Open Your Eyes

09 January 2019; TLC #424

09 January 2019; TLC #424

TEXT: Say not ye, There are yet four months, and then cometh harvest? behold, I say unto you, Lift up your eyes, and look on the fields; for they are white already to harvest.

INTRODUCTION

The salvation of souls was Jesus’ sole purpose for coming into this world.

“For the Son of man came to seek and save what was lost” ().

Leaving Judea, He headed for Galilee through Samaria.

“Now he had to go through Samaria” ().

This was not the route normally taken by Jews, but Jesus had a reason for doing so.

This was not the route normally taken by Jews, but Jesus had a reason for doing so.

Why? Unbeknownst to anyone else, He had an appointment with a lost soul.

Near the village of Sychar, He sat down on Jacob’s Well to rest. It was there the Lord would keep an appointment with a woman steeped in sin.

Outreach/Witnessing, which is the lifeblood of the church, is too often crammed into an hour or two of canned effort.

But what about meeting the needs of souls as you move through your daily routines?

Soul-winning is not a rule that can be dictated; soul-winning is the expression of the love of God toward a lost soul.

I. THE WOMAN OF SAMARIA

The Jews held the Samaritans in utter contempt, and therefore, there were few if any dealings between them.

A. Samaritans had a Limited Knowledge of God - this is the spiritual curse of today, everyone is saved even though that is a violation of scripture

Jesus acknowledged that the Samaritans were spiritual people; they just lacked knowledge.

“You Samaritans worship what you do not know” ().

2. Samaritan worship was enthusiastic worship, but they did not accept the entire Word of God. a. They accepted only the Pentateuch, so their knowledge was limited. b. They had constructed a temple on Mount Gerizim to accommodate the worshipers who could not or would not go to Jerusalem. c. Even though their temple was destroyed in 125 BC, Samaritan worship is still going on today.

3. They are enthusiastic, but they still lack truth. a. If you were to go to Mount Gerizim on their holy days, you would see them slicing up animals exactly as it was done when Jesus walked on the earth.

B. Possessing Truth

“We worship what we do know, for salvation is from the Jews” ().

1. The Jews were just the opposite of the Samaritans. a. They accepted all thirty-nine books of the Old Testament and had the whole revelation of the teaching of Old Testament salvation. b. Unfortunately, they became locked in tradition that would result in rejection of truth.

2. Both the Samaritans and the Jews needed truth, but they did not know what they were lacking.

3. We have a similar situation today.

II. EVERYDAY WITNESSING OPPORTUNITIES

1. In His ministry, Jesus often turned from the masses to minister to the cry of one individual in dire need.

Jesus know how to comfort the afflicted, and afflict the comforted.

The first key for personal workers, as demonstrated by Jesus in , was that He found a common ground for conversation and immediately tried to set the woman at ease.

Soul-winning is a process and should not become a point of theological confrontation.

BUT should be a process of walking an individual through truth!

There may be a need to spend some time in ‘soil preparation’ before the seed can even be planted

Our job is to plant the seed BUT I can’t make the seed grow!

A. He Needed to Go through Samaria

There was a woman with a need, and Jesus knew the exact moment when she would arrive at the well. Quite possibly the ladies of the village would not permit her to draw water with them, so she came alone. a. Conversely, maybe she was convicted of her lifestyle and avoided others.When we consider all the possibilities, we might ask, “Why would the Lord be concerned with this one person?” Jesus’ own words in another setting answers this question.

But their scribes and Pharisees murmured against his disciples, saying, Why do ye eat and drink with publicans and sinners? 31 And Jesus answering said unto them, They that are whole need not a physician; but they that are sick. 32 I came not to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance.

How often do we overlook souls ready for repentance because we do not see souls as Jesus sees them? We pass by soul-winning opportunities because of what we see on the surface rather than discerning what Jesus sees. May God help us to be spiritually alert to soul-winning opportunities all around us.

B. Effective Witnesses

1. Effective witnesses are not obnoxious or abrasive. 2. They are tuned in to God, and they are tuned in to souls around them. 3. They meet people where they are. 4. Jesus used the opportunity of water on this occasion to strike up a conversation.

“Will you give me a drink?” ().

“The Samaritan woman said to him, ‘You are a Jew and I am a Samaritan woman. How can you ask me for a drink?’” ().

(She knew both cultures well.)

“Jesus answered her, ‘If you knew the gift of God and who it is that asks you for a drink, you would have asked him and he would have given you living water’” ().

III. ONE SOUL LEADS TO ANOTHER

1. When you win one soul, you have won a soul that is not without influence.

A. Jesus Christ Won the Woman

1. He found common ground and attempted to put the woman at ease. 2. He did not hasten into His message. 3. He carefully led her into an understanding of herself and into a revelation of who He was.

Jesus answered and said unto her, Whosoever drinketh of this water shall thirst again: 14 But whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst; but the water that I shall give him shall be in him a well of water springing up into everlasting life.

4. She expressed a deep desire by stating, “Give me this water.”

5. Jesus caused her to confront her sinful past by instructing her, “Call thy husband.”

6. She tried to skirt the issue by saying, “I have no husband.”

7. Jesus kindly reminded her again of her sin.

“You are right when you say you have no husband. The fact is, you have had five husbands, and the man you now have is not your husband” ().

8. She acknowledged that Jesus was a prophet, and she asked about the coming of Messiah.

9. Jesus quickly explained she was speaking to Messiah.

“I who speak to you am he” ().

10. She became so excited over what she had just discovered that she ran to tell others. “Come, see a man who told me everything I ever did” ().

B. The Woman Won the Village

1. Personal testimonies have a tremendous impact on others when given with enthusiasm.

“Many of the Samaritans from that town believed in him because of the woman’s testimony, ‘He told me everything I ever did’” ().

2. The woman of Samaria made it possible for Jesus to minister to an entire town. “And because of his words many more became believers” ().

CONCLUSION

1. Jesus’ ministry touched lives of every level of society.

2. He never allowed prejudice or His physical need to affect how He handled the pressing problems of hungry hearts.

3. As He conversed with His disciples upon their return from Samaria, Jesus spoke to them of a world ready for harvest.

“Do you not say, ‘Four months more and then the harvest’? I tell you, open your eyes and look at the fields! They are ripe for harvest” ().

4. The world is now ripe for a mighty move of God that can satisfy the ills and thirsts of the souls of men.

5. And it will likely begin with one—that one might be you.

OPEN YOUR EYES!