Yes, I Know Jesus | Pastor Paul McGee

Bless the Lord, Oh my soul, all that is within me.

Bless his holy name, he said. Bless the Lord, he said.

Forget not that he loaded me down daily.

Amen with benefits, Amen. You know, I know most people,

particularly in the day's world, and it's getting perhaps more

scarce than what it was perhaps a generation ago, getting a job

and looking at the pay, a person always also considered those

benefits. Sometimes the benefits might

have made-up for just, you know, a pay level that was scaled not

exactly where you wanted it to. Well, let me tell you that you,

you, you are in good hands with the Lord, Amen.

He gives you a good return and he has good benefits, Amen.

My dad used to all the time. His benefits are out of this

world. That's what Dad used to always

say. We're going to be turning to the

Gospel of John this morning. We are glad to see each of you.

We're glad that Aaron Brown's with us.

Yeah, he come and goes. He already told me he's going to

be gone the next two weeks. So shake his hand, hug his neck,

give him a Christmas present. Do whatever you need to while

he's here. Amen.

We're glad to have him. Amen this morning.

Have a good group, good group of kids and students that went to

NYC and they are a good group. Good group.

My wife had to go back. She was, I don't know, she

pollinates a lot of flowers whenever she's at national leaf

convention. And so she was doing some

things. And so I kind of went down the

hallway to where our kids were staying there all sitting in the

sitting in the hallway, like they're having a picket or

something, you know, down in there and playing some cards and

things. And so I sat in the hallway with

them for a while and listen to them play their game.

And we constantly have to move for people come by.

But just laughter and such like that, all that's so healthy.

That's so healthy. It may seem just, you know, oh,

there's no big deal, but it's healthy, Amen, For students to

get together and have time, Amen, Like that.

And so here we are the 1st Sunday of December, Amen.

December the first look over at your neighbors say it's December

the 1st, December the 1st a man. And so we have all the

festivities that happened during this year.

And you know my my constant plea at this time of year among it

all, please do not lose the true reason why we are in this

celebration season. And I know the traditionally

within homes and stuff, there will be lights and there will be

trees and such. But OFT times, whenever we have

that in our own home and I see that tree, I think of another

tree that was connected to this season of the year because the

purpose of the birth was for the death, Amen.

And so I think of another tree, Amen.

And so good to be here today. John chapter #4 the Gospel of

John chapter #4 going to be going there and reading today.

I had every intention of starting a Christmas series here

on Sunday mornings in the month of December.

I did something like that last year called The Gift of Hope.

And such and I, I, I worked on that before I ever left NYC came

home last night, worked on it some more and just not feeling

it. And so I'm in a different route

here today. All right.

Sometimes you make plans and then sometimes God says deter.

And so I'm just going to follow Amen.

The, the, the, what I endeavor to say is, is the will of the

Lord this morning. OK, Amen.

John chapter #4 I'm going to read a few verses of scripture,

skip and then read a few other verses of Scripture.

This John 4. If you've been in church for any

point of time, you probably are acquainted with this chapter.

It's been preached out of thousands of times, right?

This is the host story of Jesus meeting the woman of Samaria,

the Samaritan woman at the well. And so we're diving into it here

a little bit. I'm not going to read to you the

whole story verse #28 this is after that.

She's had her discussion after they've talked about him having

nothing to draw with and him telling her I have water to

drink, that if you drink, you'll never thirst.

All of this whole scenario. And the Bible says in verse 28,

the woman left her water pot and went her way into the city and

say it to the men. Come and see a man which told me

all things that ever I did. Is not this the Christ?

They then they went out of the city and came unto him.

I'm going to skip down because the next verse tells us in the

meanwhile. So it's kind of if you look at

it as a book, it's like something else is happening, but

something else is going on and happening all these things.

So in the meanwhile, but we're going down to verse #39 and many

of the Samaritans of that city remember what we just read.

And many of the Samaritans of that city believed on him.

For the sane. Everybody say the saying, the

saying of the woman which testified.

He told me all that ever I did. So when the Samaritans were come

unto him, they besought him that he would tarry with them.

And he abode there two days, and many more believe because of his

own word, and said unto the woman, Now we believe not

because of thy saying, for we have heard him ourselves and

know that that this is indeed the Christ, the Savior of the

world. Amen.

For a little while this morning I'm going to speak to simply on

this yes, I know Jesus. Very simple, yes?

I know Jesus, matter of fact, I'll probably sing a few little

lyrics later. This old song I used to sing

when I was kid. Yes, I know Jesus.

All right, So that's something to look forward to.

I know you're going to stay around just for that little you

just. I mean, I know Friday night they

had like a concert after the thing for Draylen Young, but

this morning it's Paul McGee. OK, so we.

We going to. All right, Amen.

Let's pray right now. Father, we come to you.

We're thankful, Lord Jesus, for this opportunity.

We're thankful, Lord, for this chance, God, we're grateful,

Lord, today that we have gathered together and lift up,

Lord, voices of praise and adoration to you this morning.

I pray God speak to you people. Help us to hear, Lord, what

heaven Lord would want for us today, God, and we will return

thanks, Lord Jesus, when this is said and done and give you glory

for it and the lovely name of Jesus, I pray Amen.

The church say Amen. Amen.

You may be seated this morning in Jesus name.

Go ye into all the world and preach the gospel to every

creature. It's the very mandate that Jesus

gave his disciples before he ascended into the heavens.

It's a mandate not just for the disciples of.

That. Early church age, but it is the

mandate for the Church still yet today.

The Bible declares that those people, those disciples, those

whom the Lord had persuasion upon, became witnesses unto Him,

even unto the uttermost parts of the earth, because Scripture

tells us that God or Christ Jesus is able to save them that

are to the uttermost right. His arm is not short.

He can go the distance to reach humanity that's in need of a

Savior. And so when we read in

Scripture, even in his earthly ministry about Jesus's hands and

Jesus's feet and his voice and what he did while he walked

among humanity. We understand that after his

ascension and for sure after the descending of the Holy Ghost of

the 120 in that upper room and that continuance throughout the

book of Acts that that translates into us be in his

hands and his feet and his voice or the day that we live in.

We are. We are Christ Jesus's

intermediaries, if you will. As Paul said, we are

ambassadors. Everybody say ambassadors.

We are ambassadors for Christ as though God, he said to beseech

you through us. In other words, we, we

understand that in a earthly, in a very human and tangible way

that Christ is no longer among us, but now we are his

ambassadors. We are his representatives.

And so if you're going to hear of him, feel him, be touched by

him, so to speak, in a very tangible way, it's going to

happen through his body, right? It's going to happen through the

church. So he's constantly reaching for

people through your life. I know that may be hard to

understand, but he is reaching, Amen, for people through your

life. Your life lived here upon this

real world. And so the influence of the

disciples on the early church, of course, was immeasurable.

We have so many different things that we can read in Scripture,

Amen, of their impact on the societies and the cities in

which they live. As a matter of fact, the very

last chapter of the book of the Gospel of John Speaking of

Christ and everything that was done, said if everything was

written that that happened, that occurred, you know, the world

could not even contain all of the happenings and the

occurrences that had taken place.

But they carried a message and they carried a mission to what

we would call would be the four corners of the then known world.

These are they that was spoken of in the book of Acts.

These are they which turned their world upside down is what

the writer said. And so the salvation message

that Christ spoke in his this earthly ministry is the message

that they took in their mouth and lips even after he was gone.

The writer to Hebrew says that that message of salvation was

confirmed unto us by them that heard him, that hurt Christ

Jesus. And so the message did not die

whenever Christ was strewn on a cross or whenever he ascended to

the heavens. The message went on and the

witness and the testimony of that message went on.

They echoed what he said, just like we continue to echo what

the apostles spoke of and what Jesus spoke of.

Their voices were sounding as a witness about the same content

that he spoke their lives in a certain way.

They were standards for emulating because they

wholeheartedly followed the Lord.

We we heard some preaching along those lines this week, how the

way that we live our lives and the way that we conduct

ourselves can be essentially a pattern for others to follow and

to emulate as well. Paul even urged the believers in

the book of Corinthians. He said follow me as I follow

Christ or imitate me as I imitate Christ.

That was acceptable. He he wasn't being prideful.

He just knew whom he served Amen.

He was encouraging them, Amen, to live a similar Amen life that

he was living, because a well lived life for the Lord becomes

yes, a pattern for others to follow, a testimony alone, your

testimony, Amen, about what God has done for you and what He can

do for fallen humanity. Just as a stand alone is an

outreach tool Amen that can draw others toward the Lord.

Paul even said in the New Testament Scripture, it said

there in the book of Thessalonians that these people

in the Church of Thessalonica had become followers of the

Apostle Paul and some of the others that were included in

this letter, the Venus and, and Timothy, he says you've become

followers. Paul said of us and of the Lord.

And the indication was clear what Paul was talking about.

Paul followed the Lord and therefore, if these individuals

of this church, then we're following the pattern of Paul.

In essence, he says, then you're following the Lord too because

I'm following him. It's almost like, no, let's make

a single follow line. We got a leader and then

everybody follows the leader. Leader, right?

You don't have to be right behind the leader to be

following the leader because if you're following someone that's

following the leader, you're in essence following the leader.

Do you understand what I'm talking about?

And so Paul's talking to the Sessalonikin church.

He says you're following me. In essence, then you are

following the Lord. He, he even explained to them,

he said whenever you get into this pattern and this mode of

following, he says your very life can become God's message,

your very life and become God's message.

He said in verse the Thessalonians 18IN so much that

we need not even speak anything. He says you don't even have to

put it into words. You don't even have to

articulate it, Amen, with a paragraph, he said, but the life

and the way that you live becomes a testimony, becomes a

witness, Amen. It becomes the message of God in

Word and deed. And he says some people can't

believe upon that just by the way you live your life, just by

the way that you live your life, it can happen.

And so we see this not just a New Testament scripture, this,

this following and this emulating others lives and being

emulating the Lord because they're following the Lord.

We see similar things also in the Old Testament scripture.

And it's described through the imagery of sheep in reality, a

man in the Song of Solomon. I've preached on this particular

verses of Scripture before, but let me share with you them again

today. Song of Solomon one the verse

number 7 and 8. Remember the story of the Song

of Solomon. It's a love story.

I know when I was a teenager, I almost felt like I shouldn't

read that part of the Bible. You know, it's like some of the

things that are involved there. But the Bible says, and there's

a lot of switching around in the Song of Solomon when it's the

man speaking or the woman speaking.

And so the Bible says, tell me this is the lady.

She says, tell me, O thou whom my soul loveth, where thou

feedest, where thou makest thy flock to rest at noon, For why

should I be as one that turneth aside by the flocks of thy

companions? And his response is, if thou

know not, O thou fairest among women, go thy way forth by the

footsteps of the flock and feed thy kids beside the shepherd's

tents. She's telling him, I, I love you

and, and, and I want you and, and, and, and beloved, I don't

want to get sidetracked by the flocks of your companions,

right? I, I, I want to be where you are

and among the flock that is yours.

And, and I know there's other flocks, but I don't want to be,

I don't want to be distracted by them or detracted from, from

your flock. I, I want you and, and, and in

order to know that I need to know your location, I need to

know where you're at. And so that's what I desire.

And, and he basically tells her, if you want me, if you desire me

and you don't know where I feed or you don't know where my

location is, he says, I'll tell you how you can find me.

He says follow the footsteps of the flock that is mine, right?

Follow the footsteps of my flock because my flock's going to be

following me, right? He says my, my sheep know my

voice, Jesus said in the New Testament, and a stranger, they

will not follow. So if you want to find my

location, if you want to find where I'm feeding, then just

track the sheep that are following me.

Just follow the footsteps of those that are following me.

And if you come along that path and if you come along that way,

you're going to end up where I am.

You're going to end up right where I'm at and we're like,

well, thank God. And we do thank God for that.

I guarantee you many of us today to a certain degree, our

products of of those who have went on before us and maybe some

of them are no longer among us that are dead somewhere in the

grave, who are heroes of the faith and the gospel that during

their lives of living, they exemplified Amen a behavior and

they exemplified a resolve for the Lord.

And some of US will forever be indebted to the footsteps of

some of the flock that went before us.

The the Betty Phelps and and and and the jewels and and all these

different ones, the Nadine Deomes of the different ones

that went on before us and, and almost brother Fred that if you

wanted to serve God, if you would just follow the footstep

of that of that aged old Saint that's been walking this way for

years, then you'll you'll find where he is.

You'll ride where he's at. We're indebted to them because

many of them help lead us to where the shepherd was right.

The Bible says in Hebrews 13 and verse #7 it says remember them

which have the rule over you who have spoken unto you, the word

of God, whose faith follow considering the end of their

conversation, the word conversation.

There isn't necessarily our speech, but consider the end of

their manner of life, right? He says follow their faith,

right? Not not just their belief, but

that that that set of dogmas and doctrines follow their faith.

And when you consider how things turned out for them in the end,

at the closure of their life, follow desiring the same

expected in that day. Gods, we read in John chapter #4

I know you didn't think I was coming to my text, but whenever

we read in John chapter #4 there is a woman, of course, that has

had a divine intersection at a whale.

Jesus said that I must need to go through Samaria during a time

in which Jews didn't usually have any dealings with

Samaritans. And this woman knows that.

She brings that up in their conversation.

But he gets there. He's sitting at the whale.

He is waiting for this divine intersection.

She comes to draw water with her water pot.

They begin to have conversation back and forth.

He tells her about living water. She tells him he don't have

anything to draw with. He he.

She's talking about something very physical and he's talking

about something very spiritual until finally there's a

convergence of the two and she realized that there's something

more here than him talking about drawing water from a literal

well. Amen.

He's talked to her how he could put a well in her that would

spring up Amen out of her soul and out of her spirit.

He begins to talk to her about her past.

He begins to talk to her about where her feet presently were.

He told her to call your husband and she says I don't have

husband. He said you're rightly said you

have now you've had five husbands so and so forth.

And whenever they have this initial engagement, Amen.

She does with the Lord. It's almost as though strangers

are meeting at the well, she she she doesn't have a whole lot of

Intel, if you will, about this man that she is meeting there.

But through the conversation, when he begins to tell her, I

know you're past. Yes, I know you've had five

husbands and one you're with now and I know all of that.

The Bible says she begins to switch her her mindset a little

bit. Amen.

And now she says, Sir, art art thou a prophet, right.

A little revelation is coming into her life.

This, this is not just some stranger that happens to be at

the well, the time that I'm drawing water, which was a a a a

an unknown or uncertain hour wasn't regular.

Amen. Time frame.

This isn't just a happenstance, Sir.

Art thou a prophet? And they've continued to have

conversation and he begins to speak to her about the things of

God and how there would come an hour Amen, when the Father would

seek of those that worship him in spirit and in truth.

And and she would speak to him saying, Hey, I, I know some

things too. I I know that all things will be

well. And I know that whenever Messiah

comes, who is called Christ, that he will tell us all things.

But that Jesus that that began to be a stranger to her, said I

am the Christ. The one that you say, you know,

everything will happen whenever I am that Messiah and things

begin to change here a little bit.

He's not just a stranger. He's not just a prophet.

Now, the revelation that he's the one that a generation has

been looking for, longing for, He's the one that the prophet

Isaiah and Jeremiah and Daniel have prophesied about.

He's the Messiah, He's the Christ.

He's the one. And based upon this great

interaction with what she now knows to be the Messiah, this

this indelible print that this is left on her life, she does as

most do after an experience like that with the Lord, she became a

witness. For the Lord.

She left that experience. It was in our text and she

returned to her city and she began testifying of a man to

them who told me everything that I had ever done, the Christ.

She even echoes the Christ and the success of her witness and

the success of her example of saying come see can be seen in

that the Bible says that many believed what she said.

So I'm staying over here, man. I'm applauding sister Samaritan

woman. I don't know her name.

I'm applauding her. She's had, she's had this divine

intersection with God. It's impacted her life so

greatly. She's went around and told

others about it, not just told them, but said, come see, she,

she's told them about how, hey, he knows everything that I ever

did and yet he still stayed around to have the conversation.

Man, I applaud her for that. She she said he was a stranger

when we met, but he was the Messiah by the time I was gone.

Applaud her for her testimony. I applaud her for a witness.

Here's a lady that's laying down a pattern.

Now for others. She's laying down some

footsteps. She's laying down some words

that others can follow. But there's something else that

happens here in the Scripture because the Bible says they

didn't just believe her words and follow her steps.

The Bible says evidently they went to meet him and the Bible

says they besought him and they desired him and asked him, will

you abide here for a couple of days?

Why? They wanted to know him like she

knew him. They wanted to question him like

she had questioned him. They wanted him to be more than

a stranger to them. They someone say man.

Someone say glory. It's beneficial to the beloved

of the Song of Solomon to follow the footsteps of the flock and

find the location of her beloved.

But folks, what we need, though, is also a moment where the

Shepherd gets to know us by name.

I don't want to live a second handed experience with the Lord

and say that's that. That's that man that knows the

Samaritan, that knows Jesus. I, I don't want this big old

branch, if you will, of, of trying to tie me back to the

Lord about the ones that know him first hand and intimately.

No, I want him to know Paul McGee by Paul Mcgee's name, not

just based upon the relationship that Fred McGee has or the

relationship that Bishop has. I want just hold on.

I need a relationship with God that's more than a relationship

by proxy or more than a relationship that's that's just

a relationship that's mere association with somebody else

that knows him. I want to know Him.

Look, they could and they did. The Samaritans of the city

believed in him because of what the Samaritan woman had said.

The scripture clearly says that, but.

We need a relationship that exceeds and surpasses just

somebody else's interaction with him.

Tell me your testimony and I may believe because of your personal

testimony. Hear me, but I what a testimony,

a personal testimony as well. Look now these people, what they

are needing is the same declaration that the apostle

Paul gave us in Scripture. He said very emphatically one

place in Scripture in the book of Timothy, he says, I know whom

I have believed. He says I know.

He doesn't just say, hey man, I know, hey man, whom?

The apostle? Hustles believe.

He didn't just say I know who Matthew believes or or I know

who Peter believes. To know.

He says I know whom I believe. In other words, this is

something I've gotten introduced, I've intermingled,

I've had my own divine intersection.

This isn't second hand knowledge.

This isn't some cursory knowledge.

I know him. And so those Samaritans told the

woman said, we believe because of your testimony.

When we started, when we went on our search, when we began

walking, we were walking because we were following your

footsteps. We were walking because we were

following your pattern. We were following because we

heard the words that you spoke and we believed what you had to

say. Hey, man, we went because we

knew you and we thought it was trustworthy.

But our experience with God cannot be vicarious, meaning

just living it through the life of somebody else.

Notice in verse #42 of our Scripture that we read even with

verse 41 and many more believe because of his own word and

verse 42 and said into the woman, that's the Samaritan

woman. Now we believe not because.

Of thy saying for we have heard him our selves, he is the

Christ, he is the Messiah just as you said he was.

He is the Savior of the world because I know him for my

selves. There is a vast difference in

him just being called Savior or Bishop Savior or pastor Savior

or so and so Savior. He needs to become your or

Savior. I don't want to just believe

because of what they say or because what they preach.

I want an experience. I must know him for my yeah,

yeah, yeah. There's got to be a transition.

There's got to be a transition from believing in coming because

someone else did so or invited, Amen.

And coming because you have somehow ignited a relationship

with him. I know him.

They said we believe him not because you're saying that that

was a good initial step, but we believe because we heard him

with our own ears. We've experienced him with our

own life. You ready for my?

Concert. That little song that I sang

when I was a kid was Yes I know Jesus.

Yes I know Jesus. Yes I know Jesus for myself.

He woke me up this morning, started me on my way, keeps me

on my journey, keeps me day by day.

Yes I know Jesus. Yes I know Jesus.

Yes, I know Jesus for myself. Yes, he'll do just what he says.

Yes, just what he says. I don't have to ask anybody

else. I meant Jesus for myself.

Yes, I know. Do you hear me?

I don't have to ask my neighbor. I don't have to ask an elder, a

Deacon born. I don't have to ask a Sunday

school teacher. I don't have to ask another St.

I know him for. Amen.

I appreciate. I think it's tremendous.

I should there, there should be reverence and respect and all of

that with leadership and authority in churches.

That's great and wonderful. That's good.

It's not because those people are any different than those

that are setting the Pew. They're just positioned

differently, right? The watchman's position in such

a place where he can see further than those that are on the

ground. He's a human just like they are.

He's just positioned differently.

I. Understand all that?

But one of the. Tragedies of the Church of

Corinth was this. They were caught up in

ambassador worship. Oh, yeah.

That's the reason why we read in Scripture.

There's conflict and there's controversy because one is

saying I'm of a Paul, I'm of a Paulus, I'm a Cephas.

They follow some footsteps and all of that is great.

I'm not preaching against that. That is important.

That's a good start. Say that again.

That's a good start. But.

The footsteps should lead us to Him and should encounter then a

relationship with Him. There's not anything wrong with

all that. Thank God for the witnesses and

the rulers and the leaders and the Paul and the cephasis and

all that in our lives. But the result and it's all said

and done is that we need to be left in the end following Him.

There's kingdoms being built in the world today that center

around men, but they're not centered around God.

You've told me, please listen to me today.

You've heard me say this as a pastor, I'm going to say it

again. I appreciate everybody's loyalty

to me. But if in this life all you've

ever came is to the place of being loyal to me and not loyal

to God, I have failed you. Because if you just come to

church, because I'm being loyal to pastor.

You hear me? If you just come to church

because you're being loyal to pastor, you just clap your hands

because I do it when pastor says so.

Or you just pay your tithe because, well, that's what

pastor. No, no, no, no.

No, that that's good maybe to start, but somewhere along the

line you got to switch to don't get him and don't put me on a

pedestal because I'll fall off and then you'll fall with me.

No, you need to get your eyes on the Lord, get your eyes on

Christ, get a relationship with Him, because no matter then

who's serving in that office, you'll be able to go along with

Jesus just the same because you know Him.

For yourself, many are shocked. Many are shocked by the Old

Testament story of King Saul that sought out a witch of

endure, the Bible says. And the Saint Saul's the one who

prohibited such activity of soothsayers and witches in the

land of Israel, and yet he goes against his own decree, and he

seeks out a witch of indoor when that activity have been perhaps

prohibited by him in Israel. Listen to Pastor this morning,

though. This wasn't so much about Saul

consulting a witch as it was Saul consulting Samuel.

The witch was a means to a desired end that Saul wanted to

speak to the prophet Samuel, who was now deceased and dead.

Don't note a couple of phrases in First Samuel 2815 and 16.

I'm just going to read a couple of phrases from me.

I think we got them up there. But you show verse #15.

There's a phrase in there that that that Samuel has been

summoned, if you will, from the dead by this witch is his spirit

has. And there's a conversation and

Samuel basically says, here's Saul, I have called thee, that

thou mayest make known unto me what I should do.

This is all words. He says, I've had you summoned.

I've had you brought up so that you could tell me he he's on the

cusp of another tremendous battle with the Philistines is

about ready to happen. He's nervous.

He's anxious about what's going on, what should be done.

He says I've I've called out to you that I might know what I

should do and if verse 16 there's a question there that

that Samuel basically re retorts back to Saul.

He says whereforth them doest thou ask of me?

In other words, you know what Saul's saying or Samuel's saying

2S S we could get him confused. What what Samuel's saying he's

saying. Why are you asking me?

I'm dead. What?

Why are you consulting me about all of this?

Someone's saying, hey, man, what Samuel really is doing with that

question? Why are you consulting me?

So he's really revealing something to solve that the

Bible has already laid out for us.

We understand through the rain and the kingship of Saul.

The Bible tells us in Chronicles that he did not inquire of the

Lord. He did not, He did not ask of

the Lord. He did not investigate what

God's idea was on the matter. David even concurred in his

reign, Amen. He came after Saul, reigning his

king, and he told the people of Israel, he said, we're going to

go back and we're going to get the ark of the covenant and

we're going to get it back in Jerusalem.

We're going to to celebrate it, he said.

Because we did not inquire of the ark all the days of soul.

In other words, it would have already been back home if we had

somebody that interacted with his presence.

We had already had it back home had it been a different person.

But he never inquired of the presence of God.

Someone came in. So Saul in his days didn't

inquire of the Lord. He didn't inquire of the ark of

God. And he asked Samuel then what

should I do in this manner? Brought him up from the dead.

What should I do in this matter? Why are you doing that, Saul?

I'll tell you why Saul's doing that.

Because Saul depended more on Samuel to tell him what to do.

Then he depended on God from the very beginning, whenever Saul's

father's donkeys were lost and he went on the trip with his

servant searching for the donkeys for three days, you know

where they ended up talking to Samuel, and Samuel told them

where the lost donkeys were. We read later that after he had

sinned and not taken all of Amalek and destruction, and the

Kingdom was stripped from him, according to Samuel, you know

what he wants to worship, but he grabs a hold of Samuel and says,

turn now with me and worship. He could not.

He was dependent. He thought he needed Samuel's

presence even to work, Samuel's presence even to worship.

And so in all of his life and these decisions, he followed the

footsteps of the flock, but he never got a real relationship

with the shepherd. Hey, man.

And so now at this point of his life, he's anxious, he's

concerned, and he's going by a means that he even discounted in

Israel, Amen, To get Samuel summon because he needed to hear

again from the one that he had depended upon through his life.

What's God's will? What should I do?

How should I act? Where should I go?

What should I say? Everybody doing OK.

See, that's what I love about Daniel 3, when it tells the

story of Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego and the fiery furnace

and them not bowing and bending. In that whole chapter.

Many of the other chapters we see in conjunction with them a

Daniel who is like a leader, a pastor almost to them.

But in chapter 3, we don't hear no word about Daniel.

But they were still able to make choices not to bow, not to bend,

because they weren't just following the footsteps of a

man. They had identified a

relationship with God. They knew him for their self.

So he says, I'm going to bring this up.

I need to know. I need to know what to do, where

to go, how, how to react. We see a New Testament

illustration of this is saying you've read the story, I'm going

to read it to you today. But in essence, the whole

debacle of the seven sons of Sceva trying to cast out an

unclean spirit really boiled down to this.

They didn't know Christ for themselves.

Let's read it Acts 19 and verse 13.

Then certain of the Vagabond Jews exorcist took upon them to

call over them that had evil spirits.

The name of the Lord Jesus saying, we adjure you by Jesus.

Look at this. Here's the steps they're

following whom Paul preacheth. There were seven sons of one

skiva, a Jew and chief of the priests, which did so.

And the evil spirits look at it now, answered and said, Jesus I

know and Paul I know, but who are ye?

And the man in whom the evil spirits was leaped on them and

overcame them, and prevailed against them, so that they fled

out of the house naked and wounded.

Just a few chapters earlier in Acts 16, we read how Paul and

Silas were were eventually taken and put in stocks and bonds in

the innermost prison at midnight.

They sang praises and prayed unto God.

But prior to that, for several days, the scripture illustrates

that there have been a a damsel following them and saying things

like, well, these are the men of the most high gods speaking all

these things. She was a woman, a damsel that

had a spirit of divination. She.

Brought money unto those who quote UN quote.

Owned her because of her antics and ways.

Paul came to a place that he became wearied, Amen, with her

following and her antics until he finally turned around her in

the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, Amen.

Cast that unclean spirit of divination out of that damsel.

And So what do we have here? We have a pattern laid out for

the sons of Skiba following footsteps, and that's good in

the beginning, but here they are.

They may have been Privy to this, they might have thought we

can follow in this, but that evil spirit, after they said, we

adjure you by Jesus, whom Paul preacheth he meant, they turned

back around and told him clearly, I know Jesus and I know

Paul, but who are you? What's that say?

Tell me if you want to have the same recognition.

In hell as in heaven, you got to know him for yourself.

You can't have a secondary knowledge of him.

You can't have a third or fourth branch tree knowledge of him.

If you want hell to know you have authority and you have a

power. You need to know him for your

listen. Is.

Everybody doing OK. We come, sometimes we

frustrated. I just don't understand.

Devil fight, fight, fight, fight, fight.

Me all the time. I go to church every Sunday.

I listen to preaching. Fight, fight, fight, fight.

Yes, but are you just following somebody else's pattern or are

you following him? Have you said you hear me right

now? The Bible says that the devil

believes in one God and even trembles.

I love when you get into that genealogy thing, you know?

You related? Yeah.

Oh, I'm the third cousin twice removed on the mother's side.

You know, that's great. That's a relative.

I mean, it is, but it's not immediate family.

Yeah. Yeah.

Well, they know him for myself, Spear said.

I know. I know everybody you're talking

about. I know everybody I know.

I know who you're talking. About but who are you?

I mean, I know you've seen what Paul did, but Paul, Paul had a

moment in his life. He he followed, right?

He had his moment in in Arabia and he was under 2 diligent.

He had a time. He had all this these times, he

said, but somewhere along the line there was this thing,

right? Just like the Samaritans.

We're not just, we're not just here now because of you're

saying. We're here because we've heard

him for ourselves. So we, we lack authority and we

lack, we lack identity, if you will, for hell unless we know

him for our self, because we can't just be mimicking the

pattern. We, we need a manifestation of

his power. Form is powerless unless it

leads to him. You'll stand with me today.

The ultimate responsibility and purpose any leader example that

we have in the church life is that they would point us to Him.

Do we? We, we, we got to be careful.

Whenever leaders and rulers only point to themselves and they

become modern postmodern saviors, they need to be

pointing, pointing to him. They're there to help guide us,

not replace him. And again, I'm all about that

respect stuff, and that that is important.

But if we elevate all the ambassadors above the one they

represent, we risk living a secondhanded faith that's

vulnerable and that's incomplete.

And So what the Samaritan's woman story challenges me and is

this is that I need to examine my faith.

I don't want to be, you should not want to be living on a

borrowed light of someone else's testimony.

Have you experienced the power? Do you know him for yourself?

Following the footsteps of the flog is not in lieu of an

intimate walk with the shepherd. Somebody here today might leave

and say, and I love passion. I love Bishop, I love all them,

but I want to I want to hear him interact with him for myself and

be able to declare indeed, he is the Savior of the world.

So as we bow our heads in this place, I'm urging you, I'm

challenging you examine your faith this morning.

We we are here in the last month of the year as we about ready to

tiptoe into a new year. It's a good time to be very self

reflective in the closing of this year and examine your

faith. Examine your faith.

Does your relationship with God? Is that based upon primarily the

relationship of others and their relationship with him or do you

need to deepen your connection with him?

Huh. We need to examine ourselves

here today. Seek Him in prayer.

Spend intentional time with him. Be a witness.

Yes, like the Samaritan woman. Share.

Share what He has done for you. Let your testimony be a guide,

but don't let it become an image or an idol that others come to

worship. They need to know Him.

We got to honor the footsteps of those that we follow, but we got

to fall in love with the shepherd.

I appreciate every mentor I've had and still have in my life

and examples of God, Amen. But my ultimate purpose is I

must know Him. I must know Him.

And so the journey starts here today.

If you've not had that type of depth of relationship, that

journey needs to start here today.

Amen. It's got to lead to Him.

Amen. We have the voices of all the

witnesses throughout the history of the Bible and the church.

We we have the, the, the, the Samuels and we have the

Samaritan woman. But the end go is not their

words, but it's knowing him, the word of life.

Guide us, yes, instruct this, yes, but it's not to replace

him. I must know him for myself.

I must seek Him because He alone is the Savior.

Of the world, I'm calling this as a church today to be in

relationship with him. I'm glad you have friends and

I'm glad you have relationships. I'm glad you have people that

encourage you in the church and help bump you a little bit when

you need that bump. But Sir, ma'am, you need a

relationship with the Lord because you got to ask yourself

the question, where would you be of that person that you're so

chummy with and that you're patterning it well?

What happens if something happens to them?

Will you still have a relationship with God, or will

you be so mortally wounded that you won't because you were just

following footsteps and never had a relationship with the

Shepherd? You need a relationship with the

Shepherd today. I love you, I appreciate you.

I thank you for your loyalty, your faithfulness to me

individually, but I don't want to have failed you if you never

become loyal and faithful to God.

That's where your focus needs to be.

These altars are open today. I want to know Him for myself.

I want him to know my name. Yeah.

I want him to know my voice. He's heard it enough that it's

like that's Paul McGee right there.

That that that's Paul McGee right there.

Come on, Sir. Ma'am.

Oh, I know. It's the first.

I wish I could have gave you the Christmas series this morning,

but we need to know him. Hell trembles over people that

have personal primary relationships with the Lord.

They understand that power. They're subjected to people that

are in relationship. Hey, man with the Lord,

Hallelujah. Will you call out to him right

now? Begin to pray all over this

place. He's not a stranger.

He's more than a prophet. He's the savior of the world.

Testify about it, witness about it.

Have people start on journeys, but please point them directly

to Calvary. Point them directly.

Amen, the gospel. Point them directly to the Lord.

He's the only one that can save. He's the only one that can

redeem. He's the only one that can make.

Oh, he's the truly the only one that can give a grace and a

mercy that is immeasurable. Only him.

I'm glad I know him for myself. Hallelujah, Brother Mason.

If you can lead us right now in the song, we want to be mindful

of the Lord. Mindful of the Lord, we're not

just following now Samaritan woman because of you're saying

we've heard him for ourselves. We believe because we've heard

him, we've experienced him for ourselves.

I have desired.