GPS God S Plan for Sharing
GPS – God’s Plan for Sharing
While our Lord Jesus Christ was on earth He practiced all His teaching and preaching. For instance, He commanded His disciples to be soul winners in Matthew 28:19, and He was the master soul winner.
In Matthew 4:19, what does the "Follow Me . .." indicate? If you're not fishing, you're not following.
Are we not to follow His example, "Watch Me as a soul winner and follow Me?" Yes, for He is our great example, 1 Peter 2:21.
In the four Gospels we see the methods He adopted in doing personal work. Let us notice the method He used in His interview with the woman at the well in John 4:1-42.
Though the way we approach souls must always vary according to the person, the time, the place, and the circumstances; the basics will always be the same!
I. God’s Plan Demonstrated
We are going to watch the master soul winner in action!
A. Embraced the unwanted
The first thing we see Jesus doing is to embracing the unwanted.
In verse 3 we read that Jesus left Judea and headed toward Galilee. Directly between Judea and Galilee is this land called Samaria. As most know, any self-respecting Jew would take a longer route to avoid contact with people they detested.
However verse 4 tells us that Jesus “must ” travel through Samaria. He set the example for us in embracing the unwanted.
B. Engaged the unlikely
The woman was quite likely surprised to see a Jewish man where Jesus was, but she was shocked that He would speak to her. The feelings between the Jews and Samaritans are well known, yet here was this Jewish man talking with her. Furthermore, she came to get some water, and He asked her for a drink.
Jesus struck up a conversation with here about the well and the water.
C. Exposed the unpleasant
After engaging this woman in a simple conversation, He exposed her sin. He helped her come to grips with the sin in her life.
He exposed her sinful and selfish lifestyle and began to expose her to the truth of Heaven. NOW, until people are convicted of their sin, and thus of their need of Christ, they will not come to Him. Verses 16- 19 tell us how tender, how firm, and how persistent our Lord was. We cannot convict people of sin, but the Holy Spirit can, and He will if we use “the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God” (Ephesians 6:17).
He simply and kindly stripped away the façade behind which she had been hiding and allowed the Holy Spirit of God to do His work in her heart.
II. God’s Plan Delegated
In the context of this story, Jesus had just identified Himself when the disciples return from the grocery store. It appears they didn’t totally understand what Jesus was doing, and they were surprised that He was speaking with a woman.
Cultural sentiment for women was extremely low during the time of Christ. The Pharisees taught that men should not speak to women in public. One of the Jewish prayers included the phrase, "Blessed art thou, O Lord...who has not made me a woman."
Christ takes this time to instruct them. Let us glean from His instruction.
A. The matter of soul-winning is an Essential Task.
“He must needs go through Samaria” (4). This was a soul-winning “must,” a tremendous imperative in His life – compare John 3:14 with John 4:4; 9:4.
The “must” was not a necessity imposed by geographical restrictions. It was the constraint of knowing that a sinful woman needed salvation in Samaria.
After Jesus is offered some of the food they procured from their visit in the city, Jesus said, “What you saw me doing is food for my soul .”
"But he said unto them, I have meat to eat that ye know not of" (John 4:32). "Meat" was used as a figurative expression for that which satisfied. Christ’s heart had been fed. His spirit had been invigorated. The disciples were attempting to find satisfaction in securing bread, but Jesus found satisfaction in sharing bread.
It is essential that we never stop telling the good news of Jesus.
B. This matter of soul-winning is an Exciting Task.
Watch the emotion of our Lord, “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 reapeth receiveth wages, and gathereth fruit unto life eternal: that both he that soweth and he that reapeth may rejoice together.”
If you have ever had a part in someone’s life-changed you were stirred. It is exciting to be a part of this task and to think Jesus delegated this to us.
C. This matter of soul-winning is an Everybody Task.
Every believer is to have a part in this matter of soul-winning.
"The great tragedy of our day is that the situation is desperate but the saints are not."
All at it and everywhere at it!
A homeless man was struggling in the water, shouting for help. As a crowd gathered around, a young man jumped fully dressed into the water and rescued him.
Everyone cheered him, and they all agreed that he should be honored. "That's all right with me," he said. "But what I'd like to know is, who pushed me?"
This is what I am trying to do by encouraging you to pass out tracts.
III. God’s Plan Deployed
To deploy something means to put it into motion. The woman who brought the water pot to the well left her pot cause she had the well now.
A. See the woman of a clear invitation
“Come, see a man which told me all things that ever I did: is not this the Christ?” I submit that we tend to make spiritual things too complicated when all we may need to do is tell someone what Jesus has done for us. This is God’s plan. We are called to be a witness to God’s grace.
She told them of Jesus the man – humanity; she told them of Jesus as Christ – deity.
B. See the wonder of a certain salvation (42)
When people see Jesus clearly, what comes naturally is a certain salvation.
In verse 39 we find the result of her testimony. Many believed on the testimony of the woman about Christ; many more came to hear Jesus and believed because they heard Him themselves.
Very imperfect instruments may be used by the Holy Spirit to lay the foundations of faith. God is pleased to use feeble messengers to accomplish His mighty ends.
A woman had just finished crossing a street, and an old man stopped her. He said to her, "Excuse me, ma'am, but I want to thank you."
She looked up and exclaimed, "Thank me?"
He replied, "I used to be a ticket collector, and whenever you went by you always gave me a cheerful smile. I knew that smile must come from the inside. Then one morning I saw a little Bible in your hand; I bought one, and I found Jesus.”
Conclusion
We should be a nobody telling everybody about a Somebody who can saved anybody.
If we would get others in, then we must put ourselves out!
A poor scrub woman who was partially blind was wonderfully saved. She lost no opportunity to tell others about it. One day a back-slid Christian heckled her, "Aren't you carrying your religion a bit too far? Yesterday I saw you witnessing to the wooden Indian in front of a drugstore!"
"Maybe I am. My eyes are getting poor, so I take no chances. I'd rather be guilty of witnessing to a wooden Indian than being a like wooden Indian who never tells anyone about Jesus!"
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