SPEAKER_01: Great song service, really a great song service.
SPEAKER_01: If you would turn to uh John chapter 1, I'll simply title this uh message uh Come and See.
SPEAKER_01: Come and see.
SPEAKER_01: Uh we're gonna see this a few times today as we look at this in these verses.
SPEAKER_01: Uh John chapter 1, we'll begin reading verse 35.
SPEAKER_01: And it says, uh after the baptism of Christ, and again the next day, uh after John stood and two of his disciples looking looking upon Jesus as he walked, he saith, Behold, the Lamb of God.
SPEAKER_01: And the two disciples heard him speak, and they followed Jesus.
SPEAKER_01: Then Jesus turned and saw them following and said unto them, What seek ye?
SPEAKER_01: They said unto him, Rabbi, which is to say, being interpreted, Master, well dwell where dwellest thou?
SPEAKER_01: And look like Jesus says in verse 39.
SPEAKER_01: And he says unto them, Come and see.
SPEAKER_01: They came and saw where ye dwelt and above that day, for it was about the tenth hour.
SPEAKER_01: Let's go, Lord, in word of prayer.
SPEAKER_01: Heavenly Father, we just hump your Bible for you.
SPEAKER_01: Again, Lord, thank you for the opportunity to freely come this morning to worship you in spirit and truth.
SPEAKER_01: And I just pray, Lord, that all our hearts and our minds are just fixed upon your will for us, that we would truly uh come to see uh you, Lord, in faith, and through your word and through your Holy Spirit, that we uh truly have a relationship with you and uh just want to live a life to please you and to glorify you.
SPEAKER_01: I ask you this morning, Lord, for your preaching grace, that you just please have me behind the cross and I remain there, and as we all hear your word and read your word, and uh know that you're speaking to uh each and every one of us uh individually and collectively as a church, uh, to for your will to be done.
SPEAKER_01: And uh, Lord, we just pray for the lost one among us today that doesn't know Christ, their Savior, and have a relationship with you, that today would be the day that they would that they would yield to the convicting power of the Holy Spirit and repent of their sins and call upon you and be saved.
SPEAKER_01: Or any other decision that needs to be made, uh Lord, we pray it be made today, all in accordance to your will.
SPEAKER_01: And again, we just thank you so much for your word.
SPEAKER_01: We thank you for your Holy Spirit.
SPEAKER_01: I pray, Father, we're more yielding to Him.
SPEAKER_01: And again, we just love and we praise you, and we ask all these things in Jesus' name.
SPEAKER_01: Amen.
SPEAKER_01: So as you uh think about the disciples, you know, each and every disciple uh of Jesus had to make a decision to come and see him and hear him and see him for themselves and that he is and make a decision that he is the Son of God and to place their faith in him.
SPEAKER_01: Uh, you and I had to do the same thing.
SPEAKER_01: Had to come and see, you know, how do you come and see Christ?
SPEAKER_01: Well, you hear the word.
SPEAKER_01: And John tells us that the word became flesh.
SPEAKER_01: So Jesus is the word and the word is Christ.
SPEAKER_01: And so that's the understanding, believing that, believing that God's word is Christ and Christ is the word, and having faith in the word.
SPEAKER_01: That is what is so lacking, not just in our nation, but in our entire world, is a belief in the word of God.
SPEAKER_01: And I don't just mean lip service, that you believe it in the way that you live your life, that it is Lord of your life, that it rules your life.
SPEAKER_01: You do what the Bible tells you to do as followers of Christ.
SPEAKER_01: And that's what we're going to look at.
SPEAKER_01: He says, come and see.
SPEAKER_01: Because to have that, ever have that salvation experience, you have to realize in your heart that God's word is true, and it says we're a sinner, and we repent of our sins, and we realize the message of the cross, that God so loved us that he gave his son and he died on a cross, shed his blood so that would cover our sin.
SPEAKER_01: We call upon him to be saved, have that salvation.
SPEAKER_01: You think about the apostle Paul.
SPEAKER_01: You know, he thought he had seen God by learning the word and trying to keep the law and taking part in all the ceremonies.
SPEAKER_01: The Hebrew of the Hebrews and all those things.
SPEAKER_01: But what saved him?
SPEAKER_01: Well, he had a face-to-face meeting with Christ on the road to Damascus.
SPEAKER_01: We don't have that today because we have the completed Word of God, but he did.
SPEAKER_01: He saw Christ and He placed his faith in him, and he wrote two-thirds in the New Testament through the inspiration, of course, of the Holy Spirit.
SPEAKER_01: So we see what it does, that uh we have to have a meeting with Christ.
SPEAKER_01: We have to come and see for ourselves.
SPEAKER_01: Uh people all over the world will believe in God or a God, but they don't believe in Jesus and they're lost and going to hell.
SPEAKER_01: And just like the devil, the devil and his demons believe.
SPEAKER_01: They believe in a God, in the God, but they have rejected him.
SPEAKER_01: Pride has filled the heart of the devil, and he wanted to try to usurp God.
SPEAKER_01: But he, the Bible says they believe, but what?
SPEAKER_01: They tremble.
SPEAKER_01: Believing in God will not save you.
SPEAKER_01: You have to understand that you're lost and you need a relationship with God.
SPEAKER_01: You need to come and see for yourself.
SPEAKER_01: Come and see God's word for yourself.
SPEAKER_01: And then what you do is you look in God's word in sincerity and truth, you see yourself.
SPEAKER_01: It's like a mirror.
SPEAKER_01: It reflects what?
SPEAKER_01: Our wickedness and our sin, but we see the love of God in it.
SPEAKER_01: And there's a way.
SPEAKER_01: There's a way out of this sin-cursed world.
SPEAKER_01: His name is Jesus.
SPEAKER_01: He said in John 14, 6, I am the way, the truth, and the life.
SPEAKER_01: He is the only way.
SPEAKER_01: He says, No one comes to the Father except through me.
SPEAKER_01: That's what Jesus is telling him.
SPEAKER_01: And it's so very true today, regardless of what the world wants to say.
SPEAKER_01: There's only one way to be saved.
SPEAKER_01: There's only one way to heaven.
SPEAKER_01: That's through the blood of Christ.
SPEAKER_01: But remember what Thomas said after Christ was crucified and resurrected, met the disciples.
SPEAKER_01: You know, Christ was on this earth for 40 days before he sent to the Father.
SPEAKER_01: And one time he met with the disciples and Thomas wasn't there.
SPEAKER_01: And they said, You weren't going to believe it.
SPEAKER_01: Jesus just showed up.
SPEAKER_01: And he said, I won't believe that unless I put my hands, my finger in his handprints and in his scarred side.
SPEAKER_01: He said, I won't believe it.
SPEAKER_01: Well, Jesus shows up a few days later and he says, Thomas, and he calls him out.
SPEAKER_01: And Thomas does touch his hands and touch his side.
SPEAKER_01: So what was wrong with Thomas saying that I won't believe unless I can touch him?
SPEAKER_01: He didn't have faith.
SPEAKER_01: He didn't have the faith to believe.
SPEAKER_01: Jesus tells him plainly, he says, Thomas, you believe because you've seen.
SPEAKER_01: He said, Much more blessed those that believe and have not seen.
SPEAKER_01: And that's us today.
SPEAKER_01: And you say, Well, Brother Ronnie, why'd you say come and see?
SPEAKER_01: Well, because that's what the Bible tells us in these stories we're going to look at.
SPEAKER_01: They said, Come and see.
SPEAKER_01: They could actually come at this time and they could see Christ physically.
SPEAKER_01: Ask yourself this: Are we more blessed today or are we or would we be more blessed than Jesus today when he was on this earth?
SPEAKER_01: I used to think for a long time, man, the disciples had such an amazing blessing over us, an advantage over us, that they could see Christ physically.
SPEAKER_01: But guess what?
SPEAKER_01: They didn't have the completed word.
SPEAKER_01: Today we are so much more advantageous or above them as far as understanding, because we have the completed word.
SPEAKER_01: Because what did the rich man say about to Abraham?
SPEAKER_01: He said, Well, if you'll send somebody back, you'll send Lazarus back, he said, they'll believe.
SPEAKER_01: And Abraham said, No, he won't believe.
SPEAKER_01: He said, they won't believe even if one comes back from the dead.
SPEAKER_01: He said, if you have Moses in the law, he's saying that you have the word of God.
SPEAKER_01: And if you don't believe the word of God, there's no way to be saved.
SPEAKER_01: So we see Christ, we see Christ today through the Word, placing our faith in the Word.
SPEAKER_01: It's so important we understand that.
SPEAKER_01: You truly see the Word, and the Holy Spirit convicts us to the need of a Savior because we're all sinners, then we have to decide.
SPEAKER_01: I'm going to ask God to forgive me, then I'm going to ask Jesus to save me.
SPEAKER_01: It's a decision.
SPEAKER_01: It's a gift, it's a free gift given to all people, but so many people reject it because they won't swallow their pride and don't think they need it.
SPEAKER_01: But we're going to look at three coming sees today.
SPEAKER_01: Three coming sees today in the book of John.
SPEAKER_01: And I pray all here will see Jesus for themselves and be saved if you're not.
SPEAKER_01: And if you already are, I pray you'll follow him even closer.
SPEAKER_01: To really think about seeing the Bible today for us in the come and see, to really think about, uh, I'm going to show you how old I am.
SPEAKER_01: I used to listen to St.
SPEAKER_01: Louis Cardinals.
SPEAKER_01: I wrote, wrote, I worked the rotate and shift.
SPEAKER_01: Well, we had back then was radios.
SPEAKER_01: Way before cell phone.
SPEAKER_01: Y'all believe that?
SPEAKER_01: Like, man, that's that guy is old.
SPEAKER_01: I mean, way before cell phones.
SPEAKER_01: We had a radio.
SPEAKER_01: And so I worked even in shift Cardinals play.
SPEAKER_01: I'd find a station, I listen to Cardinals.
SPEAKER_01: And old Jack Buck, man, he was the greatest, in my opinion.
SPEAKER_01: Play-by-play guy, when you listen to the Cardinals.
SPEAKER_01: I mean, he'd be describing, he'd be describing the guy on deck.
SPEAKER_01: And he'd say, hey, over there, he got his weight on his bat, he's swinging his bat over his head, or he's doing over a stretching.
SPEAKER_01: You could just what?
SPEAKER_01: You could just see the game through the radio.
SPEAKER_01: I mean, he was so good at explaining it.
SPEAKER_01: And you see the things.
SPEAKER_01: Think about Paul Ells, the old Razorback announcer for years, and he was so awesome at it.
SPEAKER_01: You could you hear him on the radio and you're like, you could just see these guys, Matt Jones, all of them got scoring touchdowns, doing all these things.
SPEAKER_01: And we're praying for something like that this year.
SPEAKER_01: That the Razorbacks actually, you know, score a few touchdowns this year, maybe win a few games.
SPEAKER_01: I know I'm getting way off topic, but really see anything.
SPEAKER_01: To see the truth.
SPEAKER_01: And I pray today that you'll see the, you'll see Christ.
SPEAKER_01: When you read God's word, you'll see him in this.
SPEAKER_01: When he says, because they say, come and see.
SPEAKER_01: Well, look in verse 35.
SPEAKER_01: The first point is Jesus says, Jesus says, Come and see.
SPEAKER_01: Verse 35.
SPEAKER_01: So again the next day after John stood and two of his disciples, I went, John the Baptist.
SPEAKER_01: And looking upon Jesus as he walked, he saith, Behold the Lamb of God.
SPEAKER_01: And the two disciples heard him speak and they followed Jesus.
SPEAKER_01: They were following John the Baptist, and then what did they do?
SPEAKER_01: They started following Jesus.
SPEAKER_01: And the two disciples heard him speak and they followed Jesus.
SPEAKER_01: And they made a first great decision.
SPEAKER_01: What was their first great decision?
SPEAKER_01: Following Jesus.
SPEAKER_01: They followed Jesus, but it's about to get real serious.
SPEAKER_01: It's about to get real serious.
SPEAKER_01: And that's what it is with Christ.
SPEAKER_01: Christ doesn't let you follow him too long before he turns around and it gets real serious.
SPEAKER_01: It's like today.
SPEAKER_01: I mean, if somebody, say you're shopping on Main Street, or you're on the landing up at Branson, you're walking along, and all of a sudden you look back, and somebody's following you.
SPEAKER_01: And you notice they're, you know, they're following you as you're going here and there.
SPEAKER_01: What's going to happen?
SPEAKER_01: It gets real serious real quick.
SPEAKER_01: Okay, what are you doing?
SPEAKER_01: You're going to turn and ask them.
SPEAKER_01: And you think about uh some strangers following you, turn around, what would you do?
SPEAKER_01: Most people we'd run.
SPEAKER_01: Okay, okay, I don't know this person.
SPEAKER_01: I'm out of here.
SPEAKER_01: I'm going dart into the store.
SPEAKER_01: But look what Jesus does.
SPEAKER_01: In verse 38, what's he say?
SPEAKER_01: And Jesus turned and saw them following and said unto him, What seek ye?
SPEAKER_01: And they said to him, Rabbi, which is to say, being interpreted, Master, where dwellest thou?
SPEAKER_01: They ask him a common question.
SPEAKER_01: You ever following him?
SPEAKER_01: Jesus turned and said, Okay, why are you following me?
SPEAKER_01: What are you looking for?
SPEAKER_01: Such a great question today.
SPEAKER_01: What are you looking for in your life?
SPEAKER_00: As you follow Christ, what are you looking for in your life?
SPEAKER_00: They ask a common question, Jesus, where do you live?
SPEAKER_00: Great question.
SPEAKER_00: Think about that.
SPEAKER_00: Someone's following you and they ask you, and you turn around and say, okay, man, why are you following me?
SPEAKER_00: They say, Well, I'm just curious where you live.
SPEAKER_00: What would you say?
SPEAKER_00: Say you're in Branson and that happens.
SPEAKER_00: Where do you live?
SPEAKER_01: You might say, Well, I live in a little small town in Arkansas.
SPEAKER_01: That might be all the details you'd give.
SPEAKER_01: Especially today, everybody's so wigged out about, or so is in a fearful society about every little thing.
SPEAKER_01: You might say, Well, I live in a little small town called Pleasant Plains.
SPEAKER_01: Then you might say, Well, I live in a small town called Pleasant Plain.
SPEAKER_01: I actually live on 109 Robertson Drive.
SPEAKER_00: Total stranger your address?
SPEAKER_00: Think about that today.
SPEAKER_00: What did Jesus do?
SPEAKER_00: Look at verse 39.
SPEAKER_00: When he said, Where do you dwell?
SPEAKER_00: Look at verse 39.
SPEAKER_00: And he saith unto them, Come and see.
SPEAKER_00: Come and see.
SPEAKER_01: That's what Jesus does very quickly when he says, Come and see for yourself.
SPEAKER_01: Come and see me where I'm at for yourself.
SPEAKER_01: Well, most people have done when they said, Well, read the rest of the verse.
SPEAKER_01: It says, Come and see.
SPEAKER_01: They came and saw where he dwelt and abode with him that day for was about the tenth hour, it's like four o'clock in the afternoon.
SPEAKER_01: And uh and they said, I believe most people would say, Well, we're just curious about where you lived.
SPEAKER_01: And he says, Come and see.
SPEAKER_01: And they're like, nah, maybe it's too far.
SPEAKER_01: Or no, it's uh, I don't really have time to go see where you want, where you live.
SPEAKER_01: I just I just kind of wanted to see you if you tell me where you did live, where you were you abode.
SPEAKER_01: Or they might say, Well, I have other plans, I was just curious.
SPEAKER_01: Or you might say, I don't want to burden or put you out.
SPEAKER_01: Because I've been guilty of that.
SPEAKER_01: People invite you different things.
SPEAKER_01: Well, I got different plans, I got different things going on, I can't do it.
SPEAKER_01: Uh you think about today, it's been interesting.
SPEAKER_01: We have this.
SPEAKER_01: We have on fifth Sunday, we have a fellowship meal today.
SPEAKER_01: And guess what?
SPEAKER_01: All of you are invited today.
SPEAKER_01: All of you invited today to stay for a fellowship meal.
SPEAKER_01: You might say, Well, I didn't bring any food.
SPEAKER_01: Guess what?
SPEAKER_01: There's tons and tons and tons of food back there.
SPEAKER_01: So that's excuse number one, you're not gonna get away with.
SPEAKER_01: But I totally understand.
SPEAKER_01: I do, and it's not a guilt trip to have everybody stay for the fellowship.
SPEAKER_01: But it is, there's there's plenty of food.
SPEAKER_01: Don't use that excuse, but I understand you got family and this, all that going on.
SPEAKER_01: But you are invited to stay and have a time of fellowship here in just a little bit.
SPEAKER_01: But I really want you to think about as you follow Christ, the excuses that you make, that we all make, for not following him as we should.
SPEAKER_01: And to be a true follower of Christ, we have to be like these disciples.
SPEAKER_01: What they do?
SPEAKER_01: They stay, they abode with him that day.
SPEAKER_01: Stay with him for several hours.
SPEAKER_01: And it's understanding that as we grow, and realize that the verse tells us in John that we love him because he first loved us, it's understanding that relationship that you want to grow in your relationship and become a true disciple.
SPEAKER_01: Uh it takes spending time.
SPEAKER_01: It takes spending time in God's Word, and it takes to come to a church and to be comfortable in a church, guess what?
SPEAKER_01: It takes time.
SPEAKER_01: It takes time to fellowship, it takes time to be led by the Holy Spirit and want to be a part where God, want to be where God wants you to be.
SPEAKER_01: And I tell people all the time that come and they come for a few services and they say, Well, I'm praying about where God leads me.
SPEAKER_01: I said, That's the greatest thing you can do.
SPEAKER_01: I say, Yes, we'd love to have you here.
SPEAKER_01: If this is where God wants you to be.
SPEAKER_01: But if this is not where God wants you to be, I want you to keep searching where God wants you to be.
SPEAKER_01: Because that's where that's where you will be blessed, and that's where you will be a blessing.
SPEAKER_01: But to really think about what God wants us to do, these disciples said that they dwelt, they tell us they dwelt with him.
SPEAKER_01: They bowled with him that day.
SPEAKER_01: And it's like uh, it doesn't say they went to Jesus' house and stayed five minutes, but they stayed the day with him.
SPEAKER_01: That's what a true follower of Christ does.
SPEAKER_01: They want to be with him.
SPEAKER_01: And like a church member, a church member that only wants to come to church on a Sunday morning.
SPEAKER_01: I've never understood that.
SPEAKER_01: I told you on Wednesday night, not too long ago, when Miss Cristina first got, I was first saved, we started, I made a decision in my life.
SPEAKER_01: God was convicting me to be faithful.
SPEAKER_01: Because I was saved for five years.
SPEAKER_01: But I did not know the first thing about God's word.
SPEAKER_01: But he put a man in my life and began to teach me the mouth, teach me the word and understand God's word.
SPEAKER_01: And every time I'd go to open the word, it was about being baptized.
SPEAKER_01: That was the next step, that's the very first step in obedience after salvation.
SPEAKER_01: And I realized that and I said, you know what?
SPEAKER_01: I do need to be baptized.
SPEAKER_00: So God led us to Mount Calvary.
SPEAKER_00: And I was baptized.
SPEAKER_00: And we went that morning.
SPEAKER_01: Brother Philip said, Yeah, let's get baptized.
SPEAKER_01: We'll baptize you on that morning.
SPEAKER_01: I'm like, okay.
SPEAKER_01: He said, be more people, be a greater witness.
SPEAKER_01: I said, okay, whatever you want me to do.
SPEAKER_01: And then we went next Sunday, and then the next Sunday night, and I was just shocked.
SPEAKER_00: Here I am, a new believer.
SPEAKER_00: New believer.
SPEAKER_00: I was just shocked.
SPEAKER_01: You know, we have the right hand of Christian fellowship.
SPEAKER_01: The church was lots of people there.
SPEAKER_01: I was celebrating baptism and membership and all that, and everybody's all excited.
SPEAKER_01: I'm like, man, great.
SPEAKER_01: Come Sunday night.
SPEAKER_01: About half the people ain't there.
SPEAKER_01: I was just really surprised.
SPEAKER_01: I mean, I was just really surprised.
SPEAKER_00: And then we go Wednesday.
SPEAKER_00: When the church meets.
SPEAKER_00: Wednesday.
SPEAKER_00: There's only just a handful of people.
SPEAKER_00: I'm like, where's everybody at?
SPEAKER_00: Here I am, a babe.
SPEAKER_01: A babe in Christ.
SPEAKER_01: Needing support, needing encouragement, needing some people to teach, to be praying.
SPEAKER_00: You're like, where is everybody?
SPEAKER_00: It really makes you think about what are we doing?
SPEAKER_01: Are we real?
SPEAKER_01: Are we sincere?
SPEAKER_01: Are we truly following Christ?
SPEAKER_01: Because we really want to see Christ.
SPEAKER_01: We really want to see him and lead others to him.
SPEAKER_01: Because it's amazing what's recorded for us here.
SPEAKER_01: That we see these men that were followers of Christ.
SPEAKER_01: I'll just put down curious followers of Christ because they want to see who he was, who is truly the disciple, truly the Messiah, to become him one day.
SPEAKER_01: And when you understand, you read God's word and you understand it that God has taught you, and you look at their lives, and you see what about these men that began to follow Christ?
SPEAKER_01: That they eventually gave their life.
SPEAKER_01: They died for the gospel message.
SPEAKER_01: They died so that people like me and you could be here today and have the truth in a world that's so upside down.
SPEAKER_01: They were true disciples of Christ.
SPEAKER_01: And that's what this message is for us to come and see who Christ is and that you would become that.
SPEAKER_01: That you would grow and lead others to say, hey, come and see.
SPEAKER_01: Come and see who I found.
SPEAKER_01: So let's look in verse 40.
SPEAKER_01: And one of the two which heard John speak and followed him was Andrew, Simon Peter's brother.
SPEAKER_01: So they give us some details about who these men are.
SPEAKER_01: One was Andrew, one was Peter's brother, was John was one, and uh Andrew was Simon Peter's brother.
SPEAKER_01: He first found his own brother Simon.
SPEAKER_01: He went and found Peter and said to him, We have found the Messiah, which is being interpreted, the Christ.
SPEAKER_01: Can you imagine how excited they were?
SPEAKER_01: We have found the Christ that the Bible's been talking about for centuries.
SPEAKER_01: We found him.
SPEAKER_01: And he besought and he brought him to Jesus.
SPEAKER_01: And when Jesus beheld him, he said, Thou art Simon, the son of Jonah.
SPEAKER_01: Thou shalt be called Cephas, which is Peter, which by interpretation a stone.
SPEAKER_01: This is such a great story.
SPEAKER_01: Just a little, small little story right here, four or five verses.
SPEAKER_01: Such a great story of others that have found Christ, telling whom?
SPEAKER_01: Their closest family and friends that they found him.
SPEAKER_01: And they want because they want them to find him.
SPEAKER_01: So are we doing that?
SPEAKER_01: Are we telling others?
SPEAKER_01: Are we telling others, hey, why don't you tell, I'm gonna tell you about a man I found.
SPEAKER_01: But really and truly, when we realize when we grow, we look at what he found us.
SPEAKER_01: Jesus is always looking for us.
SPEAKER_01: But then we're gonna see Philip.
SPEAKER_01: Philip says, Come and see.
SPEAKER_01: Look in verse 44 or 43.
SPEAKER_01: The following day, Jesus would go forth in Galilee and find a Philip and say unto him, Follow me.
SPEAKER_01: Now Philip was of Bethiah, Bethesda, the city of Andrew and Peter, and Philip findeth Nathaniel and said unto him, We have found him, of whom the Moses and the law and the prophets did right, Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph.
SPEAKER_01: And then verse 46, it says, And Nathaniel said unto him, can there any good thing come of Nazareth?
SPEAKER_01: Philip said unto him, What?
SPEAKER_01: Come and see.
SPEAKER_01: He's like, he's come from Nazareth, and Nazareth had a kind of, I guess, a bad reputation for them in the region of Galilee.
SPEAKER_01: And he said, I, you know, can any good thing come out of Nazareth?
SPEAKER_01: And he says, Well, what's he basically saying?
SPEAKER_01: Come and see for yourself.
SPEAKER_01: Everyone has to make that decision.
SPEAKER_01: You know, even when you're just out inviting people to church, you can say, man, we got a beautiful church building, we got beautiful people in our church.
SPEAKER_01: Come and, but why would we say, come and see for yourself?
SPEAKER_01: That's the only way that makes a difference.
SPEAKER_01: That's the only way they'll ever really know what kind of church family we have.
SPEAKER_01: They'll come and see for themselves.
SPEAKER_01: And just like I've heard so many people say, they won't seen the ark over there in uh Kentucky.
SPEAKER_01: Several people went.
SPEAKER_01: I think, man, everybody talks about it.
SPEAKER_01: Man, that sounds amazing.
SPEAKER_01: Well, what I need to do, I need to go and see it for myself.
SPEAKER_01: So see how incredible it is.
SPEAKER_01: You really get an appreciation for it, to see it for myself.
SPEAKER_01: And that's the same thing with Jesus and the church.
SPEAKER_01: We understand, we find him, and we we go where God would have us to go and be a part of that church.
SPEAKER_01: But I love what Jesus says in Nathaniel, verse 47.
SPEAKER_01: Jesus said to Nathaniel, coming to him and said, Behold, an Israelite indeed, who in whom is no guile.
SPEAKER_01: Nathaniel said to him, When'st thou knowest me?
SPEAKER_01: And Jesus answered and said, Before that Philip called thee, when thou wast under the fig tree, I saw thee.
SPEAKER_01: And it just, that little little statement right there, Nathaniel says, How do you know me?
SPEAKER_01: He says, Well, before Philip came and seen you, you were taken to rest under a shade tree under fig tree.
SPEAKER_01: And it just blew Nathanael's mind.
SPEAKER_01: He's like, Wow! You know me?
SPEAKER_01: Nathaniel answered and said unto him, Rabbi, thou art the Son of God.
SPEAKER_01: Thou art the King of Israel.
SPEAKER_01: Just that one little statement.
SPEAKER_01: Look what Jesus says.
SPEAKER_01: Jesus answered unto him, Because I said unto thee, I saw thee under the fig tree, believest thou?
SPEAKER_01: Thou shalt see greater things than these.
SPEAKER_01: And he said unto him, Verily, verily, I say unto you, hereafter you shall see heaven open and the angels of God ascending and descending upon the Son of Man.
SPEAKER_01: He said, Yeah, you believe me because I said that, but you're going to see such greater things than what just happened to you.
SPEAKER_01: And that's what really the life of a disciple is.
SPEAKER_01: It really is.
SPEAKER_01: You'll see things and be a part of things you had never dreamed you'd be a part of.
SPEAKER_00: It's a blessed, it's the greatest life.
SPEAKER_00: It's the greatest life a person can live.
SPEAKER_01: Being a true, believing, following, sacrificing disciple of Jesus Christ.
SPEAKER_01: It's not all about what the world can give you.
SPEAKER_01: It's like the Sunday school lesson Matt brought the point out.
SPEAKER_01: It's what we can give.
SPEAKER_01: What can we give Christ?
SPEAKER_01: What can we give to Him because He has given us so much?
SPEAKER_01: Living with that attitude.
SPEAKER_01: It really is.
SPEAKER_01: You have that kind of attitude, God will bless you.
SPEAKER_01: God will bless you.
SPEAKER_01: We're going to get to the third.
SPEAKER_01: Come and see.
SPEAKER_01: Turn to chapter four, if you would.
SPEAKER_01: It's the woman at the well.
SPEAKER_01: I'm not going to do this story anywhere near the justice it deserves because we don't have the time.
SPEAKER_01: We're going to point out a few things in this in this uh conversation that Jesus has with this woman at the well.
SPEAKER_01: Because it's an amazing, it's an amazing conversation about how Christ died for all people, really, all around the world.
SPEAKER_01: So we see in verse 1 in John chapter 4.
SPEAKER_01: So when therefore the Lord knew how the Pharisees had heard that Jesus made made and baptized more disciples than John, though Jesus himself baptized not but him his disciples, he left Judea and departed again as Galilee.
SPEAKER_01: And he must needs go through Samaria.
SPEAKER_01: Then coming through the city of Samaria, which is called Syrah, by the parcel of ground that Jacob gave his son Joseph, kind of gives us exactly the well is.
SPEAKER_01: He goes where his well is.
SPEAKER_01: And he says, uh, and there cometh a woman of Samaria to draw water.
SPEAKER_01: Jesus said, Give me to drink.
SPEAKER_01: For his disciples were going away into the city to buy meat.
SPEAKER_01: Then saith the woman Samaria unto him, How is it thou, being a Jew, askest drink of me, which is a woman of Samaria?
SPEAKER_01: For the Jews have no dealings with the Samaritans.
SPEAKER_01: That's a very under that's a very big understatement.
SPEAKER_01: They hated each other.
SPEAKER_01: And the Jews especially hated the Samaritans because they were half-breed people.
SPEAKER_01: So they had no dealings with them.
SPEAKER_01: They would not walk through the land.
SPEAKER_01: Even if it was, say it was 10 miles closer.
SPEAKER_01: They'd walk 20 miles around because they would not go through the land.
SPEAKER_01: They wanted, didn't have one, didn't want one speck of dust on them to be defiled.
SPEAKER_01: So they despised them.
SPEAKER_01: So Jesus says, now I have a need.
SPEAKER_01: I must go through there.
SPEAKER_01: To have, what was his need?
SPEAKER_01: He's going to meet this woman.
SPEAKER_01: He knew.
SPEAKER_01: He knew she'd be there.
SPEAKER_01: He knew she would come, just like you're here today.
SPEAKER_01: He knew exactly where you would be this morning.
SPEAKER_00: At 11:40 on August the 30th.
SPEAKER_00: He knew you would be here this morning.
SPEAKER_00: Years ago.
SPEAKER_01: And she says, Why are you talking to me?
SPEAKER_01: And uh, because they wouldn't talk to women, especially.
SPEAKER_01: Then Jesus asked in verse 10, said unto her, If thou knewest the gift of God, and who it is that saith to thee, Give me to drink, thou would have asked of him, and he would have given thee living water.
SPEAKER_01: The woman said unto him, Sir, thou hast nothing to draw with, and the well is deep, from whence then has that living water?
SPEAKER_01: Art thou greater than our father Jacob, which gave us the well and drank thereof himself and his children and his cattle?
SPEAKER_01: She asked some great questions.
SPEAKER_01: There's Jesus sitting on the edge of the well.
SPEAKER_01: And he said, I'm going to give you some water.
SPEAKER_01: She said, Well, I don't see that you have anything to draw water with.
SPEAKER_01: And what do we always do when it comes to God's word?
SPEAKER_01: We always think about the physical, the physical things.
SPEAKER_01: Remember Nicodemus?
SPEAKER_01: When Jesus talked to Nicodemus, she says, You must be born again.
SPEAKER_01: And what did Nicodemus say?
SPEAKER_01: What am I supposed to do?
SPEAKER_01: Enter my mother's womb a second time.
SPEAKER_01: It's not about the physical, it's about the spiritual.
SPEAKER_01: It's about our soul and our spirit.
SPEAKER_01: That's what Jesus is most concerned with.
SPEAKER_01: But she asked a great question when she said, Are you greater than Jacob?
SPEAKER_01: And is that living water you say you have better also?
SPEAKER_01: Some great questions.
SPEAKER_01: So Jesus answers those questions.
SPEAKER_01: Look in verse 13.
SPEAKER_01: Jesus answered and said unto her, Whosoever drinketh this water shall thirst again.
SPEAKER_01: I'm assuming he's kind of sitting on the edge of the well, and he says, Whoever drinks of this water that's down in this well, you get hot again in a few minutes, you're going to be thirsty, you're going to want more water.
SPEAKER_01: Then he says, But whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst.
SPEAKER_01: But the water that I shall give him shall be unto him a well of spring, a water, a well of water springing up into everlasting life.
SPEAKER_01: The woman said unto him, Sir, give me this water that I thirst not, neither come hither to draw.
SPEAKER_01: She wanted the water like most people want the water today.
SPEAKER_01: Not having to keep working to come get it.
SPEAKER_01: She thought, man, if that water is always kind of refills itself, I won't have to come up here and get this and do all this work, all this physical labor.
SPEAKER_01: Where is that water?
SPEAKER_01: That's what so many people want.
SPEAKER_00: They want to be physically blessed by God continually and do nothing for God.
SPEAKER_01: But she said, you know, I'll do all this physical work, pick up this physical water doing all this.
SPEAKER_01: And it's reasonable.
SPEAKER_01: And it's reasonable to have that thought when he says, I can give you water that'll last forever, but I'll be inside of you.
SPEAKER_01: And it's understandable.
SPEAKER_01: It was hard work, it was hot, it was difficult.
SPEAKER_01: But the master teacher, Jesus, is more worried about the soul inside of her than the soul of her feet.
SPEAKER_01: Think about that.
SPEAKER_01: It's true.
SPEAKER_01: He is more concerned about the soul inside of each and every one of us than the soul of the bottom of our feet, where we go and the things that we do.
SPEAKER_01: Because he wants the soul of our feet to be doing the things that he's going to the places he's going.
SPEAKER_01: But what first has to happen, the soul inside of us has to belong to him.
SPEAKER_01: Belong to him.
SPEAKER_01: And that's what he's going to explain to her.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus is speaking to our present lives before God.
SPEAKER_01: That's what he's going to do to her.
SPEAKER_01: It's going to get real serious again, real quick, in verse 16.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus said to her, Go, call thy husband and come hither.
SPEAKER_01: Don't think for a second that Jesus doesn't know every single detail of your life.
SPEAKER_01: He knows exactly how much you put in the offering in the back.
SPEAKER_01: He knows exactly how much time you prayed this morning before you came here.
SPEAKER_01: He knows exactly every thought and intent of their heart today.
SPEAKER_00: And so Jesus goes right to her soul and her spirit.
SPEAKER_00: Because she's thinking about physical things.
SPEAKER_00: And so he says, Okay, go call your husband and come back to me.
SPEAKER_00: The woman answered and said, I have no husband.
SPEAKER_01: Jesus said unto her, Thou hast well said, I have no husband.
SPEAKER_01: She told him the truth.
SPEAKER_01: And then Jesus is really going to convict her and make her understand that he is, he's telling her the truth when he says in verse 18, Thou hast had five husbands.
SPEAKER_01: And he whom now thou hast with is not thy husband.
SPEAKER_00: And that saidest thou truly.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus told her exactly her whole, basically her life history.
SPEAKER_00: And the woman said unto him, Sir, I perceive that thou art a prophet.
SPEAKER_01: Our fathers worship in this mountain, and ye say that in Jerusalem there's a place where men ought to worship.
SPEAKER_01: And Jesus said to her, Woman, believe me, the hour cometh when you shall neither in this mountain nor at Jerusalem worship the Father.
SPEAKER_01: It says, Ye worship, you know not what.
SPEAKER_01: That's our world today.
SPEAKER_01: So many people worship things they have no idea what they're even worshiping.
SPEAKER_01: Worshiping the devil, worshiping Baal, worshiping Balaam, worshiping Buddha, worshiping Muhammad, worshiping all these false deities.
SPEAKER_01: They have no idea what they're even worshiping.
SPEAKER_01: It's leading them straight to hell.
SPEAKER_01: Jesus plainly says it.
SPEAKER_01: But he says what in verse 23.
SPEAKER_01: But the hour cometh.
SPEAKER_01: And he says, and now is when the true worshipper shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth.
SPEAKER_01: For the Father seeketh such to worship him.
SPEAKER_01: God is a spirit, and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth.
SPEAKER_01: Just not coming here this morning, physically sitting in padded pews.
SPEAKER_01: It's not worshiping God.
SPEAKER_01: Okay, how much money you put in the back or what or whatever you did or whatever.
SPEAKER_01: If it wasn't from your heart, given in sincerity and truth, it's not a form of worship.
SPEAKER_01: Physically, you can go and come, and yes.
SPEAKER_01: But to worship God is from the heart because He sees the heart.
SPEAKER_01: He sees the heart.
SPEAKER_01: You think about it, you go all the way back to the book of Genesis when the first offerings were shown with Cain and Abel, two brothers.
SPEAKER_01: They brought an offering.
SPEAKER_01: What were they doing?
SPEAKER_01: Bringing the offering to God.
SPEAKER_01: It was a form of worship.
SPEAKER_01: They were coming to worship God.
SPEAKER_01: They brought an offering.
SPEAKER_01: Abel's was accepted.
SPEAKER_01: Cain's was rejected.
SPEAKER_01: And what was the difference?
SPEAKER_01: One was a meat offering, one was a plant offering.
SPEAKER_01: Well, he should have brought one with blood.
SPEAKER_01: No, what it is.
SPEAKER_01: It was about the heart.
SPEAKER_01: Cain's heart was wrong.
SPEAKER_01: His heart was not right.
SPEAKER_01: Abel gave from his heart something that was a sacrifice.
SPEAKER_01: He gave his best.
SPEAKER_01: God will not accept anything but our best.
SPEAKER_01: And here's the deal: the only person that knows if you're giving your best to God is you and God.
SPEAKER_01: So I'm going to encourage you, give your best to God and be blessed.
SPEAKER_01: Be blessed.
SPEAKER_01: So important.
SPEAKER_01: Because what's a woman say in verse 25?
SPEAKER_01: The woman saying to him, I know that Messiah cometh, which is called the Christ, and when he has come, he will tell us all things.
SPEAKER_01: Look what Jesus says in verse 26.
SPEAKER_01: He said to her, I that speak unto thee am He.
SPEAKER_01: Plainly tells her.
SPEAKER_01: That He's the Messiah.
SPEAKER_00: People know that Jesus is God's Son.
SPEAKER_00: But will they choose to be so?
SPEAKER_00: Convicted by the Holy Spirit.
SPEAKER_01: Think about the high priests and the Pharisees and all those people that seen Jesus talked to him.
SPEAKER_00: And yet what?
SPEAKER_00: Plucked out his beard and slapped him and spit upon him.
SPEAKER_00: Well, they had they rejected him.
SPEAKER_00: The Jews knew.
SPEAKER_01: Some of the Pharisees knew the stories that Jesus would say when he told the story about the Son coming through the vineyard.
SPEAKER_01: He said, I send these servants, I send these servants, and they beat and they kill him.
SPEAKER_01: He said, Then the Father said, Well, I'll send the Son.
SPEAKER_01: And they did the same thing to the Son.
SPEAKER_01: And at the very end of the parable, the Pharisees look at each other and say, I think he's talking about us.
SPEAKER_01: But instead of being convicted to be saved, what do they do?
SPEAKER_01: They conspire together to kill him.
SPEAKER_01: It's a decision.
SPEAKER_01: Either you're living for God or you're not.
SPEAKER_01: Either you're saved or you're not.
SPEAKER_01: There's no middle ground.
SPEAKER_01: And that's what Jesus is doing here.
SPEAKER_01: He's cutting right to the chase.
SPEAKER_01: He wants this woman to be saved.
SPEAKER_01: And look at verse 27.
SPEAKER_01: And upon this, as he just says this, upon his came his disciples and marveled that he talked with this woman.
SPEAKER_01: Yet no man said anything, or said, What seeketh thou, or why talkest with her?
SPEAKER_01: The woman then left her water pot and went her way into the city and said to the men, What'd she say?
SPEAKER_00: Come, see a man, which told me all things that ever I did.
SPEAKER_00: Is not this the Christ?
SPEAKER_00: It's amazing.
SPEAKER_00: And they went out of the city and they came unto him.
SPEAKER_01: How often do we need to tell people to come see a man?
SPEAKER_01: When's the last time you need to say, I need to talk to you about Christ?
SPEAKER_01: How often?
SPEAKER_01: Do you witness to people about Jesus?
SPEAKER_01: And sometimes it may not even be verbally, just in the way that we live our life.
SPEAKER_01: Can people look at your life and see that you're different?
SPEAKER_01: I'm not saying self-righteous or holy or now, I'm just saying see that you're different, that you're humble, and you're dedicated to the Lord, you're dedicated to His church.
SPEAKER_00: Do your neighbors know where you're at this morning?
SPEAKER_00: I pray they do.
SPEAKER_00: If you've invited them.
SPEAKER_00: You've invited them to come with you.
SPEAKER_01: You think about your life, it makes a difference.
SPEAKER_01: She came down and said, I want you to come see a man, verse 29, which told me all things, everybody did.
SPEAKER_01: Is not this the Christ?
SPEAKER_01: And they went out of the city and came into him.
SPEAKER_01: Look at verse 31.
SPEAKER_01: In the meanwhile, his disciples prayed to him or asked him, saying, Master, eat.
SPEAKER_01: They brought him food.
SPEAKER_01: They went away to get food for him.
SPEAKER_01: He comes back and he says, But he said to them, I have meat to eat that you know not of.
SPEAKER_01: Therefore, his disciples went to another, Hath any man brought him ought to eat?
SPEAKER_01: Again, think about physical food.
SPEAKER_01: Well, when we were gone, I guess somebody swung by and gave Jesus a happy meal or something.
SPEAKER_01: Brought him some food.
SPEAKER_01: Always thinking about the physical.
SPEAKER_01: But what does Jesus say?
SPEAKER_01: In verse 34, he says, My meat is to do the will of him that sent me.
SPEAKER_01: How often do you ask Christ, Lord, what is your will for me today?
SPEAKER_01: What do you want me to do?
SPEAKER_01: It starts by prayer and it starts by reading his word.
SPEAKER_01: I'm not saying chapters, just a few verses.
SPEAKER_01: If you're not praying and reading a few verses of Scripture every day, I'm gonna tell you what you're doing.
SPEAKER_01: You're starving to death spiritually.
SPEAKER_01: You are starving to death spiritually.
SPEAKER_01: You ought to read God's word daily for our daily bread, spiritual food.
SPEAKER_01: That's what Jesus is telling them.
SPEAKER_01: He says, Say not, verse 35, say not, yeah there are yet four months, and then there cometh a harvest.
SPEAKER_01: He says, Behold, I say unto you, lift up your eyes and look on the fields, for they are white already to harvest.
SPEAKER_01: And he that reapeth receiveth wages and gathereth fruit unto a life eternal, that both he that soweth and he that reapeth may rejoice together.
SPEAKER_01: And he says, Herein is that same true, one soweth and another reapeth.
SPEAKER_01: He says, I sent you to a reap that wherein you bestowed no labor.
SPEAKER_01: Other men labored and you entered into their labors.
SPEAKER_01: What do we say?
SPEAKER_01: Like Paul said, one plants, one waters, one gets the increase.
SPEAKER_01: Think about the church.
SPEAKER_01: The first pastor of this church.
SPEAKER_01: One of them was called Bor Shane, way back in the day.
SPEAKER_01: Guess what?
SPEAKER_01: We're going to build a new building all because of the labor of those that went way, way, way before us.
SPEAKER_01: We're willing to work, we're willing to live for God, that we get to see the fruits of their labor today.
SPEAKER_01: And we ought to have that same attitude that we work for the Lord, where other than the next generation has a place to worship, to sustain and grow if the Lord tarries, not coming back.
SPEAKER_01: We all labor for the Lord.
SPEAKER_01: Then we see in verse 39, after she had said, Come and see, and they come to Christ.
SPEAKER_01: In verse 39, it says, And many of the Samaritans of that city believed on him for the saying of that woman, which testified, He told me all things I ever did.
SPEAKER_01: They believed her.
SPEAKER_01: Like, wow, he's told you those things.
SPEAKER_01: But then look at the rest of us, though.
SPEAKER_01: So when the Samaritans were coming to him, they besought him that he would tarry with them.
SPEAKER_01: And this is an amazing statement right here, verse 40.
SPEAKER_01: You think about Christ's life?
SPEAKER_01: He had a three-year ministry, always on the move, always going, always healing, and all the different things that Christ did.
SPEAKER_01: It says what?
SPEAKER_01: He abode there two days.
SPEAKER_01: He stayed two whole days.
SPEAKER_00: That's amazing.
SPEAKER_00: That is amazing.
SPEAKER_00: And look what happened.
SPEAKER_00: And many more believed because of his own word.
SPEAKER_01: And said unto the woman, Now we believe, not because of thy saying, He says, For we have heard him what?
SPEAKER_01: Ourselves.
SPEAKER_01: And know that this indeed is the Christ, the Savior of the world.
SPEAKER_01: I pray you, each and every individual in this building today, has heard Christ for yourself and seen him in your heart and in your mind.
SPEAKER_01: As the Holy Spirit, as we speak to these stories, you put yourself in these stories that you, you, in fact, you see Christ.
SPEAKER_01: And you'll tell others to come and see a man named Jesus.
SPEAKER_01: If you would please stand.
SPEAKER_01: Miss Farr, Miss Michelle would come forward.
SPEAKER_01: I want to encourage you to come and see Christ if you've never seen him.
SPEAKER_01: It's a prayer.
SPEAKER_01: It's a conversation between you and God.
SPEAKER_01: Understanding that if you don't have a relationship with him, you're going to die in your sins and go to a place called hell.
SPEAKER_01: And you said, Brother Ronnie, I don't want to go there.
SPEAKER_01: I'm going to invite you to come to Christ and meet Christ and talk to Christ and say, God, Christ, I believe in you.
SPEAKER_01: I believe that God sent you here to die on this earth on a cross for my sin, to pay my sin debt.
SPEAKER_01: I believe as your word teaches that I am a sinner and I am separated because of my sin.
SPEAKER_01: But I believe in you.
SPEAKER_01: I believe you died and you rose again, you're alive today.
SPEAKER_01: And I want to place my faith in you.
SPEAKER_01: Please save me.
SPEAKER_01: However, you word that conversation you have with God, you will be saved for an eternity.
SPEAKER_01: But God doesn't want us just to be saved.
SPEAKER_01: He wants us to grow and become other disciples to do what?
SPEAKER_01: Well, like the message said to go and tell others to come a man, come find a man and see a man named Jesus.
SPEAKER_01: As we see.