WEBVTT 00:00:00.480 --> 00:00:08.726 Bishop, reverend Gibson Anduvate serves as the senior pastor at the International Christian Center in Nairobi. 00:00:08.726 --> 00:00:16.211 He is also the presiding bishop over the Kenya Assemblies of God, nairobi South District. 00:00:16.211 --> 00:00:22.870 He serves as the chairman of the board of Zinduka Africa, a registered NGO. 00:00:22.870 --> 00:00:42.710 He is an ICF-certified executive leadership coach and a founder of Leading Young, a leadership initiative that provides a coaching and leadership development platform for government leaders, senators, members of the National Assembly and various corporate leaders. 00:00:42.710 --> 00:00:59.530 As part of the Leading Young initiative, he initiated the Leading Young Fellowship, a one-year program that trains and empowers selected members of the county assemblies for more significant impact in partnership with the Ford Foundation. 00:00:59.530 --> 00:01:11.509 Reverend Gibson also serves as Africa Region Co-Chair for Empower 21 Next Gen Council, a global movement of spirit-empowered believers. 00:01:12.540 --> 00:01:16.890 He is an author, speaker and transformational teacher. 00:01:16.890 --> 00:01:27.608 He holds a Bachelor of Computer Science degree from the University of Nairobi and a Master of Leadership degree from the Global University. 00:01:27.608 --> 00:01:35.742 Reverend Gibson speaks at various national and international leadership platforms around the world. 00:01:35.742 --> 00:01:39.688 Reverend Gibson is married to Liz Anduvate. 00:01:39.688 --> 00:01:47.331 They are blessed with three wonderful children Misaki, gideon and Mikaela. 00:01:47.331 --> 00:01:53.560 Ladies and gentlemen, welcome Reverend Gibson Anduvate. 00:01:57.007 --> 00:01:58.551 Let's all stand up as he comes. 00:01:58.551 --> 00:02:02.240 Let's all stand up, welcome. 00:02:02.240 --> 00:02:06.121 Let's keep clapping until he gets here. 00:02:17.675 --> 00:02:18.415 Thank you so much. 00:02:18.415 --> 00:02:20.828 It's really a joy and a great privilege to be here. 00:02:20.828 --> 00:02:23.104 If you could kindly just go ahead and have your seats. 00:02:23.104 --> 00:02:28.186 It's a joy to be here this evening. 00:02:28.186 --> 00:02:31.667 I was listening to that introduction and thinking I should meet that person. 00:02:31.667 --> 00:02:39.711 I think I need to send my team here to come and learn one or two things from that introduction. 00:02:39.711 --> 00:02:43.167 But really I must say I'm here with my wife, liz. 00:02:43.167 --> 00:02:46.127 Would you please wave, babe. 00:02:46.127 --> 00:02:50.228 It's really a joy to be here together with her. 00:02:51.719 --> 00:02:58.931 Thank you so much, and I want to begin by honoring this congregation, honoring this house. 00:02:58.931 --> 00:03:16.491 I want to honor we don't call him pastor, we call him the bishop of the city, the bishop of the city, ambrose Yangau, together with the mom and the entire pastoral team and leadership. 00:03:16.491 --> 00:03:24.746 Here we celebrate each one of you for what God is doing in you and through you, and we honor this congregation. 00:03:24.746 --> 00:03:37.069 You know, when we got the invitation to be here, we almost were not here this evening, because a week ago today we lost one of our deacons. 00:03:37.069 --> 00:03:55.468 One of our deacons got suddenly unwell and then he passed away, and so last week, on Thursday, was a very hard week for us, and so, coming into this week, I started thinking maybe we should have someone else come this evening and I didn't want to talk to the bishop of the city. 00:03:55.468 --> 00:04:12.710 So I called one of his pastors and I said to them we've gone through such a time of loss and we need to go to Kisi on Thursday and so we might not make it to come to be with you at the revival on Thursday evening. 00:04:12.710 --> 00:04:16.807 And she said to me you know, we have been fasting and praying. 00:04:16.807 --> 00:04:26.528 We have been fasting and praying specifically for you and believing God that you would be with us on Thursday. 00:04:26.528 --> 00:04:31.129 And she said to me have you talked to the pastor? 00:04:31.129 --> 00:04:32.903 And I said no, I've not talked to the bishop of the city. 00:04:32.903 --> 00:04:39.485 And she said please don't talk to him, just plan to be with us on Thursday evening. 00:04:39.485 --> 00:04:49.684 So it's against that godly council that we sent our team earlier this morning to go to Kisi, and they are already there. 00:04:49.684 --> 00:04:56.401 And tomorrow morning we will travel to Kisumu and then go to Kisi to go and lay our brother to rest. 00:04:56.401 --> 00:05:12.668 But really here to celebrate the goodness of God, to celebrate the faithfulness of God, to celebrate what the Lord has done in this church, but to celebrate even more what God is doing and what he will do in the days that are ahead, because the best days are yet ahead. 00:05:12.668 --> 00:05:15.826 The best days for Parkland Baptist are yet ahead. 00:05:15.826 --> 00:05:18.346 The best days in your family are yet ahead. 00:05:18.346 --> 00:05:22.928 The best days for you are a personal level are yet ahead. 00:05:22.928 --> 00:05:26.447 The best days are yet ahead. 00:05:26.447 --> 00:05:29.245 God has great plans for you. 00:05:30.480 --> 00:05:42.029 I was sitting there thinking to myself God knew we needed to be here this evening Because we too needed to be ministered to, and as we came in during the worship, the worship minister to us. 00:05:42.029 --> 00:06:02.125 I think our mom has ministered to us through the song she's led on this platform and I believe that God brought us here Just to share His word with you, but really also to encourage us in such a time. 00:06:02.125 --> 00:06:06.581 That is very difficult for those who are part of our team. 00:06:06.581 --> 00:06:10.048 And I feel, coming here on Thursday, I feel like I'm the forerunner. 00:06:10.048 --> 00:06:22.406 I feel like I'm John the Baptist Because I know my bishop, bishop Philip Kittoto, is coming here on Sunday, our generous superintendent of the Kenya Assemblies of God, and he is looking forward to being here on Sunday. 00:06:22.406 --> 00:06:34.887 So I have come to prepare the way for my bishop so that he can be with you on Sunday. 00:06:37.399 --> 00:07:12.211 You have been this week, going through Gospel of John, chapter four, and when you think about it for many of us, when you think about the Samaritan woman, when you think about this woman by the well, there are so many things we've had this week about this woman when you think about this woman and the kind of life that she had lived up until this moment, when she meets with Jesus, you see a woman who, if you ask me, was an outcast. 00:07:12.211 --> 00:07:14.624 This woman was an outcast. 00:07:14.624 --> 00:07:19.608 This woman had been married to five different men. 00:07:19.608 --> 00:07:26.050 By the time that she meets with Jesus in John, chapter four, she's now with the sixth man. 00:07:26.050 --> 00:07:34.411 In fact, she doesn't even consider this man a husband and he'll just follow her and say walking and Jesus Together. 00:07:34.411 --> 00:07:36.536 It's not a come, we stay. 00:07:36.536 --> 00:07:40.423 It's just a come, we risk and see what happens. 00:07:40.423 --> 00:07:43.418 And so they are together. 00:07:44.593 --> 00:07:48.281 But when you think about it, this woman has already been in five relationships. 00:07:48.281 --> 00:07:51.569 She gets into the sixth relationship. 00:07:51.569 --> 00:07:56.701 You have to ask yourself what is the common factor in all these relationships? 00:07:56.701 --> 00:08:00.178 Your guess is as good as mine. 00:08:00.178 --> 00:08:09.521 This woman was the common factor and, if you ask me, I think about this woman and she must have been looking for something. 00:08:09.521 --> 00:08:11.694 She was looking for something. 00:08:11.694 --> 00:08:31.202 She was looking for love, she was looking for acceptance, she was searching for something, and because she doesn't find it in the first husband, she moves to the second, and then the third, and then the fourth, and then the fifth. 00:08:31.202 --> 00:08:33.115 It doesn't work. 00:08:33.115 --> 00:08:36.298 So eventually she finds this man and they move in together. 00:08:36.298 --> 00:08:43.942 She's looking for something that none of these men seem able to give to her or to provide for her. 00:08:45.312 --> 00:08:49.361 And each one of us, if we are honest, we are always looking for something. 00:08:49.361 --> 00:08:59.259 There always seems to be something that's elusive, something that if we can find, if we can just lay our hands on it, then we will be more fulfilled. 00:08:59.259 --> 00:09:07.719 I don't know about many of you, but when we went to college we used to pray and say God, if I can just find a job that can pay my rent. 00:09:07.719 --> 00:09:18.697 And then you graduate from college and you find this job that barely pays your rent and you have to eat like a chicken. 00:09:18.697 --> 00:09:30.139 And then, as you do this job, you begin to pray and say God, if only you can lift me to be able to afford some more basic things. 00:09:30.139 --> 00:09:40.758 And as God lifts us, we get to a place where we say if only I can get married, if only I can find a man or a woman to get married to. 00:09:40.758 --> 00:09:51.143 And then you get married and the pressure now becomes if only we can have children, if only we can have children. 00:09:51.143 --> 00:10:00.662 And then the children are born and you begin to say if only these children can grow up and move on and allow us to have our own peace. 00:10:00.662 --> 00:10:09.639 There's always seems to be this elusive thing that we are looking for, and so this woman becomes an outcast. 00:10:10.870 --> 00:10:19.774 She's an outcast in her community, she's an outcast, and that's how she ends up going to the well. 00:10:19.774 --> 00:10:23.462 At noon time she goes to the well. 00:10:23.462 --> 00:10:31.457 Those who understand culture would say normally people would go to the well early in the morning and in the evening when the sun was not as hot. 00:10:31.457 --> 00:10:35.298 Going to the well was not really about the water. 00:10:35.298 --> 00:10:43.763 When you grew up in the village, going to the well was about the fellowship and the connecting and the talking. 00:10:43.763 --> 00:10:48.570 It was more social than it was functional. 00:10:48.570 --> 00:11:05.519 When I was a little boy I remember in the village my cousins who were older would go to the place where they would fetch water and they would be gone, sometimes for an hour or two At distance of just about 15 minutes to go and come back. 00:11:05.519 --> 00:11:09.258 They would be gone a whole hour, sometimes two hours. 00:11:09.258 --> 00:11:22.341 Sometimes one of my uncles would go after them with a cane and they would come back running, running because they knew they had spent too much time outfetching water. 00:11:22.341 --> 00:11:25.837 You see, it was also a cultural activity. 00:11:25.837 --> 00:11:33.361 But because this woman is an outcast, she comes at a time when she believes no one else will show up. 00:11:33.361 --> 00:11:39.701 She is an outcast because of the life she has lived, because of the person that she is. 00:11:39.701 --> 00:11:45.961 But I came to discover that in life you can also be an outcast because of doing the right thing. 00:11:45.961 --> 00:11:55.821 But sometimes you can be an outcast not because you have done anything wrong, but because you have chosen to live your life in a particular path. 00:11:55.821 --> 00:11:59.317 You have chosen to live your life in a different way. 00:12:01.331 --> 00:12:06.243 I grew up in a family where all of us attended the Salvation Army Church. 00:12:06.243 --> 00:12:12.121 When I went to college, I moved to ICC and decided to attend ICC. 00:12:12.121 --> 00:12:14.475 There was a reason why I moved to ICC. 00:12:14.475 --> 00:12:20.942 The reason was because I met this beautiful girl who used to lead worship. 00:12:20.942 --> 00:12:23.616 I know I'm not alone, there are some here. 00:12:23.616 --> 00:12:42.158 You know the reason why you came, and so I met this beautiful girl who would lead worship and so when she was reading worship on Sunday, I would sneak and go to ICC and I would sit where I know she will see me, because I want to make sure that she knows. 00:12:42.158 --> 00:12:50.549 I came to support her and then somehow I just kept going and we never had to have the conversation of is this going to be our church or not. 00:12:50.549 --> 00:12:53.719 We just somehow settled at ICC. 00:12:53.719 --> 00:13:02.857 Some of you might be thinking I went to ICC for not very spiritual reasons, but that was a very spiritual reason. 00:13:05.613 --> 00:13:08.780 When I graduated from college, god called me into full-time ministry. 00:13:08.780 --> 00:13:28.298 I finished my computer science degree and I knew God was calling me into full-time ministry and so, rather than beginning to look for a job, I had been part of our college ministry that we had started at the University of Nairobi and God opened a door for me to step into leadership over this university ministry. 00:13:28.298 --> 00:13:37.057 I remember going to see my dad and he said to me you've come out of college, you're graduating, now you need to start looking for a job. 00:13:37.057 --> 00:13:41.759 I said to my dad with all the courage I could master. 00:13:41.759 --> 00:13:47.355 I said to him Dad, god has called me, god has called me into ministry. 00:13:47.355 --> 00:13:52.559 You see, for my dad, pastors were people that were given handouts. 00:13:52.559 --> 00:13:55.756 Pastors were people that came to him to give handouts. 00:13:55.756 --> 00:13:58.316 Pastors were people who didn't qualify to do anything else. 00:13:58.316 --> 00:14:05.719 Those were the people who ended up going into ministry, and so my dad struggled to understand the decision that I made. 00:14:05.719 --> 00:14:11.841 He took more than seven years to ever say to anyone that my dad is a pastor. 00:14:11.841 --> 00:14:16.740 He would say to his friends my son has read so many books. 00:14:16.740 --> 00:14:18.693 They messed up his mind. 00:14:18.693 --> 00:14:21.716 So now he works with all these missionaries. 00:14:24.532 --> 00:14:30.697 So I was put in the same category with all my cousins who are drunkards, who are all sorts of things. 00:14:30.697 --> 00:14:34.116 We were all put in the same WhatsApp group. 00:14:34.116 --> 00:14:41.529 I was an outcast, not because of doing anything wrong, and then I went on. 00:14:41.529 --> 00:14:49.739 It's like I was on this mission to make my parents and my whole clan really mad Because I decided to go and marry a girl who comes from near the mountain. 00:14:49.739 --> 00:14:55.881 I was told people from where we come from don't marry from near the mountain. 00:14:55.881 --> 00:15:04.118 If you marry a girl from the mountain, one day you'll come back home and you will find your house welcoming you empty. 00:15:04.118 --> 00:15:08.297 So I was told we don't marry. 00:15:08.297 --> 00:15:11.578 We don't marry from the mountain. 00:15:11.578 --> 00:15:20.096 But I said you know, I've been praying and God has spoken to me and I really believe that this woman is the one. 00:15:20.096 --> 00:15:23.255 I said to me you are on your own. 00:15:23.255 --> 00:15:29.241 Just know that on this mission, no one else will come along with you. 00:15:30.591 --> 00:15:41.581 And so the day I went to ask for my wife's hand in marriage, there was nobody from my family who came along to take me on this mission. 00:15:41.581 --> 00:15:55.120 And I went to see her parents and I said to them none of my parents will come, none of my relatives will come, but I have come to ask for your daughter's hand in marriage. 00:15:55.120 --> 00:16:03.215 Bishop Kedodo said to me I'm going to give you another pastor to take you and he's going to be your dad for the day. 00:16:03.215 --> 00:16:10.101 And so we showed up at this house and there was a godly woman in that house. 00:16:10.101 --> 00:16:22.139 There was this godly woman, and this godly woman said this young man loves God, his church has brought him, let's give him our girl and let's bless them to get married. 00:16:22.139 --> 00:16:30.923 Thank God for godly women who are not afraid to speak up. 00:16:30.923 --> 00:16:45.798 So if you came to my wedding, on my side of the family, you know, we said the groom's side sits on one side and the bride's sits on the other side, on my side of the family there was nobody. 00:16:45.798 --> 00:16:48.616 But my mom came that morning. 00:16:48.616 --> 00:16:53.341 She woke up and said to my dad my son will only get married once. 00:16:53.341 --> 00:16:54.994 I'm going to show up. 00:16:54.994 --> 00:16:56.960 Whatever happens, I'll show up. 00:16:56.960 --> 00:16:59.274 And then my brother has also showed up. 00:16:59.274 --> 00:17:07.529 But there was those two rows and then some of my friends and then it was empty. 00:17:07.529 --> 00:17:08.553 And then the side of my wife was. 00:17:08.553 --> 00:17:10.076 It was like two different congregations. 00:17:10.076 --> 00:17:15.714 It was this happy family, happy people so excited for their daughter. 00:17:15.714 --> 00:17:18.096 But I love Bishop Kedodo. 00:17:18.096 --> 00:17:20.958 When he comes on Sunday, tell him your son was here. 00:17:20.958 --> 00:17:22.513 He said he loves you. 00:17:22.513 --> 00:17:25.395 Bishop Kedodo covered my shame. 00:17:25.395 --> 00:17:34.752 He said let's all spread across this congregation, let's all spread across this church, let's sit everywhere. 00:17:34.752 --> 00:17:35.796 Now we are one family. 00:17:35.796 --> 00:17:41.098 And with those wise words he covered my shame. 00:17:42.810 --> 00:17:45.798 You can be an outcast for doing the right thing. 00:17:45.798 --> 00:17:49.337 You can be an outcast because you're honoring God. 00:17:49.337 --> 00:17:55.361 You can be an outcast because you set your heart to honor God and to walk in His ways. 00:17:55.361 --> 00:17:57.854 We find this woman. 00:17:57.854 --> 00:17:59.337 She's an outcast. 00:17:59.337 --> 00:18:07.155 She's gone through all this pain of rejection and she comes and she meets with Jesus. 00:18:07.155 --> 00:18:15.549 You know, when you think about it, what I find in the Scriptures is that God has a habit of using outcasts. 00:18:15.549 --> 00:18:20.161 When you look through the Scriptures, there are all these men and women. 00:18:20.161 --> 00:18:22.317 There are outcasts. 00:18:24.195 --> 00:18:27.569 When you go to Genesis, chapter 12, you find a man there. 00:18:27.569 --> 00:18:32.040 He's an outcast because he's an elderly man. 00:18:32.040 --> 00:18:38.476 He's an elderly man, his wife is elderly too, but guess what? 00:18:38.476 --> 00:18:39.358 They have no children. 00:18:39.358 --> 00:18:48.305 He's living in this place where he and his wife are outcasts. 00:18:49.551 --> 00:19:04.480 And when you read in Genesis, chapter 12, and from verse 1, it says the Lord had said to Abraham go from your country, your people and your father's household to the land I will show you, I will make you into a great nation and I'll bless you. 00:19:04.480 --> 00:19:12.422 He says in verse 3, I will make your name great and you will be a blessing. 00:19:12.422 --> 00:19:17.657 He says to Abraham I'll bless you. 00:19:17.657 --> 00:19:26.463 Not only will I bless you, I will make your name great and you will be a blessing. 00:19:26.463 --> 00:19:34.999 He says to him I will bless those who bless you and whoever castes you, I will cast, and all peoples on earth will be blessed through you. 00:19:34.999 --> 00:19:41.661 You see, when we read those words, many of us underline the Father says I will bless you. 00:19:41.661 --> 00:19:48.517 And we claim that blessing, as we've been going through a time of prayer and fasting, one of the things we've been trusting. 00:19:48.517 --> 00:20:00.539 God is for open doors of his blessing, of his favor, and I pray that, as you have worked faithfully in honoring God in this time, seeking the face of God, that may the Lord make a way for you. 00:20:00.539 --> 00:20:02.549 May the Lord open doors for you. 00:20:02.549 --> 00:20:06.280 May you experience and encounter the blessing and favor of God upon your lives. 00:20:07.531 --> 00:20:15.478 Many of us, when we take time to pray and to fast, we go before God and we say God bless me, god open doors for me. 00:20:15.478 --> 00:20:19.260 And sometimes a lot of our prayer can be centered around the me. 00:20:19.260 --> 00:20:29.221 We pray and then we focus on the me, but I love what God says to this man, this 75 year old man. 00:20:29.221 --> 00:20:34.241 He says to him not only will I bless you, but I will make you a blessing. 00:20:34.241 --> 00:20:47.421 And I think that it's so important that you and I understand two things and if you forget everything else I'm going to say this evening, I want you to remember just two things that God has brought you here so that you can be blessed. 00:20:47.421 --> 00:20:53.253 God has brought you here so that you can receive his blessing For those that are watching us online. 00:20:53.253 --> 00:20:58.194 God has connected you so that you can be blessed, and God wants to bless you. 00:21:00.990 --> 00:21:02.593 I always think about ICC. 00:21:02.593 --> 00:21:24.955 I started going to ICC as a young man, fresh out of college, but when I think about the years we got married in that church, our children have been born in that church, our children have been dedicated in that church, they have been raised in that church Through the ministry of ICC. 00:21:24.955 --> 00:21:27.080 I come from a family of eight boys. 00:21:27.080 --> 00:21:29.977 Don't hide the shock on your faces. 00:21:29.977 --> 00:21:36.220 It's one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight boys. 00:21:36.220 --> 00:21:38.875 But do you know something? 00:21:38.875 --> 00:22:05.198 Through the ministry of ICC, all those boys came to know the Lord, and so it's so important that we realize that, yes, we've come to be blessed, but God has also brought us here so that we can be a blessing, so that we can be a blessing, and that is what this week is about. 00:22:05.198 --> 00:22:17.957 It's about God pouring his favor and his grace upon you, but, even beyond that, becoming an instrument in the hands of God for you to become a blessing to the people that are around you. 00:22:17.957 --> 00:22:27.679 I believe that this week is about God raising up men and women who choose to become an instrument in his hands. 00:22:27.679 --> 00:22:36.796 God raising up men and women who choose to allow themselves to be used of him for the glory and honor of his name. 00:22:36.796 --> 00:22:46.759 It's about becoming a blessing, where God has planted you, where God has positioned you. 00:22:48.472 --> 00:23:05.932 And that is the story of this woman that God meets with her, jesus has an encounter with her and in that moment of encounter her life is transformed, her shame is taken away and you know what? 00:23:05.932 --> 00:23:11.222 She becomes a powerful force of sharing the message of the Gospel. 00:23:11.222 --> 00:23:27.400 You see, what many of us don't know about this woman is that when you look through the theologians, the records that they have, this woman, by the time that she was dying, was considered as one who was equal to the apostles. 00:23:27.400 --> 00:23:34.569 Through her life, many people came to know the Messiah. 00:23:34.569 --> 00:23:44.883 In fact, in the defense of her faith, she was taken before Emperor Nero and she ended up dying a martyr. 00:23:44.883 --> 00:23:47.637 She was killed for her faith. 00:23:47.637 --> 00:24:02.529 This woman, who was an outcast, becomes such a powerful force of the Gospel that, through her life, so many came to know the Lord. 00:24:02.529 --> 00:24:11.569 You see, she had a reputation, but in that moment of encounter, something changes in her. 00:24:11.569 --> 00:24:21.409 Something changes in her and she has this conversation with Jesus and in that conversation her eyes are opened. 00:24:24.958 --> 00:24:34.560 When you read through that conversation, six times Jesus appeals to this woman and six times she tries to deflect that discussion. 00:24:34.560 --> 00:24:40.441 There's nothing like trying to talk to somebody about something that they believe they know. 00:24:40.441 --> 00:24:48.134 Sometimes the hardest people to teach are those who know, those who believe that they really know. 00:24:48.134 --> 00:24:50.593 And so this woman. 00:24:50.593 --> 00:24:55.377 Every time Jesus would speak to her, she would respond and try to find her way out. 00:24:55.377 --> 00:25:00.259 In John chapter 4 and verse 7, jesus appeals to her kindness. 00:25:00.259 --> 00:25:02.977 The woman responds defensively. 00:25:02.977 --> 00:25:07.659 In John chapter 4 and verse 10, jesus appeals to her curiosity. 00:25:07.659 --> 00:25:10.736 This woman responds sarcastically. 00:25:12.630 --> 00:25:16.539 In John chapter 4, verse 13 and 14, jesus appeals to her spiritual needs. 00:25:16.539 --> 00:25:20.980 The woman stands the focus to her physical needs. 00:25:20.980 --> 00:25:26.321 In John chapter 4, verse 16, jesus appeals to her personal interests. 00:25:26.321 --> 00:25:29.798 The woman responds with this half-truth. 00:25:29.798 --> 00:25:36.781 In John chapter 4, verse 17 and 18, jesus tries to appeal to her conscience. 00:25:36.781 --> 00:25:41.696 But you know how she responds she responds with her controversy. 00:25:41.696 --> 00:25:46.539 She tries to make this conversation a controversial conversation. 00:25:46.539 --> 00:25:56.228 In John chapter 4, verse 21 and 24, jesus appeals to her will and the woman tries to delay this decision. 00:25:56.228 --> 00:26:01.929 So, whatever Jesus said to her, she tries to find her own smart way out of it. 00:26:01.929 --> 00:26:03.673 She's trying to show Jesus. 00:26:03.673 --> 00:26:04.182 You know what. 00:26:04.182 --> 00:26:07.666 I already know what you're trying to say to me. 00:26:08.859 --> 00:26:14.609 I found that most people most people, avoid spiritual conversations. 00:26:14.609 --> 00:26:19.463 In fact, most people would rather have conversations about physical needs. 00:26:19.463 --> 00:26:38.951 When somebody come and says I have a need of finances, if you begin to ask them, how are you doing spiritually, they might respond and say you know, my problem is not a spiritual problem, my problem is a financial problem. 00:26:38.951 --> 00:26:42.406 Yet everything is spiritual. 00:26:42.406 --> 00:26:49.266 At the root of every problem, at the root of every challenge, is a spiritual aspect. 00:26:49.266 --> 00:26:54.728 But I find that many of us we are not comfortable having spiritual conversations. 00:26:54.728 --> 00:26:58.248 We want to talk about the need, the current need. 00:26:58.248 --> 00:27:07.028 I am hungry now, feed me now and then let's talk about everything else later. 00:27:07.028 --> 00:27:13.147 You see, this woman was trying to avoid having a spiritual conversation. 00:27:15.044 --> 00:27:20.503 Sometimes we avoid having these spiritual conversations because they are very painful. 00:27:20.503 --> 00:27:24.348 Not only are they painful, they're also very personal. 00:27:24.348 --> 00:27:29.486 There is a space that we are in and we don't really want to get into that space. 00:27:29.486 --> 00:27:42.646 If we begin to have a spiritual conversation about the kind of life that I'm living, then you're gonna ask me questions that will take me into a personal space that I'm not really ready to get into. 00:27:42.646 --> 00:27:49.583 You see, sometimes people learn to cope with their hopelessness. 00:27:49.583 --> 00:27:56.167 They don't want anyone upsetting the delicate balance that they have worked so hard to achieve. 00:27:56.167 --> 00:28:03.445 That was a quote by Chuck Swindow that we have this delicate balance. 00:28:03.445 --> 00:28:11.009 A lot of people don't even want to go into that place where we have these deep spiritual conversations. 00:28:11.009 --> 00:28:26.510 But I've also found that as believers, we are also afraid of initiating these conversations, and sometimes we're afraid of initiating these conversations because we are afraid of what the end result might be. 00:28:26.510 --> 00:28:41.169 We're afraid if I begin this conversation and things don't play out the way that I expect, if I begin this conversation and it becomes an uncomfortable conversation, then how am I going to navigate through this process? 00:28:41.169 --> 00:28:51.188 If I begin this conversation and it goes into an area that I'm not so confident about, then how will I navigate through this conversation? 00:28:51.188 --> 00:28:54.528 But I want to say to you that God is the one. 00:28:54.528 --> 00:28:56.826 God is the one who prompts us. 00:28:56.826 --> 00:29:00.449 He's the one who prompts us to have a burden for his people. 00:29:02.443 --> 00:29:04.849 Jesus did not have to go through Samaria. 00:29:04.849 --> 00:29:09.490 He made an intentional choice to go through Samaria. 00:29:09.490 --> 00:29:14.130 You see, the Pharisees would have gone around Samaria. 00:29:14.130 --> 00:29:19.669 They would have even crossed the River Jordan to make sure they did not even come cross to Samaria. 00:29:19.669 --> 00:29:24.970 You see, the Pharisees would pray and they would say, god, I thank you that I'm not a woman. 00:29:24.970 --> 00:29:29.505 And then, secondly, they would pray and say, god, I thank you that I'm not a Samaritan. 00:29:29.505 --> 00:29:38.105 You see, for the Jewish people, the Samaritans were this impure bridge that they really did not want to connect with. 00:29:38.105 --> 00:29:46.048 But Jesus has this appointment with this woman at the well, and she goes to meet with this woman at the well. 00:29:46.799 --> 00:29:50.063 And I believe that there has to be an intentionality in our witness. 00:29:50.063 --> 00:30:04.728 If we are going to win our neighbors, if we are going to win those that are around us, there has to be an intentionality that begins out of a place of prayer, a place of intercession, that we have people that we are intentionally praying about. 00:30:04.728 --> 00:30:10.306 I have people in my life, in different areas of my life, that I'm constantly praying for. 00:30:10.306 --> 00:30:17.683 The number one thing that I'm praying for them is that they would come to a knowledge of Jesus Christ as Lord over their lives. 00:30:17.683 --> 00:30:25.105 And so it must begin from a place of prayer, a burden of prayer that we have a burden for lost people. 00:30:25.105 --> 00:30:28.048 We have a burden for those that are around us. 00:30:28.048 --> 00:30:31.887 The Holy Spirit empowers us to witness. 00:30:31.887 --> 00:30:42.946 The gift of the Holy Spirit empowers us to witness to those that are around us, and so you and I must have the faith and the boldness to initiate the conversations. 00:30:42.946 --> 00:30:52.208 You and I must have the boldness to start the conversations and not to be afraid to have spiritual conversations. 00:30:53.339 --> 00:31:00.746 My wife normally says to me that I have this gift of speaking to strangers, the gift of speaking to strangers. 00:31:00.746 --> 00:31:28.166 But for me, if you place me with a stranger anywhere, whether it's on a bus, whether it's on a flight, somehow we look for something to initiate a conversation and I pray and I say God, my part is to initiate this conversation, and then you will take your place and you will guide this conversation. 00:31:28.166 --> 00:31:40.366 You know the plan that you have for this man, you know the plan that you have for this woman, and I come as an instrument in your hands, and all that I want to be is to be a vessel that you can use to touch and impact the life of this person. 00:31:40.366 --> 00:31:53.489 And so I initiate the conversations and then I believe God to be able to continue the conversation and to touch the hearts of this man and women. 00:31:53.489 --> 00:32:02.528 Jesus doesn't follow the path that the Pharisees would take, but he finds his way to Samaria. 00:32:02.528 --> 00:32:10.107 He comes into this moment at the well and he begins having this conversation with this woman. 00:32:10.107 --> 00:32:25.451 It's a difficult conversation but at the end of it all, this woman, her eyes are opened, her eyes are opened and she comes to the realization that this man standing before her is the Messiah. 00:32:25.451 --> 00:32:32.311 This man standing before her is Jesus the Messiah. 00:32:32.311 --> 00:32:36.188 You know, we say he is my personal. 00:32:36.188 --> 00:32:38.123 What do we say? 00:32:38.123 --> 00:32:41.028 He is my personal savior. 00:32:41.028 --> 00:32:45.002 But that does not mean that we should not share him with those that are around us. 00:32:45.002 --> 00:32:52.464 But I believe that the more that we understand him as a personal savior, the more that we should share him with those that are around us. 00:32:53.559 --> 00:33:15.967 Because what I love about this woman is she doesn't just keep this good news to herself, but verse 28 says of chapter four then, leaving her water jar, the woman went back to the town and say to the people come see a man who told me everything I ever did. 00:33:15.967 --> 00:33:19.067 Could this be the Messiah? 00:33:19.067 --> 00:33:23.651 They came out of the town and made their way towards him. 00:33:23.651 --> 00:33:30.508 If you skip the verses to verse 39, the word of God says many of the Samaritans from that town believed in him. 00:33:30.508 --> 00:33:32.425 Because of whose testimony? 00:33:32.425 --> 00:33:34.086 The woman's testimony. 00:33:34.086 --> 00:33:50.380 Because of the woman's testimony, the woman who was an outcast, the woman who was so ashamed in this society that she couldn't even risk being seen going to the well. 00:33:50.380 --> 00:33:57.689 It says that many of the Samaritans from that town believed in him because of the woman's testimony. 00:33:57.689 --> 00:34:00.488 He told me everything I ever did. 00:34:00.488 --> 00:34:03.021 He says so. 00:34:03.021 --> 00:34:14.791 When the Samaritans came to him they urged him to stay with them and he stayed two days and because of his words, many more became believers. 00:34:14.791 --> 00:34:21.211 Because of his words, many more became believers. 00:34:23.179 --> 00:34:29.411 You see, what I love about this woman is that she is quick to share the good news. 00:34:29.411 --> 00:34:36.188 She is quick to go back and to declare the good news of the Messiah. 00:34:36.188 --> 00:34:40.505 She is quick to go back and declare the goodness of God. 00:34:40.505 --> 00:34:48.670 She is quick to go back and declare to those that once she was ashamed to come into contact with. 00:34:48.670 --> 00:34:52.248 She is quick to go back and declare. 00:34:52.248 --> 00:34:58.507 And I believe that each one of us, we need to remember that there is power in going back. 00:34:58.507 --> 00:35:02.128 There is power in going back to where God has brought us from. 00:35:02.128 --> 00:35:05.788 There is power in going back to those relationships around us. 00:35:05.788 --> 00:35:12.643 There is power in going back to those who are in our workplaces, who are around us in our homes. 00:35:12.643 --> 00:35:20.322 We live in a world that is so interconnected, so interconnected. 00:35:20.322 --> 00:35:27.923 We have people right next to us, in our workplaces, in our neighborhoods. 00:35:27.923 --> 00:35:33.644 We have people even in our own homes, some of them, that work for us. 00:35:33.644 --> 00:35:39.251 We have people that every single day we pass on our way. 00:35:41.239 --> 00:35:47.306 But my challenge to you is are your eyes open to see, are your ears open to hear? 00:35:47.306 --> 00:35:53.989 Are your eyes open to see the people that God positions along the way? 00:35:53.989 --> 00:36:17.143 Are your eyes open to see them, the people that God brings along your way, that watchman who always opens the gate for you, that lady that has been in your house for months, that colleague who sits across you do you see them? 00:36:17.143 --> 00:36:21.768 Do you see the people that God has placed along your way? 00:36:21.768 --> 00:36:25.168 And do you hear what God is saying to you? 00:36:25.168 --> 00:36:47.085 Because, for me, when I read God's word, at the heart of who God is, at his heart is a love for his people, because the word of God tells us that scripture that we memorize right from Sunday school, that for God so loved the world, for God so loved the world. 00:36:47.085 --> 00:36:50.489 And you see, god still loves the world even today. 00:36:51.840 --> 00:37:12.887 You see, for many of us I don't know about you, but we go through life and there are people either because they have been a pain to us or because of the challenges we have gone through, we take them and because we try to be so patient, we take them and we lift them and we put them somewhere on a shelf and we say God, that person, you deal with them in your own time. 00:37:12.887 --> 00:37:22.728 I don't know if you have people like that, people that we've prayed and we believe God and we've waited year after year. 00:37:22.728 --> 00:37:23.664 Nothing seems to happen. 00:37:23.664 --> 00:37:38.827 We take those people and we go and we put them there on the shelf and we say God, when you are ready to deal with this person, me, have washed my hands, I leave this person to you. 00:37:38.827 --> 00:37:42.286 And sometimes that person is your spouse. 00:37:42.286 --> 00:37:45.626 Sometimes that person is your sibling. 00:37:45.626 --> 00:37:51.324 Sometimes that person can be a child, your son, your daughter. 00:37:51.324 --> 00:37:53.985 Sometimes that person can be a colleague. 00:37:53.985 --> 00:38:05.010 Sometimes that person can be somebody who has taken you through so much pain that you take them and you put them right there on the shelf. 00:38:05.010 --> 00:38:09.306 I have people like that in my life. 00:38:09.306 --> 00:38:17.286 I have prayed for them, I have waited on God Seems like it's taken so long. 00:38:17.286 --> 00:38:21.869 It's like this woman moving from one man to the other. 00:38:24.025 --> 00:38:31.307 I have a brother, a stepbrother, who is older than me and for many years we prayed for my brother. 00:38:31.307 --> 00:38:34.748 He dropped out of school when he was very, very young. 00:38:34.748 --> 00:38:51.748 He would go to school, he would run off, and then he started drinking, and then he got into substance abuse and somehow along the way he met this beautiful young lady. 00:38:51.748 --> 00:39:03.251 And when he was sober in between what he was going through in his moment of soboness he convinced this beautiful girl to get married to him. 00:39:03.251 --> 00:39:10.989 And not only did they get married, but they had three amazing, beautiful children. 00:39:10.989 --> 00:39:29.407 And then now he continued with his lifestyle and the seasons of soboness became shorter and shorter, and you would call him on the phone and you couldn't even just have a conversation with him. 00:39:31.519 --> 00:39:32.403 Our mom passed away. 00:39:32.403 --> 00:39:39.626 Our mom was the only person who was so close to him who at least sometimes would try and talk some sense into him. 00:39:39.626 --> 00:39:44.871 When she passed away, he had a crisis and things got worse. 00:39:44.871 --> 00:39:49.847 Then we lost our younger brother and he got even worse. 00:39:49.847 --> 00:39:55.188 He developed this coping mechanism where he couldn't stay sober. 00:39:55.188 --> 00:39:59.231 Being drunk was his way of coping with the pain of loss. 00:39:59.231 --> 00:40:04.460 Then our dad passed away and now it was rock bottom. 00:40:04.460 --> 00:40:07.931 You know, in Hig Rock Bottom there's no other place to go. 00:40:07.931 --> 00:40:10.048 It's just there, rock bottom. 00:40:10.048 --> 00:40:18.632 And so we had a church, a church that had just been a metallic structure with a roof, near our home. 00:40:18.632 --> 00:40:30.326 And when our dad passed away, you know he would say to me here you are, you passed this big church in the city and then look at the church that's nearest to your home, just a Mabati structure. 00:40:32.099 --> 00:40:38.501 So, because I was rebuked, we decided we were going to build this church and we went ahead. 00:40:38.501 --> 00:40:46.168 We spent money on this sanctuary and we built this church and we decided we were going to go and open this church. 00:40:46.168 --> 00:40:54.568 We took a team there to go and do evangelism and outreach and then we'd have a service of launching this facility. 00:40:54.568 --> 00:41:10.849 So we are there and we are making the preparations and we have this mission team evangelizing in the area and they come back into the sanctuary and they say you know, we have one young man at the entrance. 00:41:10.849 --> 00:41:14.710 He's so drunk he's really giving everyone a hard time. 00:41:14.710 --> 00:41:21.791 So the bishop and the pastor are asked to go and at least try and calm down this young man. 00:41:21.791 --> 00:41:33.623 And so, together with the pastor of the church, we go to go and try and find this young man who is causing so much chaos, we can't even open this sanctuary. 00:41:33.623 --> 00:41:39.923 And we go and we find it's our brother, it's our elder brother. 00:41:39.923 --> 00:41:44.146 We put him there, the shelf. 00:41:45.500 --> 00:41:50.231 He said God, when it's time you do what only you can do. 00:41:50.231 --> 00:41:56.545 But thank God for a God who never gives up, a God who never gives up on anyone. 00:41:56.545 --> 00:41:59.005 You and I, we can give up on people. 00:41:59.005 --> 00:42:03.911 You and I have given up on people, but God never gives up on these people. 00:42:03.911 --> 00:42:06.429 He's a God who remains faithful. 00:42:06.429 --> 00:42:12.514 We gave up on that young man, but God never gave up on that young man. 00:42:12.514 --> 00:42:15.728 One day he calls me. 00:42:15.728 --> 00:42:18.250 He says do you know a place I can go? 00:42:18.250 --> 00:42:20.909 Do you know a place where I can go and get help? 00:42:20.909 --> 00:42:28.748 I said to him I know a place, but it's going to take you a whole year, a whole year away from your family. 00:42:28.748 --> 00:42:35.320 He said to me I'm willing, I'm willing to go somewhere when I can go and find help. 00:42:35.340 --> 00:42:47.876 Long story short is my brother went through this process, at his challenge, a whole year to help him break this hold of alcohol and substance abuse. 00:42:47.876 --> 00:42:51.800 And God helped him to break this hold. 00:42:51.800 --> 00:42:55.313 God set him free from that place of bondage. 00:42:55.313 --> 00:43:00.719 But something, something else happened. 00:43:00.719 --> 00:43:13.623 Something else happened God used the people that were around him and he drew him to himself and that young man confessed Jesus Christ as Lord over his life. 00:43:13.623 --> 00:43:21.074 God used him. 00:43:21.074 --> 00:43:23.806 God used the people that were around him. 00:43:23.806 --> 00:43:39.876 He came to know the Lord and now he serves there helping others who have a similar challenge to be set free. 00:43:39.876 --> 00:43:42.905 His last day there, we went there. 00:43:42.905 --> 00:43:47.164 This is a grown up man. 00:43:47.164 --> 00:43:53.431 In my life I had never seen this man redeven a single book. 00:43:53.431 --> 00:44:03.246 He opened up the scriptures and he read the scriptures and he preached to those of us who were there. 00:44:03.246 --> 00:44:11.873 You see, human beings can give up, but God never gives up. 00:44:13.460 --> 00:44:18.112 I can tell story after story of people around me that I know. 00:44:18.112 --> 00:44:22.210 There's a young man who came to us from the Mucuru slums. 00:44:22.210 --> 00:44:25.606 He came from a disadvantaged background. 00:44:25.606 --> 00:44:29.248 Nobody in his family had finished school. 00:44:29.248 --> 00:44:32.268 Nobody in his family had finished high school. 00:44:32.268 --> 00:44:35.188 Nobody in his family had ever had a wedding. 00:44:35.188 --> 00:44:40.105 Nobody in his family had ever gone to college Nobody in his family. 00:44:40.105 --> 00:44:44.429 And I said to him God has a plan and a purpose for your life. 00:44:44.429 --> 00:44:47.510 And through that journey he came to know the Lord. 00:44:47.510 --> 00:44:51.030 He was the first one to finish school in his family. 00:44:51.030 --> 00:44:53.380 He was the first one to graduate from college in his family. 00:44:53.380 --> 00:44:56.650 He was the first one to have a church wedding in that family. 00:44:56.650 --> 00:45:01.844 He is the first one in his family and he serves. 00:45:01.844 --> 00:45:06.851 He's a pastor Passing a church in his family. 00:45:10.744 --> 00:45:18.670 When I was in college, I used to lead a small group of two people I'm not very proud to say a small group of two people Because I was the campus ministry leader. 00:45:18.670 --> 00:45:25.179 Some of my students had groups of 15 students, of eight students. 00:45:25.179 --> 00:45:35.534 I would be teaching them on how to lead a small group and they would be looking at each other and saying don't we have the wrong teacher for this session? 00:45:35.534 --> 00:45:36.416 One of those two young men. 00:45:36.416 --> 00:45:39.119 He was the first one to have a church wedding in his family. 00:45:39.119 --> 00:45:42.530 One of those two young men. 00:45:42.530 --> 00:45:47.793 I'd come to know the Lord through just relational evangelism. 00:45:47.793 --> 00:45:50.166 The other one came to us. 00:45:50.166 --> 00:45:55.990 He knew the Lord but he wasn't so strong in his faith and we began to work together with those two young men. 00:45:55.990 --> 00:46:08.590 On some days I would invite the girls to come and when the girls showed up, a few more boys would show up and then my group would dwindle back to my two faithful students. 00:46:08.590 --> 00:46:15.371 I struggled Because sometimes I thought I wasn't being a good example. 00:46:15.371 --> 00:46:26.248 Sometimes I thought I wasn't being fruitful, because when we think about fruitfulness we think about the numbers, we think about the multitudes. 00:46:26.248 --> 00:46:29.179 But what challenges me about this chapter? 00:46:30.262 --> 00:46:32.427 Jesus had time for one woman. 00:46:32.427 --> 00:46:35.954 I worked with those two young people. 00:46:35.954 --> 00:46:38.288 They graduated from college. 00:46:38.288 --> 00:46:41.088 One of them went into the marketplace. 00:46:41.088 --> 00:46:45.391 The other one came onto our internship program with that college ministry. 00:46:45.391 --> 00:46:50.331 Eventually he joined me as part of our full-time staff. 00:46:50.331 --> 00:46:54.119 Eventually he took over my place overseeing that college ministry. 00:46:54.119 --> 00:46:58.231