Sermon

John 4:39-42 | Bringing others to Christ

City Post Fort Worth Podcast

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  1. Hey, what's up? City Post Church.

  2. Good morning. Happy Sunday, man.

  3. I hope you guys are doing good. And it is weird not being in

  4. church all together, but it's all good, man.

  5. We're coming to you, man. I, I feel like there's a, a word

  6. from the Lord that I want to share with you even in this

  7. situation. You know, one of the things

  8. we've been talking about is this whole idea of pursuing Christ.

  9. We know that in 2026, we want to run after Jesus.

  10. We want to pursue Jesus and everything that we do.

  11. And we've talked about what that looks like and some of the

  12. things that we're going to have to remove in order to pursue

  13. Christ and everything that we do in life.

  14. But one of the things I want to address today is how do I bring

  15. others with me to pursue Christ? How do I bring people into the

  16. gospel? How do I bring people into a

  17. relationship with Jesus? I think that there's a great

  18. blueprint and a great example of what that looks like and is

  19. found in John chapter 4. So go ahead and get your Bible,

    John 4 chapter mention

  20. get your app, whatever that looks like, iPad, get your Bible

  21. out. I really want you to see this.

  22. This is really important. So I'll give you a few seconds.

  23. I'm just going to talk for like a few seconds so you can go

  24. ahead and get your stuff out. So in John chapter 4, it's it's

    John 4 chapter mention

  25. a story we're all very familiar with.

  26. Talk about all the time. Jesus and his disciples go

  27. through Samaria. So instead of going around like

  28. most of the Jews and the Jewish leaders would do, because

  29. Samaria is like one of those areas like they want to stay

  30. away from because of all these religious implications and

  31. cultural contexts. But, but I just want to focus on

  32. this one component of the story, which is found at the end.

  33. Jesus encounters this woman at the well.

  34. The woman at the well is there at noon, which is not what

  35. everybody else is there. Why?

  36. She's an outcast. She must have done some things.

  37. People don't like her. So Jesus is there, she's there,

  38. He talks with her, He has an encounter with her.

  39. She finds that Jesus is the Messiah.

  40. So Jesus forgives her. He says that he's the living

  41. water she drinks of the living water.

  42. She'll never thirst again. She's like, give me that.

  43. And then he's like, awesome man, go tell your husband to come.

  44. So Jesus digs a little bit deeper.

  45. What he discovers is that she has some really deep hurt, some

  46. deep wounds of where her sin is coming out of.

  47. But at the end of their conversation, she realizes that

  48. Jesus is the true Messiah, and she puts her faith in the

  49. Messiah. Then she goes to tell everybody,

  50. and I think that she lays out a blueprint for us of what it

  51. looks like to tell people about Christ and the Messiah that we

  52. have, and then invite them to come and pursue Jesus with you

  53. as well. What does that look like?

  54. A lot of us kind of get nervous about witnessing or sharing our

  55. faith. We might think that we don't

  56. have everything that we need. I don't know enough.

  57. I don't know enough memory verses, I don't know what to

  58. say. I stutter, I get nervous.

  59. You know, what if I get rejected?

  60. What if, what if, what if, what if, What if?

  61. We just followed this lady's example and see what the

  62. Scripture tells us. I think it's going to encourage

  63. us to go bring others to Jesus. So I want to start in verse 39.

  64. So we're just going to look at the end of the text because I

  65. think that there's some things that we could see here that we

  66. can learn. And then I want to encourage us

  67. to go out and do likewise. So check this out.

  68. Look at verse. I'm going to read verse 39

  69. through 42. This is what the word of the

  70. Lord has to say in John chapter 4.

    John 4 chapter mention

  71. So it says that many Samaritans from that town believed in Him

  72. because of the woman's testimony.

  73. He told me all that I ever did. So when the Samaritans came to

  74. him, they asked him to stay with them, and he stayed with them

  75. two days. And many more believe because of

  76. his word they said to the woman. It is no longer because of what

  77. you said that we believe, for we have heard for ourselves and we

  78. know that this is indeed the Savior of the world.

  79. Man, isn't that amazing? And then it says after two days

  80. they departed and they kept going to Galilee.

  81. So check this out. What do we know from this lady

  82. man? How can we as believers in

  83. Christ bring people into a relationship with God?

  84. Was she a theologian? She was at the town.

  85. She was just trying to get some water.

  86. Was she a pretty strong Christian?

  87. No, she's a new convert. She just met the Lord and she

  88. was forgiven. Did she take evangelism class?

  89. No, she just showed up. She had an encounter with

  90. Christ. So what can you and I do to lead

  91. people to Jesus? Check it out.

  92. Taking notes. Awesome #1 if not, it's going to

  93. be right here on the screen. Check it out.

  94. Number one, your testimony matters, right?

  95. So the first thing I want to encourage you to do is share

  96. your testimony. Share your story of how you came

  97. to know Christ with people. It says in verse 39 that many

  98. Samaritans from the town believed in Him because of the

  99. woman's testimony. Oh, I love that.

  100. And what was her testimony? The thing that she was speaking

  101. about, the thing that blew her mind, the thing that helped her

  102. come into belief was this. He told me everything I ever

  103. did. That's only something God can

  104. do. That's only something the

  105. Messiah could do. But it goes deeper than that

  106. because it's not like a fortune telling thing, like I see the

  107. future in your life. No, what she's getting at is the

  108. forgiveness of sin. That means that she knew that

  109. Jesus knew the depths of her heart, and that's only something

  110. that God can do. So Jesus doesn't only know her

  111. heart, but he's able to forgive the depths of her heart.

  112. I love this because your testimony, your story, whatever

  113. you have to say to people about you coming to faith in Christ,

  114. the Holy Spirit uses that in whatever situation you're at.

  115. You could be at dinner, you could be a Christmas, you could

  116. be at home right now with family members that don't know the Lord

  117. and you haven't even shared your testimony yet or your story yet.

  118. The great thing is because the Holy Spirit uses it, the Holy

  119. Spirit's job is to point everybody to Christ, point

  120. everybody to Jesus. So what does she do?

  121. She says I testify. I shared my testimony.

  122. I love this. Listen, all of us do this

  123. unknowingly. Have you ever been to a good

  124. restaurant? I have you ever notice when you

  125. talk about a good place to go eat, you tend to kind of share a

  126. little bit about it, right? Like whenever I go to Tex de

  127. Brazil, man, love that place. All you can eat steak, awesome

  128. buffet. Hopefully I get to go there

  129. soon, right? It's an awesome place to go eat

  130. when you go and you sit down and you tell somebody.

  131. So the first time I went Tex de Brazil, my mind was blown.

  132. I'm like, this is crazy. They come and give you all the

  133. steak you want. And I remember telling my

  134. friends about it and I was like, bro, you go and you sit down and

  135. you flip a car from red to green, right?

  136. And this and man, the pecanas thebomb.com like the the flavor

  137. is so strong and now you can throw a little chimichurri sauce

  138. on it. It just enhances the flavor.

  139. It's like an explosion of flavors in your mouth.

  140. And then you got to get the all ground potatoes.

  141. You go to the salad bar, it's awesome.

  142. But the the potatoes with the cheese, oh, it's so creamy, so

  143. good. And then they got flying for

  144. dessert. It's not on the menu.

  145. You got to ask for it, right? It's the closest thing to my

  146. mama's flying. So it is off the chain.

  147. And then the filet mignon, my goodness, it is so tender.

  148. And they just walk around with it.

  149. They got one wrapped with bacon as well.

  150. And it is so good. And listen, even better, bro,

  151. you got to bring your wife. You got to bring your

  152. girlfriend. This is a great date spot.

  153. You want to impress somebody, you got to bring them to this

  154. place. If you go on a date, man, and

  155. then you leave feeling so full. You got the meat sweats.

  156. You just want to chug water the rest of the night.

  157. Oh man, it is one of the most satisfying experiences you'll

  158. ever get to an awesome restaurant.

  159. You should go now. I rambled for about 2 1/2

  160. minutes about a restaurant. What did I just do for you?

  161. What I did was I shared my lived experience with that restaurant

  162. with you. I gave you my testimony of what

  163. I experienced there. You see, that's how it works.

  164. Testimony. I told you what I experienced

  165. first hand. And you know what's even

  166. crazier? It involved all my senses.

  167. Touch, taste, see, feel my experiences, everything.

  168. And then like it left me feeling a certain way.

  169. And listen. When you testify about your

  170. relationship with Jesus, it is the same way.

  171. You could just talk about what your life looked like before

  172. Jesus and what it looks like after Jesus.

  173. You're like, man, I met Jesus. I don't know what happened, but

  174. man, I got to experience his grace and oh man, it was so

  175. strong and overwhelming. And his forgiveness, man, I

  176. didn't know I could feel so free.

  177. Haven't slept that good in a long time after I experienced

  178. his forgiveness. Oh, and his love is so rich and

  179. tender. Oh man, it is overwhelming.

  180. You've got to try it. You know what?

  181. Better yet, this is a great person to bring your loved ones

  182. to your wife, your girlfriend, man.

  183. You should bring people that you love and care about.

  184. You will be so good and so fulfilled.

  185. You will be satisfied. I love this man.

  186. This is like Psalm 34. You know what your testimony.

  187. If you have a hard time remembering testimony,

  188. testimony, taste and see, right? So my testimony is that I've

  189. tasted, and I've seen that the Lord is good.

  190. So my testimony is taste and see.

  191. So think about that. My testimony is taste and see.

  192. Let me give you a few passages and then we'll be out of here,

  193. man. Revelation 12/11 They triumphed

  194. over him by the blood of the Lamb, and by the word of their

  195. testimony. They did not love their lives so

  196. as to shrink from death. Psalms 1072.

  197. That the redeemed of the Lord tell their story, their

  198. testimony, those who redeemed from the hand of the foe.

  199. Acts 420. For we cannot help speaking

  200. about what we have seen and heard.

  201. And Psalms 34 I've tasted and seen the goodness of God Number

  202. one, how do I tell people share your testimony.

  203. How do I share my testimony? Share what you have tasted and

  204. what you've seen because of God's goodness in your life.

  205. Easy thing to do. What does she do next?

  206. Look at the next verse what she does or what they do.

  207. So not just share your testimony, but they urged him to

  208. stay. When you share Jesus with people

  209. that they might not understand or they might be a little bit

  210. hesitant, but the greatest thing that you can do is urge Him to

  211. ask to meet Christ. Look what it says.

  212. So when the Samaritans came to him, they urged him to stay with

  213. them. And you know what he did?

  214. He stayed with them for two days.

  215. Isn't that amazing? I love the the the word urge

  216. here, strong exhortation. It's like a pleading, A

  217. passionate call to action, often from leaders or sometimes God,

  218. as we see in Paul's letters and epistles.

  219. Urge people to cry out to Jesus. Because what we know from the

  220. Scriptures is that when you cry out to Jesus, when you go

  221. looking for Him, you will find Him.

  222. Let's say it this way, Urgency over formality.

  223. Promote urgency over formality. As you're talking to people,

  224. forget the formality piece. Listen, you don't need a

  225. specific prayers to come to Christ.

  226. You don't need to light candles. You don't need to know what you

  227. say is the right thing. You don't even have to assert

  228. like I would even say this, come to Jesus as you are.

  229. You don't have to clean yourself up before you come to Him, but

  230. if you tell people, listen, go to him, seek him, cry out to his

  231. name, yell at him, whatever, listen, you go looking for

  232. Jesus, you're going to find a Messiah and he's going to show

  233. up. What does it say here?

  234. It says that he stayed. Most Jewish leaders are trying

  235. to get in and out of Samaria. Jesus shows up, and because they

  236. urged him to stay, he stayed. That's exactly what Jesus does.

  237. Listen, if you call out to Jesus, you will find him and he

  238. will meet with you. Jeremiah 29 verses 12 and

    Jeremiah 29:12

  239. through 14. Then you will call on me and

  240. come and pray to me, and I will listen to you.

  241. You will seek me and find me. When you seek me with all your

  242. heart, I will be found by you, declares the Lord, and bring you

  243. back from captivity. Jesus even says, man, if you

  244. knock and I will open the door, anything you ask of me in my

  245. name I will grant it for you. You don't have to have it all

  246. together and neither do people who are looking or curious.

  247. Stop messing with the formalities.

  248. Urge them to call on the name of the Lord and they will be saved

  249. and Jesus will meet with them and listen.

  250. Just like Samaria, how nobody wants to go there and stay

  251. there, Jesus does. And I think sometimes in our

  252. life there's places inside of our hearts where we don't want

  253. to go and we don't want to. We think that people don't want

  254. to go there. But you know who does?

  255. Jesus does. And Jesus, if you invite him, he

  256. will go there and he will stay there until you get what you

  257. need. And listen, the goal is that

  258. when you have an encounter with Christ, when somebody has an

  259. encounter in Christ, you tell them, be urgent, call on the

  260. name of the Lord, and you will be saved.

  261. Jesus will meet you when you call on him.

  262. And then the last thing here, what else does she use?

  263. His word? So testimony, just share what

  264. you know. Share what you did it.

  265. Share what Jesus did with you. And like my friend said, if you

  266. know a lot, you share a lot. If you know a little, you share

  267. a little. But just share, Share your

  268. story, share testimony #2 encourage people to seek Him,

  269. call on Him, even if they don't believe.

  270. It's OK. Hey, test it, try it.

  271. Call out to Jesus, explore Jesus, ask questions about

  272. Jesus. Which leads me to the next one.

  273. They had His word. How do we know how we bring

  274. people to Jesus? Just use His word.

  275. That's it. Look at it, look at the next

  276. verse. He stayed with them for two days

  277. and look at verse 41. And because of his words, many

  278. more, or yeah, many more became believer.

  279. See, it was his words, not the words of the woman.

  280. So the Holy Spirit used her testimony.

  281. But the more people heard his words, more and more people came

  282. to a knowledge and understanding and faith in Jesus Christ.

  283. That's what we want to do. Listen, the Bible says in

  284. Hebrews 4 verse 12, for the word of God is alive and active,

    Hebrews 4:12

  285. sharper than any double edged sword.

  286. It penetrates even the divine, dividing soul and spirit, joints

  287. and marrow. It judges the thoughts and

  288. attitudes of the heart. Sometimes we might not know all

  289. the answers, but the one thing that we can do is just quote

  290. scripture. Just read the scriptures, just

  291. read the scriptures to people and let God through the Holy

  292. Spirit do the work with His word because the Bible says that the

  293. word of God is living and active and it pierces the soul.

  294. Isaiah 4840 verse 8 The grass Withers and the flowers fade is

  295. but the word of the Lord will last forever.

  296. David tells us in Psalms for his word, for thy word is a lamp

  297. until my feet and a light until my path.

  298. And of course, the verse that all of us know from not ashamed

  299. of the gospel for it is the power of God for all those who

  300. believe first to the Jew, then to the Gentile.

  301. When you read God's word, it's it's comes alive.

  302. So people didn't just come to know him because of what he said

  303. because of God's word, like over guess Jesus talking.

  304. That's exactly what the Bible is.

  305. Listen, this is Jesus talking. This is the breath of God, and

  306. God is reaching out to us. And sometimes we might not know

  307. what to say, and that's OK, but just read, just say it.

  308. And we also have His name as well.

  309. Not just His word, but His name has power, man.

  310. Acts 412 For there is no other name under heaven and earth in

  311. which we find salvation, only the name of Jesus.

  312. You don't know what to do. Read His word.

  313. You don't want to know what to say, say the name of Jesus

  314. because that's the only name people could be.

  315. I'm saved by. I might not know how to explain

  316. what happened to me, but what I do know is that I met Jesus and

  317. it changed my life forever and now I follow him and listen.

  318. At the end, like verse 42 said, they said to the woman, we no

  319. longer believe just because of what you said.

  320. Now we have heard for ourselves and we know that this man really

  321. is the Savior of the world. Her testimony, their urgency,

  322. His word caused them not to make a decision and what they decided

  323. was to follow the Messiah and listen as you are faithful to

  324. living your life through prayer, rely on Holy Spirit.

  325. People are going to come to faith in Jesus and we want to

  326. lead them. How do you do it?

  327. This lady gives us a really good pathways.

  328. I love you guys. Stay safe and we'll pray for us

  329. and make sure you talk about it, answer the questions and we will

  330. see you on Sunday. So Jesus, thank you for your

  331. faithfulness. Lord, protect everyone, keep us

  332. safe, and God help us to be bold as we share the gospel and the

  333. good news of Jesus with people and let them come to faith in

  334. Him. In Jesus name we pray all these

  335. things. Amen.

  336. Amen. I love you guys and we'll see

  337. you soon.