DAILY ENCOURAGEMENT THURSDAY - JESUS CHANGES LIVES. The Conclusion.

Today is not yesterday: we ourselves change; how can our works and thoughts, if they are always to be the fittest, continue always the same? Change, indeed is painful; yet ever needful; and if memory have its force and worth, so also has hope. - Thomas Carlyle.

"Come, see a man who told me all that I ever did. Can this be the Christ?" - John 4:29. Many Samaritans from that town believed in him because of the woman's testimony, "He told me all that I ever did." - John 4:39.

Christ met unbelievers where they were. He realised what many Christians today still don't seem to understand. Cultivators have to get out in the field. According to one count, the gospels record 132 contacts that Jesus had with people. Six were in the Temple, four in the synagogues and 122 were out with the people in the mainstream of life. - J.K. Johnston.

Yesterday in Part 2, we were looking at the ministry of Jesus, and He answered the questions of the woman at the well, and that was the beginning of the change in her life. We now realise that we have a “principle of change” here in this situation, and that Jesus used it as He touched the lives of people. It is the principle that we must still use as an extension of Christ Himself, as we minister to the lost.

In John 4:4-42, Jesus puts this “principle of change” into action, as He changed the lives of a Woman, His Disciples and a Town full of People. These verses are incredibly powerful, for they speak to us as individuals, and as universal body of believers, that we too must be in the ministry of change, a ministry that changes the lives of people. Having risked His reputation, and answered her questions, we now conclude with the final “principle of change” as...

JESUS MAKES HER FACE THE REAL ISSUE

With her derisive response, Jesus made the woman face the real issue in her life, sin. This is the issue that every person must face. Jesus had told the woman ... "Go and bring your husband." - John 4:16.

When she replied to Jesus that she had no husband, Jesus mediately showed her the sin within her life... "That's right," Jesus replied, "you're telling the truth. You don't have a husband. You have already been married five times, and the man you are now living with isn't your husband." - John 4:16. She quickly changed the subject by placing a “smoke screen” question, dealing with the differences between the Jews and Samaritans.

Jesus quickly answers her, and again shows her she has a “SELF PROBLEM,” and that she is avoiding the truth about herself. He then showed her that she has a “SIN PROBLEM,” and that she was living out a lifestyle of sin. This in turn leads to Jesus telling her about her “PROFESSING PROBLEM,” where she is telling Him that where she worshipped, was more important than the one you worship.

Again she attempts to avoid the real issue of her life, and proclaims that when the Messiah comes , all this will be straightened out. Jesus responds with... "I am that one," Jesus told her, "and I am speaking to you now." - John 4:26. In wide-eyed amazement she runs off to her town to proclaim the good news. One woman with the revelation of who Jesus is, is instrumental in bringing a whole town to Jesus! Hallelujah! What a mighty God we serve!

I read about a court case that was lost because of the silence of an attorney. The distinguished lawyer Samuel Hoar (1778-1856) was representing the defendant. When it was time to present his case, he told the jurors that the facts favoring his client were so evident that he would not insult their intelligence by arguing them. The jury retired to deliberate and returned in a few minutes with a verdict of guilty. Samuel Hoar was astonished!

"How," he asked, "could you have reached such a verdict?" The foreman replied, "We all agreed that if anything could be said for a case, you would say it. But since you didn't present any evidence, we decided to rule against you." Silence had lost the case.

How often the opportunity to speak a word of testimony for Christ is lost because we remain silent. Those who need to hear the gospel may conclude that salvation is not important enough to talk about. - Source Unknown.

Are we in the ministry with Jesus of changing lives? Or are we people who need to be changed? These scriptures speak so much to us today, to tell us that we can change people through the witness of Jesus, that we can be changed to view people differently, and that we can change our towns and cities, because of the difference of Jesus.

Has Jesus Changed Us?

Loving Father, help me by the power of the Holy Spirit, to risk my reputation, and be ready to change my life, that I may be instrumental in changing other people’s live. Help me to lovingly answer any legitimate question that people as. Grant me wisdom, to help people to face their real issues, that they may be won for Jesus, and thirst no more in His Kingdom! In His wonderful name I ask this. Amen.

Be encouraged!
GBYAY