As promised, we are releasing a tool today that will help you have conversations about Jesus with your friends and family members who are not yet following Jesus. This tool will help you do three things. It will help you shape your story, share your story, and see the world around you differently. This morning, I want to focus on that last idea, seeing the world around you differently. I don’t believe we will take the time to shape our story or attempt to share our story unless we see the world around us differently. Jesus taught this idea to his disciples in John chapter 4. - Pastor Paul Crandell
Day 1
Featured Verse: John 4:31-34 - “Meanwhile the disciples were urging him, saying, “Rabbi, eat.” But he said to them, “I have food to eat that you do not know about.” So the disciples said to one another, “Has anyone brought him something to eat?” Jesus said to them, “My food is to do the will of him who sent me and to accomplish his work.”
Cross References:
Deuteronomy 8:3 - “And he humbled you and let you hunger and fed you with manna, which you did not know, nor did your fathers know, that he might make you know that man does not live by bread alone, but man lives by every word that comes from the mouth of the Lord.”
John 6:35 - “Jesus said to them, ‘I am the bread of life; whoever comes to me shall not hunger, and whoever believes in me shall never thirst.’”
John 6:38 - “For I have come down from heaven, not to do my own will but the will of him who sent me.”
Reflection:
A Humbling Hunger: In Deuteronomy 8:3, God humbled the Israelites with hunger to teach them a deeper truth. How would their physical hunger teach them to live by every word of God?
The Bread of Life: In John 6:35, Christ calls Himself the Bread of Life, and that whoever comes to Him shall not hunger. What does this mean? What is this hunger, and how does Christ satisfy it?
Not My Will: Christ’s food was to do the will of God. He deliberately put His own will aside for the will of the Father. How can doing so in your own life feed your soul?
“‘This is my meat,’ says the sinner, ‘to do my own will.’ Jesus Christ points to another table and says, ‘This is My meat, to do the will of Him that sent Me. My greatest comfort and the most substantial nourishment of My spirit are not found in carrying out My own desires, but in submitting all My desires to the will of God.’” - Charles Spurgeon
Day 2
Featured Verse: John 4:35-38 - “Do you not say, ‘There are yet four months, then comes the harvest’? Look, I tell you, lift up your eyes, and see that the fields are white for harvest. Already the one who reaps is receiving wages and gathering fruit for eternal life, so that sower and reaper may rejoice together. For here the saying holds true, ‘One sows and another reaps.’ I sent you to reap that for which you did not labor. Others have labored, and you have entered into their labor.”
Cross References:
1 Corinthians 3:6-9 - “I planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the growth. So neither he who plants nor he who waters is anything, but only God who gives the growth. He who plants and he who waters are one, and each will receive his wages according to his labor. For we are God’s fellow workers. You are God’s field, God’s building.”
Isaiah 55:10 - “For as the rain and the snow come down from heaven and do not return there but water the earth, making it bring forth and sprout, giving seed to the sower and bread to the eater.”
Luke 8:11 - “Now the parable is this: The seed is the word of God.”
Reflection:
God’s Fellow Workers: There are different roles when it comes to God’s harvest. Some plant, some water, while others might reap. This is by design, so that God, and not the worker, gets all the glory. What spiritual work have you been disappointed by because you haven’t seen immediate results? Are you willing to humble yourself and step aside so that others might reap what you have watered or sown?
A Labor of Love: Christ says others have labored and we have entered into their labor. If another has begun a good work, are you willing to step up to finish what they’ve started? How might you continue to water or reap a good work another has sown?
Most Precious Seed: In the Parable of the Sower, Christ explains that the seed is the Word of God. How often we are mistaken to believe the “seed” is some new program, 5 Steps, a book, a show, a concert, or means other than Scripture to get someone in the door of Christianity. Yet Christ tells us exactly what the seed is in Luke 8:1. In what ways have you scattered the precious seed of God’s Word?
“Have you tasted the honey of the Word? Let others have a taste with you.” - Thomas Watson
Day 3
Featured Verse: John 4:39-42 - “Many Samaritans from that town believed in him because of the woman’s testimony, “He told me all that I ever did.” So when the Samaritans came to him, they asked him to stay with them, and he stayed there two days. And many more believed because of his word. They said to the woman, “It is no longer because of what you said that we believe, for we have heard for ourselves, and we know that this is indeed the Savior of the world.”
Cross References:
John 17:20 - “I do not ask for these only, but also for those who will believe in me through their word.”
John 20:29 - “Jesus said to him, ‘Have you believed because you have seen me? Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.’”
1 John 4:14 - “And we have seen and testify that the Father has sent his Son to be the Savior of the world.”
Reflection:
The Woman’s Testimony: If the woman at the well teaches us anything, it’s that God can use anyone. Despite her sin, Christ was not harsh with her. She had a spark of faith He needed only to breathe upon, and a heart of love that needed only to be loved. How might you reflect the love of Jesus to someone burdened and downtrodden?
Sight Unseen: One of the main lessons Christ taught His disciples was the importance of eyewitness testimony. Some of His followers wouldn’t believe unless they saw for themselves. Yet Christ acclaims those who believe and have not seen. Why is it more blessed to have not seen, and yet believe?
The Apostle’s Testimony: The Apostle John’s words in 1 John 4:14 seem to mirror the words of the Samaritans of John 4:42. Considering John is the author of both 1 John and the Gospel of John, it isn’t that surprising his verbiage is similar. What have you seen and how might you testify that Christ is the Savior of the world?
“Think what honor it is in this life also to be enrolled to the succeeding ages among Christ’s witnesses.” - Samuel Rutherford