This is Connect with Skip Heitzig, and we're so glad you've joined us for today's program. Connect with Skip Heitzig is all about connecting you to the never-changing truth of God's Word through verse-by-verse teaching.
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That's connectwithskip.com. Now let's get started with today's message from Pastor Skip Heitzig. This is why I believe firmly that at the very heart of our worship must be expository expositional preaching and teaching. It has to be there. Because if it is not there, you could just have all sorts of sincere thoughts about all sorts of wrong things.
And walk away feeling really great. It has to be based on spirit but also truth. You know, in the book of Proverbs, it says, without a vision, my people will perish. Proverbs 29, without a vision, the people perish. And I've often heard that quoted by preachers saying, Without a vision, the people perish. You know, in the book of Proverbs, it says, without a vision, my people will perish. Proverbs 29, without a vision, the people perish. And I've often heard that quoted by preachers saying, without a vision, the people perish, therefore let me give you my vision. Here's my vision, here's my desire, this is what I see the Lord doing in our midst.
That is so out of context. It's one of the most out of context ways to apply a scripture, there is. It does not mean let me share my vision with you. It literally means without a prophetic vision, the people perish, or the people will wander and go astray, be led astray, be untethered, is the idea in the Hebrew. And if speaking of God's word, a vision of prophetic revelation, without God's clear word, God's people will languish and will perish. So our father, she says, worshiped on this mountain, you Jews say Jerusalem is the place where one ought to worship.
Jesus said, woman, believe me, the hour is coming when you will neither on this mountain or in Jerusalem, worship the father. See, it's not about where you worship, as I mentioned last week, it's about whom you worship. And let me just reiterate again, the mistake, the error many people make is that God will be near or God will be far in terms of space or location. This is why people make pilgrimages to Rome or pilgrimages to Jerusalem or pilgrimages to Mecca or pilgrimages to Chimayo. God is near or far because that space is a holy space. And if I go to that place and make that pilgrimage and touch that relic, God will be near.
I learned a valuable lesson years ago when I was single, living in an apartment in Santa Ana, California, flea bitten, cockroach bitten, but it held my surfboards and a couch that I slept on. It was perfect for me. I wanted to feel the presence of God. And so I went to Israel and I went there to work on a kibbutz and I lived there, but I had the opportunity to visit Jerusalem. And I remember going into the Garden of Gethsemane and I had heard stories. Oh, when you go into the Garden of Gethsemane, it's gonna come upon you.
You know, you're gonna just be like transformed and some magical things. So I remember going to the Garden of Gethsemane and just sitting there going, oh, yeah, come on, okay, Lord. After a while, I'm looking at my watch going, I wonder if the Lord got the appointment right.
He's a little late for this thing. And I remember walking away feeling utterly disappointed that I didn't have some surreal experience being moved out of my being. But I do remember going back home and sitting with my open Bible in my little flea bitten apartment in Santa Ana. And one night after being in Israel, I opened my Bible and had a time of fellowship with the Lord and oh, did I feel the intimacy and warmth and closeness with the Lord. Not in Gethsemane, but in Santa Ana, of all places. If you know the place, you can laugh legitimately at it.
But I was making a mistake that the Lord will be near if I make that special pilgrimage. Now, in the same way, people get used to worshiping in a place, their place. When we left our first meeting place, the Lakes Apartments, and we moved to the movie theater on Sunday morning, I remember people saying, it's not the same. There's just something special in that clubhouse. I'm going, the smell of beer? I mean, I'm trying to think. People were partying and I don't know what you think is so special, but they thought it was so special.
And every time we moved to new locations, even this location, oh, it's not the same as the old. And when somebody takes your seat, gets and sits in your seat, you've come a little bit later. So I mean, you think, you do think this, they're sitting in my seat. That's not their seat. I always, that's where God speaks to me, in that seat. And you're thinking those thoughts, get out of my seat. I want to sit there so God can speak to me. But Jesus is saying, it doesn't matter where. What really matters is whom and how. You need the right God and the right manner in spirit and in truth.
The time is coming and now is. God is spirit, verse 24, those who worship him must worship him in spirit and truth. The woman said to him, I know that Messiah is coming who is called Christ.
When he comes, he will tell us all things. She's saying, well, this is the right place. You Jews say that is the right place. Jesus said, first of all, you're ignorant about this. We know what we worship, salvation is of the Jews and the place doesn't matter. And she goes, well, you know what, let's not argue.
When the Messiah comes, he'll sort this whole thing out. So you know she was surprised by the next statement of Jesus. Jesus said to her, I who speak to you am he.
It's the uh-oh moment. Not only is this stranger know everything about me, this stranger claims to be the Messiah whom I am expecting. Question, why were the Samaritans expecting the Messiah? That's a Jewish thing, right?
Samaritans have a rival worship system, the rival temple. Only first five books of Moses because in the first five books of Moses, in the fifth book, Deuteronomy chapter 18, it says God will send another prophet like Moses that the people will hear. They knew that, they took that to mean Messiah. So there was an expectation even among Samaritans, Messiah is coming.
I who speak to you am he. At this point, his disciples came and they marveled that he talked with a woman. Yet no one said, what do you seek or why are you talking with her? The woman then left her water pot, went her way into the city and said to the men, now before you read what she said to the men, notice what she left, her water pot. Why was she even there, to get water, right? To get water. She brought her water pot to fill it up. That was the purpose of her journey. She now leaves the very thing she came to take back filled with water.
Why? Because something just happened. Something just happened.
She was touched in a way, she's drinking from a well of water that is satisfying her thirst just in this little encounter that's greater even than the water she came to fetch. She left it. Now she's on a mission, watch this. She said to the men, come see a man who told me all things I ever did.
Could this be the Christ? Now she tells them what happened. She tells them about this man.
You're gonna see how it affects them in the story. One person having one conversation, one encounter with Jesus will go out and be a spokesperson. Never underestimate the one conversation you have with a person. You walk away from the conversation and go, oh, that's not gonna do much good.
There's no hope for them. Nothing's gonna come of this. Over the years, I've come to see the conversations I've had in the past with people I never thought would come to Christ, that those people have come to Christ because of that conversation and they tell me years later about it. Never underestimate how the Lord is using the seeds you are planting, the words you are speaking, the truth that you are sowing. The Lord Jesus Christ is gonna be honored in Samaria by the testimony of this woman. She's the catalyst here. You're gonna see it.
Many, it says, will believe in Jesus because of her word, her testimony, her witness. You're listening to Connect with Skip Heitzig. Before we get back to Skip's teaching, Nate Heitzig has written a children's book just in time for Christmas. And this month, we're offering it to you as thanks for your support of Connect with Skip Heitzig. Christmas Under the Tree follows the timeline of the timeless story of Jesus Christ, from the cradle to the cross, through the eyes of an unlikely character, a humble tree. This beautifully illustrated book, which includes a companion audio experience, is a wonderful way to tell the Christmas story and the story of Christ to the children in your life. This resource is our thanks for your gift of just $25 or more today to help share biblical teaching with more people around the world through Connect with Skip Heitzig.
Go to connectwithskip.com slash offer or call 800-922-1888 and request your copy when you give $25 or more today to reach people all around the world through Connect with Skip Heitzig. Let's continue with today's teaching with Pastor Skip. I don't know what your idea of successful evangelism is, but most people would say, well, you know, if we had the budget and we could fill stadiums filled with people and bring in bands and have the gospel preached and call people to Christ, that is how we will win the world. And that is been a way, a wonderful way that God has used to spread the gospel. And I am all for it.
I'm all for it. But you know, I read something by evangelism explosion that sort of changed my thinking a little bit. They put out these statistics. If you could fill a stadium of people every night of the week, every week of the year for 35 straight years, and every night you had 50,000 people in that stadium, and every night you had a thousand people coming to Christ, which is about the typical percentage. It's about a 5% yield in stadium evangelism. 5% of the crowd will come forward to receive Christ. So let's say you could fill a stadium of 50,000 people, every night, different people, every night, a thousand people come to Christ, every night, every week, every year for 35 years. By the time you're done in 35 years, if you had that kind of budget, when you're done and all those thousands of people come to Christ, you will be at the time you are done with the 35 years, further behind the task of world evangelization than the day you started.
You heard what I just said. You will be further behind it. And that is because the exponential birth rate, people are being born on the earth so that if you look at the ratio, the percentage of saved souls in the world after that kind of evangelism, you'd be further behind. The same report said, if there were no Christians on the earth and you were the only one, and in one year you led one other person to Christ so that after one year there were two believers. And at the end of year two, those two believers personally led somebody to Christ. So after two years, there's four believers.
After year three, eight, and then 16, and then 32 and 64. By the end of 35 years, there would be no more unbelievers left. The world would be one to Christ.
Isn't that interesting? The power of a single conversation, a single witness. So Jesus needed to go through Samaria, touched a woman's heart.
This woman now goes out to speak. Look at verse 30. Then they went out of the city and came to him. In the meantime, the disciples urged him saying, Rabbi, eat. Remember they came, they went into the village to buy food. Jesus is at the well having a conversation with a woman. The woman goes out after the conversation, tells people, now people are starting to come to see this Jesus at the well. In the meantime, the disciples are there, they're thinking about food.
They're just guys. You gotta eat Jesus. Eat Jesus, and he said this to them. I have food to eat, which you do not know.
Therefore, his disciples said to one another, has anyone brought him anything to eat? I love these guys. I love them because they don't get the spiritual meaning. I say I love them because I so often am just like them. So often, so often, spiritual truth goes over my head till I give it a second, third, fourth, fifth, 10th look.
So I relate to these guys, that's why I go, I like these guys. Jesus said to them, my food is to do the will of him who sent me and to finish his work. Now Jesus said, I have food to eat that you don't know of. He's speaking spiritually, they're thinking physically, right? It's similar to Deuteronomy eight, man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God. Don't misunderstand what the Lord is saying. Jesus isn't saying, really spiritual people don't eat. He's not saying that. What he's saying is there's nothing more satisfying in life than doing the will of the Father.
That's what he means by it. And if you have ever led any person to Christ, personally, you've actually spoken to them, shared the gospel with them and then led them to Christ just out and about, you know what I'm talking, you know the elation of that. It's interesting, when I met my wife, she was with a mission organization and when we married, though she was involved in evangelism and involved in mission work, she said, you know, I have never personally prayed with a person to receive Christ.
I've witnessed to several, I've shared with several, I've offered to pray, but I've never yet been able to lead a single person to Christ. That's when we first got married. So shortly after we were married, we went to India and people we found were very receptive and I remember my wife having a conversation with this Indian man and he was listening and listening and she said, are you ready?
Do you wanna receive Christ? This was all done through a translator and he shook his head like this and she thought, oh, okay, he's not ready. So she kept sharing with him and she said, are you ready now? And he kept going like this and so she took that as a no and this went on a while and finally, the interpreter said, I hope you know that this means yes here.
That shaking of the head that way is like this in our country. He's been saying yes to you for the past 10 minutes. Finally, she goes, well, I didn't know.
I wish you'd have told me 10 minutes earlier when he did this. So, Ravinder, you know what that's like, right? That yes, so you go, yes, I would like to pray and so the exhilaration I saw in her. We didn't think about food. It was like my food, my meat is to do the will of him who sent me and to finish his work. Do you not say there are still four months and then comes the harvest? No, notice here, please, Jesus is changing the metaphor from eating to farming. He's now talking about harvesting. Do you not say there are still four months and then comes the harvest? Behold, I say to you, lift up your eyes and look at the fields for they are already white for harvest.
I'm guessing that it was around December or January when Jesus was speaking. In four months from that time, it would be the harvest time. But at this point, the seedlings that had been planted were just because of the winter rains, just poking through the soil. And so people would be saying, now is not the time to harvest.
This is just the time to wait and see what grows. Picking up on that, Jesus said, don't say that. Behold, I say to you, lift up your eyes and look at the fields for they are already white for harvest.
I have a guess when he said that. When he said to his disciples, look at the fields, you could at that point see the Samaritans coming from the village toward Jesus and his disciples, wearing their white robes, which is common. Perhaps since it was winter, wrapped their head in white. So it looked like white heads on a stalk, just this movement of white robes coming toward them. Lift up your eyes and look, look at the harvest.
Look at these people who are coming. And he who reaps receives wages and gathers fruit for eternal life, that both he who sows and he who reaps may rejoice together. For in this the saying is true, one sows, another reaps. I sent you to reap, for that which you have not labored, others have labored and you have entered into their labors.
The physical reality of those little seedlings, those little green shoots coming out of the ground, Jesus uses for a spiritual reality. Don't say it's four months. I know you would say that physically in four months is gonna be the harvest, but on a spiritual level, look.
Look at these people who are coming out from the village. Now is the time. Now's the time to speak to them.
Now's the time to share. You know what? I bet you, if you would have sent in a crusade or a mass evangelistic committee to Samaria to assess the idea of having a meeting there, they'd probably come back and they'd say, you know Jesus, we've scoped it out. And we think that someday Samaria is gonna be ready for it. But not now, it's a little too early for it.
Different worship systems, a different worship system and a rival temple. You know, they don't like Jews around here. They get a little antsy about that, but give a few years down the road and it'll be primed for it. Jesus said, nope, time is now, right now. As long as there are people with needs, speak to them so truth into their hearts. And he who reaps receives wages and gathers fruit for eternal life. You know, the problem with evangelism is not that the fields are not ready, it's that the workers are not ready. Jesus said in Matthew 15, he saw people coming, he's filled with compassion for them. He said, pray that the Lord of the harvest sends out laborers into the harvest. Not foremen, not supervisors, not analyzers, just people who will roll up their sleeves and do the work of evangelism.
Pray that the Lord of the harvest will send out laborers into his harvest field. And look at verse 39, and many of the Samaritans of that city believed in him because of the word of the woman who testified. What she said was, he told me everything I ever did. I'm sure seeing this woman come, the men said, oh, here she is, we know her well. But this woman is changed. She goes, I just talked to somebody who told me all of the sins, all of the adulteries, all of the divorces, all of the relational junk, he knows all about it.
And I'm believing in him and I want my life changed because of him. So many of them believed in Jesus because of her witness. So when the Samaritans had come to him, they urged him to stay with them and he stayed there two days. And many more believed because of his own word. Then they said to the woman, now we believe not because of what you said, for we ourselves have heard him and we know that this is indeed the Christ, the savior of the world. So many believed because of her personal witness, many more believed because of his powerful word.
They listened to her. They were driven to him. And in being driven to him, they made personal investigation and they surrendered their hearts to him.
It's beautiful, beautiful story. Notice what they said in verse 42 at the end. This is indeed the Christ, the Messiah, the savior of the world. Now you see that little phrase, the Samaritans are giving Jesus the title for the first time in the Bible. The first group ever to call Jesus the savior of the world was the Samaritans.
It's very interesting. And they would know because they know that Jews don't come through Samaria. Why is this Jew coming through to Samaria? And now they're coming to believe he is the Messiah.
They go, so the Messiah isn't just a Jewish entity nor is it just a privately Samaritan entity. He's the savior of the world, the Jew and the Gentile, the Jew and the non-Jew. Thanks for listening to Connect with Skip Heitzig. We hope you've been strengthened in your walk with Jesus by today's program. Before we let you go, we wanna remind you about this month's resource that will help you and the children in your life see the timeless story of Christ with fresh eyes.
Nate Heitzig's book, Christmas Under the Tree with Forward by Levi Lusko is our thanks for your support of Connect with Skip Heitzig today. Request your copy when you give $25 or more. Call 800-922-1888.
That's 800-922-1888. Or visit connectwithskip.com slash donate. And did you know that you can find full message series and libraries of content from Skip Heitzig on YouTube? Simply visit the Connect with Skip Heitzig channel on YouTube and be sure to subscribe to the channel so you never miss any new content. Come back next time for more verse by verse teaching of God's word here on Connect with Skip Heitzig. Make a connection, make a connection at the foot of the cross and cast your burdens on his word. Make a connection, connection. Connect with Skip Heitzig is a presentation of Connection Communications, connecting you to God's never changing truth in ever changing times.
