p>John 4:1-26
1 – The Pharisees heard that Jesus was gaining and baptizing more disciples than John,
2 – although in fact it was not Jesus Who baptized, but His disciples.
3 – When the Lord learned of this, He left Judea and went back once more to Galilee.
4 – Now, He had to go through Samaria.
5 – So He came to a town in Samaria called Sychar, near the plot of ground Jacob had given to his son, Joseph.
6 – Jacob’s well was there, and Jesus, tired as He was from the journey, sat down by the well. It was about the sixth hour.
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.)
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 flocks and herds?”
13 – Jesus answered,”Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again,
14 – but whoever drinks the water I give him will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give him will become in him 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 fathers worshiped on this mountain, but you Jews claim that the place where we must worship is in Jerusalem.”
21 – Jesus declared, “Believe me, woman, 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 spirit and truth, for they are the kind of worshipers the Father seeks.
24 – God is spirit, and His worshipers must worship in 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 who speak to you am He.”
This summer Sue and I purchased three pieces of furniture from the new Ikea in College Park. The first item was a desk that Sue and the kids picked out for me as part of a birthday gift re-model of my home office. It’s very nice-lots of room to spread books out on.
The other two pieces were part of Sarah’s birthday. While she was at World Changers this summer Sue and I re-did her bedroom-including a new bed and wardrobe from Ikea. So, this summer I got pretty good at assembling Ikea furniture. And, if you’ve ever purchased something at Ikea-then you know their furniture comes in pieces-you have to put it together-AND it doesn’t come with written assembly instructions. Instead, it comes with a piece of paper on which a series of pictures is drawn-pictures that show someone putting each screw and board and drop of glue in its proper place. There are no words-just illustrations. Now-in my “expert” opinion, Ikea should hire some new illustrators-I mean, their illustrations just aren’t detailed enough and can be quite confusing. BUT THE PRINCIPLE IS SOUND because it IS easier to learn how to do something if you can look at a picture of this task being accomplished. Think of it this way-it’s easier to DO something if you can WATCH someone else do it.
This principle applies to personal evangelism. You see, there is only so much you can learn by studying the “how-to’s” of witnessing. There comes a time when, in order to become contagious Christians we need to watch someone else witness-we need a picture to study-we need an example to examine. How’s that old Chinese proverb go? “I hear and I remember…I see and I understand.”
Well, the best person to watch witness to a lost person-the best example to examine is of course that of Jesus Christ Himself. After all, 1 Peter 2:21 says that our Lord,
“…has left us an example that WE SHOULD FOLLOW IN HIS STEPS…” and this would certainly include personal evangelism.
Here in the fourth chapter of John’s gospel we have Jesus’ example recorded for us in His well-known conversation with a lost Samaritan woman. And, their exchange provides us with a perfect picture of personal evangelism. In fact, this “picture” has been used as a model for evangelism more than any other Biblical text. And this morning-I want us to study Jesus’ example so as to glean principles that will help us in our efforts to share our faith with others. Let’s begin our study of this example of contagious Christianity by reviewing the setting.
The land where Jesus walked-Palestine-was only about 120 miles long from north to south. But within that 120 miles there were three distinct divisions of territory. In the extreme NORTH lay Galilee. In the extreme SOUTH lay Judea and in between the two lay Samaria-the area of Israel that we refer to today as the WEST BANK. The incident recorded in this morning’s text began at the conclusion of several weeks of Jesus’ ministry in southern Palestine-Judea-after which He decided to return north to Galilee. Our Lord made this decision to avoid a growing controversy. As verse 1 says, the Pharisees heard that Jesus’ popularity had grown greater than that of John the Baptist-as John said it would. Remember in verse 30 of John 3 he had said, “He-JESUS-must increase. I-JOHN-must decrease.” Well, due to Jesus’ rising popularity and His first cleansing of the temple, the Pharisees were now focusing their disfavor not only on John but on Jesus as well. So, it was a good time to leave that region in order that Jesus’ ministry could continue-and it needed to continue because the time was not yet ripe for His arrest and crucifixion. Our Lord still had people to meet and places to go before His appointment with that Roman cross-and one of these places was a Samaritan village called Sychar.
Okay, with that in mind look back at verse 4 of today’s text so we can try and understand what it means when it says: “Jesus HAD to go through Samaria” Now, Samaria was part of the most direct route from Judea to Galilee. This route was about 70 miles or two and a half days’ walk. But as I’m sure many of you know, most Jews chose NOT to go through Samaria. They avoided this middle region of Palestine at all costs. Their preferred course when traveling north from Judea to Galilee would be to travel East across the Jordan and then North up the eastern side of the river and re-cross the Jordan north of Samaria and THEN enter Galilee. THIS route would take SIX days-more than twice as long-and it was a much more uncomfortable journey-the climate was hotter and drier and the roads were much rougher.
But pious Jews opted for this route because it allowed them to avoid Samaria all together which was preferable because there had been a constant “feud” of sorts going on between Jews and Samaritans for centuries. Let’s quickly review our Jewish history so as to remember what it was that started this feud. It all began back in 722B.C. when Israel fell to the Assyrians. The Assyrians were experienced “nation conquerors” and had learned that conquering a nation was one thing-and making it stay that way was another. So-to keep nations subjugated they forced most of the local population-the leaders to move far away and they replaced them with people from another conquered land. Well that’s what they did in 722B.C. They sent foreigners into Israel to replace the so-called upper-class Israelites who they deported to Assyria. These aliens-these new residents of Israel-intermarried with the remaining so-called lower-class Israelites and their children- their descendants-became the Samaritan people.
The Bible tells us that the Jews eventually returned from captivity and they declared these Samaritans to be a traitorous half-breed, unclean, idol-worshiping people, who arrogantly presumed to share a spiritual inheritance with them-God’s chosen people. And the feeling was mutual! The Samaritans hated these Jewish “blue-bloods.” They resented their return so far as to oppose the rebuilding of Jerusalem and the temple. You see, in the meantime they had built their own temple on Mt. Gerizim. The Samaritans even had their own version of Scripture which was limited to the first five books of the Old Testament. And they had actually re-written these books to present their distorted view of Jewish history. For example: the Samaritan version of the scriptures said that Abraham’s near sacrifice of Isaac took place on Mt. Gerizim and not on Mt. Moriah in Jerusalem. By the time of Jesus their temple had been destroyed-burned by the Jews 128 years earlier-but the Samaritans continued to oppose the temple in Jerusalem, saying that the only true place of worship was on Mt. Gerizim.
It is interesting to note that whereas the Jews would never travel through Samaria, the Samaritans did not mind if Jews went through their land-as long as they were traveling northward from Judea, like Jesus and His disciples were doing. But the Samaritans DID resent Jews who traveled southward from Galilee toward Jerusalem because that was where their rival temple was located.
Well, suffice it to say then that there was a long history of hatred and competition between the people of these two geographical regions. At best, you could describe their relationship as a “settled hostility.” I remind you of all this to help you see that the word “must” that John uses in verse 4 didn’t mean “must” in the sense of geographical convenience. Jesus didn’t HAVE to travel through Samaria. No-He could have taken the normal route around the region. In fact I’m sure His disciples would have much preferred that He do so. I love Grady Nutt’s re-telling of this incident in his little book The Gospel According to Norton. In Nutt’s version the disciples are VERY upset when Jesus chooses this route through Samaria….Peter in particular. Referring to this Nutt writes,
“Simon almost developed a permanent twitch! He argued loud, long, about Jesus’ chosen route of travel and climaxed his furious debate with an unbelievable burst of logic saying, ‘BUT, JESUS, THERE ARE SAMARITANS UP THERE!'”
In any case, Jesus CHOSE to depart from this standard route-so when John wrote “must,” he meant referred to divine necessity. Jesus went this way because He knew it was God’s plan. This route would take Him to one of the people He HAD to see before the cross. Jesus knew that there was a moment of truth awaiting a woman who lived in a village in Samaria named Sychar. This is why He knew He “MUST” go THROUGH Samaria and not AROUND it. And it is at this point that Jesus’ example provides us with our first principle of personal evangelism. You see, His intentional journey to this place the Jews avoided reminds us…
1. …that LOVE must be the motivation behind our witnessing.
I mean, we won’t get far if we share our faith out of guilt or even out of duty-no, if we follow Jesus’ example, we will witness out of our love for lost people. Remember-in the first sermon of this series I told you that nothing-absolutely nothing in all creation matters as much to God as do people-fallen, sinful people like you and me. In spite of our sinful state and sinful actions-in spite of our constant rebellion against Him, God still loves us and longs for us to love Him back. That’s WHY Jesus came to “seek and save the lost” – lost people like this woman-He came seeking her because of His great love.
Now-don’t misunderstand me. I’m not saying that our Lord closes His eyes to sin. In fact, since, He is perfectly Holy and sinless, He is more sensitive to sin than you and I. But when Jesus looks at your life-at my life-He lovingly looks beyond our sinful behavior. He sees us not as filthy sinners but as His precious creation. He sees us as priceless treasure that has been lost and that He loves and yearns to get back.
This reminds me of the following notice that was spotted in the lost and found section of a major newspaper. “LOST-black and tan dog of poodle, German shepherd, and dachshund descent.
Flea-bitten, left hind-leg missing, no hair on rump, and recently neutered. Answers to the name, “LUCKY.” $50 reward” Now, many people would consider themselves lucky if they lost this pooch named Lucky! And who would be willing to pay $50 to get him back? I mean, it’s only a dog-a mutt at that! You can get all the mutts you want for free at any dog pound. But to this family, Lucky was more than a mutt. They saw this little decrepit pooch as something precious-valuable-something they loved very much and would go to any lengths to recover.
Well this gives us a picture of how God sees us. In spite of the fact that we all bear the scars of our own sinful choices-He loves us and this is the same way we must look at all people if we are to lead them to Jesus. We must learn to look at people through grace-healed eyes-eyes that enable us to look beyond their attitudes and actions and appearance and see them as human beings that matter infinitely to God.
Please hear me-I am referring to all people-even mean, selfish, hateful, unlovely people!
Our hearts must break for them-just as God’s heart does. Our witness will be ineffective unless they sense the love of God in our words and actions. A couple weeks ago I attended a preaching conference at Willow Creek Community Church in Chicago. Bill Hybels spoke there and he told us that in every sermon he has two basic goals. As a result of his sermon he wants his people to KNOW something and to DO something. Well as a result of this sermon series I want you to KNOW that GOD LOVES PEOPLE…I want that knowledge to saturate your being. And I also want you to DO something. I want you to let God love lost people through you such that you share His love with them. This must be the driving force behind our witness.
Okay-let’s move on in our examination of this “picture” of evangelism that Jesus gives us to see what else we can learn.
About a half mile outside of the town of Sychar at the foot of Mt. Gerizim was a very historical spot, a famous water source known as JACOB’S WELL, first mentioned way back in Genesis 33. The well was located on the land that Jacob had bequeathed to his son, Joseph. It was the same land where Joseph’s bones had been buried after being brought out of Egypt with Moses and the people of Israel. Jacob had probably dug this well himself and it became a central watering place for the region. He did a good job because even to this day, people still drink fresh water from this well. Verse 6 says that Jesus arrived at Jacob’s well on or about the sixth hour-which according to the Roman time keeping method, would have been 6PM. So Jesus was tired from a long day of travel.
The disciples left our travel-weary Lord resting by this well while they went into Sychar to purchase some food for the evening meal. They had probably been gone only a few minutes when a woman from town approached the well carrying a huge water pot on her shoulder. Picture the scene in your mind’s eye. The pot was empty but she carried it like it was full. I think her features were hard-her gait lifeless-her eyes dark sockets of weariness. Perhaps Jesus’ disciples had contributed to her weariness by giving her a taste of Jewish hostility as they passed her on their way into town-with their “We’re disgusted with all you Samaritans” looks, or by refusing to yield the path-forcing her to move off the path until they went by.
So imagine how she felt when she arrived at the well and saw from His garb that another Jew was sitting there. She must have thought-what’s going on? Jews are everywhere today! This would have been a surprise to her because, as I said Jews avoided Samaria like the plague. And if that wasn’t enough of a shock, Jesus actually SPOKE to her…going so far as to even ask her for a drink of water. She replied by basically saying with a twinge of sarcasm in her voice, “What’s a nice guy like you doing here with a not-so-nice woman like me-and asking for a drink to boot?”
As John’s little parenthesis in verse 9 reminds Gentiles like you and me-Jews just did not associate with Samaritans-especially female ones. In fact there was a rule for Jewish men that stated: “A man shall not talk with a woman in the street, not even with his own wife.” Another rule said: “The daughters of the Samaritans are menstruants from their cradle…he that eats the bread of the Samaritans is like to the one that eats the flesh of swine.” And yet, as I said, Jesus not only spoke to this Samaritan woman. He asked her for a drink! Think of it. He requested that His Jewish lips touch a container from which Samaritan lips had drunk. At this point we can see a second principle of evangelism in Jesus’ example and it is this:
2. Effective evangelists don’t let BARRIERS keep them from lost people.
I say this because, with His request for water Jesus broke through several barriers: cultural barriers, religious barriers, gender barriers. And that’s the way Jesus was-His great love for lost people would allow nothing to keep Him from them…and if we are to be effective evangelists we must be “barrier breakers” as well. In fact, let’s pause to do a little self examination. Let’s ask ourselves, “What barriers have I allowed to form between me and people? Do I treat people of certain ethnic descent with disdain? Have I allowed 9-11 to mar my opinion of Middle-Eastern people? Muslim people? Do I think or act less than Christlike around people who voted differently than I did this past week? Do I withhold loving ministry from people who disobey God when it comes to sexual behavior? Have I allowed my schedule to become so busy that it forms a barrier between myself and lonely people, hurting people…who live next door or across the street or work in the office next to mine?” Let’s all ask ourselves, “What barriers have I built between myself and lost people?”
As we’ve already learned in this study, if we want to lead the lost to Christ, we must make contact with lost people. We mustn’t isolate ourselves from them. You see, when we do-when we live according to a “barrier-building” philosophy, we are repeating the mistakes of the Jewish religious leaders who condemned Jesus for associating with sinful people. And do you remember our Lord’s response to their criticism? In Luke 5:27 Jesus said, “Don’t you understand? I have not come to call the righteous but sinners to repentance.”
In Jesus’ last prayer before His arrest and subsequent crucifixion He said, “Father, My prayer is not that You take them out of the world but that You protect them from the evil one. As You sent Me into the world, I have sent them INTO the world.” (John 17:15, 18)
In other words we are to be in the world, but not of it. We are to separate ourselves from the sinful PRACTICES of society but not isolate ourselves from the sinful PEOPLE of society! When the Department of Health fears an epidemic of scarlet fever, it tries to isolate the germ-carriers. They realize that if everyone who has the disease is quarantined the disease won’t spread. And this principle applies to evangelism as well because a sure preventive against the spread of the gospel is to build barriers that isolate its carriers (Christians) from everyone else! Even the first century Christians apparently dealt with this misconception. It was for this reason that Paul corresponded with the Corinthians and said, “I wrote to you in my letter not to associate with immoral men; not at all meaning the immoral of this world, or the greedy and robbers, or idolaters, since then you would need to go out of the world. But rather I wrote to you not to associate with any one who bears the name of brother if he is guilty of immorality…” (1 Corinthians 5:9-11)
So Paul was saying the only sinners we should avoid are Christians, who insist on rejecting our loving correction and continue to embrace sinful actions in an unrepentant way. The fact is, we must realize that separating ourselves from THOSE WHO DO NOT KNOW JESUS CHRIST is outright disobedience to the will of God. We need to follow Jesus example here and break down barriers so that we make contact with the lost people around us.
This past weekend Sue and I attended Baptist Family and Children Services’ annual banquet. The theme at this year’s event was “Embracing Baltimore” – highlighting BFCS’ decision to move their offices back into the city. As part of the program they had four Baltimore pastors tell us about their ministry, and one was the pastor of the old historic 7th Baptist Church-Annie Armstrong’s original church. This young pastor said that he had recently studied his church’s long history and found that three times over the years it had faced the decision to leave the inner city and relocate in the suburbs. And each time the church had voted to stay put because they felt that Christians should be where the need is. Christians should be where the hurting, lost people are. And today they are located in the geographic center of the city. Well, I think that church has it right-because to lead this world to Jesus we need to be in it! We mustn’t allow anything to come between us and people who need to hear about Jesus.
Okay-in verse 7 Jesus asked this woman for a drink of water and the conversation that followed shows us a third principle of personal evangelism, that we must never forget, and it is this:
3. An individual’s sinful ACTIONS reflect their SPIRITUAL needs.
I mean so many times in a misguided attempt to satisfy their need for God, people will “drink” at the “wells” of this fallen world-wells that never satisfy. And we see an example of this here, because as Jesus noticed, this poor woman was thirsty for more than water. I mean she not only had an empty water pot. She had an empty life. If we had grown up in that culture, we might have come to the same conclusion because most women went to the well in groups early in the morning in the cool of the day. But not this woman. No she came in the evening to get water, so it was easy to see that she was an intentional loner. She chose to come to the well at this time of day, in order to avoid the other women-who no doubt ridiculed her for her sinful lifestyle-a lifestyle built around her trying to slake her spiritual thirst at the “well” of sexual immorality.
In His omniscience Jesus of course knew this-He knew that she had been married five times. So, think of it this way-she had “flitted” from one man to another like a butterfly in a flower bed seeking the sensual nectar of a new experience. And after doing this five times….after five empty marriages, she had said, “What’s the use of even going through the formality of marriage?” And she just moved in with another man. But even this failed to satisfy the longing of her soul for something more because as the song says, “she was looking for love in all the wrong places.” And there are people like her all over this world. People who have drunk from the wells of the world and still thirst. Jesus referred to these people and their sad lives in verse 13 when He said, “Whoever drinks from THIS water will get THIRSTY again.”
King Solomon was one of them. He drank from all the wells of this world. Remember? He tried the well of WEALTH and it didn’t satisfy the thirst of his soul. He tried the well of pleasure and it didn’t satisfy. Like this woman tried the well of lust and it left him thirsty. That’s the way sin is. It’s like a drug; the more you take, the more you need. It never satisfies. The thirst quenchers of the world are like Chinese food. They will fill you up but two or three hours later you will be hungry again. God referred to this in Jeremiah 2:13 when He said, “My people have committed two sins: They have forsaken Me, the spring of living water, and have dug their own cisterns, broken cisterns that cannot hold water.” You know, our bodies are about 80% fluid. That means people my size, lug around about 160 pounds of water. As Max Lucado points out,
“Apart from brains, bones, and a few organs, we’re all walking water balloons.”
So-as water-based creatures-we need water. That’s the way God made us. In fact, like a gauge on a car’s instrument panel we have a built-in “low-fluid indicator.” If we don’t get enough water our body has built-in signals that let us know: Dry mouth. Thick tongue. Achy head. Weak knees. Deprive your body of necessary fluid and your body will tell you. Well we also have a soul with an inborn need-an inborn THIRST to know God. And this inner longing often manifests itself in our outward behavior. Lucado writes, “Dehydrated hearts send desperate messages. Snarling tempers. Waves of worry. Growling mastodons of guilt and fear….Hopelessness. Sleeplessness. Loneliness. Resentment…Irritability..Insecurity. These are all warnings..symptoms of a dryness deep within.”
Well, Jesus saw this sinful woman’s actions as an indication of her spiritual need. He knew what she had not yet realized. Her lifestyle choices showed her thirst for God. King David described this thirst in Psalm 42:1 when he wrote, “As the deer pants for streams of water, so my soul pants for you, O God.” Contagious Christians will recognize this-they will realize that when they see an individual who embraces sin, they are seeing someone thirsty for God. They know then when people are lonely or angry or depressed-it’s like a warning light flashing on a car’s instrument panel indicating the fact that they need what Jesus offers. You see, wise witnesses remember that Jesus is as necessary for spiritual life as water is for physical life. They remember when that when they accepted Jesus into their lives, He came in…and as He did, His Spirit poured down the “throat of their souls, flushing out fears, dislodging regrets and filling us with deep satisfaction and lasting peace. It’s like Peter said in his sermon on Pentecost Sunday-when we repent and turn to God, “…our sins are washed away and times of REFRESHING come from the Lord.” (Acts 3:19)
And then, one other thing that Jesus example can teach us is that in our efforts at leading someone to Christ…
4. There is a time when we must CONFRONT our lost friends with the claims of Jesus.
As we WILL LEARN/LEARNED in our SS lesson today there comes a time to cross the line and ask them to make a decision. Remember, our goal is not just to TELL people about Christ-it’s to LEAD people to follow Christ. After all, Jesus commissioned us to “Go…and make DISCIPLES…” In verse 19 this thirsty woman attempted to avoid her decision. She tried to divert Jesus from the matter at hand with a discussion of the Samaritan people’s version of the Jewish religion. Like a fish on the line, trying to wriggle off the hook, she brought up this dispute that Jews and Samaritans had had for hundreds of years. But Jesus wouldn’t allow that. He knew it was time for her to make a decision. So when she mentioned the prophesied Messiah, He said, “I Who speak to you am He.” (Vs 26) And that in essence drew a line in the sand. She could refuse to believe or decide to receive Jesus as Messiah and Lord-she could reject the “living water” He offered or she could drink from it. This same moment of truth will come in our evangelistic efforts. There will come a time when we have to lovingly confront another person with their need to make a decision. One way we know that time has come is when they try to divert us from the decision like this Samaritan woman. They may try to stir up a dispute about some of the things we’ve discussed on Wednesday nights-the existence of Hell, whether or not miracles are real, etc. They may try to evade the real issue by posing an intellectual or theological question like, “All these denominations confuse me. Which is the true church?” They may talk about a relative who was “religious.” “You know, my grandfather was a pastor…” Things like that. And in these times, the Holy Spirit will often tap us on the soldier and tell us it’s time to lovingly confront them with their need to respond to the claims of Jesus. This time will come because-people can’t experience the Living Water until they choose to drink it. We can stand knee deep in the Colorado River and still die of thirst. There comes a point of decision in which we move from talking about Jesus and inviting Him in.
In the days of WWII a combat crew had to ditch their bomber in the vast loneliness of the South Pacific Ocean. Five of them climbed aboard a rubber raft, the rest were lost. For 12 days they drifted with no sign of rescuers. Soon their rations were exhausted. The hot, terrible heat from the sun scorched and burned their skin. Their flesh shrank until they were little more than living skeletons. Their lips cracked and their tongues became thickly swollen with thirst. Two of the men went mad and leaped overboard. Another died quietly and they rolled his body into the sea. Eventually only two were left. When a rescue vessel found the raft only one man survived and when he had regained some strength he told of the death of his last companion. He said, “The night before you found us it rained and the raft caught a pail of fresh water. I tried to give some to my buddy. It would have saved his life. But he was out of his mind and thought I was trying to give him sea water to drink and I was too weak to force him.” Then the airman cried and beat his pillow in frustration and said, “Oh, if only he had drunk the water I offered him…he could have lived!”
I share this story because we only begin to truly live when we accept Jesus’ offer-the same one He made to this thirsty woman. Revelation 22:17 says that Jesus stands today saying to men and women every where and perhaps to you, “Come! Whoever is thirsty, let him come…whoever wishes let him take the free gift of the water of life.”
This morning…if you thirst for a personal relationship with God…then I urge you to accept Jesus’ invitation and come…Quench your thirst! Receive this free gift. Others present this morning may feel led by God to make other decisions….to join this church…or perhaps to simply ask God to help you be a Christian who is not OF the world but IN it….sharing your faith with the thirsty people who are within your realm of influence. As we stand and sing I invite you to come forward….walk the aisle and share any decision you wish to make public with me….