Greater Shiloh Missionary Baptist Church

Dr. Michael W. Wesley Sr.: You are now listening to an inspirational message from Greater Shiloh Missionary Baptist Church, where Dr. Michael W. Wesley Senior is the pastor. Please join the service in progress.

Guest (Male): I got my legs and I can walk. I got my tongue and I can talk. Even the air that I receive. I got my lungs and I can breathe. I look around, I can see another blessing. Another blessing. God's given me another blessing. I see my family, they all doing fine. Another blessing. He gave me peace. He gave me peace of mind. Another blessing. Oh, we. Another blessing. Oh, we. Another blessing. Oh, we. Another blessing. Oh, we. Another blessing. Oh, we. Another blessing.

Dr. Michael W. Wesley Sr.: I will bless the Lord at all times. And his praises shall continually be in my mouth. We've had some challenges, but through it all, I'm going to give God my praise because he's been mighty good.

Guest (Male): I can't let a day go by without praising his name. I can't forget from whence I came. I can't let a day go by without counting the cost. I can't let a day go by without praising his name. I can't let a day go by without praising his name. I can't forget from whence I came. Oh, I can't let a day go by without counting the cost. I can't let a day go by without praising his name.

I've been through the fire. And I've been through some floods. Like a good soldier, God knows I've been tried. But I got a story. And it's got to be told. He brought me out. Yes, he did. Like you. Oh, I can't keep it all to myself. I got to run, run, run, run on. I got to tell somebody else.

Just hold on. And you'll be strong. My God is still, still on the throne. That's why I can't let a day go by without praising his name. I can't forget from whence I came. I can't let a day go by without counting the cost. I can't let a day go by without praising his name.

I can't let a day go by. I just can't let a day go by. Without praising his name. God's been too good to me. Yes, he has. I can't forget. I can't forget from whence I came. Oh, Lord. I can't let a day go by. I just can't let a day go by. Without counting the cost. Oh, Lord. I can't let a day go by without praising his name. He brought me all the way. I can't let a day go by. Yes, he did. Praise his name.

I can't let a day go by. Hallelujah. For all the blessings. For all that you've done for me. Is anybody thankful today that God brought you? You didn't get there by yourself. Oh, Lord, I thank you. I thank you, Lord. Thank you.

Dr. Michael W. Wesley Sr.: I can't let a day go by without praising God. And because it has become so personal, it's not something I can keep to myself. And that's the essence of what we want to talk about today when we have been impacted by Christ. Then it's not something we can keep to ourselves. It's something that we certainly want to share. Join me now in a moment of prayer as we ready our hearts for the word for the morning.

Father, we thank you for loving us and blessing us. We thank you for leading us, guiding us, and directing us as we have traveled through another week's journey. Thank you for the highs. Thank you for the lows. Thank you for the good things, the sunshine. Thank you for the rain. Thank you for allowing us to lie down last night and our bodies to rest. Giving us the desire early this morning to want to be here in the house of prayer.

We thank you for songs of Zion that have gone up, scriptures that have been read, prayers that have covered us. Now, Lord, we need a word to help us to live. Lift again your human out of self, fill us with the Holy Spirit. Speak to us and through us in this moment. Bless now the words that are in our mouth, meditation on our heart. That it may be acceptable in your sight. Oh, Lord, our strength and our redeemer. With you, there is a word, without you, there is no word. Bless us now. In Jesus' name. Amen.

Before last week, we had just introduced a series of passages in John's Gospel chapter 4. And because it's such a lengthy passage, I had to break it up. In the previous message, we looked at the first 15, well really through the first 24, verse 25. But I want to pick up the reading this morning, John's Gospel chapter 4, verse 27 through the end of the chapter. And then we'll kind of give some comments on what the Lord wants us to hear.

And upon this came his disciples and marveled that he talked with the woman. Yet no man said, what seekest thou, or why talkest thou with her? The woman then left her waterpot, and went her way into the city and said to the men, come see a man which told me all things that I ever did. Is not this the Christ? Then they went out of the city and came unto him. In the meanwhile, his disciples prayed him saying, Master, eat. But he said unto them, I have meat to eat that you know not of. Therefore said the disciples one to another, hath any man brought him aught to eat?

Jesus said unto them, my meat is to do the will of him that sent me and to finish his work. Say not ye, there are yet four months and then cometh harvest. Behold, I say unto you, lift up your eyes and look on the fields. For they are white already to harvest. And he that reaps receives wages and gathers fruit unto life eternal. That both he that sows and he that reaps may rejoice together. And herein is that saying true, one sows and another reaps. I sent you to reap that whatever you bestowed no labor. Other men labored and you are entered into their labor. And many of the Samaritans of that city believed on him for the saying of the woman which testified, he told me all that I ever did. So when the Samaritans were come unto him, they besought him that he would tarry with them, and he abode there two days. And many more believed because of his own words. And said unto the woman, now we believe, not because of thy saying, for we have heard him ourselves and know that this is indeed the Christ, the savior of the world. This is the word of God for the people of God.

I want to tag this as we were talking in the first installment, Jesus the Living Water, this would be part two of that. But the particular tag I want to place on this is, come see a man. Come see a man.

We would know that this this is a long narrative. And whenever we are engaged in a narrative, it's proper to finish the narrative. And because there are 42 verses here, it was difficult to put it all in one message. I'd really purposed to divide it into three segments, but I've reduced it to two. It always challenges me to limit myself on the time that we can spend in explaining and preaching the word.

I don't know who came up with the idea that we're not supposed to preach no more than an hour, 45 minutes. I sometimes wish I can be like the Apostle Paul, just preach till people fall out of the window and die. I would feel better, but I know that there are other services that have to follow and other things that people have on their agenda, so we'll stay with the constraints that have been imposed upon us and try to limit the narration to the time that is before us. But the account is a monumental account in the life of the Christ.

In the early days of the ministry of Jesus, you would recall the record says that he must needs go through Samaria. When he started his early ministry, he actually was in the southern portion of Judah. And there he had been baptized by John the Baptist and he began his ministry there in Jerusalem in a real sense. And he upset the religious leaders because he overturned the tables of the money changers. But he knew he needed to get out of there because the cross would have come sooner had he hung around.

And so, going north, most Jews would cross the Jordan River and go up through Pira and Decapolis and then come back into the northern portion of Israel to avoid the middle section, which was the area occupied by the Samaritans. But Jesus, the scripture say, must needs go through Samaria. And when he went through Samaria, it was a 20-mile walk from where he had been. And it was not just a flat walk, it was uphill and around and all of that. I've been to Palestine, I've been on those roads and I know how difficult that it can be.

And in that hot, arid sun, by the time he reached the area of Samaria, near the city called Sychar, there was a well. And he sat down in his humanness, his humanity was manifested in that he was physically tired and was thirsty. And about that time, came a woman of Samaria from the village. At noon, and it was a dead giveaway because the women when they came to the well, they came usually as a group and they came near dusk to gather water, which was normal, a part of their task. But this woman was there in the middle of the day. And it was because she was an outcast. She had a reputation that they all knew about and she had lived a life of promiscuity and other kinds of things. In our today's vernacular, she would have been termed a prostitute.

And because of that and wanting to avoid the gossip and the messiness that come from groups of women, she came at noon. And when she came at noon, Jesus in his humanness was leaning on the well. And he teaches us and my point last time was to know that if we as a church are going to grow and in the new leadership and all of those things, then we must be evangelists, we have to understand the task of evangelism. And Jesus becomes for us a model evangelist. And he teaches us the principles of how we can reach lost people. By his exchange with the woman at the well.

And so what do we learn? We learn first that he condescended. And sometimes you have to condescend. You have to come down to where people are. And then he made an unsolicited offer. He asked the woman, he used water as because he was at the well. He said, give me a drink of water, just to start the conversation. And sometimes you have to take the initiative to start the conversation. Very few people will come up to you and say, tell me everything you know about Jesus and how to get my life on track. And so often we have to be the initiators.

And so he used the subject of water to initiate the conversation. And she said, wait, you being a Jew, ask me, a Samaritan woman, to give you a drink. That was a long history of prejudice that existed. And she understood it, Jesus understood it, but he dismissed all of those kinds of things. And he made her an offer. He said, if you knew who was asking you, you would ask me, and I would give you living water. So he offers her an unparalleled blessing.

And in the course of conversation, of course, she became interested. "Sir, the well is deep and you have nothing with to draw. Where are you going to get this living water from?" And then he says, well, you know, the water that I'll give will spring up into you a well of eternal life. You know, if you drink this water, you're going to be thirsty again. And she wanted to know, "Well, give me that water. So I don't have to come back to this well anymore."

And he teaches us further about evangelism. Not only condescending, not only making unsolicited offers, not only showing unparalleled blessing, but he also confronts her sin. He says to her, "Go call your husband." And she had to tell the truth, "I have no husband." And he said, "You're right, you've had five. And the man you're living with now is not your husband." And she goes, "Whoa. Sir, I perceive you are a prophet." Now, what was I saying about that? I was saying that often we want to bring people to church, but we don't want to confront their sin. And when you do that, you cause people to be half-baked and not fully committed. Because until and unless a person confronts their past and repents of that past, and changes and turns from that, they are not truly converted.

So, in the process of teaching on evangelism, we went through all of that the first time. And then we also said that Jesus ultimately revealed himself. She said, "Well, we know that you Jews say that Jerusalem is the place of worship. And we Samaritans say Mount Gerasim is the place of worship." Jesus said, "Hold up, time out, you don't understand." The time is going to come when we would neither worship God in Jerusalem nor in Mount Gerasim. God is a spirit. And they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth. What was he doing? He was setting the, he had to eradicate.