6-4-23 Special Guest Speaker Tim Lee - Early Service

As people said, Amen. Let's give brother Tim Lee a welcome today. Amen.

Alright. Well, thank you so much and it's an honor and a joy to be back at the lighthouse. It was an unusual time when we were here in 2020 and I felt like at that time, we really connected and I love your pastor and his family and I've been preaching for his brother, Ryan.

Yeah, he's and one of them is better looking the other and I'm just going to say that. And anyhow, we just made a connection and so, I'm glad that he that he had me back and and got to be here for for this special special Sunday. My wife is with me. She was with me last time as well. Connie, would you stand up and turn around?

Let the folks meet you. This is Connie and and we celebrated recently 51 years of being married and we have three children and six awesome grandchildren and our 16 year old Ali was killed in a ATV accident in 2017 and uh but we have a hope. Uh we're not like a world without hope.

We have a hope. We know we will see her again. She had a unbelievable testimony. She was a soul winner. She was a she was an athlete, a beautiful young lady.

She was super smart, intelligent. She didn't get that from her path all but she was uh but more important than all that was she was she loved the lord all of her heart made a difference in impact uh at uh there were 2500 people who came to her her visitation and then another 1500 who came uh to her home growing service and 22000 uh watched online. Her parents asked if I would give the gospel and uh so I gave the gospel and that day 287 people received Christ as their personal savior and even since that time, we've seen tons of people saved as a result of that girl's testimony, the impact that um made in so uh many people's lives. Take your Bibles if you would the book of john the gospel of john chapter number four on chapter four. Stand if you wish and I'm going to read it a couple of verses and I'm going to ask you to keep your Bibles open. We're going to go back and look at several other uh versus here in this great and exciting chapter of the chapter for the gospel of john. I'm going to read two verses now verses thirteen and fourteen. John chapter four verse thirteen and jesus answered and said unto her whosoever drinketh of this water shall thirst again but whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst the water that I shall give him shall be in him a well of water springing up into everlasting life. I will add his blessings to the reading and the preaching of his word. You may be seated in john chapter number four and in the preceding chapter chapter number three you have two of the most dramatic presentations of people coming to jesus and finding eternal life though the stories are back to back john three john four they are almost diametrically opposite of each other in john chapter number three it's a man who comes to jesus in the middle of the night john chapter number four it's a woman who comes to jesus in the middle of the day in john chapter number three the man is a jew in john chapter number four the woman is a gentile in john chapter number three a man who has learned and educated in john chapter four a woman who is very ignorant and unlearned in john chapter number three a man who is a religious leader of his day in john chapter number four a woman who is an adulterous woman of her day in john chapter number three a man who recognizes jesus as a teacher being sent from god but in john chapter number four a woman who does not have the foggiest idea who jesus is yet in both of these stories back to back both of these people come to christ and they both find eternal life ladies and gentlemen young people the message for you and i today as the church is that no matter what size attracts people may be from no matter how lower how high on the ladder of success they may have attained jesus came to this world to seek and to save that which was lost and our job our responsibility is to tell this world the good news of the gospel of jesus christ i want us to focus our attention on this woman at the well for just a few moments here this morning the bible declares in chapter four verse number four that he's speaking of jesus that he must need go through samaria why why did jesus need to go through samaria understand that jesus was 100 man and he was 100 god you say tim how in the world can you explain that i cannot explain that anymore then i can tell you how black cow can eat green grass give white milk and turn to yellow butter i don't know how to happen but it happened but jesus was god and he knew that there would come a woman of samaria to this well and he had a message for the woman and so sure enough jesus is sitting on the well it's about noon hour and here comes this woman with her pots and her pans to draw water and jesus strikes up a conversation with her he said in verse number nine then saith or excuse me then cometh a woman of samaria verse seven to draw water and jesus saith unto her give me a drink he does not immediately begin to talk to her about spiritual things he talks to her about something she can relate to and every person in this building right now can relate to thirst all of us have been thirsty sometimes extremely so i went to a little roadside stand in south vietnam and paid a vietnamese mamasan 10 american dollars for a pepsi cola i wouldn't have paid that for coca-cola but i paid it for a pepsi cola when i came home from vietnam i went from 187 pounds to less than 80 pounds and then when connie and i got married i weighed 110 pounds and connie is a is an unbelievable cook and um and so i started putting on all this weight then i soon discovered that they only make these wheelchairs so wide and so i started drinking diet drinks and i didn't like diet pepsi this didn't taste right to me and and so i started drinking diet coke and i got addicted to diet coke my wife's got one in her purse for me right now just in case i have a spell and besides that the ceo of coca-cola modeling company gave our ministry ten thousand dollars there's some things i can be bought out on but i paid that little vietnamese woman 10 american dollars i was thirsty all of us have been thirsty and now this woman is blown away just by the question jesus asked her for a drink of water and the woman sayeth of samaria sent to him in verse number nine how's it that thou being a jew asketh drink of me which of a woman of samaria for the jews have no dealings with the samaritans and she was right it was customary in her day for a jewish person to cross over on the other side of the street rather than to be caught on the same side of the street with with a gentile and especially a woman of her background but here he is not only talking to her he's asking her for a favor he's asking her for a drink of water and she is blown away he can't hardly believe that this man is asking her for a favor and look at how jesus responds to her in verse number 10 and jesus answered and said unto her if thou knewest the gift of god and who it is that sayeth to thee give me to drink that i would have asked of him and he would have given thee living water and folks for our message this morning the key word in verse number 10 is a little word who he said if you only knew who you were talking to now get the picture she's talking to jesus she's talking to the son of god one-on-one no outside interruptions at all but she doesn't know who he is so many times we become so enamored with the what that we forget about the who we talk about moses and a burning bush and how that bush could burn and yet not be consumed well that was a great miracle but not for you and i to become so enamored with a burning bush that we forget who it was that was in the bush and who it was that was speaking to moses from the burning bush we sang songs about the cross and oh my soul we should sing songs about that old rugged cross but not for you and i to become so fixed on a wooden cross that we forget who it was that was on the cross we sing songs about the grave that empty tomb and we should sing songs about that empty tomb but not for you and i to become so enamored with a physical geographical grave that we forget who it was that was in the grave and who it was that got up from the grave three days later victorious over sin death and hell ladies and gentlemen the world has heard enough about the what they need to hear about the who and jesus is the who she's talking to him you know what our lord is doing right now he's reasoning with this woman you know that our god is a reasonable god i think sometimes that we're not nearly as reasonable as god we look at somebody but cause of their background their history or where they've been and what they've been doing and things they're involved in and their background and their lifestyle and we think man if anybody ever deserved to go to hell that person deserved to go to hell and god looks at that very same person in grace and love and mercy and compassion and says if they're willing to repent and receive my son jesus christ as their savior they can be my child and they can live with me forever in this awesome place called heaven he says in isaiah chapter one come therefore and let us reason together saith the lord though your sins be a scarlet they shall be as white as snow god is a reasonable god and he is reasoning with this woman now how does he respond how does she respond when when he says if you knew who remember she doesn't know who but when he says that how does she reply to that look at verse number 11 and the woman sayeth unto him sir she's she's very respectful sir thou has nothing to draw with and the well is deep from when then has now that living water thou greater than our father jacob which gave us the well and drank of himself and his children and his cattle he doesn't know how great and a profound statement she just made yes he's greater than jacob he's greater than isaiah he's greater than abraham he's greater than all the prophets that ever has lived or ever will live he is the son of the living god and she doesn't know who now look at verse number 13 these are the two verses we read as our text verses this morning and jesus answered and said unto her whosoever drinketh this one shall thirst again and truer words have never been spoken last night in zinnia last night in columbus last night in cincinnati last night in chicago philadelphia new york alana dallas houston milwaukee seattle all over america and all over the world last night people were drinking from the waters of the wells of this world let me tell you something friend tonight they're going to be thirsty again and tomorrow night they're going to be thirsty again listen to me friend the things of this world cannot satisfy that longing in your soul you've tried everything this world has to offer you and yet you're still empty today drugs have a hold on you alcohol has a hold on you sexual addictions as a hold on you you've tried everything there is to try but i'm telling you tomorrow you're going to be thirsty again and the next day you're going to be thirsty again and the next day the things of this world cannot satisfy your soul but there is an answer look at verse number 14 but whosoever drinketh of the water that i shall give him shall never thirst the water that i should give him shall be in him a well of water springing up into everlasting life and for our message this morning the key word in verse number 14 is the word whosoever aren't you glad god said whosoever i'm glad god didn't say you had to be super rich in order to go to heaven because most of us would have never made it and i'm glad god didn't say you had to be super smart highly educated in order to go to heaven because most of us would have never made it and i'm glad god didn't say you had to be great looking in order to go to heaven a bunch of you would have never made it but he said that if thou should confess with our mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead thou shall be saved when Jesus died on that old rugged cross he died for the sins of the black and the white the red the yellow he died for the rich and the poor he died for the strong and the weak he died for the educated and the ignorant Jesus died for the sins of all and he himself said that he was come to seek and to say that which was lost it was a primary reason why Jesus came to this earth to seek and to say that which was lost now let me ask you a question this morning people do you think this woman is interested in what Jesus just offered her you better believe it he has her undivided attention look at what she says in verse number 15 and the woman saith unto him sir give me this water give me the water that I thirst not and neither come hither to draw give me the water and here is where our story takes a strange turn he does not immediately give her the water look at what she look at what look at what Jesus said to her verse 16 Jesus saith unto her go call thy husband and come hither oh wait a minute what is her husband have to do with her getting saved we have been in church all of our lives we've seen women get saved without the husbands being there and we've seen men get saved without the wives be there what does this have to do with anything well on the surface it would appear nothing let's go a little further look at what she says after he said go call thy husband in verse 17 the woman answered and said I have no husband and Jesus saith unto her thou as well said I have no husband for thou has had five husbands and he who thou now hath is not thy husband in that saidest thou truly oh my what is going on as Jesus brought this woman to this place just to pull the rug out from underneath her is he trying to shame her and embarrass her and intimidate her is he is he trying to is he trying to condemn this woman or no for the previous chapter when Jesus was talking to that rich man in chapter 3 and verse 17 he said that God sent not to his son into the world to condemn the world but it goes on to say in verse number 18 that he that believeth on him is not condemned but he that believeth not is condemned already oh people listen to me this morning this is not a word game this is not somatics but you cannot get saved until you get lost what do you mean for that Tim you have to see yourself the way this holy and righteous God sees you how does God see us he sees us as sinners every one of us have sinned I've sinned pastors sin we've all sinned and come short of God's glory it's our sin that separates us from God it's our sin that keeps us from having a right relationship with God and it is our sin that was separated from God for all of eternity in a horrible place called hell except for the fact that a price was paid by sin ladies and gentlemen the first thing was reasoning this this woman was being reasoned with by our Lord but then comes repentance repentance is what I call the forgotten doctrine of our generation used to hear a lot of preaching about repentance. John the Baptist came out of the wilderness preaching repent repent repent or likewise perish and our Lord had the same ministry and the same message on this earth repent Oswald Chambers said the bedrock of Christianity is repentance he says strictly speaking a man cannot repent when he chooses he said repentance is a gift from God oh wow well that's true because the Bible declares that every perfect gift comes from above he said the old Puritans used to pray for the gift of tears think about that statement they used to pray for the gift of tears I was preaching in San Francisco many years ago it was a weeknight I was at a church called the Chinese Bible Church and on a weeknight on I think was a Tuesday night we had over a thousand people at the Chinese Bible Church and before I preached that night the choir sang a special about the cross as a matter is a song that I had never heard before it was a powerful song but I remember well looking up at that choir as they were singing as one after the but must been 150 people in that choir one person after the other person after the other person had tears running down their cheeks and their eyes as they were singing about the cross and they were singing about the suffering that Jesus had done on that cross for them the singers who were singing about it the cross was becoming so real while they're singing about it here it could have been more than two or three people that didn't have tears broke oh our churches used to be filled with tears people broken had altered and I like it I go to a lot of churches pastor Josh and a lot of churches don't even have Kleenex boxes at the altar anymore you know why they're not expecting people have to use them they're not expecting any brokenness they're not expecting any tears bring back the tears bring back the tears of joy then when we do sing about the cross so we do sing about that institute but we can have tears once and a while of praise and joy thanking God for our salvation and then bring back the tears of brokenness the tears of conviction brokenness he said Oswald Chambers went on to say that if ever you cease to know the virtue of repentance you are in darkness we say that one more time if ever you cease to know the virtue of repentance you are in darkness then he said this examine yourself and see if you've forgotten how to be sorry Oh examine yourself not your wife not your husband not your children not your parents not the pastor not the deacon not the Sunday School teacher not the youth pastor examine yourself see if you've forgotten how to be sorry when's the last time with tears and brokenness and conviction on your knees before God have you told God that you were sorry Lord I've sinned Lord I I did something that I should not have done the old preachers the old time preachers used to call it keeping a short account but you stay prayed up and when you're in a revival you're in a church service and and God speaks to you that you get things right with God then you don't let it keep adding up and keep adding up and keep adding up but you keep a short account with God you stay in tune with God and write with God he this woman had to see herself the way this holy God saw her as a sinner you said but Tim you don't understand I'm I'm not really such a bad person well I hate to bust your bubble but that's not what God says God says you're a sinner God says there's none that do us good no not one the Bible declares that our righteousness our goodness are as filthy right and the sight of this holy God and friend when you see yourself the way God sees you and only at that time when you see yourself the way God sees you you realize then that you need a Savior that you need help that you cannot save yourself when I first met Lieutenant Ollie North we've been together many many times we took a trip to Israel a few years ago co-hosted a trip and amazing amazing time in the Holy Lands he was a marine of course the older folks remember Ollie North standing there in Washington DC and taking on all of Congress and and but his story was one that he was a self-made man everything he ever wanted to do with his life he did it and and and he was successful very successful and so people would talk to him about the Lord and he couldn't understand that why did I need the Lord I'd I'm a good man I'm able to do everything I want to do I've accomplished so much with my life and I'm not even finished yet what do you mean I need Jesus and one day at Camp Lejeune he was standing on the back of a tank and he didn't know it but the tank driver put it in gear and went forward when he did when he did Ollie lost his balance and fell off the tank it's pretty high up on the tank and when he did he landed flat on his back looking up he said at that moment I was paralyzed I couldn't do anything I was helpless as a little baby he said I realized at that moment and I needed God later on one of the focus on the family's men led Ollie North to the Lord who has had a remarkable testimony for Jesus ever since we all need Jesus we all need the Lord you may be rich you you may be the richest person in this room today you may be strong you may be the strongest man in this county you may be beautiful you may be the most beautiful woman in this county you may be smart you may be the most educated person this kind of a friend if you don't know Jesus your life is empty today you need him first comes reasoning then comes repentance and then comes rejoicing this is the good part you knew I had a good part didn't you go back to John chapter number four once more so they're having this conversation they've went from reasoning now to really getting into the heart of why Jesus is at the well and she said in verse 19 after he told her all about her life the woman said that him sir I perceive that thou art a prophet our fathers worshiped in this mountain and you say then Jerusalem is the place where men ought to worship and Jesus said in her woman believe me the hour cometh when you shall neither this mountain nor yet at Jerusalem worship father you worship you know not what you know what we worship for salvation is of the Jews but the hour cometh and now is when the true worshipper shall worship the father in spirit and in truth for the father seeketh such to worship him God is a spirit and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth now the woman's begin to understand some things here it's all coming together and the woman saith to him I know that Messiah's coming I know that the Messiah is going to come how did how did she know that I know that Messiah's cometh which is called Christ when he has come he will tell us all things how does she know this someone has been witnessing to her somebody's been talking to her old folks the fact that God has given us this opportunity to witness to people I know sometimes it's easy to get discouraged want to throw in the towel I've been witnessing and witnessing and witnessing and I've not seen anybody come to Christ I'm not seeing anybody get saved in so long and I know it's easy to get discouraged but my friend our job is not to save them I can't save anyone your pastor can't save anyone our job is to tell them our job is to is to plant the seed our job is to do watering and our job is to tell this world the good news of the gospel of Jesus Christ it's God's job to save them it's the Holy Spirit's job to convict them and to bring them into into relationship with Jesus Christ he said she said I know that Messiah's coming to look at what Jesus said in her in verse number 26 I that speak unto thee am he I'm the one I am the Messiah that you've been hearing of that oh can you get the picture this woman is talking to him one-on-one without any outside interruption whatsoever and he declares to her I am he now look at verse 27 and upon this came his disciples and marveled that he talked with the woman yet no man said what sinkest thou or why talkest thou with her verse 28 the woman then left her water pots and went her way into the city and saith to the men come and see a man which told me all things that ever I did is not this the Christ and here is where most scholars believe that this woman was converted where at the well is there any evidence of her conversion well I offer you two pieces of evidence this morning of her salvation number one what did she go to the well for she took her her pots to the well to draw water but now she's gone back to town but she left her water pots at the well I'm gonna tell you one better she took the whole well back to town with her oh she doesn't go back to town discouraged and defeated and depressed this woman goes back to town with a story to tell she's got something has happened to this woman at the well and she goes back to town and starts telling about her encounter with Jesus at the well all friend this is the way that it's supposed to be you get saved and your life is changed with the power of God you can't keep it to yourself you got to tell other people she goes back to town oh oh hold a minute she's got a pretty sorry reputation she is from the wrong side of the track she has been married five times and the dude that she's living with now is not her husband every bit of that's true but all of a sudden she's talking about what happened to her at the well and here's the amazing thing they believed her they believed her this is the second piece of evidence the strongest piece go to verse number 39 and many of the Samaritans of that city believed on him for the saying of the woman was testified he told me all that ever I did she's never been to vacation Bible school she's never been to Sunday school she's never been to a worship service she doesn't know anything about the Bible all she knows is that something happened to her at the well and folks when something happens to you when you have an encounter with Jesus and he comes into your life you got a story to tell I'm not talking about being a member of a church you'd be a member of every Baptist Church in the state of Ohio and still dying go to hell I'm not talking about being baptized you could be baptized in every baptistry and every lake and every pond until you know the tadpoles by their first name you can be you could be a member of every church baptized in every church you can live a good clean moral life to the day you die and it still won't be enough to take you to heaven and she begins to tell and the amazing thing is they believe her and they follow her back out to where Jesus is at at the well look at verse number 39 again let's read it one more time and many of the Samaritans of that city believed on him for the saying of the woman which testified somebody needs to testify saying the woman was testified he told me all that ever I did so when the Samaritans were come unto him they besought him that they would tarry with him and he abode there two days revival breaks out Jesus is only plan on being there for just a little time but revival breaks out and he stays for two more days and a whole ton more people come to Jesus look at verse number 40 of excuse me verse 41 and many more and many more believe because of his own words in verse 42 and said unto the woman now we believe not because of thy sin for we have heard him ourselves and we know that this is indeed the Christ the Savior of the world Wow first comes reasoning then comes repentance and then comes rejoicing God's people ought to be the happiest people on the face of the earth God's people ought to be the most rejoicing people on the face of the earth I see it happen normally it's in the second service it's getting close to that magical I get close to moon and I'm preaching and I see people begin to look at their watches and I don't know what it is about noon hour but if God can't do it by noon that's too bad so we've got to beat the Methodist at the cafeteria the invitation starts and people are coming to get saved people are coming to get their lives right with God families of are being put back together but they're looking to watches and they almost act like they're upset I'm talking about church members then lots of times not not all the time but every once a while the pastor will get up after the evangelist and say well folks I don't know what's going on but I just sense that the Holy Spirit is wanting us to sing one more verse oh whoa be to the person that gets out and comes on that birth why didn't they come when everybody else came it's gonna take at least seven or eight minutes for somebody show them how to get saved be my luck they're gonna want to get baptized today and now the Pentecost are gonna beat us to the cafeteria people were getting saved at two o'clock in the afternoon you know not upset us it ought to cause us to get in a spirit of revival it said these people begged for Jesus stay and he stayed for two more days and this is what happened when you get saved and you begin to tell your family you begin to tell your friends and all of a sudden they want to get saved and they want what it is that you have and and you and there's rejoicing going on you said well Tim you don't understand my circumstances I'm not trying to be rude or mean at all today friend but truth the matter is circumstances don't have anything to do with salvation the Bible says rejoice because your name's written down you might have got fired this past week you may not have enough money to cover the checks that are trying to come to your bank on Monday morning you may have gotten a bad report from your doctor your child might may be in trouble at school or at the juvenile hall they may have a lot of problems going on your life but if you're saying you still have reason to rejoice because your name is written down you have everything job said the Lord giveth the Lord taketh away blessed be the name of the Lord we can still bless his name we can still praise him we can still rejoice even when everything seems to be going the wrong direction we've got reason to rejoice some of you've been saved but there's no joy in your life you used to have joy used to be excited used to really enjoy talking about the Lord and singing songs and there used to be some tears and there used to be some brokenness and used to mean you could find yourself at an altar during the invitation but you've gotten cold and indifferent and and and and you've just gotten hard against the things of God my friend you need your joy back there's only one way to do that that's to repent that's a repent you can leave here today singing victory in Jesus and really mean it knowing that everything's right between you and God and friend if you've never been saved this could be the greatest day of your entire life today to be the greatest day of your entire life if you would say yes to Jesus today God loves you so much doesn't matter where you've been what you've done what your past has in it if you come to Jesus today he will forgive you of all your sins he'll wash them away as white as snow he removes them as far as the east is from the west he'll make you his child I want you to bow your head