Mark Broadbent
*Before confirming anything, we should refer to the Bible first
*We are not here to win an argument
1. We cannot afford not to tell people
*We may either show too much or nothing to everyone
*We may just answer, we are Christians when asked the reason we are living a good life.
*We may give an impression that to be a Christian, they just have to live a good life like our Christian friends
*This is called Moralism but Christianity is more than that
So how do Christians share their faith without shoving down their throats?
*John 4:7-29: 7 When a Samaritan woman came to draw water, Jesus said to her, “Will you give me a drink?” 8 (His disciples had gone into the town to buy food.)
9 The Samaritan woman said to him, “You are a Jew and I am a Samaritan woman. How can you ask me for a drink?” (For Jews do not associate with Samaritans.[a])
10 Jesus answered her, “If you knew the gift of God and who it is that asks you for a drink, you would have asked him and he would have given you living water.”
11 “Sir,” the woman said, “you have nothing to draw with and the well is deep. Where can you get this living water? 12 Are you greater than our father Jacob, who gave us the well and drank from it himself, as did also his sons and his livestock?”
13 Jesus answered, “Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again, 14 but whoever drinks the water I give them will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give them will become in them a spring of water welling up to eternal life.”
15 The woman said to him, “Sir, give me this water so that I won’t get thirsty and have to keep coming here to draw water.”
16 He told her, “Go, call your husband and come back.”
17 “I have no husband,” she replied.
Jesus said to her, “You are right when you say you have no husband. 18 The fact is, you have had five husbands, and the man you now have is not your husband. What you have just said is quite true.”
19 “Sir,” the woman said, “I can see that you are a prophet. 20 Our ancestors worshiped on this mountain, but you Jews claim that the place where we must worship is in Jerusalem.”
21 “Woman,” Jesus replied, “believe me, a time is coming when you will worship the Father neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem. 22 You Samaritans worship what you do not know; we worship what we do know, for salvation is from the Jews. 23 Yet a time is coming and has now come when the true worshipers will worship the Father in the Spirit and in truth, for they are the kind of worshipers the Father seeks. 24 God is spirit, and his worshipers must worship in the Spirit and in truth.”
25 The woman said, “I know that Messiah” (called Christ) “is coming. When he comes, he will explain everything to us.”
26 Then Jesus declared, “I, the one speaking to you—I am he.”
The Disciples Rejoin Jesus
27 Just then his disciples returned and were surprised to find him talking with a woman. But no one asked, “What do you want?” or “Why are you talking with her?”
28 Then, leaving her water jar, the woman went back to the town and said to the people, 29 “Come, see a man who told me everything I ever did. Could this be the Messiah?”
*"Get me some water"- I value and want to do community with you
*If you ask me how we can build a connection between Jews and Samaritans, I will explain to you how we can build a connection between humans and God
*He is not interested in prepositional truths and doctrines
*In the past, the predominant way to keep close to the Lord is doctrine
*Doctrine is important but that alone is limiting the truth about God
*"The living water"- She assumes that the living water would be from a spring which is continuous
*Jesus was meant to be loving but why would he be so insensitive to say v16-18?
*The actual fact is that Jesus is being extremely loving
*First thing she does is telling him that she is a Samaritan women, she is afraid that they are not suppose to talk to each other and also the history and insecurities she is having, she thought he would not talk to her BUT Jesus stayed and ever offered living water to her.
*The woman knows that He is the Messiah
Will she then tell everyone that they are wrong? because she knows the truth and she will be always right?
*NO
Will she think people can see her Christian ways through her life thus she does not need to do anything?
*NO
*So what does she do?
v29
*She declares her sin and him as her Saviour who knows all her past and everything about her
*The way we should do is not to remain silent or tell everyone extensively but to tell them about OUR SINS and DECLARE that JESUS IS THE MESSIAH
*Many people will be intrigue that you would be the first to do that
*It is very different from people talking about their faith
*We should realize that Jesus loves each and everyone of us
*We share our faith not to shove it down people's throats but to give people a hope
**Thy word is a lamp unto my feet and a light unto my path**
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