The People You Pass
Notes
Transcript
Handout
I’m so excited to dive into God’s word with you today. How many of you enjoyed the message last week?
“Jesus changed my life”
I don’t know about you, but I am so thankful that Jesus changed my life.
I am so thankful that He found me. That He saw me. When I was at my lowest and darkest point in my life, He sent the right people into my life to help lead me back to Him.
Today we’re going to piggyback on what Pastor Kyle shared last week.
We’re going to talk about “The People You Pass”
(Pray)
I want to try something. Everybody close your eyes.
I want you to think about where you were before you found Jesus.
Think about what your life looked like.
Think about what your thoughts sounded like.
Think about how you used to live.
Who you used to be.
(Pause)
Now think about how you found Him.
Who was it that invited you to church?
Who shared the Gospel with you?
Who told you there was a better way?
(Pause)
You can open your eyes. And I want to ask you a question.
What if that person stayed silent?
What if that person had kept walking?
What if they didn’t share hope with you?
Where would you be?
If you have your Bibles, turn with me to John chapter 4.
We’re going to read part of this story, and then we’re going to walk through the rest of it together
A woman from Samaria came to draw water. Jesus said to her, “Give me a drink.” (For his disciples had gone away into the city to buy food.) The Samaritan woman said to him, “How is it that you, a Jew, ask for a drink from me, a woman of Samaria?” (For Jews have no dealings with Samaritans.) Jesus answered her, “If you knew the gift of God, and who it is that is saying to you, ‘Give me a drink,’ you would have asked him, and he would have given you living water.”
Now before we go any further, there’s something important to understand here.
This interaction would have been completely socially unacceptable.
Jews and Samaritans did not associate with one another.
There was centuries of tension between these two groups. What started as racial and political tension eventually became religious division and complete avoidance.
To the point where Jews would actually take longer travel routes just to avoid passing through Samaria.
So the fact that Jesus, a Jewish man, is sitting at a well having a conversation with a Samaritan woman is shocking.
She was someone society would’ve avoided.
Someone people would’ve walked right past.
But Jesus didn’t.
He starts talking with her, and the conversation continues.
Jesus begins talking to her about something He calls living water.
At first, she thinks He’s talking about physical water.
She’s confused because Jesus doesn’t even have anything to draw water with.
But Jesus is talking about something deeper.
He’s talking about the kind of life that only He can give.
She came looking for water,
But Jesus was looking for her.
Then the conversation takes a turn.
Jesus tells her to go call her husband.
And she says she doesn’t have one.
And Jesus responds by telling her something only He could know.
He tells her she’s had five husbands, and the man she’s with now isn’t her husband.
In that moment, she realizes something.
This isn’t just another traveler.
This man knows her.
He knows her past.
He knows everything she’s done.
And she says, “Sir, I perceive that you are a prophet.”
The conversation continues, and eventually she says something interesting.
She says she knows that the Messiah is coming.
And when He comes, He will explain everything.
And Jesus responds with something incredible.
He tells her,
“I who speak to you am He.”
At that moment, everything changes.
Now let’s jump down a few verses.-
So the woman left her water jar and went away into town and said to the people, “Come, see a man who told me all that I ever did. Can this be the Christ?” They went out of the town and were coming to him.
So this Samaritan woman encounters Jesus.
This traveler, this man who somehow knows everything she’s ever done. He tells her who He is, and she’s astonished.
She starts telling everybody she knows about Him, and the town decides to come see for themselves.
And the Bible says in verse 39 that “many Samaritans from that town believed in him because of the woman’s testimony.”
What if the woman had kept it to herself?
What if she never spoke of the encounter she had with Jesus, and she just went about her day?
What if she walked away thinking, ‘Wow, that was amazing,’ and never shared it with anyone?
How often do we do that? How often do we walk out of church feeling good, feeling happy?
“I got time with Jesus today.”
“Worship was amazing.”
“The message was powerful.”
And then our week starts, we fall back into routine and no one in our lives even knows we’re a Christian?
Or how about this?
How often do we walk out of church feeling challenged. Feeling motivated and “on fire” to share the Gospel.
Yet when an opportunity presents itself to share the Gospel with someone, we let it pass us by. We hold our tongue and keep it to ourselves.
“Someone else will do it.”
“Now’s just not a good time.”
“What if they reject me?”
“There will be another opportunity.”
What if you’re wrong?
Tomorrow is not promised.
What if that person is on their way to hell…and you’re the person God’s placed in their life to show them there’s another way?
That there’s hope?
That they don’t have to keep living the way they’re living?
They don’t have to feel hopeless and alone.
Because the God of the universe — the One who created the heavens and the earth, the One who hung the stars and named them all — sent His Son to die the death we deserved.
How prideful of us to be so consumed with our fear of rejection that we are willingly disobedient to what God’s called us to do.
When did it become okay to let rejection stop us from obedience?
Paul was imprisoned and martyred because He wouldn’t stop talking about Jesus.
All of the disciples were martyred for their faith — except John, not because they didn’t try but because he survived exile and persecution.
Yet we’re afraid to open our mouths because we “don’t want to make it weird.”
Listen to me, it’s not our job to be the Holy Spirit.
It’s not our job to know everything or speak eloquently or pray the best prayers or know the Bible backwards and forwards by heart.
No, our job is to be obedient to His leading.
So if there’s someone that the Lord has put on your heart to share the Gospel with, Not even just inviting them to church, But just sharing the Gospel with, And you are choosing not to, you’re being disobedient.
Earlier we reflected on what our lives would’ve looked like if the person who led you to Christ had kept walking.
Could it be that your testimony may be the key to someone else’s chains?
That your obedience can open the door to a conversation that helps set them free from chains they didn’t even know they had?
How many people around us are in chains… and they don’t even know it?
We pass people every day who are slaves to their sin.
They’re stuck in bondage.
Drowning in hopelessness.
Oblivious to the fact that there’s a Savior named Jesus who died for them so they wouldn’t have to stay there?
They’re walking around with chains on their feet, not knowing that Jesus is the one who broke them.
They’ve gotten comfortable in it.
Complacent.
“That’s just how it is.”
They don’t know there’s a better way.
It’s up to us to open our mouths.
And this isn’t just something we’re told to do in the New Testament.
Even in the Old Testament, we see the same call.
King David says something powerful in Psalm 40.
He’s talking about what God has done in his life — how God rescued him and delivered him — and then he says this.
I have told the glad news of deliverance
in the great congregation;
behold, I have not restrained my lips,
as you know, O Lord.
I have not hidden your deliverance within my heart;
I have spoken of your faithfulness and your salvation;
I have not concealed your steadfast love and your faithfulness
from the great congregation.
As for you, O Lord, you will not restrain
your mercy from me;
your steadfast love and your faithfulness will
ever preserve me!
David says, “I have not restrained my lips.”
In other words, he’s saying:
“I’m not going to stay quiet about what God has done for me.”
“I’m not going to hide His faithfulness.”
“I’m not going to keep the good news to myself.”
And that’s the same challenge for us today.
Now is not the time for us to restrain.
There’s people who are going to hell.
Pastor Kyle says it all the time, “You may be the only Jesus some people are ever going to see”
or “You’re the only Bible some people will ever read.”
That isn’t meant to make us feel good about ourselves.
It’s meant to make us feel burdened for other people.
There’s weight that comes with that.
It’s calling us to live right and act right, in a way that causes others to ask “what’s different about you?”
It should light a fire under us to share what was once shared with us.
“Let me tell you about my Jesus.”
If you don’t share your story, who will?
Let’s fast forward to another story I want to share with you, this time in the book of Acts.
Let’s look at another story in Acts.
Pastor Kyle spent 65 weeks here…
I think we can get the point a little faster.
In Acts chapter 8, there’s a man named Philip.
And the Bible says that an angel of the Lord told Philip to go down to a road that runs from Jerusalem to Gaza.
It was a desert place.
Now imagine that for a second.
God tells you to go stand on a random road in the middle of nowhere.
And Philip goes.
No hesitation.
No second guessing.
Just obedience.
And while he’s there, a chariot comes by.
Inside the chariot is an Ethiopian official — a powerful man who worked for the queen.
And he’s sitting there reading the book of Isaiah.
But he doesn’t understand what he’s reading.
And the Holy Spirit tells Philip something very simple.
“Go over and join that chariot.”
Now listen to what happens next.
So Philip ran to him and heard him reading Isaiah the prophet and asked, “Do you understand what you are reading?”
“So Philip ran to him…”
He didn’t drag his feet.
He didn’t second guess himself.
He didn’t worry whether or not he was qualified.
He ran.
He gets to the chariot and asks the man a question:
“Do you understand what you are reading?”
And the man answers:
“How can I… unless someone guides me?”
So Philip climbs into the chariot.
And the Bible says this:
Then Philip opened his mouth, and beginning with this Scripture he told him the good news about Jesus.
“Then Philip opened his mouth, and beginning with this Scripture he told him the good news about Jesus.”
Philip didn’t perform a miracle.
He didn’t preach a long sermon.
He didn’t have a stage or a microphone.
He just opened his mouth.
And because of Philip’s obedience, that man not only learned about Jesus — he ended up getting baptized.
A recent Lifeway Research study found that almost half of unchurched Americans say they would come to church if a friend invited them.
People are more open than we think.
People need hope.
They’re hungry for it.
The problem isn’t that people aren’t open.
The problem is that we’re often silent.
Yet we keep it to ourselves, because again, “it might make things weird.”
Let me ask you an uncomfortable question.
Will someone else make it into heaven because of you, or in spite of you?
I don’t want to make it to the end of my life and stand before God and hear Him ask me “Who did you tell?” and I have nothing to show for it.
No, I want Him to be pleased. I want Him to say “well done, good and faithful servant.”
The only thing we can take to heaven with us is people.
I want to see my family in heaven.
I want to see my friends in heaven.
I want to see my children in heaven.
But how will they, if I stay silent?
How will our loved ones, or even the people we pass on the street, make it into heaven if we don’t open our mouths?
I said it before, but I have to say it again.
Thank God for the person who didn’t pass me by.
Thank God for the person who didn’t pass you by.
The person who saw you.
The person who was obedient.
This call is bigger than us.
This isn’t just for you or me, it’s for the Church as a whole.
Jesus calls His church to this.
Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit,
It doesn’t say “Go and make friends, and maybe talk about Jesus if it fits the moment.”
It doesn’t say “Go if you feel like it.”
“Go, if you feel qualified.”
“Go if it doesn’t disrupt your plans.”
No, it says go. Make disciples.
As Christians, we should not be numb or comfortable with the idea of people going to hell.
That should ignite something in us to share the Gospel even more.
Romans 1 tells us we’re called to belong to Jesus.
Your neighbor is called to belong to Jesus.
The person you don’t like or get along with is called to belong to Jesus.
The person who cut you off in traffic is called to belong to Jesus.
It can’t end with us.
We can’t hold up the line of grace when there are others behind us who need it too.
Don’t let the opportunity pass you by to share the Gospel.
Be thankful that the person who shared it with you didn’t pass you by.
There’s a story I’ll share.
In 1934, there was an evangelist named Mordecai Ham, who was preaching at a revival gathering in Charlotte, North Carolina.
Thousands would come to listen to him preach, to the point where every seat was filled.
One evening, two teenage boys came to the meeting, but when they arrived, they saw that there were no seats left. Disappointed, they turned to leave.
But just then, an usher noticed they were leaving and felt something tugging at him in his heart.
“We need to make room.”
So he went back inside and asked a family to slide down and make room for two more seats. Then he ran after the boys and told them,
“Come back. We’ve made room for you.”
The boys returned and sat down in those seats.
That night, after hearing the Gospel message preached by Mordecai Ham, one of those boys walked forward during the altar call and gave his life to Christ.
That teenage boy was Billy Graham.
Billy Graham went on to preach the Gospel to hundreds of millions of people around the world, with millions accepting Jesus through his ministry.
All because someone was willing to open their mouth.
All because they made room.
Can you imagine if the usher had kept walking?
If he had ignored those boys, and kept listening to the message for himself?
Billy Graham shared the Gospel with millions of people.
People who were directly impacted because of a simple act of obedience.
I pray that we find boldness to speak up and open our mouths.
To make room for other people to experience the same hope that we did.
To share what was once shared with us.
To share our story and what He did for us.
In hopes that it helps set others free.
Now’s not the time to hesitate. Now’s the time to say “Here I am Lord send me.”
The harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few.
I can’t let the moment pass without giving the opportunity, maybe you’re in here and you’ve never accepted Jesus as your Lord and Savior.
If that’s you, please find me or Pastor Kyle after service. We want to pray with you and walk with you through this. It’s the best decision you will ever make in your life. But it starts with a step. It starts with opening your mouth.
Tomorrow is not promised.
Who will you share the Gospel with? Who has God placed on your heart?
Someone didn’t pass you by.
Someone told you about Jesus.
So the question is the same one we’ve been asking in this series…
Who’s next?
(Pray)
