1 00:00:03,720 --> 00:00:07,120 Well, good morning. Yeah, we are in the book of 2 00:00:07,120 --> 00:00:08,360 John. You can grab your Bible if you 3 00:00:08,360 --> 00:00:10,440 have it with you. We're going to be in John 4 00:00:10,440 --> 00:00:15,160 chapter 3. At first we are doing a series 5 00:00:15,160 --> 00:00:18,240 called Encounters with Jesus and today we're actually going to 6 00:00:18,240 --> 00:00:22,960 look at 2 encounters, the one in chapter 3, the other in chapter 7 00:00:22,960 --> 00:00:25,160 4. And the reason why I want to put 8 00:00:25,160 --> 00:00:27,400 the two together is I really believe that John actually put 9 00:00:27,400 --> 00:00:30,520 them back-to-back for a reason. Because there are two people on 10 00:00:30,520 --> 00:00:34,640 the polar opposite side of the spiritual spectrum, for a lack 11 00:00:34,640 --> 00:00:36,840 of a better word. On one side you've got 12 00:00:36,840 --> 00:00:40,560 Nicodemus, the Pharisee. On the other side you've got the 13 00:00:40,560 --> 00:00:44,000 Samaritan woman and all the baggage that comes with being a 14 00:00:44,000 --> 00:00:47,240 Samaritan. So you've got Nicodemus. 15 00:00:48,040 --> 00:00:51,800 He's at the height of his religious reputation. 16 00:00:52,400 --> 00:00:55,680 He's the kind of guy that has a familiar Bible for every day of 17 00:00:55,680 --> 00:00:59,040 the week, and he brings it with him to church. 18 00:00:59,560 --> 00:01:03,400 He calls your brother. He says Amen, randomly, Amen. 19 00:01:07,840 --> 00:01:10,720 And he's not sure if he's going to come back next week because 20 00:01:10,720 --> 00:01:14,880 he's heard that Oscar comes to this church, and he's a little 21 00:01:14,880 --> 00:01:18,760 bit disturbed by the fact that we were baptizing black people. 22 00:01:20,160 --> 00:01:21,440 How are we going there this morning? 23 00:01:23,720 --> 00:01:26,920 On the outside, he looks squeaky clean, but on the inside, he's a 24 00:01:26,920 --> 00:01:28,920 whitewashed tomb, as Jesus would call him. 25 00:01:30,400 --> 00:01:32,720 Yeah. And Giovanni, I mean, how many 26 00:01:32,720 --> 00:01:34,920 more tattoos, for reals? You know? 27 00:01:35,680 --> 00:01:37,680 Like, seriously, you're running out of face space. 28 00:01:37,680 --> 00:01:43,280 Gee. And his religious lens does not 29 00:01:43,280 --> 00:01:46,680 allow him to witness one of the most beautiful moments that I've 30 00:01:46,680 --> 00:01:49,400 seen in many, many years, Giovanni baptizing. 31 00:01:49,640 --> 00:01:53,400 And you just know the evidence of grace that you see there. 32 00:01:53,400 --> 00:01:57,640 But Nicodemus doesn't see that. He sees Nico coming to church in 33 00:01:57,640 --> 00:02:02,240 shorts. And then on the other side of 34 00:02:02,240 --> 00:02:04,720 the spectrum, we're going to be looking at the Samaritan woman 35 00:02:06,280 --> 00:02:10,479 baggage. She's been married and divorced 36 00:02:11,800 --> 00:02:17,760 and married again and divorced and married again and again and 37 00:02:17,760 --> 00:02:19,760 again and divorced again and again and again. 38 00:02:19,760 --> 00:02:22,360 And now she's living with a man who doesn't even think she's 39 00:02:22,360 --> 00:02:25,120 worth the commitment. And we're going to take a look 40 00:02:25,120 --> 00:02:28,000 at this because both of these have an encounter with the grace 41 00:02:28,000 --> 00:02:29,960 of God and they are never the same again. 42 00:02:29,960 --> 00:02:32,520 And it doesn't matter where you fall on the spectrum, if you 43 00:02:32,520 --> 00:02:35,600 have an encounter with Jesus this morning, you will never be 44 00:02:35,600 --> 00:02:37,440 the same again. So let's take a look. 45 00:02:37,440 --> 00:02:39,080 Let's jump straight in for Tom's sake. 46 00:02:39,320 --> 00:02:41,560 John chapter 3 and verse one says the following. 47 00:02:43,920 --> 00:02:46,920 Now there was a Pharisee, a man named Nicodemus, who was a 48 00:02:46,920 --> 00:02:49,200 member of the Jewish ruling council. 49 00:02:49,680 --> 00:02:51,920 If you're new to scripture, if you're new to this idea of a 50 00:02:51,920 --> 00:02:53,480 Pharisee, just some back story there. 51 00:02:53,680 --> 00:02:56,160 The Pharisees actually started with noble intent. 52 00:02:56,480 --> 00:03:00,920 So during the time of of Israel's history, they were 53 00:03:01,800 --> 00:03:04,320 pretty much sacked. They were taken into exile. 54 00:03:04,720 --> 00:03:07,960 And while they were now among foreign people in foreign lands, 55 00:03:07,960 --> 00:03:10,720 the Pharisees arose to basically look after the people of God. 56 00:03:11,360 --> 00:03:14,080 They had three mandates. The first one was they were to 57 00:03:14,080 --> 00:03:17,040 establish synagogues so that the people scattered across the 58 00:03:17,040 --> 00:03:18,920 empire could meet and hang with one another. 59 00:03:18,920 --> 00:03:22,080 And you know, the brethren could dwell together and then they had 60 00:03:22,080 --> 00:03:24,480 to look after scriptures. This is actually where the the 61 00:03:24,480 --> 00:03:27,240 Hebrew Old Testament was put together was because of the 62 00:03:27,240 --> 00:03:29,920 Pharisees gathering the scriptures of God and then the 63 00:03:30,320 --> 00:03:34,040 the all social norms like how do we live outside of our lands 64 00:03:34,080 --> 00:03:37,320 among Barbarians and pagans? And so this is what the 65 00:03:37,320 --> 00:03:40,280 Pharisees were meant to do. The problem was that there were 66 00:03:40,280 --> 00:03:45,040 self appointed policemen and you add flesh to that mandate and 67 00:03:45,040 --> 00:03:49,880 you get very religious, very self-righteous, performance 68 00:03:49,880 --> 00:03:55,440 driven, externally beautiful, internally dead dry bones, all 69 00:03:55,440 --> 00:03:58,000 about academics and what you know and the scriptures. 70 00:03:58,000 --> 00:04:01,320 You can quote all the information you need, but none 71 00:04:01,320 --> 00:04:05,400 of the transformation. And so here we have dear old 72 00:04:05,400 --> 00:04:10,320 Nicodemus who comes to Jesus and up until then that has been the 73 00:04:10,320 --> 00:04:12,760 win. And then he encounters Jesus 74 00:04:12,760 --> 00:04:16,360 says no one has ever spoken and taught like Jesus speaks and 75 00:04:16,360 --> 00:04:18,480 teachers. So verse 2, Nicodemus came to 76 00:04:18,480 --> 00:04:21,600 Jesus at night and said, Rabbi, we know that you're a teacher 77 00:04:21,600 --> 00:04:24,640 who has come from God for no one could perform the signs you're 78 00:04:24,640 --> 00:04:28,080 doing if God were not with him. He's blowing like proper smoke 79 00:04:28,080 --> 00:04:29,880 right here. And Jesus just cuts to the 80 00:04:29,880 --> 00:04:32,480 chase. He says in verse 3 very truly. 81 00:04:32,480 --> 00:04:34,880 I tell you now that's that's some of your Bibles might say 82 00:04:35,200 --> 00:04:39,280 truly, truly or verily, verily, it's it's it actually was what a 83 00:04:39,280 --> 00:04:41,360 judge would say when he hit that gavel. 84 00:04:41,520 --> 00:04:44,440 Hear ye. Yeah, yeah, he says very truly. 85 00:04:44,440 --> 00:04:49,440 I tell you, no one can see the Kingdom of God unless you are 86 00:04:49,440 --> 00:04:53,200 born again. And Nicodemus starts to twitch 87 00:04:53,600 --> 00:04:57,400 because I mean, he has you. You give me a law, I will keep 88 00:04:57,400 --> 00:05:00,320 it. You give me a heel, I will take 89 00:05:00,320 --> 00:05:03,640 charge of it. But now you're telling me that 90 00:05:03,640 --> 00:05:06,680 none of that counts for nothing and actually you're telling me I 91 00:05:06,680 --> 00:05:09,160 need to do something absolutely impossible, be born again. 92 00:05:09,320 --> 00:05:11,800 How? He says, how can someone be born 93 00:05:11,800 --> 00:05:14,640 when they're old? Surely not Lord, he's saying, 94 00:05:15,200 --> 00:05:18,440 actually highlighted in my Bible the amount of exclamation Marks 95 00:05:18,440 --> 00:05:21,240 and question marks with Nicodemus and Jesus that I like. 96 00:05:21,240 --> 00:05:23,320 There's more there than everything running up in the 97 00:05:23,320 --> 00:05:26,600 book of John till now. He's spinning out and Jesus 98 00:05:26,600 --> 00:05:28,960 doesn't let him breathe. He dives straight for the 99 00:05:28,960 --> 00:05:31,760 jugular. He says in verse 5, very truly, 100 00:05:31,760 --> 00:05:35,280 hear ye, hear ye. I tell you, no one can enter the 101 00:05:35,280 --> 00:05:38,280 Kingdom of God unless they are born of water and the spirit. 102 00:05:38,280 --> 00:05:41,000 No one. He's like, can we not just talk 103 00:05:41,000 --> 00:05:43,600 about my pedigree? You have to come to my office. 104 00:05:43,600 --> 00:05:45,040 I want to show you my certificates. 105 00:05:45,440 --> 00:05:47,400 You know, I've done the book of John. 106 00:05:47,800 --> 00:05:49,960 Yeah. And I've highlighted every time 107 00:05:49,960 --> 00:05:52,280 it says believe. And I've written every time 108 00:05:52,280 --> 00:05:54,240 Stephen speaks about the original Greek on this. 109 00:05:55,040 --> 00:05:58,720 Surely that counts for summing. Surely if I outweigh all my bad 110 00:05:58,720 --> 00:06:00,760 with a whole bunch of good, that counts for summing. 111 00:06:00,760 --> 00:06:07,120 And Jesus is no, no one, no one. So verse 9 he says, how can this 112 00:06:07,120 --> 00:06:09,200 be? I don't know if you've ever had 113 00:06:09,200 --> 00:06:13,400 this moment, an encounter with Jesus or a situation where, you 114 00:06:13,400 --> 00:06:16,440 know, you've climbed up that run only to get to the top and you 115 00:06:16,440 --> 00:06:18,920 realize that the ladder was leaning against the wrong wall. 116 00:06:19,960 --> 00:06:22,080 Nicodemus is having this experience. 117 00:06:22,120 --> 00:06:24,640 I've had this experience, and it came through the silly little 118 00:06:24,640 --> 00:06:27,240 book. Sandy wanted references. 119 00:06:27,240 --> 00:06:31,040 This is the reference, Sandy. Tim Keller's The Prodigal God. 120 00:06:32,080 --> 00:06:34,480 So I was told it's a great book. It's about the prodigal son. 121 00:06:34,480 --> 00:06:38,040 And I'm thinking like, yeah, I mean, I'm surely most of us 122 00:06:38,040 --> 00:06:39,840 could probably quoted verbatim, right? 123 00:06:40,280 --> 00:06:43,080 You know, You know about him wanting his inheritance, wishing 124 00:06:43,080 --> 00:06:46,960 his father dead, squandering it all on licentious living, 125 00:06:46,960 --> 00:06:49,480 prostitutes, gambling, drugs and alcohol. 126 00:06:50,160 --> 00:06:54,360 We know that, right? But this book lends a whole lot 127 00:06:54,360 --> 00:06:58,120 more on the older brother, which I didn't even know was in the 128 00:06:58,120 --> 00:07:00,760 story. There's, I mean, he has issues 129 00:07:00,760 --> 00:07:02,360 and you know, the father goes out to him. 130 00:07:02,920 --> 00:07:05,440 For me, the prodigal son is all about the prodigal younger 131 00:07:05,440 --> 00:07:08,800 brother. And so reading through this and 132 00:07:08,840 --> 00:07:10,160 he says the following. He says this. 133 00:07:10,160 --> 00:07:14,760 He says the older brother is in a more spiritually desperate 134 00:07:14,760 --> 00:07:16,400 condition than the younger brother. 135 00:07:16,680 --> 00:07:20,000 Now I'm going like Nicodemus. Surely not, Lord, how can this 136 00:07:20,000 --> 00:07:22,600 be? The older brother is in a more 137 00:07:22,600 --> 00:07:26,760 spiritually precarious condition than the younger brother. 138 00:07:26,760 --> 00:07:30,120 I mean, the younger brother has spent money on prostitutes. 139 00:07:30,120 --> 00:07:34,120 The older brother like, like we grew up saying in our house, no 140 00:07:34,120 --> 00:07:37,880 alcohol has crossed these lips. That's the older brother. 141 00:07:38,560 --> 00:07:40,640 The prostitutes have crossed his lips. 142 00:07:40,880 --> 00:07:42,840 How could he be in a better spiritual condition? 143 00:07:43,040 --> 00:07:45,520 And he says, well, notice right at the very end, the younger 144 00:07:45,520 --> 00:07:48,880 brother comes back. He returns, he's given the robe 145 00:07:48,880 --> 00:07:52,320 of righteousness, the signet ring in the shoes of a son, and 146 00:07:52,320 --> 00:07:54,720 he's taken in the older brothers left outside. 147 00:07:55,960 --> 00:07:58,000 I'm going. Surely not Lord. 148 00:07:58,960 --> 00:08:02,600 And I started seeing the older brother in me, joyless, duty 149 00:08:02,600 --> 00:08:09,520 driven, constantly comparing cynical, critical, always the 150 00:08:09,520 --> 00:08:11,600 negative bubbling to the surface. 151 00:08:11,920 --> 00:08:14,200 And then he said this. And this is where it absolutely 152 00:08:14,200 --> 00:08:16,880 finished me. He said he never missed a life 153 00:08:16,880 --> 00:08:18,320 group. He never missed a Sunday. 154 00:08:18,320 --> 00:08:21,120 He was doing everything he had to do. 155 00:08:22,760 --> 00:08:26,840 But the one thing he lets was the assurance of the father's 156 00:08:26,840 --> 00:08:30,120 love for him, because he didn't have that. 157 00:08:30,120 --> 00:08:34,720 It drove everything he tried desperately to perform enough to 158 00:08:34,760 --> 00:08:38,320 earn the father's love. And this is what Nicodemus is 159 00:08:38,320 --> 00:08:41,200 busy doing. This is what the religious and 160 00:08:41,200 --> 00:08:44,960 the legalistic are trying to do. We're trying to earn the love of 161 00:08:44,960 --> 00:08:46,600 the Father. We don't actually realize that 162 00:08:46,600 --> 00:08:50,760 it's given as a gift. I heard a crazy story a few 163 00:08:50,760 --> 00:08:51,720 years ago. I don't know if you know the 164 00:08:51,720 --> 00:08:55,560 lady, Lisa Harper, she's in the 60s now. 165 00:08:55,560 --> 00:08:58,800 She's still single. And I heard the story when she 166 00:08:58,800 --> 00:09:01,240 was in her mid 30s and she was struggling, struggling with 167 00:09:01,240 --> 00:09:06,200 being signal, single signal. My caffeine just wore out right 168 00:09:06,200 --> 00:09:08,880 there. So she was struggling. 169 00:09:08,880 --> 00:09:11,320 And then there was this guy who seemed to show some interest. 170 00:09:11,680 --> 00:09:14,440 And so she couldn't believe it when she got for the very first 171 00:09:14,440 --> 00:09:15,680 time. She was deep in her 30s. 172 00:09:15,920 --> 00:09:20,360 She got her first invitation to a Valentine's evening dinner and 173 00:09:20,360 --> 00:09:22,200 he arrived here. She said she realized he was a 174 00:09:22,200 --> 00:09:25,920 little nervous as well because she had taken 1/2 day to bath 175 00:09:25,920 --> 00:09:28,640 and almond milk. And you know the MUR of the 176 00:09:28,640 --> 00:09:32,760 hills of Everest, you know, but she got he got to the door. 177 00:09:32,760 --> 00:09:35,520 She's like good smelling through the door, his aftershave, you 178 00:09:35,520 --> 00:09:37,800 know. So the his two very nervous mid 179 00:09:37,800 --> 00:09:39,880 30 somethings are going out for a dates. 180 00:09:39,880 --> 00:09:42,680 It's her very first one. He's he's been around a bit, but 181 00:09:42,680 --> 00:09:45,120 she's but still single. And she's quite surprised that 182 00:09:45,120 --> 00:09:47,760 he's still single because he was quite cute apparently. 183 00:09:49,080 --> 00:09:52,040 And so they have a 7 course meal and between the meal and 184 00:09:52,120 --> 00:09:56,560 desserts, the maid to D arrives with this beautiful white box 185 00:09:56,560 --> 00:09:59,520 with a red ribbon and puts it on the table in front of her. 186 00:09:59,880 --> 00:10:03,440 And on it's just underneath the ribbon is emblazoned on this 187 00:10:03,440 --> 00:10:07,200 box, the word Grace. And the word grace is 188 00:10:07,200 --> 00:10:11,720 referencing a store, a boutique store that she's only ever 189 00:10:11,720 --> 00:10:15,440 walked past because like the cheap stuff in there starts at 190 00:10:15,440 --> 00:10:18,920 $1000. And he has gotten her something 191 00:10:18,920 --> 00:10:23,960 from Grace and she can't wait because she knows he's the 1:00 192 00:10:24,920 --> 00:10:26,400 ask me. I'm saying yes. 193 00:10:28,120 --> 00:10:30,520 So he says, open it. And so she takes the ribbon off 194 00:10:30,520 --> 00:10:35,720 and she opens the lid and it's this beautiful black number and 195 00:10:35,720 --> 00:10:38,640 she's thinking like, get on your knee, boy, get on your knee. 196 00:10:38,640 --> 00:10:41,040 I'm yours. But she does what every woman 197 00:10:41,040 --> 00:10:46,480 does, quickly glances at the size and realizes this dress 198 00:10:46,760 --> 00:10:52,320 like 3 or 4 sizes too small. In her words, ladies. 199 00:10:52,320 --> 00:10:56,760 In her words. She says she is built a little 200 00:10:56,760 --> 00:11:04,280 low to the ground, her words, and the dress was designed for a 201 00:11:04,280 --> 00:11:08,360 giraffe, built in condescension here. 202 00:11:10,920 --> 00:11:13,200 But it's OK. It's brand new, still in the 203 00:11:13,200 --> 00:11:14,960 box. She can take it back on on the 204 00:11:14,960 --> 00:11:18,880 Monday and get it exchanged. And he says to her, I'd love to 205 00:11:18,880 --> 00:11:23,640 see you wearing it. And so she is like, hey, ask me 206 00:11:23,640 --> 00:11:25,960 out on another date and I'll do you the pleasure. 207 00:11:26,920 --> 00:11:28,840 No, no, no, no, go put it on now. 208 00:11:28,840 --> 00:11:32,360 Not really. You don't know. 209 00:11:32,400 --> 00:11:36,480 Please go. So Ben, she's like, I'm sorry, 210 00:11:36,480 --> 00:11:41,960 it's it's a size too small. And he leans over and he takes 211 00:11:41,960 --> 00:11:45,680 her hand. He says, my girlie, I know 212 00:11:45,680 --> 00:11:47,200 exactly what size dress you wear. 213 00:11:48,360 --> 00:11:51,080 I had someone go into the the change rooms while we were 214 00:11:51,080 --> 00:11:54,320 playing tennis and just make sure I got the size right. 215 00:11:54,880 --> 00:11:59,640 And he says this and I'm reading his words, says here's the deal. 216 00:12:00,600 --> 00:12:06,400 If you lose enough weight to fit into that dress, I'm convinced 217 00:12:06,400 --> 00:12:07,680 that I could fall in love with you. 218 00:12:15,580 --> 00:12:20,820 Ladies, be still. I want to. 219 00:12:20,820 --> 00:12:25,940 I want to talk to the dads. Imagine some cowboy says that to 220 00:12:25,940 --> 00:12:28,460 your daughter. I don't know about you. 221 00:12:28,740 --> 00:12:30,420 I'm from the bluff. I'm not scared to go back to 222 00:12:30,420 --> 00:12:32,140 prison. You know what I'm saying? 223 00:12:33,040 --> 00:12:36,160 It's like, let me. Yeah, me and Giovanni, I was 224 00:12:36,160 --> 00:12:39,360 like, we are coming for you, cowboy. 225 00:12:44,830 --> 00:12:46,950 Put a pin in this and hear me out. 226 00:12:49,150 --> 00:12:53,870 When you and I approach our Heavenly Father the way 227 00:12:53,870 --> 00:13:00,670 Nicodemus approached Jesus and scriptures and God, when you and 228 00:13:00,670 --> 00:13:05,320 I are religious and legalistic and when we behave like a 229 00:13:05,320 --> 00:13:10,120 Pharisee, what we are saying, God, you are just like that 230 00:13:10,120 --> 00:13:16,120 chop. We are saying that the God who 231 00:13:16,120 --> 00:13:20,320 gave his Son to die on our behalf is like that cowboy who 232 00:13:20,320 --> 00:13:24,040 leans across the table and says to you, if you just lose enough 233 00:13:24,040 --> 00:13:29,800 weight, if you just do enough, if you just quit smoking, if you 234 00:13:29,800 --> 00:13:34,760 just put your your divorce back together again, if you just 235 00:13:34,760 --> 00:13:38,040 confess to the I'm convinced I could love you. 236 00:13:40,600 --> 00:13:45,800 Have you ever seen a more blasphemous approach to the love 237 00:13:45,800 --> 00:13:49,160 of God? Yet we take it. 238 00:13:49,160 --> 00:13:52,840 We adopt it, we live by it, we celebrate it, and we expect 239 00:13:52,840 --> 00:13:59,720 others to conform to it. Forget about grace, man, God is 240 00:13:59,720 --> 00:14:05,080 an absolute chop and so because of that, because that is in the 241 00:14:05,080 --> 00:14:08,360 heart of Nicodemus, because it is in our heart, Jesus reaches 242 00:14:08,360 --> 00:14:12,240 for the upper shelf, top shelf scripture and he lays on him. 243 00:14:12,240 --> 00:14:18,680 John 316 for God so loves you Nicodemus. 244 00:14:20,720 --> 00:14:22,880 He doesn't say fits into the dress. 245 00:14:23,520 --> 00:14:27,960 He gives his one and only son that whoever behaves, whoever 246 00:14:28,440 --> 00:14:32,240 believes so not perish, but have eternal life. 247 00:14:32,240 --> 00:14:35,520 For God didn't send his son to the world to condemn the world 248 00:14:36,040 --> 00:14:39,400 one size smaller. Do harder, try harder, get 249 00:14:39,400 --> 00:14:42,520 better, clean up your ACT. No, God didn't send his son to 250 00:14:42,520 --> 00:14:46,360 the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through 251 00:14:46,360 --> 00:14:50,440 him. And here stands Nicodemus and 252 00:14:50,440 --> 00:14:56,680 says, how can that be? But he receives it because right 253 00:14:56,680 --> 00:14:59,720 at the very end in Jordan chapter 19, we come across 254 00:14:59,720 --> 00:15:01,640 Nicodemus. This guy came to Jesus in the 255 00:15:01,640 --> 00:15:04,440 night. Again, Joseph of Arimathea and 256 00:15:04,440 --> 00:15:08,800 Nicodemus go to pilot and ask, since Jesus has been crucified 257 00:15:08,800 --> 00:15:10,280 also, they can take the body down. 258 00:15:10,920 --> 00:15:13,480 They embalm him. He spends 10s of thousands of 259 00:15:13,480 --> 00:15:17,760 rands on embalming Jesus and putting him in the tomb while 260 00:15:17,760 --> 00:15:20,040 the rest of the disciples have hit for the hills. 261 00:15:21,480 --> 00:15:25,440 He's standing there in broad daylight saying this man, this 262 00:15:25,440 --> 00:15:29,320 man came from me. I put my trust in him. 263 00:15:29,480 --> 00:15:32,960 And Nicodemus stands as the poster child of an older brother 264 00:15:33,480 --> 00:15:37,240 who slowly learns grace because an encounter with Jesus will 265 00:15:37,240 --> 00:15:41,160 never leave you the same. And good old John doesn't give 266 00:15:41,160 --> 00:15:44,400 us a second to breathe before we jump straight into John chapter 267 00:15:44,400 --> 00:15:46,120 4. And we come face to face with 268 00:15:46,120 --> 00:15:50,000 the Samaritan woman. Now it actually says there that 269 00:15:50,000 --> 00:15:54,760 Jesus had to go his he had to go through Samaria, which is 270 00:15:54,760 --> 00:15:57,480 something that Jews didn't do. Actually the I think it's the 271 00:15:57,480 --> 00:16:02,320 King James Version said like he had must must needs. 272 00:16:02,600 --> 00:16:06,680 There's like my sight has hit on going through Samaria. 273 00:16:06,680 --> 00:16:09,640 And if you understand the back story to Samaria, you realize 274 00:16:09,640 --> 00:16:15,200 well that that is so shocking when funny enough, at the same 275 00:16:15,200 --> 00:16:17,960 time when the Pharisees were being formed in the history of 276 00:16:17,960 --> 00:16:21,480 Israel, the Samaritans were also coming forth in the history of 277 00:16:21,480 --> 00:16:25,280 Israel. Apparently when the northern 278 00:16:25,280 --> 00:16:28,640 kingdoms descended on Israel and wiped them out to the Assyrians 279 00:16:28,640 --> 00:16:32,080 were particularly cruel and wicked and they had a specific 280 00:16:32,080 --> 00:16:34,760 cruelty that they kept for the Jews. 281 00:16:35,080 --> 00:16:38,160 See, they knew that the Jews were really precious on their 282 00:16:38,160 --> 00:16:41,640 lineage, you know, son of so and so begat so and so begat. 283 00:16:41,640 --> 00:16:44,280 They wanted to make sure that their lineage was perfectly 284 00:16:44,280 --> 00:16:46,080 pure. Scripture told them they weren't 285 00:16:46,080 --> 00:16:49,800 to marry outside of the people of God. 286 00:16:49,960 --> 00:16:52,760 And actually, it was best if you could keep it within your tribe. 287 00:16:53,200 --> 00:16:55,680 So what the Assyrians did was they grabbed a whole bunch of 288 00:16:55,680 --> 00:16:58,960 ladies, took them home, raped them. 289 00:16:58,960 --> 00:17:05,160 And when they fell pregnant, they sent them back, saw their 290 00:17:05,160 --> 00:17:07,680 husbands killed, maybe the children killed, taken out of 291 00:17:07,680 --> 00:17:13,079 their land, abused, and then come back pregnant with a Syrian 292 00:17:13,079 --> 00:17:17,280 offspring. And so the Jews, because they 293 00:17:17,280 --> 00:17:20,560 were Nicodemus through and through, disassociated 294 00:17:20,560 --> 00:17:23,520 themselves from them and they became the Samaritans. 295 00:17:24,480 --> 00:17:27,400 So now they, this is the most abused, rejected. 296 00:17:27,520 --> 00:17:30,160 How can God let this happen to us people? 297 00:17:30,440 --> 00:17:34,040 And in the middle of that is one who particularly is rejected by 298 00:17:34,040 --> 00:17:37,400 those who are rejected. A Samaritan woman, married and 299 00:17:37,400 --> 00:17:39,840 divorced five times. She seems to be chewed up and 300 00:17:39,840 --> 00:17:43,560 spat out by her own rejected people, rejected twice over. 301 00:17:43,560 --> 00:17:47,000 And that is the reason why she's at this well, going to the well 302 00:17:47,360 --> 00:17:49,760 in broad daylight, because that's when no one else should 303 00:17:49,760 --> 00:17:51,600 be there. But instead she comes face to 304 00:17:51,600 --> 00:17:54,880 face with a man who says she is the very one I must find. 305 00:17:56,120 --> 00:17:59,840 Verse 7, when a Samaritan woman came to draw water, Jesus just 306 00:17:59,840 --> 00:18:02,200 happened to be at the well. He said to her, will you give me 307 00:18:02,200 --> 00:18:04,480 a drink? His disciples had gone into the 308 00:18:04,480 --> 00:18:07,560 town to buy food. The Samaritan woman said to him, 309 00:18:07,560 --> 00:18:10,240 you are a Jew and I'm a Samaritan woman. 310 00:18:10,240 --> 00:18:13,880 How can you ask me for a drink? For Jews do not associate with 311 00:18:13,880 --> 00:18:16,080 Samaritans the understatement of Scripture. 312 00:18:17,800 --> 00:18:20,560 So for time's sake, there's a lot going on here. 313 00:18:21,920 --> 00:18:25,400 She says, you're a Jew. I'm a Samaritan. 314 00:18:25,600 --> 00:18:27,000 Yeah, we shouldn't even be talking. 315 00:18:27,000 --> 00:18:28,600 And you asking me from for water. 316 00:18:29,240 --> 00:18:32,480 And Jesus says, if you knew who I was, you would ask me for 317 00:18:32,480 --> 00:18:34,520 water and I'd give you a living water and you'd never be thirsty 318 00:18:34,520 --> 00:18:36,720 again. And she's like, you don't even 319 00:18:36,720 --> 00:18:39,400 have a bucket. And Jesus says, can you please 320 00:18:39,400 --> 00:18:41,960 go and get your husband? And she says, I don't have a 321 00:18:41,960 --> 00:18:43,960 husband. And Jesus says, I know you've 322 00:18:43,960 --> 00:18:45,560 had five. The one you're staying with is 323 00:18:45,560 --> 00:18:47,880 not your husband. And she says, Oh well done, 324 00:18:47,880 --> 00:18:51,920 you're a prophet. So but one day a Messiah will 325 00:18:51,920 --> 00:18:53,880 come and he'll put you in your place. 326 00:18:53,880 --> 00:18:59,040 And Jesus says in verse 26, I the one speaking to you am he? 327 00:19:02,640 --> 00:19:06,360 Verse 28 immediately leaving her water jar, the woman went back 328 00:19:06,360 --> 00:19:09,120 to the town and said to the people, come see a man who's 329 00:19:09,120 --> 00:19:12,120 told me everything I ever did. Could this be the Messiah? 330 00:19:12,400 --> 00:19:15,520 Verse 39 Many of the Samaritans from that town believed in him 331 00:19:15,520 --> 00:19:17,000 because of the woman's testimony. 332 00:19:17,080 --> 00:19:18,520 He told me everything I'd ever did. 333 00:19:18,760 --> 00:19:21,960 So when the Samaritan came to him, they urged him to stay with 334 00:19:21,960 --> 00:19:24,720 him and he stayed 2 days. And because of his words, many 335 00:19:24,720 --> 00:19:27,520 more became believers. And I'm looking at, I'm 336 00:19:27,520 --> 00:19:32,280 thinking, how does this happen? How do you go from rare to 337 00:19:32,280 --> 00:19:33,560 revival? Yeah. 338 00:19:33,960 --> 00:19:35,880 I'm like, what's the secret sauce? 339 00:19:37,480 --> 00:19:38,760 Maybe you live with them. Wow. 340 00:19:39,920 --> 00:19:42,040 I'm going. There must be something here. 341 00:19:42,200 --> 00:19:45,480 She is properly feisty, understandably so. 342 00:19:45,920 --> 00:19:49,640 She's just assuming she's going to be judged, looked down on. 343 00:19:50,320 --> 00:19:53,600 And then he knows about the five men and the 6th one who doesn't 344 00:19:53,600 --> 00:19:55,840 even think she's worth committing to. 345 00:19:56,640 --> 00:20:02,600 She's defensive who properly prickly and then revival and so 346 00:20:02,600 --> 00:20:05,480 I looked and I read and I looked and I read and I think this is 347 00:20:05,480 --> 00:20:07,840 what's happening. Take a look at verse 27. 348 00:20:08,640 --> 00:20:11,960 Just then as disciples returned and were surprised to find him 349 00:20:12,440 --> 00:20:15,480 talking with a woman. I underlined talking in my Bible 350 00:20:15,600 --> 00:20:21,080 because my NIV in chapter 3 it says Jesus teaches Nicodemus and 351 00:20:21,080 --> 00:20:24,520 in chapter 4 the heading is Jesus talks to Samaritan. 352 00:20:24,760 --> 00:20:27,760 So I think they've seen what I'm seeing here talking. 353 00:20:28,160 --> 00:20:33,520 And then in verse 41 it says, and because of His words, many 354 00:20:33,520 --> 00:20:38,800 more became believers talking words. 355 00:20:39,920 --> 00:20:43,280 Remember how John 11 begins? In the beginning was the Word, 356 00:20:43,280 --> 00:20:46,920 and the Word was God, and the Word was with God. 357 00:20:47,400 --> 00:20:54,760 Here is this living Word of God sowing His Word into that dark 358 00:20:54,760 --> 00:20:58,720 wilderness of His soul. I don't know if you know this, 359 00:20:58,720 --> 00:21:06,680 but in 2011 with Fukushima, with a nuclear disaster, if you see 360 00:21:06,680 --> 00:21:08,840 an aerial view, which they apparently have blocked Google 361 00:21:08,840 --> 00:21:11,600 from, you just see this wilderness around because 362 00:21:11,600 --> 00:21:14,160 nothing grows where there's nuclear fallout. 363 00:21:14,720 --> 00:21:17,800 And the way that they are sorting that out is with these 364 00:21:17,800 --> 00:21:20,960 guys. They're called Chequers 6060, 365 00:21:20,960 --> 00:21:23,640 and they had a whole bunch of sunflower seeds delivered. 366 00:21:24,720 --> 00:21:27,520 It's called phyto remediation. And so they've got a whole bunch 367 00:21:27,960 --> 00:21:32,640 of sunflower seeds that they are just sowing in this nuclear 368 00:21:32,840 --> 00:21:37,040 wasteland around Fukushima. Because apparently inside these 369 00:21:37,040 --> 00:21:39,480 tiny little things that you can't even see on a camera. 370 00:21:39,800 --> 00:21:43,840 But even if I hold it up to my picture inside one of these, God 371 00:21:43,840 --> 00:21:49,640 has created a hyper accumulator. And so they've sown 10,000 of 372 00:21:49,640 --> 00:21:53,840 these seeds around Fukushima in this wasteland that nothing 373 00:21:53,840 --> 00:21:57,600 grows, but the sunflower seeds somehow grows and not only 374 00:21:57,600 --> 00:22:01,720 grows, but it takes the contaminants out of the soil and 375 00:22:01,720 --> 00:22:04,880 stores it in the roots and in the stalk and in the leaves. 376 00:22:05,120 --> 00:22:07,840 And then once it's grown and it's beautiful, you can actually 377 00:22:07,840 --> 00:22:10,920 Google and see the photos, It's just sunflower seeds, sunflowers 378 00:22:11,000 --> 00:22:14,080 all over this barren wilderness. And once they've grown, they 379 00:22:14,080 --> 00:22:18,920 harvest it and they take that nuclear radiation and the all 380 00:22:18,920 --> 00:22:23,400 the whatever isotopes that are inside the plant and they go and 381 00:22:23,560 --> 00:22:25,720 they get rid of it and they plant some more seeds and they 382 00:22:25,720 --> 00:22:28,040 plant some more seeds. And I really believe that this 383 00:22:28,040 --> 00:22:32,040 is what Jesus is doing. He's wading into the wilderness 384 00:22:32,040 --> 00:22:38,480 of her life, sowing seeds and the darkness and the brokenness 385 00:22:38,480 --> 00:22:44,040 of her heart. And as he speaks, it's like that 386 00:22:44,040 --> 00:22:48,560 darkness is drawn out, darkness is drawn A hopelessness, 387 00:22:48,680 --> 00:22:53,920 rejection just drawn out of her. And so if you are anything like 388 00:22:53,920 --> 00:22:56,400 the Samaritan woman this morning, I want to do something 389 00:22:56,400 --> 00:22:59,080 of that today. I want to sow some seeds. 390 00:22:59,720 --> 00:23:02,680 I want to show you what Jesus did and encourage you to do 391 00:23:02,680 --> 00:23:05,560 likewise so that you can have an encounter and allow him to sow 392 00:23:05,720 --> 00:23:07,040 some of those seeds into your heart. 393 00:23:07,320 --> 00:23:10,080 Like one of them that you can use is Romans 55. 394 00:23:10,360 --> 00:23:16,600 It says we're not put to shame. Jesus didn't go to her and we're 395 00:23:16,600 --> 00:23:18,880 not put to shame. Instead, God's love is poured 396 00:23:19,080 --> 00:23:20,960 into our hearts through the Holy Spirit. 397 00:23:21,800 --> 00:23:24,680 Maybe that's the seed that you can sow into your heart, your 398 00:23:24,680 --> 00:23:27,800 heart of shame. God wants to pour out his love 399 00:23:27,800 --> 00:23:29,520 into our hearts through the Holy Spirit. 400 00:23:30,400 --> 00:23:32,640 Maybe you can write it on your mirror. 401 00:23:32,640 --> 00:23:36,280 You can use your wife's lipstick and write it on there. 402 00:23:36,600 --> 00:23:39,040 Actually, I heard Francis Chan talk about this. 403 00:23:39,040 --> 00:23:41,120 I don't know if you know the back story to Francis Chamber. 404 00:23:41,120 --> 00:23:44,240 When he was here recently, he mentioned so when he was born, 405 00:23:44,240 --> 00:23:47,600 his mom died giving birth to him, and his dad utterly 406 00:23:47,600 --> 00:23:50,880 rejected him, hated him for killing his wife. 407 00:23:51,880 --> 00:23:54,440 And so as a young boy, he was kicked out. 408 00:23:54,440 --> 00:23:57,760 He was sent back home, back to his grandparents in China. 409 00:23:57,760 --> 00:23:59,960 And the grandparents were properly elderly. 410 00:23:59,960 --> 00:24:03,280 And so as soon as he got to be of age where he was running 411 00:24:03,560 --> 00:24:07,400 ragged in these tiny little apartments, they sent him to his 412 00:24:07,400 --> 00:24:08,960 aunt. And his aunt wanted nothing to 413 00:24:08,960 --> 00:24:10,400 do with him, sent him back to the father. 414 00:24:10,560 --> 00:24:13,000 And he talks about a moment where his dad has tied him to a 415 00:24:13,000 --> 00:24:15,120 tree. He's gone and broken off the 416 00:24:15,120 --> 00:24:17,800 branch and he's just beating him out of sheer anger and 417 00:24:17,800 --> 00:24:21,440 frustration for Francis Chan. And he says this, He says, how 418 00:24:21,440 --> 00:24:26,360 would you take a man like that, a young man like that, and 419 00:24:26,840 --> 00:24:30,800 impart the life and hope and purposes of God into that life, 420 00:24:30,800 --> 00:24:34,480 into that wilderness? And he says at the age of 15, he 421 00:24:34,480 --> 00:24:39,760 came across this verse. He says that the love God, God's 422 00:24:39,760 --> 00:24:42,240 love is poured into hearts through the Holy Spirit. 423 00:24:42,240 --> 00:24:45,880 But he says this, He said what God did in his heart at the age 424 00:24:45,880 --> 00:24:50,400 of 15, it's still roaring in him at the age of 57. 425 00:24:51,240 --> 00:24:55,920 What God did in the heart of that Samaritan woman at maybe 426 00:24:55,920 --> 00:25:00,080 also 50 is roaring out of Scripture thousands of years 427 00:25:00,080 --> 00:25:02,280 later. Such is the power. 428 00:25:02,440 --> 00:25:04,680 I mean, if you think of sunflower seed is some power. 429 00:25:05,360 --> 00:25:12,800 The living Word of God has the power to set you free, but it 430 00:25:12,800 --> 00:25:18,440 needs planting and watering and tending, allowing the Scripture 431 00:25:18,440 --> 00:25:21,960 to renew your mind, renew your heart, renew your soul. 432 00:25:21,960 --> 00:25:25,080 Here's another who I've been planting lots of this one of 433 00:25:25,080 --> 00:25:27,760 late. Isaiah 53 verse 6 says we all, 434 00:25:27,760 --> 00:25:31,000 like sheep, have gone astray. Each of us has turned to our own 435 00:25:31,000 --> 00:25:33,840 way and the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all. 436 00:25:34,080 --> 00:25:36,800 I came across literally this week, I came across this verse 437 00:25:37,480 --> 00:25:39,880 and the commentator said that word iniquity. 438 00:25:39,880 --> 00:25:43,320 It's a lovely Bible word. You only ever use it at church, 439 00:25:43,760 --> 00:25:47,320 but I'm always assumed iniquity. It's like you know all the bad 440 00:25:47,320 --> 00:25:51,040 stuffs that you've done, but it's more than that. 441 00:25:51,040 --> 00:25:54,160 It's not just the the you know your your past and your shame 442 00:25:54,160 --> 00:25:57,680 and your guilt and everything. Iniquity is this bent and 443 00:25:57,680 --> 00:26:00,440 twisted nature that you will find inside of you. 444 00:26:02,840 --> 00:26:05,120 And you're saying I will take that. 445 00:26:05,120 --> 00:26:08,560 I have taken it and I've nailed it to the cross. 446 00:26:08,680 --> 00:26:12,280 You know that bent and twisted nature that as hard as you try, 447 00:26:12,480 --> 00:26:15,800 you just can't not click on that link. 448 00:26:16,600 --> 00:26:20,200 As hard as you try, you just lose your marbles with your wife 449 00:26:20,200 --> 00:26:24,520 because she just doesn't As hard as you try, it doesn't matter 450 00:26:24,520 --> 00:26:27,400 what self-control or will you put in. 451 00:26:27,680 --> 00:26:31,000 You just can't not go around the mountain again and again. 452 00:26:31,000 --> 00:26:34,040 And God says I will lean and I'll draw that out of you. 453 00:26:34,040 --> 00:26:37,040 And I've nailed it to the cross. And I believe he did this with 454 00:26:37,240 --> 00:26:41,760 the Samaritan woman. She can't but 4 at the knees of 455 00:26:41,760 --> 00:26:45,280 the next weirdo and say yes and get married and get chewed up 456 00:26:45,280 --> 00:26:48,880 and spat out and divorced and and again and again and he leans 457 00:26:48,880 --> 00:26:52,160 and then he just draws out that iniquity and nails it to the 458 00:26:52,160 --> 00:26:56,880 cross and she goes from round to revival because of one word sown 459 00:26:56,880 --> 00:27:02,160 into that soil, one last one leaning into last week. 460 00:27:03,440 --> 00:27:06,240 If you weren't here, this would be seriously out of context. 461 00:27:07,240 --> 00:27:11,680 There is no more wine for those who weren't here. 462 00:27:12,360 --> 00:27:14,200 Car was preaching on that emptiness. 463 00:27:14,400 --> 00:27:17,000 We're just. I just conquer on. 464 00:27:17,080 --> 00:27:23,840 I am done. I'm sure she felt that I am 465 00:27:23,840 --> 00:27:25,880 done. Are you here feeling that just 466 00:27:26,560 --> 00:27:31,600 done? You know recent statistics of 467 00:27:31,600 --> 00:27:34,960 suicidal ideation in South Africa. 468 00:27:35,920 --> 00:27:41,320 I did the maths. It means there are 153 people 469 00:27:41,320 --> 00:27:45,280 here today with suicidal ideation. 470 00:27:48,400 --> 00:27:54,120 South African suicide statistics 133 here today maybe. 471 00:27:54,400 --> 00:27:56,920 Maybe you're in the queue because you just couldn't even 472 00:27:56,920 --> 00:28:00,040 get yourself to come early enough to hang around with all 473 00:28:00,040 --> 00:28:05,800 these Nicodemus tops and you're thinking no one will notice. 474 00:28:07,080 --> 00:28:13,040 I'm done. Jesus wades into that, that 475 00:28:13,040 --> 00:28:19,160 emptiness, that hopelessness. And if you have said show me you 476 00:28:19,160 --> 00:28:23,160 care, this is Jesus showing you he cares. 477 00:28:23,640 --> 00:28:26,080 He's heard you, he's seen you, he's come down. 478 00:28:26,800 --> 00:28:30,560 I'm done. Here's one that you concern to 479 00:28:30,560 --> 00:28:33,440 that soil. Isaiah 44 three says I will pour 480 00:28:33,440 --> 00:28:37,160 water on the thirsty land and streams on the dry ground. 481 00:28:38,200 --> 00:28:41,920 You know, in the late 1940s, there were two elderly ladies in 482 00:28:41,920 --> 00:28:47,960 the Hebrides who had grieved by the spiritual climates of the 483 00:28:47,960 --> 00:28:51,000 area that they lived in. There was no interest in God. 484 00:28:51,400 --> 00:28:53,000 No one was coming to church anymore. 485 00:28:53,240 --> 00:28:56,520 More churches were closing and prisons opening and they'd ever 486 00:28:56,680 --> 00:29:01,240 seen in that area of Scotland. And then they came across this, 487 00:29:01,400 --> 00:29:03,280 this verse. I will pour water on the thirsty 488 00:29:03,280 --> 00:29:04,720 land and streams on the dry ground. 489 00:29:05,040 --> 00:29:08,360 And I said, Lord, if you will do that, we will plant that seed. 490 00:29:08,360 --> 00:29:10,480 And they planted seed after seed after seed. 491 00:29:10,760 --> 00:29:13,360 And it was only about 3 or 4 months later. 492 00:29:13,800 --> 00:29:16,280 I really thought it was years of travail. 493 00:29:16,280 --> 00:29:19,560 But a few months later, God did exactly that. 494 00:29:19,880 --> 00:29:24,640 And the Hebrides was gripped by a revival, the greatest revival 495 00:29:24,640 --> 00:29:28,680 in living memory. Thousands of people getting 496 00:29:28,680 --> 00:29:33,000 saved, churches planted, missionaries sent there was such 497 00:29:33,280 --> 00:29:35,400 the the presence of God was so tangible. 498 00:29:35,400 --> 00:29:38,240 These testimonies where people were fishermen, you know, 499 00:29:38,240 --> 00:29:40,680 fishermen, I mean, they make they make Giovanni look like 500 00:29:41,000 --> 00:29:42,360 like Charles play, you know what I'm saying? 501 00:29:42,360 --> 00:29:44,640 And they're out there. Rover. 502 00:29:45,200 --> 00:29:48,760 Yeah, I won't finish that sentence, you know the ad. 503 00:29:49,440 --> 00:29:52,400 But they're out at sea and they come close to the coast and the 504 00:29:52,400 --> 00:29:56,040 presence of God is so tangible that they make for the coast. 505 00:29:56,040 --> 00:29:58,560 They get go straight into the harbour and they go to the 506 00:29:58,560 --> 00:30:01,000 police station to say I need to confess my sins. 507 00:30:01,000 --> 00:30:03,080 I don't know if there's someone that can just confess my sins 508 00:30:03,320 --> 00:30:08,200 and want to know how to get saved because they prayed, Ah, 509 00:30:08,200 --> 00:30:12,520 pour water on that thirsty land. Pour water on that thirsty land. 510 00:30:12,920 --> 00:30:17,480 And God did it, got rescued and restored and renewed and 511 00:30:17,480 --> 00:30:20,960 redeemed. Doesn't matter how dark the 512 00:30:20,960 --> 00:30:26,200 situation, he wades in and he's plants a seed and he plants a 513 00:30:26,200 --> 00:30:31,960 seed. And so that is what we see with 514 00:30:32,000 --> 00:30:35,360 Jesus dealing. He teaches Nicodemus and he 515 00:30:35,360 --> 00:30:40,560 talks to the Samaritan woman and maybe he needs to teach us with 516 00:30:40,560 --> 00:30:44,080 our self-righteous religious opinionated efforts and 517 00:30:44,080 --> 00:30:47,360 performance teachers. God is not like that. 518 00:30:47,360 --> 00:30:50,640 Or maybe in his gentleness, he needs to just come and talk and 519 00:30:51,960 --> 00:30:55,560 let His word bring hope and light into that dark place. 520 00:30:56,280 --> 00:30:59,360 But whichever side of the spectrum you found or anywhere 521 00:30:59,360 --> 00:31:02,480 in between, I want to give you homework. 522 00:31:05,160 --> 00:31:08,360 And it's simply this. Your homework for this week is 523 00:31:08,360 --> 00:31:11,080 sow the Word into your wilderness. 524 00:31:11,600 --> 00:31:14,600 Sow the Word into your wilderness. 525 00:31:16,960 --> 00:31:19,400 This is a series called Encounters with Jesus. 526 00:31:19,840 --> 00:31:24,320 Jesus is called the Word and sow Encounters with Jesus into your 527 00:31:24,320 --> 00:31:29,520 wilderness. They did a study of 40,000 528 00:31:29,520 --> 00:31:35,440 Christians between the ages of 18 and 80 and they wanted to 529 00:31:35,440 --> 00:31:39,120 know like, I mean, we, we read it, you know, the Bible says God 530 00:31:39,120 --> 00:31:43,080 confirms his word with signs and wonders following really can I, 531 00:31:43,320 --> 00:31:45,920 can I sow some seed and, and trust that God will confirm it 532 00:31:45,920 --> 00:31:48,880 with signs and wonders. And so they did this 533 00:31:49,400 --> 00:31:52,720 unbelievable study, 40,000 people between the ages of 18 534 00:31:52,960 --> 00:31:54,680 and 80, and they asked one question. 535 00:31:54,680 --> 00:31:57,880 They just asked how many times do you engage with the word of 536 00:31:57,880 --> 00:32:00,160 God? And what they found was 537 00:32:00,160 --> 00:32:02,440 staggering. They found the people that only 538 00:32:02,440 --> 00:32:07,640 engaged with Scripture once a week, really very little change. 539 00:32:08,080 --> 00:32:14,120 That lion stayed on the same axis. 2 * a week. 3 * a week. 540 00:32:14,360 --> 00:32:16,000 Very little change at four times a week. 541 00:32:16,000 --> 00:32:22,440 All of a sudden, lives somehow began to be radically impacted 542 00:32:22,440 --> 00:32:24,160 by the word. Here's some of the stats. 543 00:32:24,560 --> 00:32:30,680 Loneliness dropped by 45%. Anger down by 30%. 544 00:32:30,720 --> 00:32:35,200 Anxiety halved. Bitterness dropped by 40%. 545 00:32:35,640 --> 00:32:41,720 Alcoholism dropped by 57%. Dennis 57%. 546 00:32:43,240 --> 00:32:49,680 Porn addiction dropped by 61% simply by encountering Jesus 547 00:32:49,680 --> 00:32:52,400 through the word and sharing their faith and discipling. 548 00:32:52,400 --> 00:32:59,800 Others jumped by 250% because cannot encounter Jesus and 549 00:32:59,800 --> 00:33:04,360 remain the same. I can preach till the cows come 550 00:33:04,360 --> 00:33:05,680 home. You know what difference it will 551 00:33:05,680 --> 00:33:07,680 make? Nothing. 552 00:33:10,080 --> 00:33:11,960 But you encountered Jesus at the well. 553 00:33:12,480 --> 00:33:13,880 You will never be the same again. 554 00:33:14,120 --> 00:33:16,200 We'll be Speaking of you in 2000 years time. 555 00:33:17,240 --> 00:33:20,400 So that is your invitation. Sow some seeds into the 556 00:33:20,400 --> 00:33:24,120 wilderness of your heart. Come back again next week. 557 00:33:26,520 --> 00:33:31,240 Let the Word Pierce through the dark night of your soul and let 558 00:33:31,240 --> 00:33:37,680 the God of grace lavish you and win you over as your life has 559 00:33:37,680 --> 00:33:40,800 changed just like mine has been through the Word. 560 00:33:41,120 --> 00:33:41,520 Thank you.