Just Keep Building

THIS THING CALLED THE CHURCH

What is… THE CHURCH

[CRAZY CHURCH PICTURES]

EKKLESIA — A GATHERING — A GROUP OF PEOPLE

THE PROBLEM — MOST PEOPLE THINK WHAT THEY CAN DO WON’T MAKE A DIFFERENCE… OR THAT JUST THEM STEPPING OUT WONT MAKE A BIG IMPACT.

Colossians 3:17 (NLT) — 17 And whatever you do or say, do it as a representative of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks through him to God the Father.

Sleep, go to school, eat, work, you represent Jesus while you do it.

ON MISSION FOR JESUS. 24/7

YOU ARE ALWAYS REPPING

YOU HAVE NO IDEA HOW SIMPLE OBEDIENCE IN SMALL THINGS CAN IMPACT SOMEONE FOREVER AND CHANGE ETERNITY

MY FAVORITE STORY IN THE BIBLE — WOMAN @ WELL

John 4:3–10 (NLT) 3 So he left Judea and returned to Galilee. 4 He had to go through Samaria on the way. 5 Eventually he came to the Samaritan village of Sychar, near the field that Jacob gave to his son Joseph. 6 Jacob’s well was there; and Jesus, tired from the long walk, sat wearily beside the well about noontime. 7 Soon a Samaritan woman came to draw water, and Jesus said to her, “Please give me a drink.” 8 He was alone at the time because his disciples had gone into the village to buy some food. 9 The woman was surprised, for Jews refuse to have anything to do with Samaritans. She said to Jesus, “You are a Jew, and I am a Samaritan woman. Why are you asking me for a drink?” 10 Jesus replied, “If you only knew the gift God has for you and who you are speaking to, you would ask me, and I would give you living water.”

BACKGROUND ON WOMAN — WHY IS SHE THERE AT NOON? — HOT USUALLY THEY COME EARLY IN MORNING

John 4:15-19

15 “Please, sir,” the woman said, “give me this water! Then I’ll never be thirsty again, and I won’t have to come here to get water.” 16 “Go and get your husband,” Jesus told her. 17 “I don’t have a husband,” the woman replied. Jesus said, “You’re right! You don’t have a husband—18 for you have had five husbands, and you aren’t even married to the man you’re living with now. You certainly spoke the truth!” 19 “Sir,” the woman said, “you must be a prophet.

NOW WE UNDERSTAND WHY SHE WANTS THE WATER

NO MORE GOSSIP — SHE WOULD HAVE BEEN EXCOMMUNICATED FROM SOCIETY AT THIS TIME

John 4:25-42

25 The woman said, “I know the Messiah is coming—the one who is called Christ. When he comes, he will explain everything to us.” 26 Then Jesus told her, “I Am the Messiah!”

John 4:28-30

28 The woman left her water jar beside the well and ran back to the village, telling everyone, 29 “Come and see a man who told me everything I ever did! Could he possibly be the Messiah?” 30 So the people came streaming from the village to see him.

John 4:35-42

35 You know the saying, ‘Four months between planting and harvest.’ But I say, wake up and look around. The fields are already ripe for harvest. 36 The harvesters are paid good wages, and the fruit they harvest is people brought to eternal life. What joy awaits both the planter and the harvester alike! 37 You know the saying, ‘One plants and another harvests.’ And it’s true. 38 I sent you to harvest where you didn’t plant; others had already done the work, and now you will get to gather the harvest.” 39 Many Samaritans from the village believed in Jesus because the woman had said, “He told me everything I ever did!” 40 When they came out to see him, they begged him to stay in their village. So he stayed for two days, 41 long enough for many more to hear his message and believe. 42 Then they said to the woman, “Now we believe, not just because of what you told us, but because we have heard him ourselves. Now we know that he is indeed the Savior of the world.”

AMAZING STORY RIGHT?

I ALWAYS GOT HUNG ON THIS ONE PART.

John 4:37–38 NLT

37 You know the saying, ‘One plants and another harvests.’ And it’s true. 38 I sent you to harvest where you didn’t plant; others had already done the work, and now you will get to gather the harvest.”

John 4:5–6 NLT

5 Eventually he came to the Samaritan village of Sychar, near the field that Jacob gave to his son Joseph. 6 Jacob’s well was there; and Jesus, tired from the long walk, sat wearily beside the well about noontime.

JACOB — THE DECEIVER — THE LIAR — THE THEIF — BUILT A WELL

NOTHING IS INSIGNIFICANT

WE TEND TO THINK THAT WHAT WE CAN DO ISN’T THAT SPECIAL

HOLLISTER STORY

NO ONE IS TOO FAR

No one is too far

No matter what you’ve done, where you’ve been, or what you think about yourself, God has a plan and a purpose for your life. In fact God specializes in using the most jacked up people that He can!

Paul, Persecuted the church, put Christians to death, and wrote 2/3rds of the new testament.

David, Got another mans wife pregnant, had him killed, and was still called a man after God’s own heart.

Jacob, Cheated his brother out of his inheritance, Lied to his father and tricked him on his deathbed, and yet when moses meets God at the burning bush and asks “who should I tell Israel that I met? How will they know who you are?” God says to him “Tell them I’m the God of Jacob!”

No one is too far. I remember praying for my dad to come to know Jesus. Staying up late and talking to him one night just hoping that I could talk more to him about the God I wanted him to know and him telling me that “He had done too much” he was too far.

Years later He accepted Jesus into his life and you know what he says now? “God saved me so that people could know that no one is too far”

But there was a building process. Years of talking to my dad about Jesus. Years of prayer.

When is the best time to talk to someone about Jesus NOW

When is the best time to start giving NOW

When is the best time to start serving NOW

When is the best time to start realizing that God want’s to use the everyday ordinary of my life to make difference NOW

Are you listening to the holy spirit when it stirs you to do something. I’ve never heard God audibly talk to me but the HS has moved me to do something. And sometimes, sadly, i’ve ignored it. And those moments were missed. Why? Because when today ends, it ends. I cant get it back. When the moment is gone, its gone. Not to say the opportunity wont come back again but, some wont.

Romans 5:8 (NLT) — 8 But God showed his great love for us by sending Christ to die for us while we were still sinners.

NO TIME IS LIKE NOW