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The Rock Family Worship Center
Taking The Church Outside The Walls
The Rock Family Worship Center
More Than A Conversation pt 2
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We revisit the woman at the well and flip the perspective from her searching for God to Jesus intentionally seeking her out. We challenge the performance mindset and trust the finished work of Christ to reshape how we read Scripture, worship, and share the gospel.
• Jesus choosing Samaria as a picture of grace over tradition
• God doing something eternal in ordinary moments
• Jesus starting with relationship rather than worthiness
• shame and perception management versus being fully known
• “The Father is seeking” and worship beyond locations
• modern “mountain” questions about denominations and doctrines
• finished work as reconciliation already initiated by God
• replacing fear-based messages with actual good news
So go out this week, talk to somebody, invite somebody, share the gospel, share the good news, share the truth
Recap And A New Lens
SPEAKER_01Yeah, I told y'all last obviously it was hot last week, so uh we tried to speed things up a little bit. And we did. I actually got through in in just over 30 minutes. That uh that might be a record for me. Uh don't expect that this morning. I'm not gonna try to break that record. Now I'm gonna uh we're gonna kind of stay where we're where we was at last week. Uh I told you there was a few things I tried to I tried to shorten it up, you know, obviously because uh it was hot in here last week and I took a lot of stuff out. There's a few things I want to go back and hit on, but more than that, I want to I want to just take a different look uh at what we talked about last week from a different perspective. Uh we, you know, last week we talked obviously about the woman at the well. Uh we talked about the conversation that she had with Jesus, uh, about the questions that she was asking, the statements that she made. Uh we talked about her history. Uh that's what we often talk about when we talk about this story, her history, the five husbands, and the one that she's living with now. Uh we talked about how she came to the well for water and walked away after having an encounter with Jesus. Today I want to go back to that same story uh and revisit it again, but I want to look at it from a completely different uh direction than what we did last week. Last week we kind of looked at it from the perspective of the woman who encountered Jesus. Uh, this week I want to take a look at the Jesus who actually went looking for the woman. Because there's a difference there. And it changes everything about this story when you begin to look at it from that perspective of it wasn't just a woman looking to try to find God, but it was Jesus who actually went there, went out of his way, went against the norm and the traditions of that time to actually be there and search her out. It wasn't her searching him out. So that's just a little bit different perspective we're gonna look at today. And sometimes I think we read scripture uh from the wrong direction. And I'm gonna go through a few things and show you that how sometimes we misinterpret because of the of the way that we read it. Uh, we read the Bible as if this story is about people trying desperately to find God. But all through the gospel, not just this story, but many stories we've talked about so far, all through the Bible, it tells us a completely different story than that. It tells us all through the word that many times that God has come and looking for us. And the woman at the well is one of the clearest pictures in the Bible that you're actually gonna see this in. But like I said last week, if we take these stories and we just read them from the surface and we don't go a little bit deeper, we don't look at it from a different perspective, there's a lot of things in here that we miss sometimes. So that's all we're gonna do today is just kind of go underneath the norm of it. Everybody knows what the story is about, but we're gonna go just a little bit deeper and look at it from a uh a finished work perspective and see what comes out of it.
He Had To Go Through Samaria
SPEAKER_01Because I think there's gonna be a lot of stuff that you can pull out of this story this morning. In John 4 and 4, it says something that seems almost unnecessary. Uh, this is where the statement was made that he had to go through Samaria. Now think about that. He had to go through Samaria. Now we know geographically, I said last week, Jesus didn't have to go through Samaria. There was other routes around this city. So he did not have to go there. And historically, Jews often went around Samaria because of the hostility between the Jews and the Samaritans. They did not want conflict, so they would find ways to go around rather than go through it. So when John, in 4 and 4, there, when John says that he had to go through Samaria, I think what's really happening here is John is telling us something about the heart of Jesus. It's more than just geography. He's telling us something about the heart of Jesus. Everybody else saw Samaria as somewhere that they needed to go around, especially if they was a Jew. Again, because they did not want the conflict. They didn't want to break the rules, they didn't want to do things they weren't supposed to do. So they would always find a way around. Jesus saw Samaria as somewhere that he had to go through. And more than anything, I want you to be able to see this and look at that statement and say he had to go through. What does that really represent? To me, it represents grace. It represents a level of grace that he was providing to this woman on that day. Grace doesn't always take the route that religion would take. See, religion would tell us stay away from those people. Don't go there. Those are not the people that you want to be around. Take a different route, stay away from those people. But Jesus says, no, I'm going there. I'm going to go. And think about this. When the woman walks toward the well, she's not looking for the Messiah. I'm sure that this woman did not get up that morning and start walking to the well with the thought in her head that I'm going to meet Jesus today. That was probably the last thing on her mind. It probably never entered her mind. But this day, because see, she was doing something ordinary. She was doing something that she probably woke up every single day and did. It was her responsibility to go and draw water from the well. So this was an ordinary thing that she done. But this day was going to be different because Jesus is sitting there at the well. And that's one of the things that I find amazing about this when you look at it from the standpoint of grace. God can be doing something eternal while we think we're just doing something ordinary. That's why every situation, every encounter, every day, every conversation matters. Because we may think it's just something that's not big. It may be just an ordinary conversation. But what is possibly is God doing that's extraordinary? He's doing something that we haven't even thought about, just like with this woman right here. She never planned that day to get up and go meet Jesus. But it happened.
Grace Meets Her Without Conditions
SPEAKER_01Now we know that this woman had a very complicated history. We're not going to go back through all of it. You already know it. Jesus knows it. We know about the five husbands. He brought it out. He said, Go and call your husband. And she said, I don't have a husband. He said, I know you've had five. He knows the history, the complicated history of this woman. He knows also that the man that she's living with is not the husband. Okay? But what we don't know, and I don't know if you've ever thought about this, but when I was reading back through it, this kind of popped in my mind. We don't know the history behind these relationships. We don't know what led her in and out of these marriages. What caused her to get into the marriages? What caused her to get a divorce all these times? We don't know the history behind all that. And I think that's important because the Bible does not give us enough information to really cause us to see this woman in the way that we always see her. When you hear about this, don't holler it out, but most of the time when we teach on this and we get to the part about the woman who had five husbands, and the one she's living with now is not her husband, there's probably a word that comes to your mind. So we automatically put this thought process into place of what kind of woman this is. But see, the Bible don't give us the background of it. The Bible don't tell us how she entered into these marriages, why she entered into these marriages, why she got out of these marriages. But because there were five men, five husbands, and now a new man, we automatically say, man, this is a different kind of woman right here. There was something different about her. But Jesus meets her. He's sitting at the well, and then the conversation unfolds. I want you to think about for a minute how this how this whole situation took place. He doesn't stand on the other side of the well when she walks up and look at her and say, Let's figure out what's wrong with your life. Let's work all your problems out. Let's go ahead and get all this junk out of the way and let's decide if you are worthy of the conversation that we're about to have. He doesn't do that. He probably would have had every right to do that, but he didn't. He doesn't make her prove herself, he doesn't demand that she become worthy all of a sudden. He starts the conversation with her exactly where she is. At a place of grace. And we have to be careful here because religion has a tendency to reverse the order. And what do I mean by that? Religion usually says, change, and then God will come near you. Get all your stuff straightened out. Then you can have a relationship with God. So religion will try to turn this thing around. But the gospel says God has already come near, and it's his presence that changes us. That's the difference between performance and grace. The woman eventually realizes something. And she actually, you know, she realizes this man knows everything about me. Can you imagine what went through her mind when he started saying all this stuff and basically prophesying over, you know, whatever? And all of a sudden that thought hits her that there is nothing that he don't know about me. I bet she had a couple of uh thought a couple of times of just turning around and leaving. The woman stayed, Jesus stayed, and the conversation began. Think about what she probably spent her life doing. Managing perception. She's done been divorced five times, four times. She's living with somebody now that's not her husband. So the perception of this woman, she has to manage that. She has to try to pay attention to what people's saying about her, what people's thinking about her. She has to manage what people know about her. She has to manage what people are thinking and saying about her. There's a lot of stuff that she's probably got to go through simply because of the lifestyle that she's lived and the things that's happened in her life. But Jesus, if you'll notice, he doesn't need or want an edited version of her life. He knows who she is. He knows everything about her. And he doesn't leave. To me, that's an important point in this story. He could have said, Now that I know who you are, I'm done with you. I don't really want to carry on a conversation with you, but he doesn't. He stays and he keeps talking. Have you ever had the thought that, and I'm sure you probably have at some point. I have. I remember one time having the thought and saying, if Jesus knew everything, if God knew everything that I've done in my life, there's no way he would accept me. A lot of people have those thoughts. But the Bible actually says the opposite. The Bible actually says that he already knows us. He created us, he chose us before the foundation of the world. And it says in Christ, he's already moved toward us. Whether we've moved toward him or not, whether we've accepted him or not. He has already moved toward us.
Worship Questions And God Seeking
SPEAKER_01And then Jesus takes the conversation somewhere that I don't believe this woman ever expected. She starts talking about worship. Now I want you to pay attention to the statements that she makes. She starts asking about which mountain, which location should we be worshiping in? Which religious tradition should I follow? And I love what Jesus says. I want you to read this one with me. It's uh verse 21 through 24 of John 4. Look how Jesus responds to her statements. He said to her, Woman, believe me, the hour is coming when you will neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem worship the Father. You worship what you do not know. We know what we worship, for salvation is of the Jews. But the hour is coming, and now is when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth. For the Father is seeking such to worship him. God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth. We really need to pay attention to that last part of verse 23. The Father is seeking. See, she thinks, she's asking the question of where can I find God? But Jesus is revealing to her that God is actually looking for people. It's not just us out looking for him, it's not us trying to find him. He's revealing to her right here the Father is seeking. The father is going after people, the father is looking for people who are what? Who will worship him. We always turn that thing around and talk about how people found Jesus. Could it be that maybe Jesus found them and they just realized it? Because he's been seeking the whole time. That's the finished work. That's what I want you to see in these stories when we read them. Again, we're very familiar with them. We've heard these stories our entire life, but when you go back and you begin to look at them through a finished work perspective, you start seeing some stuff in here that you've never seen before. She thinks her responsibility is to try to find God. But Jesus reveals to her that God has already taken the initiative to find her. How? I have to go to Samaria. I gotta be there. I've got to go to this well. Not only that, he knew exactly when to go. This woman did not go to the well at the same time everybody else did. So he had to know exactly when to be there. And he made a point. He took the initiative. I'm not gonna wait on this woman to seek me out. I'm gonna go and I'm gonna seek out her. Again, that's finished work. Paul would later go on to describe it this way: God was in Christ reconciling. He was in Christ reconciling the world to himself. See, that verse makes a little bit more sense to us now when we can look back at stories like this. And see, if God was not reconciling, if God had not already reconciled the world back to himself, that's what gave Jesus this opportunity to go and seek her out, to be there, to meet with her, to not worry about what she had been through, to not worry about her past. Why? Because the world had already been reconciled through Christ. So this is this causes you to look at it a little bit different. This is not about waiting for the world to reconcile itself. God was reconciling, God was initiating, pursuing, God was seeking before we ever sought Him. If I asked most of you to stand up and just give a brief testimony of how, you know, how your relationship began, you're probably going to tell me about a time that you found Jesus. But I hope now, because of the finished work, that not only will you talk about that because that's important, but I hope you'll also begin to pay attention to the times that you were out there doing crazy, crazy stuff, but God was still seeking you. I've told stories of it when I wasn't even in church. I wasn't going after God, I wasn't looking for God, but He protected me through things. He was there with me even though I didn't have a sense of it. I didn't realize it. He was there with me through circumstances, through situations when I didn't even realize it.
The Wrong Mountain Questions Today
SPEAKER_01And I got to thinking about this mountain, this conversation that they had, the statement she made about the mountain. She wants to know which mountain is the right one. We worship here, but the Jews say this. And she's basically asking, you've got to read between lines, but she's saying, Who's right? What mountain should I be worshiping on? I think this statement and this curiosity that she's having right there, can I tell you, is still here today in the church? What happened at the well right here? The woman asking him, What mountain should I be worshiping on? It still happens in the church today. But think about it. We just use different mountains. Think about this. Which church should I go to? Which denomination is actually the right one? Which doctrine should I believe in? Which pastor is actually preaching the real gospel? So we ask all these questions, and in a sense, what we're saying is the same thing that the woman at the well said. Which one is right? And that's the question we have. And we're still asking it. We're standing at the well asking, which mountain? And Jesus, all through the word, keeps showing us that we're asking the wrong questions. Because the Father isn't looking for people who find the perfect mountain. He's looking for people who know him. He's looking for people who will enter into a relationship. He's looking for people, as it said right here in verse 23, he is seeking people who will worship him. So Jesus is in this one conversation, he's tearing apart. The idea that access to God is primarily about finding the correct religious location. And we can tear that same thing up today. It doesn't matter what church. You're not going to encounter God when you go to the Baptist church, but not encountering when you go to the church of God. Now we hate to say it, but a lot of churches will teach that. That you're only going to find God in certain places. And then it just messes their world up when you come up and you ask a question, well, guess what? He was in me when I walked in. So if I'm only going to encounter God when I get to this church or get to that church or get to this revival, what happens when you're at home? I mean, are you just taking a break from him until you go back to church again? See, the finished word teaches us that he is with us. He is on the inside of us. He lives on the inside of us. He'll never leave us, he'll never forsake us. So as Jesus begins to dismantle and break apart this idea that access only happens in certain places and on certain mountains, there's a reason that he's doing this. Now you gotta pay attention to this. Something is about to happen. I'm talking about during the time that this conversation is happening between Jesus and the woman. The temple is about to be fulfilled in Christ. The priesthood is about to be fulfilled in Christ. The sacrifice is about to be fulfilled in Christ. And the distance between God and humanity is about to be answered through Christ. So there's a lot of stuff that's about to happen after this conversation. Well, we went from heat to rain. And now I can't even hear myself up here. So this is what we need to see. The woman asked Jesus a religious question, but he doesn't give her a better religion. He gives himself, he offers himself to her. She says at one point, she says, I know, we know that the Messiah is coming. And every question I have will be answered when the Messiah comes. And Jesus just simply looks at her and he says, That's me. I'm the one that you're waiting on. I'm the one that you're expecting. He is the answer. It's not about another mountain, it's not about another rule, another system. It's simply about Jesus. That's why finished work theology isn't about getting people to believe a different theology. When we say finished work, there's some people that think you're teaching something contradictory to what the Bible says. That's the reason I'm going through these stories and I'm showing you the finished work in these stories. Finished work is not nothing new, it's not a new theology. It's about seeing what has already been accomplished in Christ through Christ. What's happened on the cross already? The answer isn't that we finally became good enough one day. The answer is that God chose to come near me. He chose to come near you. He chose you before the foundation of the world. And what I love about that is if he chose me and he chose you before the foundation of the world, he chose me before I ever had a chance to make a mistake. Because some people say, well, what about all the stuff I've done wrong? He chose you before you had a chance to do it. He didn't worry about the woman's mistakes. He didn't worry about what she had been through. He stayed and he had a conversation. Even though he knew everything about her. Could it possibly be that he wants to spend time with us even though he knows everything about us? Even though he knows the mistakes we made, he knows the bad decisions that we've made, and he still wants to spend time with us. See, when we talk about the finished work, we always ask the question: what did the cross actually accomplish? When Jesus hung on the cross, what did it actually accomplish? But we have to realize something as we look at this story, and this is what I love right
Finished Work Before The Cross
SPEAKER_01here. Because this is going to force you to see it a different way. The woman at the well happens before the cross. So, how can we talk about finished work in this story if he hadn't even gone to the cross yet? It's a good question. Jesus hasn't died yet. He hasn't gone to the cross yet. He hasn't been risen yet. But John is clearly giving us a theology and showing us this is what the cross is all about. This is what the cross is going to bring. It's what it's going to accomplish. Jesus is showing us what the Father is like. He's showing us what God does with outsiders. Well, how do you know that? Because the Samaritans were considered outsiders, okay, during this time. And look the way he treated her. Look at the dignity, the respect that he showed her, even though she was an outsider. This story shows how grace approaches people, regardless of circumstance, regardless of past. He's showing us that God isn't waiting for people to become worthy before he actually moves toward those people, before he actually chooses those people. You know how many people would argue, and I'm talking about Christians and pastors would argue with what I just said simply because we've been taught and trained that you've got to do something first, and then God will move towards you. I'm sorry, the Bible contradicts that. All through these stories, the Bible contradicts that statement. And the cross, it's actually just going to become the ultimate demonstration of who he really is and what it was all about. If you've ever wondered how far was God willing to go to reconcile humanity to himself, look at the cross. That's how far he was willing to go. He sent his only begotten son to the cross to reconcile humanity. And here's where it gets really interesting. Again, the woman is a Samaritan. The Samaritans were considered again, they were outsiders. But after she encounters Jesus, she goes into the city. She runs back into the city that she lives in, and she said, Come and see the man who told me everything about my life. And the people come. And then something incredible happens. Not only did they come, but they listened. And as soon as they begin to listen, it says they began to believe. Simply because they heard the words that he was speaking. And here's where I think we need to challenge ourselves. See, sometimes we've reduced Christianity down to Jesus came to make bad people better. But I think there's more to it than that. I don't think that's really big enough. I don't think that really shows the picture of who Jesus really is. He came to reconcile, to bring back together everybody. He came to restore relationships. He came to introduce us to the Father and who the Father really was. But I think most importantly, he came to let us know that the Father has come looking for us. We're not out trying to find him. He's come and he's looking for us. That's bigger than just behavior modification. That's bigger than saying, get your life right and seek God. Yes, we want to seek him, but it's bigger than that. He's actually already began seeking us before we ever started seeking him. See, we tend to ask the question sometimes, what do I need to do? And Jesus keeps trying to get us to ask, what has God already done? Because I think when we look at the Bible from the finished work lens, it will start changing the way that you read the Bible. It will change the way you comprehend certain verses, it will change everything about the Word. I don't see scriptures the same way as I used to. Because I look at them now through a finished work lens. Think about this other question that we ask all the time as Christians. How do I get closer to God? But the gospel says in Christ, God has already come so close to me that he lives on the inside of me. So why do I keep asking the question about how do I get closer to something who is on the inside of me? See, it sounds like a really spiritual question. How do I get closer to him? But you know, some spiritual questions can sound really silly when you start seeing it from a finished work perspective. Because I can't get closer to a God, to a Holy Spirit that's already living on the inside of me. We hear people so often ask this how do I become accepted? The Bible says, all through the Bible, you're already looking at the one through whom acceptance has already been accomplished. So I'm asking a question of how do I become accepted? Again, sounds like a very good question, very spiritual question. But we're asking a question that has already been answered. The finished work isn't about getting God to finally say yes to us, it's about discovering that in Christ, God has already said yes to reconciliation. God was in Christ reconciling the world to himself. Sometimes I wonder if the message that we've preached for so long have caused people to spend their entire lives trying to earn something that Jesus has freely given.
SPEAKER_00Think about that. That's not good news if we've done that.
SPEAKER_01The gospel is good news because the work has already been finished. That's what I want you to remember about this woman. She didn't find a God who was hiding. She found a God who was sitting at the well waiting on her to get there. He wasn't hiding. He's not hiding from her, and he's not hiding from any of us. And she also didn't find a God who was waiting to condemn her. She found a God who knew her story already and chose to stay and have a conversation with her anyway. That day she didn't encounter a God who demanded that she climb the right mountain. Worship at the right place. She found a God who said the Father is seeking worshipers. Period. I'm not gonna tell you you gotta do it here, you gotta do it here. I'm just saying he's he's looking for worshipers. She didn't find another religious system for that day. She found the Messiah. And it changed everything.
Share Good News With Those Hurt
SPEAKER_01In closing. Yes, I did say that. In closing. I just didn't tell you how long this closing was gonna last. I want to take you back just a minute to the very beginning. John says, again, back where we started, he had to go through Samaria. I don't think, again, that that sentence is about geography. I think it's about grace. It wasn't about a destination, it was about a person. A person that God said, I love, I've chosen, I don't care what she's been through, I don't care how many husbands she's had, I don't care who she's living with now, I'm gonna send my son to meet with her. That's grace. In spite of everything that she had encountered, that's grace.
SPEAKER_00Nothing was gonna keep Jesus from meeting with her that day.
SPEAKER_01Before she knew his name, before she knew who he was, she walked up and seen a man sitting there. But before she ever knew who he was, he knew her. Before she sought him out, he sought her out. Before she understood grace, Grace was already sitting at the well. Before she had anything to offer, he was offering her living water. I mean, if you look at this story and just read right through it as quick as we normally do, you miss this stuff. You don't see grace in this story like you will if you see it through the finished work lens. And before this woman ever understood worship, the father was seeking her. Before she ever said, Come and see a man. Jesus had already come to see her. It wasn't about her past, it wasn't about her getting everything cleaned up. He had an appointment that day. He said, I've got to go to Samaria. I've got to meet with this woman. And then she went into the city. And this is so amazing. I I I talked briefly on this as we closed last Sunday, but I just want to bring it up one more time. How the process happened. She runs back into the city and she tells all the people come and see a man who has told me everything about my life. And what's amazing if you read on through these verses, they come because of her testimony. But then when they got there, Jesus continued to spend two days with them. And it specifically says that they made the statement, we believe now, not because of what you said, but because of what he said. So they went from coming simply because of a woman's testimony to now believing because they heard the truth. Sometimes all you gotta do is just give him breeze. Your testimony brings the truth How many people are we talking about? Are we sharing our testimony? Are we sharing about our relationship with Christ? Are we sharing with people who need to know? Are we telling them that there's something that we have to offer? There's somebody that we want to introduce you to. See, I I'm just I know I'm I'm preaching this, so I'm kind of biased on it. But I believe that we're preaching a message today that there's people out there and they need to hear this. I'm not talking about the people that's in other churches this morning. They already got a church, they already have found a home. I'm talking about the people who are not going anywhere today. The people who have this mindset that I've been bad so many times and I've done so much in my life, there's no way that God would want to meet with me. How many times have you invited somebody to church? I've done this several times, and they would make the statement, man, if I go in, the roof will fall in. Why? Because they believe that they've done so much in their life that there's no way that God wants to meet with them. And if we keep preaching the message that's always been preached, that you've got to do this and this and this and this, and then he'll meet with you. They're gonna stay right out there where they at. But if we flip the script on them and we tell them the truth that he's already chose you, he already knows you, he loves you regardless, and in spite of everything that you've been through, he's already made a decision, he's already sought you out, he's already took the first step before you. See, that changes things. That takes somebody who knows what their life's been, who knows how bad it's been, and it removes all the pressure that I've got to get everything right so that he'll love me. We have the opportunity to do that. Again, I'm biased, but I believe that the finished work message is the message that people need to hear. Because of that, it removes all the pressure. You don't have to get everything just right before coming in. If that's the case, none of us need to be here. Because even if you've been here most of your life, you still don't have it right yet. You are still not perfect, and he still loves you anyway. He still lives on the inside of you anyway. He still chose you. And he still says, I'll never leave you. I'll never forsake you. All of that is about finished work. I guess I'm preaching on this stuff so much, and it's just become really, it has become a part of who I am now that every scripture I look at, I read it through the finished work. And it just makes so much sense. And the more I think about it now, of what it would be like to be able to share that message, the good news. We always say that. We always say, I'm going to share the gospel with you. I'm going to share the good news with you. And then we turn around and say, get your life right, or you're going to burn. And we call that good news. And there's people out there whose life has been such a wreck that they see no way that they could ever get it right.
SPEAKER_00So they just choose not to come.
SPEAKER_01In their mind, it's just easier to burn. They're probably going to burn anyway. I mean, that's their mindset. The good news is that regardless, he loves you anyway. Regardless, he's chosen you. That's actually good news to somebody who has very little faith and very little hope. Because when we can look at him and say, it's not about what you've got to do, but it's about what he's already done. And then just begin to open their eyes up to the truth of what the cross actually accomplished.
SPEAKER_00That changes things. That makes it easier to talk with people.
SPEAKER_01Have you ever gone to talk with somebody about church and before you even started a conversation, you were kind of battling with how you was going to do it because you know this person. You know that they are not going to, they don't want, they don't want to hear anything you got to say about church. And it's not because they don't want to hear it from you, it's just they don't want to hear about church, period.
SPEAKER_00Because they have this image of God that there's no way he could love me.
SPEAKER_01And they don't want to hear about it. But if we can turn it around and say he loves you regardless, he wants you, he chose you. That's a different story. It's a different perspective. That's the opportunity we have. I don't know statistically what the numbers are, but I would be willing to bet that there's just as many people out there that don't go to church as there is in church. So we're not saying go steal people from other churches. We're saying let's reach the ones who don't go anywhere. Let's talk to the ones that we know that their life has been so messed up, and they need some hope, they need some faith in their life.
SPEAKER_00That's the opportunity we have.
SPEAKER_01So every one of us, there's there's the good thing is there's no excuse for any of us because we all know somebody that needs to hear the good news. The question is, are we gonna are we gonna be the one that shares it with them?
SPEAKER_00Tell them we got plenty of empty seats here. We got a seat with their name on it.
SPEAKER_01So go out this week, talk to somebody, invite somebody, share the gospel, share the good news, share the truth.
SPEAKER_00Because the truth don't bring guilt and fear and the truth brings freedom.
SPEAKER_01That's something that hit me one day, too, when I was I was thinking about it. You know, if you're talking to somebody, and after your conversation, they are more fearful than they were when you started. You may want to kind of look at what you were saying. Because we have a tendency just to say things that we've always heard, and it causes so much fear in people. Why not just bring good news to them?
SPEAKER_00Just present the gospel.
SPEAKER_01You don't even have to know the scripture. You don't have to know it's in, says it's in John 4, 16. You don't have to know that. Just present the gospel. Tell them how good God is. Tell them how much he loves them, regardless of what they've been through.
Prayer And A Weekly Challenge
SPEAKER_01Let's pray. Father God, we thank you. We thank you for your word. We thank you for what you're doing in this ministry, Father. We thank you for this area that you have us in right now, this place that you've got us in. The finished work, Father, it's a message that needs to be heard from so many. And we thank you that everything that we do now, everything that we look at, you are showing it to us through the lens of the finished work of Christ. And Father, I pray for every person that's in this building right now, that you open up opportunities, even this coming week, Father, that you bring people into their lives that they can speak to, that they can just share the good news with, they can share the gospel with. And Father, I pray and I thank you that uh there's people that don't even know it yet, but they're on the way to this place, that you're drawing them in, that you're leading them here to this ministry, Father. And the ones that are part of this ministry, Father, we just ask you to bring them home. Bring them back to this place, remove every excuse, remove every barrier, and bring them back to where you've put them, where you've anointed them to be at. And Father, we just thank you for each person here. We just ask you to bless them, bless their homes, their family, their finances, everything that they touch, and every word that they speak. And Father, we'll be careful to give you the praise, the honor, and the glory in the mighty name of Jesus. Amen. Amen.