Dave preached tonight on the power of a testimony and how Jesus can change lives. Speaking from John 4:1-26 and 39-42, he talked about how there are no such things in life as coincidences, but rather there are divine appointments or ‘God-incidents’ where God moves in situations to work out His plans.
Jesus’s meeting with the Samaritan woman is one such example of this. It was very unlikely that a Jew should converse with a Samaritan and even more unlikely that a man would converse with a woman in the way that Jesus engaged this woman in conversation. He was careful, however, to do only what He saw His Father doing and to go only where He was supposed to go (see John 8:28) and in obedience, He gave us a model for how to live.
Jesus didn’t put rituals and traditions above the needs of people. He showed this woman compassion and kindness, not judging her lifestyle but speaking to her with kindness as well as truth. Truly, He came into the world not to condemn the world, but to save it (John 3:17)
Jesus took our sins. When He was baptised, John the Baptist recognised His sinlessness and couldn’t quite grasp why He had come to him, but in that symbolic gesture, Jesus showed that He was willing to take our sins upon Himself and become the sacrifice for sin that God required. He took the punishment that should have been ours. He was the means by which God could blot out our transgressions and remember our sins no more (Is 43:25).
The Samaritan woman had known about God but needed to understand fully who He was. The others in the village – who had presumably previously shunned her, thus necessitating the trip to get water in the heat of the day – were intrigued by her testimony. They presumably saw more than words; they saw her changed lifestyle and were interested enough to want to find out more about Jesus themselves. Our testimony can be a powerful tool in the hand of God!
In addition to this, we also celebrated Ralph’s birthday!