The Power of Your Personal Story

Notes: The Power of Your Personal Story
Pastor Greg Laurie
Harvest OC
February 23, 2014
John 4

One of the best tools we have is our own story of our testimony and how Christ has affected us.

John 4:39 Many of the Samaritans from that town believed in him because of the woman’s testimony, “He told me everything I ever did.” 

1. We need to go to where people are.

2. We need to care about the people we speak to.

3. We need to keep at it even when we are tired.

4. We need to use tact.

The objective is to build a bridge one not to burn one. We should all be able to share our faith. Its not to win an argument it is to win a soul.

Some times Christians with good intentions and no tact can keep people from Jesus Christ.

Its been said there are two reasons people don’t go to church. 1 is they don’t know a Christian. 2, they only know hypocritical Christians.

5. We must adapt to the situation.

6. We must know when to pull the net in.

Know when to close the deal. To ask if someone wants to follow Christ.

John 4:25 The woman said, “I know that Messiah” (called Christ) “is coming. When he comes, he will explain everything to us.”

John 4:26 Then Jesus declared, “I, the one speaking to you—I am he.”

John 4:24  God is spirit, and his worshipers must worship in the Spirit and in truth.”

Where should we worship?
Answer: Everywhere!

You cannot effectively worship and know a God you know nothing about.

John 4:24  God is spirit, and his worshipers must worship in the Spirit and in truth.”

We must worship God in truth.

Hebrews 10:19-20 Therefore, brothers and sisters, since we have confidence to enter the Most Holy Place by the blood of Jesus, 20 by a new and living way opened for us through the curtain, that is, his body,

Church is more than just listening; it’s also participating!
(Hebrews 10:24-25 And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds,25 not giving up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but encouraging one another—and all the more as you see the Day approaching.)

I cannot worship God when I knowingly have sin in my life.
(Psalm 24:3-4 Who may ascend the mountain of the Lord? Who may stand in his holy place?4 The one who has clean hands and a pure heart, who does not trust in an idol or swear by a false god.)

We are also to worship God in spirit.

John 4:26 Then Jesus declared, “I, the one speaking to you—I am he.”

Read: John 4:27-30 ust then his disciples returned and were surprised to find him talking with a woman. But no one asked, “What do you want?” or “Why are you talking with her?” 28 Then, leaving her water jar, the woman went back to the town and said to the people, 29 “Come, see a man who told me everything I ever did. Could this be the Messiah?” 30 They came out of the town and made their way toward him.

1. Telling your story is a powerful bridge for the gospel message.

John 4:28-30 Then, leaving her water jar, the woman went back to the town and said to the people, 29 “Come, see a man who told me everything I ever did. Could this be the Messiah?” 30 They came out of the town and made their way toward him.

John 4:39 Many of the Samaritans from that town believed in him because of the woman’s testimony, “He told me everything I ever did.” 

Don’t glorify or exaggerate your past.

We know that who we were in the past and how miserable we were. It was a garbage past and should be portrayed that way. Dispose of the past as the garbage that it is. 

Don’t boast about what you gave up for Him, but what He gave up for you.

It’s not about you, but Him.

Every testimony is valid.

Erol Senses' story was shown on the screen. He was someone who was drug addict wanting to commit suicide prior to being saved. 

Read: John 4:35-38 Don’t you have a saying, ‘It’s still four months until harvest’? I tell you, open your eyes and look at the fields! They are ripe for harvest. 36 Even now the one who reaps draws a wage and harvests a crop for eternal life, so that the sower and the reaper may be glad together. 37 Thus the saying ‘One sows and another reaps’ is true. 38 I sent you to reap what you have not worked for. Others have done the hard work, and you have reaped the benefits of their labor.”

John 4:35 Don’t you have a saying, ‘It’s still four months until harvest’? I tell you, open your eyes and look at the fields! They are ripe for harvest. 

1. Souls are of the greatest value to God. 

John 15 stories of lost people that have been found.

2. God is looking for laborers to harvest the crops.

The Christian secret weapons are prayer and preaching.

(John 4:36 Even now the one who reaps draws a wage and harvests a crop for eternal life, so that the sower and the reaper may be glad together)

To not preach the gospel is a sin!

3. A farmer needs to be patient.

John 4:37-38 Thus the saying ‘One sows and another reaps’ is true. 38 I sent you to reap what you have not worked for. Others have done the hard work, and you have reaped the benefits of their labor.”

Our job is to preach the gospel; God’s job is to convert people.

1 Corinthians 3:6-8 I planted the seed, Apollos watered it, but God has been making it grow. 7 So neither the one who plants nor the one who waters is anything, but only God, who makes things grow. 8 The one who plants and the one who waters have one purpose, and they will each be rewarded according to their own labor.

Psalm 126:5-6 Those who sow with tears will reap with songs of joy. 6 Those who go out weeping, carrying seed to sow, will return with songs of joy, carrying sheaves with them.

There is a special reward waiting for those that do their part in evangelism.
(John 4:36  Even now the one who reaps draws a wage and harvests a crop for eternal life, so that the sower and the reaper may be glad together.)

The Crown of Righteousness given to those who love His appearing.
(2 Timothy 4:8 Now there is in store for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will award to me on that day—and not only to me, but also to all who have longed for his appearing.)

The Crown of Life given to those who resist temptation.
(James 1:12 Blessed is the one who perseveres under trial because, having stood the test, that person will receive the crown of life that the Lord has promised to those who love him.)

The Crown of Rejoicing, the soul-winner’s reward.
(1 Thessalonians 2:19 For what is our hope, our joy, or the crown in which we will glory in the presence of our Lord Jesus when he comes? Is it not you?)

Satisfaction for the Spiritually Thirsty

Notes: Satisfaction for the Spiritually Thirsty

February 16, 2014

John 4: 3-19

Speaking of Phillip Seymour Hoffman, Amy Whinehouse, Heath Ledger, Kurt Cobain, all overdosed at the age of 27 and at the peak of a career

An encounter between Jesus and the woman at the well. 

Early is on time, on time is late and late is never acceptable

John 4 (NIV)Jesus Talks With a Samaritan Woman

3 So 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 noon.
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.[a])
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 livestock?”
13 Jesus answered, “Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again, 14 but whoever drinks the water I give them will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give them will become in them 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 ancestors worshiped on this mountain, but you Jews claim that the place where we must worship is in Jerusalem.”

——————————

Jews and Samaritans did not mix. So this was strange for the woman to be spoken to by an apparent Jewish man, but this man was Jesus

1. We have to go to where people are. John 4:3
1. Jesus wants us to go to all people. 
1. There is no room for hatred, bigotry, racism or dislike.
1. For the fruit to grow, the farmers shadow must fall on the field. 
1. Meaning the farmer must get his hands dirty.
2. We need to care about the people we speak to. John 4:4
1. Every generation needs regeneration.
3. We need to keep at it even when we are tired. John 4:6
1. He was Jesus yet he let himself experience being tired.
1. He always was going, wasn’t ever taking breaks.
2. No where in the Bible are we told to “Slow down and take it easy”
1. In Luke 12:19 And I’ll say to myself, “You have plenty of grain laid up for many years. Take life easy; eat, drink and be merry.” 20 “But God said to him, ‘You fool! This very night your life will be demanded from you. Then who will get what you have prepared for yourself?’ 21 “This is how it will be with whoever stores up things for themselves but is not rich toward God.”
2. We are told to press on, not be weary in well doing, and to run the race.
1. He doesn’t call people that feel a since of entitlement.
2. 1 Thessalonians 29:9 Surely you remember, brothers and sisters, our toil and hardship; we worked night and day in order not to be a burden to anyone while we preached the gospel of God to you.
4. We need to use tact.
1. Tact is regarded as knowing how to make a point without making an enemy.
1. Jesus could of called this woman a sinner or something worse, but he didn’t.
2. One of the best ways to engage a person is to ask them questions.
3. No one can be argued or manipulated into the kingdom of God.
1. If they can, then they can be argued out as well.
4. Conversion is the work of the Spirit and should be left at that
5. You don’t blow people out of the water, you engage them.
5. We must adapt to the situation John 4:15
1. A person can not appreciate the good news without first acknowledging the bad.
1. Jesus is not an additive, he is the Savior.
1. No conversion without confession.
2. Many try to redirect, we need to keep the main thing the main thing.
1. John 4:20 Our ancestors worshiped on this mountain, but you Jews claim that the place where we must worship is in Jerusalem.
2. Jesus uses an individual approach.
1. John 4:25 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, the one speaking to you—I am he.”
1. This is where most of us drop the ball, or wimp out or walk away.
1. We need to make sure to follow through when someone is ready to accept Christ. You have to ask the question: Are you ready to accept Jesus Christ as your Savior right now?
1. If they say no, then say you will pray for them
2. If they say yes, then pray with them.

Jesus said 3 things to this lady.

1. Who He was.
1. Keep it simple.
2. What He has to offer.
3. How to get it.

The Look of Love

Notes: The Look of Love

Pastor Greg

John 11

February 13, 2014 

Valentines Day is tomorrow.

We all have our perception of love. It is usually skewed by pop culture.

Romantic comedies set the expectations for many.

A poll found that most Americans want to be loved over all other things.

Every love is going to be challenged.

God loves and chose us before he even created the world. It is an intentional love.

John 11 is about a tight knit family that lost one they loved.

John 11:1-3 (NIV)

Now a man named Lazarus was sick. He was from Bethany, the village of Mary and her sister Martha. [2] (This Mary, whose brother Lazarus now lay sick, was the same one who poured perfume on the Lord and wiped his feet with her hair.) [3] So the sisters sent word to Jesus, “Lord, the one you love is sick.”

1. This story confirms that life is filled with pain and sorrow and the death of loved ones. No one gets a free pass on human suffering.

1 Peter 4:12 (NIV)

Dear friends, do not be surprised at the fiery ordeal that has come on you to test you, as though something strange were happening to you.

It is inevitable that tragedies happen around you.

2. God loves us. Therefore whatever he does or allows to happen is motivated by Gods love for you.

We do not what He is doing, but we can be sure it is for us.

Many pray when this happens, but it is a good idea to include "but your will be done."

Keep asking, keep seeking, keep knocking.

Exodus 15:25 (NIV)

Then Moses cried out to the Lord, and the Lord showed him a piece of wood. He threw it into the water, and the water became fit to drink. There the Lord issued a ruling and instruction for them and put them to the test.

Isaiah 37:14 (NIV)

Hezekiah received the letter from the messengers and read it. Then he went up to the temple of the Lord and spread it out before the Lord.

Psalm 46:1 (NIV)

God is our refuge and strength, an ever-present help in trouble.

John 11:3 (NIV)

So the sisters sent word to Jesus, “Lord, the one you love is sick.”

They pleaded with Jesus based on his love, not their love.

John 11:6 (NIV)

So when he heard that Lazarus was sick, he stayed where he was two more days,

Even though he loved Lazarus he still stayed where he was, it sounds almost like a contradiction. Why didn't Jesus automatically heal him.

Even though we can not see how the situation will end, we know that it flows through Gods love for us.

His delays are not dismisses.

Ecclesiastes 3:11 (NIV)

He has made everything beautiful in its time. He has also set eternity in the human heart; yet no one can fathom what God has done from beginning to end.

We think of the small picture and god looks at the big picture. We think of the here and now and He think of the by and by.

Jesus waited so long to go to Lazarus that Lazarus had died for 4 days.

John 11:20-26 (NIV)

When Martha heard that Jesus was coming, she went out to meet him, but Mary stayed at home. [21] “Lord,” Martha said to Jesus, “if you had been here, my brother would not have died. [22] But I know that even now God will give you whatever you ask.” [23] Jesus said to her, “Your brother will rise again.” [24] Martha answered, “I know he will rise again in the resurrection at the last day.” [25] Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. The one who believes in me will live, even though they die; [26] and whoever lives by believing in me will never die. Do you believe this?”

Martha was extremely upset, saying that Jesus basically blew it.

Like when we ask, where is Jesus every time something goes wrong.

When you pray, be honest with God because he already knows what is happening. On the cross even Jesus cried out. "My God My God why have you forsaken me."

We may wonder why, there is nothing wrong with asking why. Just don't think that God owes you an answer. Even if He did it explain it, would it matter?

We live on promises, not on expectations!

Mary was upset and aggressive too. John 11:32-36 (NIV)

When Mary reached the place where Jesus was and saw him, she fell at his feet and said, “Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died.” [33] When Jesus saw her weeping, and the Jews who had come along with her also weeping, he was deeply moved in spirit and troubled. [34] “Where have you laid him?” he asked. “Come and see, Lord,” they replied. [35] Jesus wept. [36] Then the Jews said, “See how he loved him!”

3. Jesus weeps with us in our time of pain.

Most men hold back the tears. Greg's response is: John 11:35 (NIV)

Jesus wept.

Jesus feels our pain. If it touches us, then it touches him.

Job 34:28 (NIV)

They caused the cry of the poor to come before him, so that he heard the cry of the needy.

When He sees us cry He cares

Isaiah 53:3-4 (NIV)

He was despised and rejected by mankind, a man of suffering, and familiar with pain. Like one from whom people hide their faces he was despised, and we held him in low esteem. [4] Surely he took up our pain and bore our suffering, yet we considered him punished by God, stricken by him, and afflicted.

Psalm 56:8 (NIV)

Record my misery; list my tears on your scroll---are they not in your record?

We are reminded he keeps our tears in a bottle. Some day he will wipe them away.

John 11:43 (NIV)

When he had said this, Jesus called in a loud voice, “Lazarus, come out!”

Lazarus would of been in a place of comfort, but Jesus brought him back.

4. God can be glorified through human suffering and bring good out of bad.

When a Christian suffers and still glorifies God is a testament to our faith to others.

Your faith gets stronger through hardship. Muscles grow through strength training.

Death is not the end, it is only the end of our human existence.

God will be with you, he will never leave you or forsake you.

Isaiah 43:2 (NIV)

When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and when you pass through the rivers, they will not sweep over you. When you walk through the fire, you will not be burned; the flames will not set you ablaze.

God is never late.

No matter what our feeling is, he is not late. He comes through when He knows is right.

We have to just trust him!

God loves you the way you are, BUT he does not want to leave you that way!

Heart to Heart

Notes: Heart to Heart

Pastor Greg 

John 2

February 9, 2014 Sunday

There are things we should know and there are things we do know.

Should know:

John 3:16 (KJV)

For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.

Jesus speaks with the famous Nicodemus, he is a great person to represent all of us in font of God.

John 2:23-25 (NIV)

Now while he was in Jerusalem at the Passover Festival, many people saw the signs he was performing and believed in his name. [24] But Jesus would not entrust himself to them, for he knew all people. [25] He did not need any testimony about mankind, for he knew what was in each person.

Paraphrase: They believed in Jesus but Jesus did not believe in them. They saw his miracles but it was not genuine faith.

1. First Nicodemus and Jesus were face to face.

Movement 1:

John 3:2-3 (NIV)

He came to Jesus at night and said, “Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher who has come from God. For no one could perform the signs you are doing if God were not with him.” [3] Jesus replied, “Very truly I tell you, no one can see the kingdom of God unless they are born again. ”

Nicodemus was a leader of the Pharisees, the most powerful ruling group in Israel at the time.

John 3:2 (NIV)

He came to Jesus at night

Better to have a great ending with a poor beginning then a poor ending with a great beginning.

Finishing the race well is the most important part, if you fall you must get up and continue.

John 19:39 (NIV)

He was accompanied by Nicodemus, the man who earlier had visited Jesus at night. Nicodemus brought a mixture of myrrh and aloes, about seventy-five pounds.

John 3:2 (NIV)

“Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher who has come from God. For no one could perform the signs you are doing if God were not with him.”

John 3:4 (NIV)

“How can someone be born when they are old?” Nicodemus asked. “Surely they cannot enter a second time into their mother’s womb to be born!”

Most people come to Christ when they are young. That has a lot to do with older people not liking change. That doesn't mean that older people are beyond hope.

Don't write anyone off regardless of their age.

Like a sword these words pierced Nicodemus' heart: John 3:3 (NIV)

Jesus replied, “Very truly I tell you, no one can see the kingdom of God unless they are born again. ”

What does it mean to be born again: it means you have had your spiritual eyes open to Jesus as your savior.

There is no phrase that can "make someone born again" only God can do that.

Jesus was saying, "Nicodemus your religious beliefs are not enough."

Greg thinks that people's religion has kept more people from knowing Jesus then any other sin. Following Jesus is not being religious.

2. Nicodemus and Jesus are now coming mind to mind.

Movement 2:

John 3:4-8 (NIV)

“How can someone be born when they are old?” Nicodemus asked. “Surely they cannot enter a second time into their mother’s womb to be born!” [5] Jesus answered, “Very truly I tell you, no one can enter the kingdom of God unless they are born of water and the Spirit. [6] Flesh gives birth to flesh, but the Spirit gives birth to spirit. [7] You should not be surprised at my saying, ‘You must be born again.’ [8] The wind blows wherever it pleases. You hear its sound, but you cannot tell where it comes from or where it is going. So it is with everyone born of the Spirit.”

3. Finally they are heart to heart.

Movement 3:

John 3:9-11 (NIV)

“How can this be?” Nicodemus asked. [10] “You are Israel’s teacher,” said Jesus, “and do you not understand these things? [11] Very truly I tell you, we speak of what we know, and we testify to what we have seen, but still you people do not accept our testimony.

John 3:14 (NIV)

Just as Moses lifted up the snake in the wilderness, so the Son of Man must be lifted up,

Isaiah 45:21 (NIV)

Declare what is to be, present it---let them take counsel together. Who foretold this long ago, who declared it from the distant past? Was it not I, the Lord? And there is no God apart from me, a righteous God and a Savior; there is none but me.

During this conversation is when the most famous of all scriptures is said by Jesus:

John 3:16 (NIV)

For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.

Greg believes that God died for the whole world not just an elect few. God predestined some people for Heaven. The rest have only free will to chose God and go to Heaven.

God reaches us through his Son, not through ritual.

If you are part of John 3:16 then you are not part of:

Revelation 20:15 (NIV)

Anyone whose name was not found written in the book of life was thrown into the lake of fire.

When you are born from above you are given the gift of God:

1 John 5:13 (NIV)

I write these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God so that you may know that you have eternal life.

Greg was adopted by Oscar Laurie, that is where he got his last name. Oscar was the only one that Greg ever called Dad. Then Greg's mom left him, and Greg didn't see him again as a child.

Greg found Oscar when he got older. Greg shared his faith with him at the first dinner they had together. Oscar accepted Jesus as his savior.

Oscar was 75 years old when he accepted Jesus.

Are you born again?