields that they are white for harvest white for harvest there are people that you rub shoulders with at work and that person is just ready for somebody to talk to him about Jesus he's ready for you to talk to them about Jesus so that's the first step pray for divine appointment step number two initiate the conversation now we read here where Jesus he's at the well and verse eight says so the disciples had gone into the city to buy food and Jesus was we read from the journey he had walked many miles to get there and is it stuff you know it's not like walking on the track you're just walking on uneven surfaces and you're walking through sandy places and rocky places he was tired and it shows the humanity of Jesus and so in his humanity he is he is wearied from the journey it says in the new American Standard that word wearied means to be worn out to be exhausted and he's sitting at the well Jacob's Well Jacob had dug that well and a lo and behold a woman comes and she's there and she's drawing water and Jesus says to the woman give me a drink now we read that we think yeah okay no big deal huge deal huge deal because men didn't talk to women out like that in public rabbis definitely didn't talk to women out in public and no Jew talked to a Samaritan woman at all you know the the rabbinic law said that a this is how they viewed Samaritan women Samaritan women are constantly menstruating that's what they said in the rabbinic law so what does that mean they are unclean unclean unclean you don't touch him you don't talk to him you don't look at him they're unclean and here Jesus initiates conversation with her well she's blown away she says to him in verse 9 how is it that you being a Jew ask me for a drink since I am a Samaritan woman and then it says in parenthesis for Jews have no dealings with Samaritans no they don't have any dealings with Samaritans that was just customary they did what what that means is Jews don't have anything in common with Samaritans Jews don't use common vessels with Samaritans Jews don't share a glass with a Samaritan that's what it's saying you know it give me a drink were you drinking out of this glass give me a drink out of that glass that would never they would never do that and this Samaritan woman knew that and it's like Jesus don't you know protocol don't you know that you're not supposed to do that first of all you're not supposed to talk to me secondly you're not supposed to drink after me and Jesus brings up that issue it brings up that request give me to drink now here's a woman and she does not seem like she would be a likely recipient of salvation I mean if you had asked any of the Jewish leaders they'd say spit on the Samaritans no salvation doesn't come to them and if God's gonna save somebody's not gonna save those people and especially even if you went into Samaria and then you would say who's the least likely person that would be a person to receive salvation today to put her on the top of the list cuz she's an outcast she's immoral she's had five husbands and the guy she's living with now is not her husband Jesus cared about her Jesus initiated a conversation with her Jesus broke all social barriers to talk to her give me a drink that's a huge statement and it communicates that he cared about her wow I just love that about the Lord that he cares about us he knows all about us and he cares about us still see there's nobody that you meet there's nobody at your school there's nobody at the office there's nobody in the neighborhood that the Lord doesn't love that he doesn't care about that he doesn't know all about that he doesn't care about because people matter to God so when you're initiating a conversation with a perfect stranger show a genuine interest in them because they matter to God they matter to him sometimes we kind of think well different ones you know they don't really matter everybody matters to God every single person matters to God I love the story that Mike had concern who lived across the street from him actually he was a man that was well known in in Mike's little town his name was Norman but everybody called him weird Norman because he was weird it's very weird he was an older guy he wore dirty overalls he didn't come close to the soap really much in his life at all I mean the guy just stunk his overall smelled bad he didn't shave he didn't brush his teeth he had thick coke bottle glasses and he would talk to himself everywhere he went around town he just talked to himself well people thought he was nuts they just said they they just called him weird Norman well Mike knew about weird Norman and and most people just kept their distance from weird Norman Mike buys a house and he's got a wife and two kids buys a house and it's kind of a fixer-upper but Mike's a fixer-upper kind of guy and he got a good deal on and he's excited about his house and what he's going to do to it and then he finds out one day that across the street from his new house that's where a weird Norman lives he said Lord couldn't you told me about this about what you knew he lived here Lord I have two daughters this guy could may he might harm that he's weird God said yeah but I love that guy I love that guy that guy matters to me everybody you mean they matter to God and this woman she mattered to the Lord and so he initiates a conversation with her and the conversation although it's startling because you're a Jew and you're you look like you're some kind of rabbi and you're talking to me a Samaritan woman and you're asking to drink out of my glass Wow and Jesus switches gears from verse 7 where he says give me a drink to verse 10 jesus answered and said to her if you knew the gift of God and who it is who says to you give me a drink you would have asked him and he would have given you living water well he switches the gears on this conversation to a question about water all a sudden he takes it into a spiritual conversation and he talks about living water living water and she's just like this mean she says in verse 11 sir you have nothing to draw with and the well is deep well was over a hundred feet deep where then do you get that living water you are not greater than our Father Jacob are you who gave us the well and drank of it himself and his sons and his cattle jesus answered and said to her everyone who drinks of this water shall thirst again but whoever drinks of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst but the water that I shall give him shall become in him a well of water springing up to eternal life the woman said to him Sir give me this water so I will not be thirsty nor come all the way here to draw Wow Jesus switched gears and from just initial conversation all of a sudden he changes it into a spiritual conversation and he does it in a in a way that causes the woman to be curious so when you show genuine interest in a person because they matter then take the conversation and segue it into spiritual truths spiritual truths and so you can share things about the gospel that makes people curious Jesus did with the living water hey I have you know if you were to ask me now he says I love it when he says in verse 10 if you knew the gift of God what is the gift of God Romans 6:23 says that the wages of sin is death but the free gift of God is eternal life in Jesus Christ our Lord now if you knew the gift of God if you knew about eternal life and you knew who the who was speaking to you the one who gives eternal life the Savior you would ask me and I would give you living water oh she's like living what I've never heard of living water how are you gonna get living water I didn't know what living water is but you don't even have a bucket I don't know how you're gonna do that see all of a sudden now she's kind of tuned in she's kind of engaged and it ends up in verse 15 she's like evermore give me this water I wanna I don't want to have to come here every day to get water which was common that's what they had to do nobody had they didn't have plumbing so you had to go to the well every day to get water and she went at a time when the woman didn't go to the well she this is probably noon some Bibles say it's is the sixth hour it's probably 6 p.m. I don't think that I think it's probably noon I think it's the hot part of the day the women didn't come to the well at the hot part a day they would come to the well and the evening time when it was cooler but she came at the hot part why because nobody else would be there and she didn't have to endure the scorn and mockery and the whispers because she knew she was an immoral woman you talk about Hester Prynne wearing a Scarlet a in the town of psyche are everybody knew this woman and they knew that she was immoral and they knew that she was an adulteress five husbands and the one she had now was not her husband but the Lord reaches out to her and the Lord makes her curious you know it we don't really think about this very much but boy if we really thought about my job is not only to shine but to share we could get creative in how we share I heard about one evangelist and he would travel around often he be in airplanes a lot and people would ask him what do you do you know what do you do well if you answer that head-on you say well I'm an evangelist I go around the country and I share Jesus with people well that's one way to answer the question he didn't answer it that way he would say well I'm an ambassador oh you're an ambassador wow that's pretty cool Oh your ambassador for the for the State Department who you're an ambassador for for the King Wow which King the king of kings you're an ambassador for the king of King who's the King of Kings and it would open the door for him to share the gospel well one man would be traveling and somebody say what do you do he said well I work for my father he said oh you do well what what is your father do he said we just got an interesting business he said he takes goats and turns them into sheep I said he does why he said yeah no lie he takes goats and turns them into sheep I work for my father I bring him the goats and he turns him into the Sheep this guy says you're pulling my leg he said no let me tell you about it it makes them curious and then Jesus not only does he make her curious about the living water water he makes her interested and desirous of the living water that's why she says in verse 15 sir give me this water hey jesus says you drink of this water you'll never be thirsty again this water will be an eternal well springing up a well of water springing up to eternal life wow she didn't understand all that but it's not it good hey give me this that's what I want fella from from Jerusalem wherever you're from you know you Jewish friend she didn't know his name he didn't tell her his name and she wanted that so you can make people curious you can make people desirous of what you have now there's a principle of evangelism that's found right here you always when you talk to somebody about Jesus whether it be a friend or whether it be a perfect total stranger you always want to lead with the good news you lead with the positive you lead with the benefits and the blessings of salvation that's how Jesus did you know Jesus we don't read in here where Jesus said to her just start it right off the bat hey lady I know all about you I know what you did last week I know what you did last month I know what you did last summer you are a wicked vile woman you're an abomination to God turn or burn lady oh he did that would really be whoa Lord that's pretty rough right all those things are true that I just said about that woman you're on the highway to hell lady that doesn't work very well in evangelism right okay so what does he do he tells her yeah if you asked me I'd give you a living water and living water you'd you'd be satisfied forever you'd this would be a well springing up to eternal life she doesn't understand but it sounds really good and so we lead with the positives we lead by telling people as bill bright did when he wrote the four spiritual laws in 1952 bill bright who is now home with the Lord bill bright who began Campus Crusade for Christ in the early 1950s wrote that little booklet the four spiritual laws he wrote it in 1952 they have printed over 1.5 billion copies of that little booklet and distributed them all over the world people have used that little booklet to lead untold millions and millions and millions of people to faith in Christ and what does it say in the four spiritual laws it says this just as God has physical laws to govern the physical universe so there are spiritual laws to govern the spiritual universe and law one God loves you and has a wonderful plan for your life that's how he starts out God loves you and has a wonderful plan for your life now that's good news that's something good and that's how we are to present the gospel in a positive way to get that person excited about hearing more about it so initiate the conversation make them curious make them interested in desirous step number three and this is key do not shy away from dealing with sin be careful that you don't shy away from dealing with sin now watch what the Lord does here he gets her all excited evermore give me this water verse 15 now the Lord could have said I'll that'd be great you want you and let me sign you up here's a card you can go to the connection room later my guys will be back in just a minute they're getting some food but we'll just sign you up and you can be on the living water you know circuit and then we'll get you fixed up he doesn't do that he says go verse sixteen go call your husband and come here the woman answered and said I I have no husband jesus said to her you have well said I have no husband for you have had five husbands and the one you whom you have now is not your husband this you have said truly how do you know that how do you know that about me Jesus why are you talking about that about my five husbands and and the the fact I'm living in adultery now notice that just as an aside if you're not married and you're living with someone you're living in adultery living in adultery the Lord sees that he's not pleased with that he's not putting his hand on you saying way to go that's the sin and what she was doing was sin and the Lord was dealing with her in her sin because as the for spiritual law says God loves you and has a wonderful plan for your life but law too says that mankind is a sinner you're a sinner I'm a sinner man is a sinner and he's separated from God therefore he cannot know and experience God's love and plan for his life see the good news God loves you the bad news is but there's a problem there's a problem you've sinned I've sinned we've sinned all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God you have to deal with sin if you're going to lead someone to the Savior there has to be conviction of sin see true salvation requires that it requires conviction of sin some people don't want to deal with that some people don't want to talk about that but remember this John chapter 16 the Lord was speaking of the Holy Spirit and he says when he comes the Spirit of Truth comes he will convict the world of sin and of righteousness and of judgment those three things he convicts you of sin you're a sinner and you're lost he convicts you of righteousness Jesus is righteous he's the Holy One of God and you need him and thirdly without him you're going to be judged and you are on the highway to hell without Jesus and you need to to him that's what the Holy Spirit's job is he convicts of sin and righteousness and judgment now listen if you are a Christian or you're part of a church that doesn't talk about sin you know that's kind of the new wave in the last several years as people don't want to talk about sin you know one of the biggest churches in America the pastor makes no bones about it we don't talk about sin at our church and when he's interviewed he says they said why don't you use the word sin he said well because I don't want to make people feel bad what do you want to lead people to eternal life because they have to know about sin you have to deal with sin you can't get saved until you understand that you're a sinner and you need a Savior there has to be conviction of sin now I was thinking about this this weekend and I was thinking how there's a big difference between a hospital and hospice and and we know about the hospital and we know about hospice and hospice is a wonderful wonderful thing that we have in our world today where people come in to those who are terminal and they help them and they give them enough medicine to keep them comfortable and they allow them to pass with dignity and hopefully without pain Hospice is wonderful wonderful but there's a big difference between hospice and a hospital you know people who work at a hospital you know what they're trying to do they're trying to deal with your problem they're trying to deal with your sickness trying to deal with your disease to get you well so that you can have life that's a hospital worker that's a doctor that's a nurse that's what they're there for a hospice worker he's not there to try and help you she's not there to try and help you have life she's there to try and make you feel good as you die I'm not knocking it I'm saying it's a great thing that that's the difference now as a Christian God has not called anyone he's not called any church to be a hospice place he's called us to be a hospital and to be hospital workers and to tell people hey you God love June has a wonderful plan for your life but you have a problem and that is sin and that sin is killing you and unless you deal with your sin you're going to go down down down apart from God that's the truth well what do people do that you see hospice workers let me just give you another shot of morphine to make you feel good while you're all the time dying and one day going to step into hell but you feel good all the way up until that time now that's not what we're here for we're here to tell people the truth so that they don't die and go to hell and if it hurts to come to the hospital and have surgery and take chemo and all the stuff that we have to do when we deal with cancer or I'd rather not do that well that's just part of the deal you have to deal with the disease if you want to get better and that's what God's called us to do so true salvation requires conviction of sin Jesus says to her go and call your husband I have no husband yeah the you said that right you've had five of them the one you have now is not your husband and you know what she said it's it's in the Living Bible she said rut ro I mean she was oh I'm in trouble now he knows about me that's a little George Jetson humor Astral but they I'm in trouble see true salvation requires conviction of sin you have to deal with sin he told her there's good stuff but you got a deal with sin and then true salvation requires repentance of sin see why does there have to be conviction of sin because there has to be repentance of sin you have to see that I am separated from God God loves me and has a wonderful plan for my life wonderful but I'm separated from God I'm a sinner and I can't save myself I can't get rid of this disease inside called sin uh-oh what do I do you repent of that sin you turn from that sin and you turn to the Savior how important is repentance the Lord says in Ezekiel chapter 18 I do I have pleasure in the death of anyone who died no says the Lord therefore repent and live repent and live jesus said unless you repent Luke chapter 13 unless you repent you will all likewise perish you got Paris without repentance 2nd Peter chapter 3 says that the Lord is not slow about as some promises some men count slowness but is patient toward you not wishing for any to perish but for all to come to repentance repentance repentance fits in with belief like that to believe in Jesus requires you to repent Paul said his ministry in the book of Acts what do I preach I preach repentance toward God and faith in our Lord Jesus Christ so I'm convicted of sin so I say rut row and so I say I need to turn from this and turn to the Savior so there's repentance that's required and then true salvation very interesting is connected to true worship now when the Lord starts talking to her about her husband's and her immoral lifestyle the woman says in verse 19 no doubt trying to turn the spotlight off of what's going on i sir I perceive that you are a prophet our fathers worshiped in this mountain and you people say that in Jerusalem is the place where men ought to worship and Jesus said to her woman believe me an hour is coming when neither in this mountain nor in Jerusalem shall you worship the father you worship that which you do not know we worship that which we know for salvation is from the Jews but an hour is coming and now is when the true worshipers shall worship the father in spirit and truth for such people the father seeks to be his worshipers God is spirit and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth she tries to take it off of her sin on to worship and you know the Samaritans that they they believed the first five books of the Bible they had their Pentateuch the first five books but they threw out everything else and the Samaritans had a polluted religious system and they worshiped at a different mountain and and she's saying well that you know we're supposed to worship on Mount Gerizim but you guys you Jews say that we're supposed to worship in Jerusalem I don't know which one is right and and Jesus said salvation is from the Jews the Jews have it right but here's the thing salvation is connected to true worship because Jesus doesn't change the subject Jesus doesn't say you've gotten you were chasing rabbits here let's get back to the thing about your need for repentance he doesn't do that he goes ahead with it and says yahoo the father seeks true worshipers why because you can't truly worship God in spirit and truth until you truly know God until you come to know him through salvation and it's only those who are truly saved the who can truly worship God and the father is seeking the lost and he's seeking those who will worship Him in spirit and truth so point 3 is so important don't shy away from dealing with sin and then step 4 be clear in presenting the Savior the woman said to him verse 25 I know that Messiah is coming he who is called Christ when that one comes he will declare all things to us and jesus said to her I who speak to you a.m. he literally I who speak to you I am and at that point the disciples came back and it says in verse twenty 28 the woman left her waterpot and went into the city and said to the men come see a man who told me all the things that I have done this is not the Christ is it be clear and presenting the Savior be clear and presenting that Jesus Christ is the I am the I am who has become flesh he is God in the flesh and Jesus is the only solution for sin the only solution for sin did you know that that statement Jesus is the only solution he's the only remedy for sin so many people who call themselves Christians balk at that statement the Pew Research Group did a survey they survived surveyed 35,000 people a few years back and 57% of those surveyed who identified themselves as evangelical Church attenders or of those who said that they were evangelical churches tenders 57% said that there is more than one way to get to God that other religions that can lead to eternal life 70% of people who of people who said they were religious 70 percent said there are many roads to God really let me tell you something Jesus is not a way to eternal life Jesus is not a good way to eternal life Jesus is not the best way to eternal life Jesus Christ is the only way to turn alive beyond the way you can't get there anyway but through him that's what he said I am the way and the truth and the life no one comes to the Father but through me and the disciples preached Acts chapter 4 verse 12 and there is salvation in no one else for there is no other name under heaven that has been given among men by which we must be saved how many ways are there to heaven there's one way and that's through the blood of the Lamb the only way that you'll ever get to heaven be clear and presenting he is the only way he's not one way of many ways he's the only way and Jesus must be personally received personally received now I told you about the four spiritual laws law number one God loves you and has a wonderful plan for your life law number two man is a sinner and he's separated from God and he can't know and experience God's love and plan for his life that's the problem what's the solution the solution is law number three and law number three says that God has seen our problem and Jesus Christ is God's only provision for man's sin through him through Christ you can know and experience God's love and plan for your life through Christ and you know what you can talk to people about the four spiritual laws and so many of them believe the first three so many for me before I became a Christian I believe the first three spiritual laws I knew that that God loved me and I knew that I was a sinner and I knew that Jesus died for me and he was the only way but you know what I never did I never did law number four I never individually received Christ as Savior and Lord and everybody has to do that every single person has to individually make a decision to open his heart to open her heart to receive Christ sin is personal and so is salvation and we must each individually personally open our hearts to him so many people they know about God in their heads they know about Jesus in their heads because they're religious and they know facts and figures but they have never opened their heart to him they've never confessed their sins to him they've never cried out and said Jesus son of David have mercy on me and that's the difference that's what brings salvation when you receive him the scripture says of Jesus he was in the world and the world was made through him and the world did not know him he came to his own and those who were his own did not receive him but as many as received him to them he gave the right to become children of God even to those who believe in his name when you open your heart and you receive him that's when everything changes I talked to a man this week who came to see me and he was just a piece of ripe fruit he was so ready the fields are white unto harvest and he started in I said how can I help you and he said I need to get right with God can you help me I said you've come to the right place I can help you and we talked and and and he was so ready to receive Christ and I said to him I said now the first thing that the Lord asks you to do when she receive him is to get baptized and he said you know I've done that three times this or he said I've done that twice this would make my third time and I said to him I said have you ever really received Christ in any of those other times he said no no he said I prayed a prayer I went through the motions I said when we just prayed I said did you mean it he said a minute a minute he really received Christ that's what it takes that's what makes the difference let me take you back to Mike Adkins living across the street from weird Norman Mike Adkins is a Christian Mike Adkins is a singer he was a by Vocational singer and he had worked during the week and then go out on weekends to different churches and it had a great ministry he said one Sunday night after church he said the whole town would all the church people they'd go to Dairy Queen small town go to Dairy Queen after church and he said you know it's like who would get their first depends on who had the shortest sermon Jeff's preaching at my church I will be their last you know that kind of thing and so he they'd all at Dairy Queen and he said they're all having a great time talking about how great the service was you know just fellowship one with other churches and everything and then in walks weird Norman and he said what did all the Christians do they pretended they didn't see him they just kind of moved away well I don't know I don't see him but let's go over here you know because he's weird Norman and so weird Norman sits down with his filth and his stink and he's sitting there and the Holy Spirit of God said to Mike go talk to Norman and tell him about me Mike leaned over to his wife's it says the Lord wants me to talk to Norman pray for me I'm going in you know that kind of that kind of thing so he walks over to Norman Norman is weird there's a reason why they called him weird Norman he was weird and so Mike says to him he says hey Norman remember me Norman look sam says remember me he said I'm your neighbor Norman says I'm your neighbor he would always do that just repeat and Mike said do you know who Jesus is the Norman said do you know who Jesus is and then Mike said Norman have you ever thought about opening your heart and giving your heart and life to Jesus and receiving him as your Savior and Lord and Norman looked at him through those thick coke-bottle glasses and said I've given a serious consideration and through the weeks that follow Mike began to befriend Norman he began to do things for Norman way out of the box things for Norman he bought Norman a suit better than a suit than any suit my cat he took Norman to a major league baseball game and then one night he brought the pastor over to Norman's house and he led Norman to faith in Jesus Christ this was all about to shine and to share and to be his witnesses and you know Jesus stayed two more days with the people in Samaria and it was the woman that brought the whole town out come see a man who told me all the things I ever did and they came and then they begged Jesus to say and then they told her after being in Jesus presence they said we don't believe because of you anymore we have seen and heard for ourselves that this one is the savior of the world a friend we've been talking about witnessing shining for Christ and sharing your story and here's the question as you really think about this do you have a story as the Lord really done a work of salvation in your heart if not today is the day for you just pray this prayer with me just say Lord Jesus I need you I know that I'm a sinner and I can't save myself but Jesus I believe you are God in the flesh I believe you died on the cross for my sins and I believe you rose again from the dead and right now I ask you to forgive me of my sins to come into my life I surrender my all to you be my Lord and Savior I promise to follow you all the days of my life my friend if you pray that kind of prayer and mean it the Lord will come in and they'll give you a story to share of his glory and grace I'd love to hear from you to know that you're watching to know that you just prayed that prayer with me please take the time to call that toll-free number write me email me let me know what's going on and how we can pray for you you really are important to God you're important to us we're here for you from his heart is the viewer supported broadcast ministry of dr. Jeff Shrieve who believes that no matter how badly you may have messed up in life God still loves you and has a wonderful plan for your life you can find out more about that plan when you go - from his heart o Arjun [Music] you

Channel: From His Heart Ministries

Views: 1,609

Rating: 5 out of 5

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Id: tcsrPtGM-P4

Length: 48min 20sec (2900 seconds)

Published: Mon May 14 2018