John 4:1-38 - Responding to Jesus

Good morning everyone. The reading today is going to be from John chapter 1 to 32.

John 1 · chapter mention

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So he came to a town of Samaria called Sychar, near the plot of ground Jacob had given his son Joseph.

Jacob's well was there, and Jesus, tired as he was from the journey, sat down by the well.

It was about noon.

When the Samaritan woman came to draw water, Jesus said to her,

Will you give me a drink? His disciples had gone into the town to buy food.

The Samaritan woman said to him, You are a Jew, and I am a Samaritan woman.

How can you ask me for a drink? For Jews do not associate with Samaritans.

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.

Sir, the woman said, You have nothing to draw with, and the well is deep.

Where can you get this living water?

Are you greater than our father Jacob, who gave us the well and drank from it himself,

as did his sons and his livestock?

Jesus answered, Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again.

But whoever drinks of the water I give them will never thirst.

Indeed, the water I give them will become in them a spring of water, welling up to eternal life.

The woman said to him, Sir, give me this water so that I won't get thirsty and have to keep coming here to draw water.

He told her, Go, call your husband and come back.

I have no husband, she replied.

Jesus said to her, You are right when you say you have no husband.

The fact is, you have had five husbands, and the man you have now is not your husband.

What you have said is quite true.

Sir, the woman said, I can see that you are a prophet.

Our ancestors worshipped on the mountain, but you Jews claim that the place where we must worship is Jerusalem.

Woman, Jesus replied, Believe me, a time is coming when you will worship the Father,

neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem.

You Samaritans worship what you do not know.

We worship what we know, for salvation is from the Jews.

Yet a time is coming and has now come when the true worshippers will worship the Father in the spirit and in truth,

for they are the kind of worshippers the Father seeks.

God is spirit and his worshippers must worship in spirit and in truth.

The woman said, I know that Messiah.

Christ, called Christ, is coming.

When he comes, he will explain everything to us.

Then Jesus declared, I, the one speaking to you, I am he.

Just then, his disciples returned and were surprised to find him talking with a woman.

But no one asked, what do you want or why are you talking with her?

Then leaving her water jar, the woman went back to the town and said to the people,

Come, see a man who told me everything I've ever done.

Could this be the Messiah?

They came out of the town and made their way towards him.

Meanwhile, his disciples urged him, Rabbi, eat something.

But he said to them, I have food to eat that you know nothing about.

Then his disciples said to each other, could someone have bought him food?

My food, said Jesus, is to do the will of him who sent me and to finish his work.

Don't you say, don't you have a saying, it is still four months until harvest?

I tell you, open your eyes and look at the fields.

They are ripe for harvest.

Even now, the one who reaps draws a wage and harvests a crop for eternal life.

So that the sower and the reaper may be glad together.

Thus the saying, one sows and another reaps, is true.

I sent you to reap what you have not worked for.

Others have done the hard work and you have reaped the benefits of their labor.

May God bless his word.

Good morning, Wes Kilburn.

Good morning.

So we're going to start our series.

Let me get a timer on here really quick.

We're going to start and restart our series.

It was called Encounters with Jesus.

So we've been going through the Book of Romans.

Don't worry, next week Steve will be back to look at the Book of Romans again.

But we're going to take a slight reprieve here.

And we're going to talk about encounters with Jesus.

Now, I don't know about you, but whenever I meet somebody,

somebody new, I can't help but compare myself to them.

This happened actually just this week when I was playing basketball.

There was a guy that normally doesn't come.

He was new this week.

So I normally play with a group.

About 15 to 20 of us play basketball on a Thursday.

And there was this guy that came that was new this week.

And so automatically you start making comparisons, right?

I saw him and I saw him start to warm up.

And I went, hey, you know, this guy, he's pretty good at basketball.

But automatically my brain went to something very skeptical.

And I was like, well, he's good right now, but we haven't started playing.

So maybe, maybe we'll see how this translates into the game.

Very quickly, I went from skeptical to practical because he was put on the other team.

And I was the one that was tasked with guarding him.

So very practically, I thought, okay, I got to know, you know, how's he shoot?

Where is he going to go?

How does he drive?

So I was thinking very practically about this, these types of things.

One time up and down the court, I went from practical to beneficial.

I was thinking, hey, you know, actually this will be quite good for me.

You know, the level of skill or my basketball, my basketball excellence,

I'm like right in the middle.

I'm not very good.

Okay, so you need to know that before we continue on with the rest of the story.

But I'm also not like terrible.

I'm just like right there in the middle.

And so I was going, you know what, this will be good for me.

You play against somebody that's better than you.

You'll say, okay, you know, iron sharpens iron here.

You know, I'll be better.

And as I was thinking this, I went from beneficial, that thought process,

to what I stayed in the rest of the night, which is what we'll call surrender.

Because as I was thinking, oh, this will be very beneficial for me,

I just got down to guard him.

And then all of a sudden, the next thing I knew, he was behind me scoring a goal.

So you don't need to know a lot about basketball to realize that's not very good.

So quickly, I found out, and the rest of my teammates found out as well,

that I should not be guarding that guy.

And so I guarded somebody else.

So that quickly went from, this will be good for me, to, yeah, I'm going to guard somebody else.

So that is the surrender response.

Today, in our story, here in John 4, we're going to say that the woman at the well,

she has these four responses as well when she meets Jesus.

See, she's going to move from being skeptical of Jesus,

to thinking very practically about Jesus,

to thinking how he can be beneficial before she finally surrenders to him.

And when she surrenders to him, just like me at basketball,

she will get a new assignment as well.

But this one is going to be greater than anything she could imagine.

So let's dive into the passage.

Let's start here in verses 1 through 6.

Verses 1 through 6 basically give us a snapshot of what had been happening before.

As I said, it's been a little while since we have been in our encounters with Jesus series.

But if you remember, the last time that I preached,

we were talking about Nicodemus, right?

And Nicodemus was a Jewish Pharisee who wanted to figure out

what does it mean to be born again?

Well, Jesus had been spreading this good news and this gospel

of what it means to be born again all throughout Jerusalem.

And, well, it kind of became a problem.

It was not very safe for him to stay in Jerusalem anymore.

So him and his disciples, they packed up their tents,

and they decided to move north.

And as they're moving north, they have to go through Samaria.

Now, if you know anything about the New Testament,

you know that the Samaritans and Jews might as well have been cats and dogs.

They did not get along.

And see, so this is where we are as Jesus,

with the sun high in the sky, goes through the town of Sychar,

and he stops to get a drink from a well.

He sends his disciples into town, and here comes a Samaritan woman.

And he asked this woman for a drink.

Let's pick the story up in verse 9.

Go ahead and look at your Bibles there if you have them.

It says,

Sir, the woman said,

You have nothing to draw with, and the well is deep.

Where can you get this living water?

Are you greater than our father Jacob,

who gave us this well and drunk from it himself,

as did also his sons and his livestock?

You see that this woman's response when she first encounters Jesus is skepticism.

She says,

Wait a minute.

Aren't you a Jew?

Like, we don't get along.

Why are you asking me for water?

I mean, they don't get along so much that the gospel writer John puts in here

an explanation that they are water and oil.

They don't get along.

So that's why it's so strange when she questions him.

It's very abnormal.

It would be like if you're walking down the street in London,

and somebody comes out and hands you a hundred pound note.

It says,

Here you go.

Take this.

That's not,

you're not going to respond and go,

Oh yeah, just a normal Tuesday.

If you do,

let's be friends.

But,

instead,

you're going to go,

Wait.

Why?

Am I being filmed?

Is there something happening here?

And so that's how weird this interaction was for Jesus and this woman at the well.

But yet,

Jesus,

ever the evangelist,

continues pressing on.

And he says,

Actually,

if you knew who was asking you for a drink,

you would ask about this living water.

And again,

the woman,

she responds with skepticism.

She doesn't quite understand.

She says,

Wait a minute.

Who did you say you are again?

This well is deep.

And let me double check.

Yeah,

you don't have a bucket.

What are you doing?

She says,

Are you actually going to be greater than our father Jacob?

who,

who through his persistence and altruism,

dug a well that has watered our cattle and our families for centuries.

Are you better than him?

See,

you can tell this woman is not bought in,

right?

She has a ton of questions.

And if we think about it,

this can be like us when we engage Jesus today,

isn't it?

Maybe you walked in here today because a friend invited you.

Or maybe you came because you just were walking by the street and felt like the Lord was calling you in today.

Whatever it is,

maybe you are here and you are surprised that you have made it this far in the sermon without lightning striking your seat.

You're thinking,

Man,

if these people knew what I did last night,

they would have double locked the doors and not let me in.

Or maybe you're thinking,

Based on some of the things that I have said in my past,

I cannot believe that I am sitting here today.

Just like the woman at the well,

you have questions for Christians.

You've heard the name of Jesus be used not for the betterment of society,

but to its detriment.

Maybe you have friends,

loved ones,

people you care about,

or maybe even yourself that has been hurt by people that call themselves Christians.

Or maybe,

again,

you're the other person that has done their research and you're going,

Hey,

this doesn't add up.

There are millions of books that have been written.

Why is this one,

the Bible,

quote unquote,

inspired?

This Bible,

these stories,

they're not real.

This is just a fairy tale.

God's not real.

This doesn't belong in the world.

And if God really loved me,

why would I be single?

Why would I not have a mom anymore?

Why am I unwell?

but despite all of these questions,

you find yourself sitting at West Kilburn Baptist Church today.

You can't get rid of this nagging feeling that there is something bigger than you out there.

You think life has got to be more than just a chance accident, and you think there's got to be more to life than work on Monday and drinks on Friday.

I think you can identify a lot with the woman at the well here, can't you?

Did you notice what time the woman was at the well?

Verse 6 shows us noon.

Women did not go to the well at noon.

They either went early in the morning or late at night.

So why is this woman going to fetch water at the hottest part of the day?

It's because she's an outcast.

She's not a part of the religious elite.

She's actually quite the opposite, which we'll find out in just a minute.

And I am sure she was asking similar questions to you.

She's thinking, why has my life turned out this way, God?

Why can't I keep a relationship?

Why, God, do you even care that I exist?

And here, in one of her lowest moments of the day, where she is reminded every single day that she is alone, that she is a social outcast,

Jesus meets her.

And he doesn't shy away from her, but instead he presses deeper.

So that's the first response.

You can be skeptical to Jesus.

You're going to see the woman at the well then moves into another response.

And this one is practical.

Let's look at verse 13.

The woman at the well here is much like Nicodemus just one chapter earlier.

She hears what Jesus is saying, and she's thinking very practically.

She's thinking Jesus must mean practically here.

Never be thirsty again.

Somebody's offering you, you don't ever have to drink again.

You don't have to come and draw this water.

You don't have to lug a water jug out here in this hottest part of the day.

Sign me up.

And again, I think this is a common response when we encounter Jesus.

See, the pragmatist hears the gospel and hears somebody say, hey, the gospel has changed my life.

And they say, sign me up.

Who doesn't want a changed life?

But very practically, they come to church.

They sit through the service.

They sing a song.

They hear the sermon.

And they pray a prayer.

And they say, okay, great.

Now my life will be perfect.

But do their problems disappear?

Not at all.

So instead, they come back.

Maybe they say, maybe God just didn't hear me.

I didn't have, you know, the words in the right order.

Maybe God has Vodafone and the coverage was out that day.

Whatever it is, maybe I'll just try again.

And they keep treating Jesus like a genie.

Let me speak directly to you if you are the pragmatist in the room today.

Jesus is not a genie.

You cannot rub the lamp and get your three wishes just because you prayed a prayer and how you want your life to turn out.

Jesus is not a genie.

He is a savior.

And when he comes back, it will not be beside a well.

He will come back on a white horse with fire in his eyes, a robe dipped in blood, a crown rightfully put on his head, and tattooed across his body.

It will say, King of Kings and Lord of Lords.

Does this sound like somebody that's coming to grant your wishes?

No.

This is a savior.

So pragmatists in the room today, do not be fooled.

God is not a spirit in the sky waiting to meet every one of your needs.

He is Lord.

If you want to have a relationship with him, you either follow him as Lord or you prepare to meet his wrath.

There is no in between.

See, let's look at Jesus' response here.

He knows that the woman at the well is just not getting it.

So he presses her even deeper and brings up her sexual past.

So we don't know any more specifics about this woman at the well than what is listed right here.

We don't know if she had five husbands because all five of her husbands have died,

and now the guy that she is with now is looking around and going,

I know what happens when people say, I do to you.

I'm good.

Or maybe all of her husbands divorced her.

Maybe she divorced her husbands.

Maybe she was unfaithful.

We don't know.

But either way, we do know that she is dealing with an immense amount of shame.

And Jesus knows that just saying a little prayer or repeating a little mantra to herself is not going to help.

He needs to go deeper.

He has to go to her heart.

So this brings us now to the third response when we encounter Jesus,

which is looking at him and trying to get something beneficial out of the relationship.

See, the beneficial person is very much like the practical person.

They're looking what they can get out of this relationship with Jesus.

They're looking for the benefits of a relationship with Jesus.

But unlike the pragmatist, it's not just practical.

They want to go deeper.

See, the beneficial person wants to be friends with benefits with Jesus.

See, their purpose in following Jesus,

they want to have purpose in following Jesus.

They want a unified mission.

They want the freedom.

They want the worldview.

But they do not want to surrender.

They want the benefits of that relationship with Jesus,

but without the commitment.

Let's look at verse 19.

This is right after Jesus has exposed this woman's sexual past.

She says,

Sir, I can see that you are a prophet.

Our ancestors worshipped on this mountain,

but you Jews claim that the place where we must worship is in Jerusalem.

Jesus has just said to her,

Hey, you've had five husbands.

This is not something that she proclaims widely across the town.

And so she's starting to wake up to this conversation.

She's saying,

Hey, this is not just some normal Jew that has come to the well here.

No, this guy, he's really something.

She sees this meeting as an opportunity to use for her theological benefit.

She says,

Hey, Jesus, here you can help me with my worldview.

See, the Jews and Samaritans had beef

because after Solomon died,

the kingdom of Israel split into a northern kingdom and a southern kingdom.

And in the northern kingdom,

there was a kingdom outside of Israel called Assyria

that came in and took over the northern kingdom.

The Assyrians took a lot of people that were beneficial to them out of Israel,

and they put a lot of Assyrians into the northern kingdom of Israel.

And so it was through this that intermarrying started to happen.

And the Jews that were in the south and the southern kingdom of Judah,

they looked at those that were in Samaria in that northern kingdom,

and they looked at them as unclean.

They were unwelcome in their worship because they had intermarried.

And this beef had been going on for centuries.

On top of this beef,

they also established different places of worship.

For those in the southern kingdom,

that would have been Jerusalem, right, at the temple.

For those in the northern kingdom,

that's Mount Gerizim,

which is almost exactly where Jesus is

as he talks to this woman at the well here.

So this woman is looking around,

and she says,

Hey, I know that Jesus is powerful.

Let me use this.

She wants him to give her an answer

to this theological question of where to worship

so that she can have a purpose.

She's thinking to herself,

Hey, if I figure out where we are supposed to worship,

then I can set up a TikTok account about this.

I can start posting around,

and people will say,

Hey, this girl knows what she's talking about.

And I'll start to get some followers,

and I'll gain some money and some momentum,

and I'll be able to make a lot of money

and make a name for myself.

She can even say,

Hey, wait, I'll start out a website of this,

www.rightplacetoworship.com.

And I'll have people come in,

and they'll see me as an authority on this.

I'll be able to write a few books.

I'll get my name out.

I'll go on a nice big tour,

and my life will be set.

What does Jesus answer her with?

Well, he blows her entire framework up.

He says the hour is coming.

In fact, it is here,

where temples,

they're just not going to matter.

What matters is that you worship

the God of the universe

in spirit and in truth.

Now, these words,

in spirit and truth,

there's a lot to unpack with that.

So I'm going to give

a very brief SparkNotes version.

Does anybody still use SparkNotes?

No?

No?

A chat GPT version

of what is happening here.

To worship in spirit

means that worship comes from your heart.

It engages the whole heart.

And to worship in truth

means that your worship

is informed by who God is

and what he is like.

This is not an either or,

but a both and.

John Piper says it like this,

truth without emotion

produces dead orthodoxy

and a church full

or half full

of artificial admirers.

On the other hand,

emotion without truth

produces empty frenzy

and cultivates shallow people

who refuse the discipline

of rigorous thought.

But true worship,

so this is what he's saying,

true worship

comes from people

who are deeply emotional

and who love deep

and sound doctrine.

Both and,

not either or.

I think we can see ourselves

in this woman's story again.

I've seen this

as I've looked around our society.

As we're being confronted,

as this woman's being confronted

with the power of Jesus,

she's not choosing to submit.

Instead,

she's looking to Jesus

from pointers

that will be beneficial

for her life.

As I was saying,

I've looked around our society,

I think I've seen this,

what is called

the quiet revival.

See,

there's been an increase

in people,

in young people specifically,

that have been going to church

in the UK.

This is something

that we need to celebrate.

16%

according to a recent study

of 18 to 24 year olds

attend church

once a month in the UK.

16%.

In 2018,

do you know what that number was?

4%.

Now my masks are not great,

but I believe,

chat GPT told me,

that this is a 300% increase.

That's amazing.

Praise God for that.

But before we start

to ring in the bells of revival,

I think we do need

to think about one thing

and be cautious

about one thing.

I've seen

in some of the media

that I have ingested

and podcasts

and other things

of that nature,

that there are guys,

and I do intentionally say,

guys,

I think this can affect

both genders,

but I say guys intentionally

because I think

a lot of the media

is framed towards them.

I see a lot of guys

that are intentionally

co-opting Christianity

to use to their own

personal benefit.

They strip Christianity

of its spiritual meaning

and just are trying

to figure out

what it will do

to benefit their lives.

They adhere to Christianity

because it brings them

discipline.

It brings purpose

to their lives.

It helps them explain

some feelings

that they might have.

Like, why are they depressed?

Why do they feel hopeless?

And it gives them

a foundation

for dealing

with some of the craziness

of the world, right?

Think about some

of the hot topics

that we have today.

Immigration,

gender identity,

on and on we could go.

Christianity gives you

a worldview,

a foundation

for looking at these things.

But if you have

this worldview

and you do not submit

to God,

it will not work.

It cannot work.

See, Christianity

requires full surrender.

That's what it means

to call Jesus Lord.

These people want to

use Christ

for what will be

beneficial to them,

but they do not

give themselves to him.

Jesus sees it today.

And he saw it

2,000 years ago

with the woman

at the well.

This worldview

will not lead

to prospering.

Jesus knows it

and so he draws

the woman deeper.

Let's look at

the last response.

Last response

of people that encounter

Jesus is surrender.

We had skeptical.

We went from skeptical

to practical,

practical to beneficial,

and now we go

to surrender.

Let's look at verse 25.

The woman said,

I know that Messiah

called Christ

is coming.

When he comes,

he will explain

everything to us.

This woman has tried

to push Jesus away

with her skepticism.

She's tried to add

Jesus to her life

with very practical

and beneficial ways

and now here

she is at the end

of herself.

She says,

listen,

all right,

fine.

You seem to have

outsmarted me

at every turn

in this conversation.

There's one coming

who will explain

this to this,

trying to end

the conversation.

And in this moment,

when she cannot

see a way forward,

what happens?

In one of the

most clear ways

in the entire

Gospels,

Jesus sees this woman

who has been spit up

and chewed out

by the world,

who is broken down,

who is looked at

as worthless.

If you're thinking

about Nicodemus,

the chapter earlier,

complete opposites,

right?

And he looks

at this woman

who the world

would say

has nothing to offer

in the clearest way

in the entire Gospels.

He looks at her

and he says,

the Savior

you are looking for,

I am he.

So when we encounter

Jesus,

we can have

a few responses,

right?

We can reject him,

we can try and add him

as a bonus to our life,

but there is genuinely

only one right answer.

That is full

and complete surrender

to God.

The woman at the well

got to the end of herself

and when she got

to the end of herself,

she found Jesus

right there,

ready to accept

her surrender.

If you do not have

a relationship

relationship with Jesus,

this is all you have

to do.

If you feel a tug

on your heart

right now,

do not put it off.

This is not the product

of really great teaching.

This is not

just because we put

some emotion

in the air

here at West Kilburn.

That's the Holy Spirit

working on your life.

Do not leave this room

without giving

your life to Christ.

But maybe you're

in the room today

and you have said

yes to that question.

You've answered

that question.

You've said,

I have indeed

completely surrendered.

Of those four responses,

I have submitted

to Christ.

What does this message

mean for me?

Let's move into

our final part

of the sermon today

called Share.

When we encounter Jesus,

we are forced

to compare

our old life

to what Jesus

is offering.

But when we accept

what Jesus is offering,

then we go from

comparing

to sharing.

This is what happens

to the woman.

Look at verse 28.

She says,

Then leaving her water jar,

the woman went back

to the town

and said to the people,

Come, see a man

who told me

everything I've ever done.

Could this be

the Messiah?

This is a complete

shift

in this woman's demeanor.

Remember,

originally,

why did she go

to the well at noon?

Well, because she wanted

absolutely nothing

to do with the town,

right?

And now,

after surrendering

her life to Christ

and leaving her baggage

with Christ,

she goes back

to the very people

she was trying

to avoid.

But,

she can't help

but to say

this good news

to the town.

Let's think about this

for just a minute longer

and then we'll be done.

Why

is there a 180 degree

shift in this

woman's life?

Where moments earlier

she was thought of

as an outcast

and lived her life

as an outcast

and now she is an

on-fire evangelist

for Jesus.

Because she realized

how much

she had been

forgiven.

If you think

that you are

a generally

good person

that hasn't done

that much

that bad

and haven't done

that much wrong,

you know,

you pay your bills

on time,

you don't steal,

you give a portion

of your salary

to those that are

less fortunate

than you.

If you don't think

that you're that bad

when forgiveness

is offered to you,

you don't think

it's that big

of a deal.

But when you

truly understand

how much

we've been

forgiven

as Christians,

then you realize

that this forgiveness

is sweeter than

honey on the tip

of your tongue.

See, the Bible

calls our good

works filthy

rags.

So the good

things that we

think are earning

us a spot in

heaven,

very, very

bluntly,

God calls them

minstrel rags.

Isaiah, look it up.

And it's in this

moment when you

think that your

good works are

helping you that

Jesus comes along

and says, no, no,

no, this is not.

And it's when you

realize this,

that your good

works are just

dirty rags,

that you realize

how much you've

been forgiven.

When you realized

you've been saved

from death to life,

you can't help

but share that,

right?

Verse 14 says

this living water,

Jesus says,

this living water

that I am offering

you will burst

forth from you,

will be like a

spring bursting

forth from you.

Eugene Peterson

is a guy that

translated the Old

and New Testament

into the original

Greek into English.

And he says in

verse 14,

here, I love his

translation.

It says,

the water I will

give will be an

artesian spring

within,

gushing fountains

of endless life.

An artesian spring,

for those of you

that didn't get

your architecture

degree,

is the complete

opposite of a

well.

A well you dip

your bucket into,

you have to draw

water out.

An artesian spring

is bursting forth

with water.

It's basically like

an ancient water

fountain, right?

You don't have to

do any work,

you just lean over

and drink.

This is what

happens when we

grasp the forgiveness

that Jesus has given

us, right?

This truth wells

up inside of us

and bursts forth

to anyone around

us.

And we need

this to happen.

You cannot just

rely on the

quote unquote

professional Christians

like Steve and

myself to spread

the gospel.

Because there are

people in your

life that only

you can reach.

I was recently

talking to a

guy that works

in one of those

big corporate

buildings in

central London.

And as we were

chatting over

lunch, I just

casually brought

up the question.

I said, how

are we going to

reach people

like you?

There are

thousands of

people within a

small radius in

central London that

come there every

day.

How do we

reach them with

the gospel?

And after a

pause, kind of

looked back at

me and he

said, you

don't.

I do.

See, it

wouldn't make

sense for me to

go in there and

try and run a

Christianity

Explored, right?

No offense to

Christianity

Explored.

It's not going

to work.

I don't have a

relationship built

up with these

people.

They don't know

me from Adam.

But this guy,

who spends day

in and day out

with these people,

he goes to get

drinks after work

with them.

He spends his

lunch break with

them.

He has that

10-minute break

that every one

of us always

has that we're

not really doing

work but we're

just chatting

with a co-worker.

He has that

moment as well

to share the

reason for the

hope that is

in him.

Who has God

put in your

life that only

you can reach?

Is it a

co-worker?

A neighbor?

A classmate?

A teammate?

Who around

you can have

their life

changed because

they have

encountered

Jesus through

you?

Let's pray.

Father in

heaven, we

thank you just

for the

opportunity.

Lord, that it

wasn't us that

went to you at

the well and

said, God,

here's my good

works.

Give me some

water.

But it was

you who saw

us in the

midst of our

filth, in the

midst of our

nastiness, and

what we thought

was good but

is actually

perverse.

God, you

reached down

and said, I

love you.

And God, I

pray that there

would be people

in this room

today that

would realize

the immense

love that you

have given and

would give over

their life to

you.

Say, I have

been Lord of

my life for

too long and

it's not

going well.

I need

someone to

rule.

Lord, I

pray that

there would be

people that

would come to

the end of

themselves today.

Lord, I

pray for

West Kilburn

that we

would be a

place that

when people

look, they

see us

worshiping in

spirit and

in truth.

God, that the

gospel, the

good news, that

you have come and

saved us from

sins, we

couldn't help

but have it

overflow out of

this building.

The light

shining in a

dark place would

be so bright that

people would be

attracted to it.

God, we

pray that you

would use us.

God, what a

gift that we

get to be used

in your kingdom

to help bring

people to

Christ.

Lord, it is

only you that

can bring people

but you use

us.

God, and we're

thankful to be

the hands and

feet of you as

we go out.

Lord, we pray

all of these

things in your

name.

Amen.