PowerPoint

Jack Graham: We're always praying and asking God to give us opportunities for those divine appointments in our life. All around us, we need to make sure that we are engaging with people who need the Lord, that we don't just huddle up in holy huddles.

Guest (Female): On today's PowerPoint, Dr. Graham brings a message about how Jesus showed us to share our faith. Now, here's Dr. Graham with his message, "Gospel Conversations."

Jack Graham: Take your Bibles and turn with me to John's Gospel, the fourth chapter. The Gospel of John, the fourth chapter. The way we engage people in personal evangelism, our witness of the gospel, is through normal, natural conversations of which Christ ends up being the subject.

And Jesus, who is the greatest soul-winner of all time, of course, gives us an example of how we are to talk to people about eternal life and matters of the soul, matters of the faith, and engage people in an opportunity to know what it is to experience Christ in their lives: gospel conversations.

I know some people get uptight, the upright get uptight about evangelism, and at times are fearful about sharing the faith. We all experience that. There's the nerves that are involved, and we don't want to say the wrong thing or do the wrong thing.

But the fact is that God has called every one of us; Jesus has commanded every one of us to share our faith in Jesus Christ. It's too good to keep to ourselves. And so, we are always looking for opportunities to invite people to know Jesus.

Again, it happens normally, naturally, not with gospel guns, but in normal routines of life. We have these conversations, and Jesus is the example. When we follow in Jesus' steps, he teaches us how to evangelize.

And what we have in the passage today in these conversations with Jesus is Jesus showing us how to do this. And there are many big points and practical points as to how we also can follow in his steps and share our faith with people, even people far from God.

Now, this is a long passage, and I thought about it a while and just skipping around, but I want you to read it all with me from verse 4 to verse 42 because it's an exciting passage, it's an extraordinary passage of Scripture.

We told you previously that in the New Testament, the Gospels, there are only 26 days recorded in the life of Jesus. Of his three years of ministry, of his 33 years on Earth, there are 26 days, and really parts of days, that are given to us in the Bible.

And yet, in 26 days, Jesus changed the world, and he changed your life and mine as we put our faith in him. So, this is a long day, and it's a long passage, but it's certainly worth the read. So beginning in verse 4 of John 4, stay with me.

"And he had to pass through Samaria. So he came to a town of Samaria called Sychar, near the field that Jacob had given to his son Joseph. Jacob's well was there; so Jesus, wearied as he was from his journey, was sitting beside the well. It was about the sixth hour," that is, high noon, 12 o'clock.

"A woman from Samaria came to draw water. Jesus said to her, 'Give me a drink,' for his disciples had gone away into the city to buy food. The Samaritan woman said to him, 'How is it that you, a Jew, ask for a drink from me, a woman of Samaria?' For Jews have no dealings with Samaritans.

Jesus answered her, 'If you knew the gift of God, and who it is that is saying to you, "Give me a drink," you would have asked him, and he would have given you living water.' The woman said to him, 'Sir, you have nothing to draw water with, and the well is deep. Where do you get this living water?'

This is now dripping with sarcasm and suspicion. 'Are you greater than our father Jacob? He gave us the well and drank from it himself, as did his sons and his livestock.' Jesus said to her, 'Everyone who drinks of this water will be thirsty again, but whoever drinks of the water that I will give him will never be thirsty again.

The water that I will give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life.' The woman said to him, 'Sir, give me this water so that I may not be thirsty or have to come here to draw water.' Jesus said to her, 'Go, call your husband, and come here.'

The woman answered him, 'I have no husband.' Jesus said to her, 'You are right in saying "I have no husband," for you have had five husbands, and the one you now have is not your husband. What you have said is true.'

The woman said to him, 'Sir, I perceive that you are a prophet. Our fathers worshiped on this mountain, but you say that in Jerusalem is the place where people ought to worship.' And Jesus said to her, 'Woman, believe me, the hour is coming when neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem will you worship the Father.

You worship what you do not know; we worship what we know, for salvation is of the Jews. But the hour is coming, and is now here, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and in truth, for the Father is seeking such people to worship him.'"

Imagine that: the God of heaven, the Father, is desiring and seeking true worshipers. God is on a search for those who will worship him. And to worship God is the meaning of life. So, to worship in spirit and truth.

And verse 25: "The woman said to him, 'I know that Messiah is coming (he who is called Christ), and when he comes, he will tell us all things.'" Both Samaritans and Jews were looking for a Messiah. Jesus said to her, and this is a key verse in all the Bible, "I who speak to you am he."

Just then the disciples came back. They marveled that he was talking with a woman, but no one said, "What do you seek?" or "Why are you talking with her?" So the woman left her water jar and went away into the town and said to the people, "Come, see a man who told me all that I ever did. Can this be the Christ?"

And they went out of the town and were coming to him. Meanwhile, the disciples were urging him, saying, "Rabbi, eat." But he said to them, "I have food to eat that you do not know about." So the disciples said to one another, "Has anyone else brought him food to eat?"

Jesus said to them, "My food is to do the will of him who sent me and to accomplish his work. And do you not say, 'There are yet four months, then comes the harvest'? Look, I tell you, lift up your eyes and see that the fields are white unto harvest."

For he says, this is verse 37, "The saying holds true, 'One sows and another reaps,' and I sent you to reap that for which you did not labor. Others have labored, and you have entered into their labor." We do this together, Church. Some sow and some reap, and that is the lesson Jesus is teaching us here.

"And many Samaritans from that town," verse 39, "believed in him because of the woman's testimony, 'He told me all that I ever did.' So when the Samaritans came to him, they asked him to stay with them, and he stayed there two days. And many more believed because of his word.

And they said to the woman, 'It is no longer because of what you said that we believe, for we have heard for ourselves and we know that this is indeed the Savior of the world.'" Jesus is bone-tired, exhausted, weary, weak.

After a full day's walk, probably 15 to 20 miles, it's the heat of the day. He's tired; he's exhausted. So, in his humanity, he sits by this well, Jacob's well. It's still there to this day. He sits by this well and he's waiting for the woman to arrive.

You see, this was not a chance meeting, circumstantial; this was on his agenda all along because the Scripture says he had a need to go through Samaria. He must needs go through Samaria. He didn't have to go through Samaria; he could have gone the coastal route, another way around Samaria.

As noted in this passage of Scripture, Jews had nothing to do with Samaritans, who were considered outcast and half-breeds. It's not politically correct, but that's the way they were viewed. But Jesus was on a mission. And what is the mission of Jesus? He came to seek and to save the lost.

Jesus is the Savior of the world. So, whether Jews or Samaritans, people in the group or outside of the group, Jesus came for all who would trust in him. The Bible says the Father sent the Son to be the Savior of the world. All the world and everyone in it.

In John chapter 3 and verse 17, Jesus said, "I didn't come into the world to condemn the world, but that the world would be saved as they come to me." And there's no name given among men, in the book of Acts we're told, but the name of Jesus whereby we must be saved.

The only way to be saved from our sin is through Jesus. Acts chapter 4 and verse 12 says, "There's no other name given among men whereby we must be saved but the name of Jesus." Only Jesus. Only Jesus can save.

Sin is man substituting for God. That's what sin is. But salvation in Jesus Christ is God substituting for mankind. We have a Savior, and he is a greater Savior than you can possibly imagine. What a great Savior.

Guest (Female): You're listening to PowerPoint with Jack Graham and the message "Gospel Conversations." Did you know that you can join Dr. Graham for his daily devotion? It's a study of God's Word that will help you grow in your faith, encourage you in your walk with Christ, and show you how to navigate through the challenges of life.

To sign up, text "DEVO" to 59789 and begin receiving Dr. Graham's devotion every day. Again, text "DEVO" to 59789. Every day, people are hearing the truth of Jesus Christ through PowerPoint's broadcasts, podcasts, and digital outreach.

Some are discovering the truth of the gospel for the very first time. Others are learning to trust God more deeply. And friends like you help make it all possible through your support. That's why this month, we want to say thanks for your gift of $10 or more by sending you Dr. Jack Graham's book, *Choices*.

In this encouraging resource, Dr. Graham shares practical wisdom from God's Word to help you make decisions with confidence, clarity, and faith. To give your gift and request your copy, text "AUGUST" to 59789. Please limit one per household. Again, text "AUGUST" to 59789. Now, let's get back to today's message, "Gospel Conversations."

Jack Graham: So, when we think about sharing this message with others, and that is the gospel—how that Christ died and rose again that we might have eternal life—how should we do it? How can we do it, knowing that we all are commanded and commissioned by Jesus to tell this story?

Well, one I would say is look for divine appointments. Look for opportunities that God has ordained in your life. Paul asked the believers of the first century, he said, "Pray for me that God would give me an open door."

So one thing we should all pray for each day is open doors to share the gospel of Christ because all around us are people, if we are observant, who need the Lord Jesus. Now, this woman was not that good of candidate, not that great a candidate for salvation.

She was an outcast. She was a Samaritan. She was a Samaritan woman, and she was a sinful woman in that she was adulterous. She'd been married five times, she was shacking up with a man she was with at the time.

Can you imagine this young woman? At one time, she went into that first marriage and it was everything she had dreamed for, everything she had hoped for, had all the dreams of a young bride. And then that ended.

And then another marriage, and then another marriage, and then another marriage, and then another marriage. And now she gives up on marriage and just moves in with some guy. So her life is no doubt filled with shame and sin.

She's an immoral woman. She's stigmatized. And do you know why she was out there at this well at the middle of the day instead of at the dusk, evening of the season or of the day rather? It was because nobody else wanted to hang with her or she didn't want to be around the other women.

She'd known the sneers and the stares, and so she just went by herself to get the water. And she's a broken woman, stigmatized by her sin. And she's not expecting Jesus. Jesus begins talking to this woman.

Now, that's unusual in itself. The disciples were surprised to see it. And Jesus breaks down barriers, which is another thing we do when we share our faith. He breaks down racial barriers between Jews and Samaritans, the prejudice.

He breaks down cultural barriers. He breaks down gender barriers because a rabbi, as Jesus is called a rabbi, the teacher here, would not be caught dead or alive talking to a woman in public. But here's Jesus, just tearing down all the traditions and all the barriers.

And he's talking to this woman. Jesus loved people, broken people. And do you know what? We're all broken. Jesus broke down all these barriers. Why? Verse 42: I emphasized it when we read the story.

Jesus is the Savior of the world and everybody in it. The gospel of Jesus is not for an exclusive few, an elitist religious group. Anyone and everyone in the world is a candidate for salvation in Christ.

All people are lost and need Christ. All people, therefore, deserve the love of people who say they follow Jesus. This was seeking Jesus. She was not seeking Jesus, but Jesus was seeking her. So, we're looking.

We're always praying and asking God to give us opportunities for those divine appointments in our lives where God sets it up, if we can just see it. We're silent, sinfully silent in the face of so many opportunities around us.

People who need the Lord: our own family, our own relatives, our own associates in business and school, and our own neighbors all around us. And then perfect strangers that God sets up for us to know.

And when we're involved in various clubs or sports or church or things or your workout facility, when people all around us, we need to make sure that we are engaging with people who need the Lord, that we don't just huddle up in holy huddles.

So ultimately, Jesus reveals himself as the Messiah in verse 26. We noted that when we read it. Of all the people in the world, this is the first time he actually reveals himself as the Messiah to this woman, to this Samaritan woman, to this broken woman, to a five-time failure in marriage and relationships.

This is the one he talks to and says, "I am the one. I'm the one you've been waiting for." All these relationships, all these earthly pleasures, that empty hole in your life, that emptiness in your soul—he says, "I'm the one."

Because he goes on to say, "If you would just ask, out of your life will flow living water," verse 10. The subject is living water. And in witnessing and sharing our faith, the subject is never us; it's always the living water.

And who is the living water but Jesus, our Lord? He said, "Give me a drink." Jesus is breaking the traditions, the rules. He's relating to her. He's talking to her and he uses something common: they're at a well, they're drinking water.

Water is life, and everybody needs water. So he says, "Give me a drink." He engages her, and then he said, "If you knew the gift of God, the free gift of God, if you just knew and you just asked, then you would know this living water."

And this is all without regard to her morality or immorality. Not by works of righteousness that we have done, but according to his mercy, he has saved us. He says, "This is a gift, this gift of living water."

Who is the living water? Jesus himself. He's the subject of the gospel. This is the glory of the gospel: it is grace and more grace. Religion says "do," D-O—do this or don't do that.

But the reality of Jesus Christ is "done," D-O-N-E. God came on a mission of mercy for us, that the Savior came and he extends to us this invitation. He said to her and to us, "Just ask. Just ask."

For Paul would later say, "Whoever calls upon the name of the Lord would be saved." Just ask. If we confess with our mouths the Lord Jesus and believe in our hearts that God has raised him from the dead, we will be saved.

Just ask. Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and be saved. Just ask. And what is this living water? It is salvation. The Old Testament speaks of the wells of salvation. Isaiah the prophet said, "Ho! Everyone who thirsts, let him come and drink of the water of life freely."

Jesus said, "Come and taste. Come and experience." This is whoever, whoever asks will be saved. Whosoever will, everyone is invited. In fact, the last invitation of the Bible, in the last paragraph of the entire Scripture in Revelation 22 and verse 17, what does the Scripture say?

"The Spirit and the Bride"—bride being the beloved church of God—the Spirit, the Holy Spirit, so the Holy Spirit and the Church giving the invitation, giving the ask, says, "Let anyone who thirsts, let him come to me. Let anyone who is thirsty, let him come to me.

And let anyone who desires the water of life to take the water, to taste the water of life freely." The Spirit and the Bride says, "Come." If everyone that thirsts comes and drinks, there is eternal life.

Jesus said, "I'm the bread of life." Listen to John 6:35: "I am the bread of life, and he who comes to me will not hunger, and he who believes in me will never thirst." Talking about the thirst of the soul, to fill the hole in the human soul.

Are you thirsty? The wells of this world cannot satisfy. This woman discovered that whatever this world could bring her, whatever the wells of pleasure could bring her, it was never enough. Now she's broken, now she desperately needs this water of life.

This woman, she now knows who Jesus is, though still questioning a bit. She runs back into the city and she tells the men in particular of the city of what had happened to her at the well that day.

She said, "Come meet a man that read me like a book, who knew what I had done and how I was living." You see, Jesus confronted her and her conscience with her sin, and now under conviction, she commits her life to follow the Lord.

And she goes and she tells this story. "Could this be the Christ?" And they all go out there to meet Jesus. And Jesus stays with them two days, and the entire city virtually comes to personal faith in Jesus Christ.

They say, "We don't believe because you said so, but because now we have met Jesus ourselves and we know who he is." God used the testimony of a broken woman to bring an entire town, village, to faith in Christ.

You don't have to know the answers to every question to be a witness. Just tell what Christ has done for you. Tell your friends, tell your family, tell everybody you know. Look for those open doors.

Look for those divine appointments because the Holy Spirit will join you in that gospel conversation and help you to say what you need to say, and you can bring your friends to Christ. You can lead your friends to Christ. This is a gospel conversation.

How many are you going to have this week? I dare say if you begin to pray for gospel conversations, if you begin to pray for divine appointments, your week would be full of joy in sharing your faith.

Not everybody's going to say yes, not everyone is going to exuberantly follow Jesus as this woman did and that city, but your responsibility is to share Jesus in the power of the Holy Spirit and leave the results to God. Gospel conversations.

Guest (Female): You're listening to PowerPoint with Jack Graham and the message "Gospel Conversations." Let me remind you about an encouraging resource Dr. Graham created to help you navigate life with biblical wisdom. It's his book, *Choices*, which comes as our thanks for your gift of $10 or more.

When you give today to support the outreach of PowerPoint Ministries, you'll help share biblical truth and the life-changing hope of Jesus with people around the world through broadcast, podcast, and digital ministry. To give your gift and request your copy, text "AUGUST" to 59789.

So that everyone has a chance to take advantage of this limited-time offer, please limit to one per household. Again, text "AUGUST" to 59789. Did you know that you can join Dr. Graham for his daily devotion?

It's a study of God's Word that will help you grow in your faith, encourage you in your walk with Christ, and show you how to navigate through the challenges of life. To sign up, text "DEVO" to 59789 and begin receiving Dr. Graham's devotion every day. Again, text "DEVO" to 59789.

Guest (Male): Pastor, what is your PowerPoint for today?

Jack Graham: Friend, for today's PowerPoint, I want you to think about Jesus and how he changed the life of this Samaritan woman. First, I love the fact that Jesus actually entered her world. And Jesus has entered your world.

He loves you, and he's speaking to you at this very moment. As a matter of fact, you might not have expected it, just as this Samaritan woman did not expect it, but he's here and he's here today speaking to you.

And there's nothing that you can do like this Samaritan woman to earn or deserve his love or his grace. He just freely gives and offers forgiveness of sin and a brand-new life and, with it, the great joy and the satisfaction of knowing him, a life that has meaning and purpose.

We could never pull ourselves up to attain God's grace and God's glory, but he came to us. And he still does today. And I believe the same Jesus who walked into the life of that Samaritan woman wants to come into your life today.

Confess that you have a need for him, that you're a sinner, and that you cannot save yourself. But Jesus died on the cross for your sins. Not just the sins of the world—oh, he died for the world, every person—but he died for you. He died for your sin.

And just like this woman at the well was so far away and had made so many mistakes, you may find yourself in a condition or a circumstance of your life you're wondering, "Could Jesus ever change me? Could Jesus ever forgive me?"

Well, I've got great news for you: he can and he will if you by faith will now ask him. He said, "I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in."

Jesus is knocking at your door today. So simply open up your heart, invite him in, bow and just simply pray, "Lord Jesus Christ, come into my life, forgive me of my sin, make me your child, change my life by the power of your Holy Spirit."

And when you do that, I promise you, according to God's Word, that you will experience an abundant life, a satisfied, fulfilling life that will not only make a difference now, but forever you will be with him.

Guest (Female): And that is today's PowerPoint. Today, if you prayed that prayer with Dr. Graham, text us so we can get you started in your new life with Christ. Text the word "JESUS" to 59789. That's "JESUS" to 59789.

Guest (Male): And join us again next time as Dr. Graham brings a message about how we can show gratitude for everything God has given us. That's next time on PowerPoint with Jack Graham. PowerPoint with Jack Graham is sponsored by PowerPoint Ministries.