Eternity Encounters- Breakthrough Faith

If you got your notebook, you ready?

I can talk faster than I've been talking, then I'm gonna talk fast.

We're gonna move fast tonight.

You know who Squanto is?

Squanto Thanksgiving, you better know who Scronto is.

There wouldn't have been one without him.

Skronto was a Wampanoag Indian living along the eastern coast of Massachusetts.

Before 1620, a date in American history when the pilgrims landed at Plymouth Rock, before that all happened, there were British traders, English traders along the coast.

And they would come ashore And they decided they would take some young men and kidnap them.

And a young boy named Squato was taken to England with them.

After some pretty brutal treatment, he ended up being brought into a Christian environment, thank God, where he learned about Jesus and he learned the English language.

A benevolent sea captain said, I'm going to take you back home.

When he got back home, he found that all of his people had died.

Literally everyone of his branch of the tribe was dead. from a Euro disease transmitted by sailors coming ashore.

He was the only survivor of his branch of the Wampanag Nation.

In 1620, two years later, the ship would land with the pilgrims on board.

William Bradford stated in his journal that part of the reason they came was to bring the light of the gospel to the people they found.

It was in their heart to reach the first people they found here, and they knew they would be native people.

We know that how many of them, half of them, died that first winter.

And then out of the woods appeared an Indian man.

They didn't know what to do.

Grab your musket.

What do we do?

He spoke English.

Go figure this.

Be one of them.

This guy, I don't know, he's like on this other continent and he knows her language and he understands her faith.

And he shows them how to plant corn.

He shows them how to fertilize crops with dead fish.

And helps them survive and live on.

By the way God willing, and if our plans unfold after 23 years of wanting to go to New England tribes with the gospel and that door never being opened Nick has been there on a site visit, and we may get there this year to the first missionary mission field in this country.

The Wampanag tribe was the first people, the first Indians to hear the gospel on this continent.

And the first Bible translation ever done in North America was done for them.

And William Bradford, the governor of the Plymouth Colony, wrote these words about Squanto.

He was a special instrument sent from God.

Now, here's my question.

Who will say that about you?

Put your name in there.

For me, put your name in there, was a special instrument sent from God to rescue me.

I believe that is the eternity encounter that God has planned for the rest of your life Remember, in John chapter 12, we already read the verses, Jesus said, if I am lifted up, first of all he says, Father, glorify your name, and he says, I'm going to glorify it again, and I'm going to glorify my son.

And Jesus said, if I am lifted up, I will draw all men to me.

He spoke this concerning his death.

He said that when men are drawn to him, we see his glory.

How many of you have been there when somebody came to Jesus?

Did you not feel the glory of Jesus then?

Was there a moment quite like that?

When you are a part of somebody's eternity changing right in front of you?

He said, when I draw people to me, I am glorified.

He said in John 17, verse 18, let's throw that up there, Dustin.

He said, as you sent me into the world, Father, I am sending my folks into the world.

I'm sending my guys in.

John 20, 20.

He said, as the Father has sent me, I am sending you.

And then he said in John 4, 35, and we're going to look at John 4 in just a minute, he said to the disciples, look around.

Open your eyes.

Don't you wish you could go to your church and say this?

Why don't you?

Open your eyes.

Look at the fields.

They are ripe for harvest.

Jesus said this business of representing him is like harvest.

I grew up on the south side of Chicago in an apartment.

We harvested cockroaches.

I don't know about harvest, but I know a lot of farmers and my wife grew up on a farm and I learned about harvest and they taught me some things about harvest When I asked a farmer, when I asked farmers, when I say harvest, what do you think of?

They immediately say ready.

Well, it's ready.

And you know this about harvest.

Number one, it is urgent.

There is not time to get it.

There's a short time.

That's why farmers drop everything.

They work as long as there is light, and some of them now have got equipment to work beyond the light Because you understand it's got to get in.

It will not stay there.

You got to get it while you can, when it's ready.

And you've got to have all hands on deck.

You can't do it alone.

You bring all kinds of help.

It takes everybody working on it to bring it in.

Jesus said, I got a harvest out there.

As you can take everybody, it's gonna take us.

We sit out here, all y'all.

It's gonna take all y'all.

He's It's going to take all you to get this harvest in.

And it is an urgent job we've got to do.

You will not hear us in this ministry call hear you won't hear the word evangelism very much.

You won't hear the word witnessing very much.

They're good Bible words, but they they've lost a lot of their meaning to God's people today.

We will use the word rescue a great deal.

You will hear us talk about rescue because when the Jesus, when Jesus, it says of Jesus, the Son of Man came to seek and to save what was lost, that word to save is so is is a sozo in the Greek and it means to rescue.

It literally means the Son of Man came here to look for and to rescue those who are dying.

There are people in the in the rubble of the World Trade Center. dying if the rescuer doesn't get in.

There are people in the burning building who will die unless the rescuers go in.

There are people you work with, there are people you live with.

There are people who you live around, there are people in your association, there are people in your club, there are people in your uh in your world, your life, who are dying spiritually and they need a rescue, and they must have a rescuer And you are the closest one to them of any Christian they know.

So it would be That you're part of the harvest.

So we'll you hear us talk about rescue because this is life or death.

This isn't about just trying to get you to hear my beliefs and I hope you believe them.

This is life or death Forever.

You been to the funeral of someone you're not sure knew Christ?

And you never talked to them?

How does that feel?

It's one of the darkest feelings yours to live with that eternal regret.

So let's talk about passion number three on the glory road.

The first one is loving Jesus for his incalculable sacrifice.

And this morning we talked about believing Jesus. for his amazing miracles.

But tonight we're talking about joining Jesus in his life-saving partnership.

And we got the model.

We don't have to do have a committee meeting to figure out how to do this.

The committee has met in Samaria at a well.

John chapter four.

And I want to do some fast forward through this and uh and and we're gonna go quickly through this scripture.

Now he had to go through Samaria.

Stop right there.

Jews Jews don't go through Samaria.

Jews avoid Samaria.

It's a bad neighborhood for Jewish boys.

Don't hang out there.

They go around, they'll do anything to avoid going through Samaria, even though it's the shortest route Jesus had to go through Samaria.

Why?

Was that a geographical necessity?

No, it was a spiritual necessity, because that's where Samaritans live.

And you cannot reach people staying in your walls and staying in your Christian meeting.

You gotta go through Samaria to reach Samaritans.

You go into their world.

That's why you are the most powerful messenger of the gospel because you're with them all the time.

You live in their world, you walk in their world.

So, I came to a town in Samurai called Sikar near the plot of ground, Jacob to give a new son, Joseph.

Jacob's well was there and Jesus, tired as he was from the journey, now by the way, we're going to be looking here for the five ways that you can see his glory in spiritual rescue.

They're all right here.

This is actually one of them Tired as he was from the journey, he sat down by the well.

It was about the sixth hour.

I've sat on the well that they say in Israel, may have been the well, who knows, that he sat on with this woman.

It is not big.

It's about this big around.

So I mean this is in your face.

I mean this is this this you can smell what each other had for lunch probably at this point.

So when a Samaritan woman came to draw water, strangely, at noon, not in the cool of the morning, Jesus said to her, will you give me a drink?

His disciples had gone into the town to buy food.

I have a little observation about this shortly.

The Samaritan woman said to him, You are a Jew, I am a Samaritan woman.

Immediately we see the barriers going up.

All the things that stand between me and her.

How can you ask me for a drink?

Jews don't associate with Samaritans.

Jesus answered her, oh, if you only knew.

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.

Sir, the woman said, you have nothing to draw with, and the well is deep.

Where are you going to get this living water?

Are you greater than our Father Jacob, who gave us the well and drank from himself, as did his sons and his flocks and herds?

Jesus answered, Oh, everyone who drinks this water.

We thirsty again.

Remember those words?

Thirsty again and again and again and again.

But whoever drinks the water I give him will never thirst.

In fact, I got something better than a well.

The water I give him will become in him.

There's going to be a spring in him.

He doesn't have to come somewhere outside himself.

There's going to be a spring in him, springing up to eternal life.

Man, everything you've ever had in your life was neverlasting.

I got everlasting.

That's the difference.

I got everlasting.

The woman said to him, sir, give me this water so I won't get thirsty and have to keep coming here to draw water.

He told them, go call your husband, wait a minute.

We were talking about water just a minute ago.

Go call your husband and come back.

Uh uh this is in the the that's in the he the the Greek.

Um I have no husband, she replied.

Jesus said to her, you're right when you say you have no husband.

In fact You've had five husbands, and the man you now have is not your husband.

What you just said is true.

Uh sir, the woman said, I can see that you're a prophet.

Our fathers worship.

Now notice this.

We are now going to change the subject.

Oh, but speaking of our religions.

Our fathers worshiped on this mountain, but you Jews claim that the place where we must worship is in Jerusalem.

This is a long rift between the Jews and the Samaritans.

And one of the major things is the Samaritans built their own temple on Mount Arazim.

Jesus declared, believe me, woman, a time is coming when you will worship the Father, neither on this mountain nor where my people do it, not in Jerusalem.

This isn't the issue.

You Samaritans worship what you do not know.

We worship what we do know.

For salvation has come from the Jews.

Yet a time is coming and has now come.

Da-da-da!

We're here.

When the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth.

It don't matter where, doesn't matter, it doesn't matter the religion.

It's going to be, do you have a spirit and truth connection with the Father?

For they're the kind of worshipers the Father seeks.

God is spirit and his worshippers must worship him in spirit and in truth.

The woman said, now I know the Messiah called Christ is coming.

When he comes, he'll explain everything to us.

Listen to this.

And Jesus declared.

You got him.

You got him right now.

I will speak unto you.

I am he Well You have got a fantastic model here because all the barriers between this woman and Jesus are so representative of what you and I face being his voice today.

So many, the gap between the world of the church and the world of lost people has never been wider.

They don't know our language, they don't know our Bible, they don't know our verses, they don't understand why there's right and wrong.

They couldn't be in many ways farther from Jesus, it would seem What a model for us to look at.

So here's, let's look at the five ways we see his glory.

We just read them.

Number one, you do it by looking for eternity encounters.

You go into your day looking for eternity encounters.

And I will tell you, if you will open your eyes to see them, they are right in front of you.

Jesus had an eternity encounter.

Where did he have it?

A church?

Notice.

He had a need.

He was tired.

He's been walking.

And he's tired and they haven't eaten.

Obviously the disciples are going to Walmart to get groceries.

And so he has to sit down.

He's tired.

He's hungry.

He's thirsty.

And his need gets him sitting at this well.

Many great works of God are not on IR itinerary.

Now I know that this was on Jesus' itinerary But it says, for example, in chapter 9, verse 1, as he went along, he saw the blind man.

I mean, he's on the beach, he's at the well.

He's at their church, the synagogue.

Peter and and John see the beggar sitting at the steps of the temple.

We walk into eternity moments We walk into them just by doing life.

And Psalm 37, 23, a great verse says.

The Lord delights in the man's way and he makes his steps firm.

The King James says this, steps of a good man are ordered by the Lord.

If you are starting your day with Jesus, the shepherd is going to lead your steps. and there is nothing random about who you meet or what happens to you.

He is planning eternity encounters for you to take your everyday life which has gotten very everyday and he wants to supernaturalize it and eternalize what you do every day.

You don't have to go to Ghana, you don't have to go to Colombia, you have to go to work.

You have to go to the club.

You have to go home to your neighborhood.

That's all you gotta do.

And it's in the course of every day that these encounters come.

We walk into them.

You know how you can miss an eternity moment Look at the disciples.

Chapter 4, verse 31.

Let's look at that.

Chapter 4, verse 31.

Again, my fault.

I didn't give you 431.

Here it is.

Listen to this.

The disciples Bring lunch back and they say, Jesus, you haven't eaten yet.

You need to eat.

They're looking at lunch as a sea of Samaritans are coming as their direction.

He's like boys you're looking at lunch.

I'm looking at the lost.

You're thinking about you all the time.

You're thinking about we got time for lunch.

He's like, no, it's time for the lost.

Look around, look at the harvest.

We miss an eternity moment because we're so filled up with earth stuff and our agenda and our list for that day and we walk right into an eternity encounter and walk right past it Jesus comes to Samaria and in the course of walking along and needing a drink, this miraculous move of God begins to break out.

We have some work needing to be done on our house right now.

Two men have been coming over and working there the last few days.

And um one of them, uh I believe is divorced from his first wife, and and um I don't know if the divorce is final or not, but uh yeah, I think that one isn't he was about to get a divorce from his second wife.

And uh the other day they came over and they said we stopped to tell you why we can't work today Well, why is that?

Well, they tried to burn down my house.

Somebody tried to burn my house down last night.

I said, really?

He said, yeah.

He said, what happened was that my wife that I were about to divorce decided she wanted to come back.

And so she was at the house last night and we and we heard a car come in at 3. 30 in the morning.

We heard a vehicle on the gravel, and the next thing I know, the cabin right behind us is burning and the flames are coming toward my house.

He said, I think it was one of our exes that didn't want us to get back together again.

Hers or mine.

So he said, we managed to fight the fire and it didn't get to the house.

He said, I'm so glad I woke up.

I said, man, so am I.

And I said they he said, so we got to move out of my house because we don't want to stay there now.

Because we don't know what might happen tonight.

I said, can I pray with you?

Now I was I I was really busy getting ready for this retreat.

I mean it takes everything I got to get ready for this retreat And doggone it, I got this guy's there, and I'm like, okay, okay, okay, fine.

The house burned out.

So But I knew I I I was there to care.

I said, can I pray with you?

Yeah, you can.

And this guy who I've just met a couple days ago.

I had the chance to pray with him and pray the gospel with him.

Tell him how much Jesus loves him.

And Jesus, you know that you loved this guy enough to die for him.

But we know you're powerful enough to walk out of your grave and you could walk into his life.

And I know you saved him last night because you want him to know you.

Now I can't see Feldor's knees on the front porch.

But I can tell you this guy that just met me, big old Ozark boy, came over and just gave me a very long and hard hug.

I'd say there was almost a tear in his eye.

Now I wouldn't plan it on that.

That was it, because we needed work done on the house It's an eternity moment.

Those are the eternity encounters, and God wants to fill your life with those.

And that's when you see his glory.

So when the windows open, forget your schedule.

And forget your needs.

When that window is open.

And the opportunity is there.

This is eternity at stake.

You show up.

And start looking for those.

I had a brother that I didn't know I had.

Till I w how old?

In my forties, Karen?

Just a couple years ago?

And um And I found out the day my the night my dad died.

My dad was so thrilled about being a new creation in Christ.

I had no idea he'd been divorced before he married my mom.

I didn't know about that marriage and I certainly didn't know that they had a little boy named Jack.

Who wanted nothing to do because he was adopted by another family.

His wife didn't even know he had been adopted until their fortieth wedding anniversary.

He had kept it a secret from everybody.

He wanted nothing to do with the Hutchcrafts because of what happened when my mom, um, when when when my dad and and his first wife went to a sanitarium and ended up at the end both having tuberculosis and at the end of that experience divorced.

I won't tell you the long story, but thanks to my daughter Lisa and my wife Karen who are great schemers, they wrote to Jack.

We found found an address for him near Dallas, Texas.

And she Lisa said, I want you to know about my dad and my grandfather, because my grandfather wasn't the man later in his life that he was when he was your dad.

In a long story short, Jack and I met because I was speaking in Dallas in the next couple of weeks.

We didn't know if he'd even take the letter, if he'd tear it up.

We sent him a couple of videos of me, thought that would terrify him.

But he he said I he called me at my office in New Jersey and said, I'm um he said I do want to meet you.

We even joked a little, he has the Hutchcraft sense of humor.

Pray for him Jeff has seen me, has hugged me, kissed me.

We have a we found each other pretty late in life.

Sounds like one of those shows you see where they bring these, you know, these two people out that have a meet each other.

Unbelievable to meet your brother, my half-brother.

Strong Catholic and really uh we wanted to make sure he knew Jesus and never it never seemed to be the right opportunity to really move in on that.

And then he got very sick and nobody could figure out.

He was in the hospital in Little Rock.

I was very busy, I always am.

But I knew when I heard how he was sick he was I had to go So I went down there and I said, Lord, his wife is always with him, and he's a very private man.

I will not have the opportunity to talk to him unless you give me a moment where he's alone, which he's never been.

Well we got down there and we couldn't find his room.

We went to the room number.

He wasn't there.

Because they isolated him.

They decided to put him in the isolation thing.

And his wife was running all around the hospital looking for me Hadn't found me.

I they put I looked like a hazmat guy in the suit I had to wear to go in there.

And there was Jack all alone.

We had our private moment And as I had the privilege of really talking to him more about Jesus, he grabbed my hand with tears in his eyes, gave his heart to Christ.

My little baby brother who died when he was six months old and led our family to Christ, now all my dad 's boys will be in heaven.

All three of them.

God give me the moment.

When the door is open, when the window is open, you drop everything.

It's an eternity moment.

I could tell a lot more stories, but I ask you to go into your day looking for an eternity encounter and praying, as many of you know, the three open prayer.

You can read about it in the Book of Life That Matters Lord, open a door.

Lord, open their heart.

And Lord, open my mouth.

Let's practice it together.

Open a door means a natural opportunity to speak about Jesus.

Open your heart, you got that one.

Open my mouth.

The words, the approach, everything.

Let's say that prayer.

Lord, open a door.

Lord, open there.

Heart.

Lord, open my mouth.

You go into your day and look for those eternity encounters.

See, here's the deal.

You are part of God's next chapter in their life Did you get that?

You are part of God's next chapter in some lost man or woman's life.

Is that not exciting?

And when that happens, you feel and see and touch his glory.

Here's the second way to see his glory and spiritual rescues is seeing what God sees.

Seeing what God sees.

What does God see?

Chapter 4, verse 9.

Look at how what this woman sees.

You're a Jew, I'm a Samaritan.

You know what she saw?

Categories.

She saw people as categories.

You're a woman.

You're a man.

I'm a woman.

Guys don't talk to women in our culture.

You're a Jew, I'm a Samaritan.

You worship on this mountain, I worship in this religion.

Threw up all the barriers.

She saw categories.

And so did the disciples.

They came and they saw categories.

So did Jesus see categories.

Two categories, to be precise.

And it wasn't Jews and Samaritans When the Titanic sank in Liverpool, the White Star Line set up an office that people could come to to learn if their Loved one had died or survived in the waters of the North Atlantic.

It was a horrible long wait at a time when communication was much slower.

They had two boards up.

And every once in a while, a man would come in and he would add a name to one or the other.

One said, those known to be lost.

The other said, those known to be saved.

Everyone on the Titanic, rich, poor, first class, second class, third class, crew was only in one of two categories known to be saved or known to be lost.

Listen with me now to 1 John chapter 5 where it says, this is the testimony that God has given us eternal life.

And this life is in his son.

Let's go one verse farther.

Let's go down there.

God has given us eternal life.

This life is in his son.

Let's keep going.

He who has the Son has life.

He who does not have the Son of God does not have life.

Every person in your personal world, every person in your family, every person in your church. is on one of two lists.

There's only two categories Jesus sees.

Those known to be saved and those known to be lost.

And the difference is a rescuer.

May you be that rescuer.

I want you to write down the name right now in your book.

One person in your personal world. who as far as you know is on the list of those known currently to be lost.

Someone who probably, if this was their last night on earth, Would not go to heaven.

Write down their name.

You know somebody like that?

I hope you do.

I hope you know lots of them.

Write down a name.

We'll come back to that.

All right.

As we look at John four Let's look at that that third part of this passion.

Building bridges to a searching heart.

How do you build a bridge?

How do you break through to that very person?

Everything I'm going to say from now on is about that person.

Alright?

Keep them in mind.

As I said, the gap between you and non-Christians is very broad, just as it was with Jesus.

Here's what you do.

Number one, you start with common ground.

Notice Jesus did not come up and say, let's talk about all those guys you've been sleeping with.

He didn't come up and say, I am the Savior, I am the Messiah.

How do you do?

I'm the Messiah.

He said, you thirsty, so am I.

We have that in common.

It was pretty hard to find something in common over him and this woman.

Not a whole lot in common, but he found something.

So you start with common ground.

And Jesus starts with this issue of thirst.

By the way, I love his approach.

He said, anyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again.

You know what I think she starts to realize the longer she's with Jesus?

That every guy she's been with is a well that has never satisfied and every guy left her thirsty again.

Every relationship has left her thirsty again.

He said, I got something much better than that temporary fix you've been leaning on.

A shared need, a common experience.

Last week, Doug was at a little deal that they they were putting on a uh what do they call it, um Dream Make a Wish Foundation?

And this little girl has cancer.

And so they asked Noelle and some of the other kids to dress up as Disney characters, boy, you should see Noelle as Snow White.

I volunteered to be one of the seven dwarfs.

Dopey.

And um but you know what?

Because of our grandson Taylor Doug had an amazing opportunity with dad.

Because they have walked that same trail.

And you have credentials because of what you've lived.

In fact, the worst chapters of your life are your crud anchels that will make people listen to you.

And never will they listen to you more than when you're going through your darkest valley.

You got their attention then they're watching you then.

There are two voices.

I believe in every lost heart in the world.

Let me tell you what they're saying.

Number one, something's wrong.

It doesn't matter where you go in the world, everybody knows things aren't what they're supposed to be.

Every person you know They know something's something's wrong in our country, something's wrong in the world, something's wrong with my family, something's wrong with my friends, something's wrong with me and I don't know what's wrong, but this is not there's something wrong.

Something's broken The gospel tells you what is.

Wrong.

Secondly, someone's missing.

Every person you know, I believe, has this sense of there's a person I'm supposed to have I don't have.

I thought it would be a boyfriend, got a boyfriend, someone still missing.

Thought it would be a girlfriend, got a girlfriend, got a different girlfriend, got more boyfriends, got more girlfriends, someone was still missing, got a best friend, still miss Sing got lots of friends.

Thousand Facebook friends.

Someone's still missing.

Got a husband.

Got a wife.

Someone's still missing.

Got children.

Got grandchildren.

Got lots of people who like me.

Someone's still missing.

Someone is.

Something is wrong.

You don't have the relationship you were made for.

Someone is missing.

The one who made you.

And that's a starting point in any life.

See, they may not care about Jesus, but they care about the need they feel.

And the lost person you know has some need in their life because they're away from God.

They don't know it's because they're away from God.

But they keep being thirsty again.

They're thirsty for something.

And the thirst has never gone away, no matter how much money, how much accomplishment, how many relationships, how much admiration they've gotten.

Remember that lost person I had you write down their name?

I assume you know them fairly well.

Would you write down something you think they might be thirsty for I think old Gus, you know, in his is it peace?

Is it worth?

Is it to be a better dad?

Is it to figure out how to heal his broken relationships?

Is it to deal with the pain of his past?

What's he thirsty for?

What do you think he might be thirsty for Based on what you know.

There's something that's missing in the hole in his heart.

An unlosable love, something you can call security in a world that isn't?

May I tell you that's your starting point in their life right there.

That thirst. is the first open door on their heart.

So start with common ground.

Speak in plain words.

I love that Jesus didn't speak religious talk.

He said, how religious is this?

Thirsty?

Water?

Spring?

Well, that's really religious.

What happened to us?

We talk in Christian code.

We talk Christianese.

We're like, I don't think they're interested in the gospel.

They don't get our words.

Somebody comes in here and then and speaks in Swahili.

They're very agitated.

They go , they're out of here.

You don't know if that's Swahili or not.

It might be.

So They leave and they'll go, well that was really interesting.

A guy really is passionate, isn't it?

He seems to really believe that.

Seems like it was important.

I have no idea what he said.

He just said, the building is on fire, get out now or you'll die We're still sitting here.

He had life or death information delivered sincerely in words we didn't understand How many times do we do that with loss people?

We have life or death information.

Delivered sincerely in words they don't understand.

Believe, sin, Savior, accept Christ, receive Christ. personal savior, born again.

They don't get any of this.

The pastor who came to me at the Billy Graham School of Evangelism said Ronnie Evangelist who came to our town every year, set up the tent, and he'd get up and he'd go, You tie, you need to be born again.

Kind of angry about it.

He sent the big deacons back and they'd go road to road and say, you ever been born again?

Are you ready?

Do you want to be born again?

People like they're intimidated, like come forward.

We're gonna try that with OEW.

No.

But and then He got to the back and they said Jimmy was in the back row.

He wasn't the brightest boy in town, but the pastor told me.

He said, the deacon came up and said, you want to be born again?

Jimmy goes, no.

He said, why not?

He said, because I'm afraid this time I'd come out as a girl.

Now listen, he knew what he meant by born again, but this guy's like, that's what he heard.

Will you think lost?

If you get the book of life that matters and you it won't cost you anything, all you gotta do is pick it up one before you leave here and read the chapter beyond Christian knees and I'll show you how to share Nick did a good job over the peer.

Sin is hijacking your life from your Creator.

Believe is to grab Jesus like a drowning person, grabs a lifeguard, and say, you're my only hope.

Sin is spiritual hijacking.

Speaking plain words like Jesus did.

You have to translate the good news, not just transmit it.

Stay away from detours.

And you know what the biggest one is?

Religion.

Did you notice what the woman did?

Oh, Jesus was getting close.

She goes, let's talk about our religions.

Don't go there.

Do not be stuck trapped in comparing their religion and your religion.

That is the ultimate detour.

Say, well that's interesting, but really they're changing the subject.

You're talking about Jesus.

You're not talking about a religion.

I don't have a religion to offer you.

It is not a religion that changed my life.

It is a relationship.

I didn't need a religion.

I needed a rescuer.

I needed someone who would pay the death penalty for me hijacking my life from my creator.

How dare I!

See, when you start getting into a religious discussion with people, you're trying to enter their their heart through a wall But when you start to talk to them on the basis of a common need or a common experience, you're going through a door.

How would you rather try to get into a house?

Through a wall or through a door?

If it becomes Protestant, Catholic, Moslem, Hindu, Buddhist, New Age, Jewish, whatever, congratulations.

Try to get into a house through a wall.

Jesus did not go there.

He keeps going back to the relationship with God, worshiping him in spirit and in truth.

So speak in plain words and yeah, stay away from the detours.

Stick to Jesus.

That's the third one.

Stick to Jesus.

Please don't get off on on anything.

It's not this isn't about your church.

Would you come to my church?

I hope they do.

They probably won't.

This isn't about your church.

Well, if people would just come to my church.

No, if they've just come to your Jesus.

This is about Jesus, not about God.

When you say God, they can make they got they could be a fuzzy pink cloud as far as you're concerned.

They can make God whatever they want.

It's Jesus that is where the power is.

You say Jesus, not God.

The power is in the name.

There is no other name under heaven given among men whereby we must be saved.

You must say it was Jesus.

You'll find yourself choking when you say Jesus.

Jesus to talk about God.

You get to, well God really help me.

You know why?

Satan's been trying to edit Jesus out for 2,000 years.

They called him the disciples.

John was one of them.

And they said, you can talk all you want in the temple.

Don't you say Jesus.

And they said, we gotta, how can we not?

But make it about Jesus.

Stick to Jesus Britt Hume got into a little trouble, you know, from Fox News, uh, because he made a um made an interesting comment after Tiger Woods um fall from grace.

And he said that he said that they were talking about Buddhism, which Tiger Woods professes, does not offer forgiveness and redemption.

And uh Britt Hume said, it is simply a fact of life that the two most explosive words in the English language appear to be Jesus Christ.

Yeah, that's part of the blinding we talked about.

Blinded to the glory of Christ.

And it is true, and Britt Hume got a firestorm for talking about.

Tiger Woods needing Jesus.

How dare he mention that name?

So stick to Jesus and make it all about Jesus and his cross.

That's the message.

Don't get into lifestyles.

Well, how come you wear that?

How come you listen to that?

How come you're sleeping with him?

How come you're not married?

How come you've got earrings everywhere but your ears too and all over yourself?

Did you miss?

You've heard me say this before, but you don't clean fish before you catch them.

Why don't we catch him first?

They need a rescuer.

Oh gee, they act like lost people.

They're lost Stick to Jesus and take them to the cross.

Make sure they know about the cross, where they were loved enough for the only son God has to die in their place.

That's what they will answer to God for.

There's one question.

Only one God will ever care about.

What did you do with my son?

Not what did you do with the Christian religion?

Not what did you do with Christians?

What did you do with my son?

Stick to Jesus.

That's where the power is.

Jesus said, if I am lifted up, I will draw all men to me.

Fourthly, bringing Jesus to your tribe.

Bringing Jesus.

You have a tribe.

Did you know that?

You said, whoa, whoa, whoa, wait a minute.

I'm not Navajo, Apache, I'm not Su no, no, no, no, no, no.

Everyone in this room is probably in several tribes You have a social tribe you're in.

I don't know where it is, but you have one.

You have an occupational tribe you're in.

By the very fact you would you have an occupation.

You talk the language of a certain occupation.

You have an associational tribe, who you hang out with, the club you're in.

The PTA, whatever.

You have an associational tribe.

You have a recreational tribe.

Runners, golfers, hunters, fishermen.

Who uh uh you know guys that play basketball, whatever.

You have a tribe, you have several tribes you're in.

Everyone here is a tribal person.

And how did Jesus reach Samaritans?

Did he go into Samaria, march in there, and have a crusade?

Later he did.

He reached one Samaritan.

Not even the Son of God went in and did it himself.

He sent in a Samaritan because Samaritans listen to Samaritans.

And mothers listen to mothers.

And cancer survivors listen to cancer survivors.

And cops listen to cops.

And teachers to teachers and business people to business people and salespeople to salespeople and parents to parents and go down the list And you have been divinely positioned, your interests, your whole life story has been to get you qualified to go to a certain kind of tribe.

Who are your Samaritans?

I want five of you to tell me.

What's your tribe?

Right now, tell me what's your tribe.

Give me a tribe you're in.

I am in the What tribe?

What?

Health club tribe.

Mission field.

Not health club.

What tribe are you in?

Life.

What?

Life.

Life?

Life Wife!

Oh wife!

Life!

Wife!

That's what a life.

Okay, so wives, that's true.

Okay, what else?

What kind what tribe?

Your wife and the wife tribe.

That's a big tribe.

What?

Dairy farmer tribe, there you go.

Very good.

What else?

Education.

What?

Education.

Education tribe.

What else?

What?

Grandmothers, listen to grandmothers.

Veterans, listen to veterans.

Seniors, listen to seniors.

Let me tell you, do you understand your biography qualifies you to help people go to heaven?

Your very biography.

You don't have to go to cemetery and seminary to to to do you just just do you do you but do you for Jesus Eternity encounters.

It makes every day not eat every day ever again.

It's eternity stuff.

A breakthrough in a tribe begins with a breakthrough in the heart of one member of that tribe.

That's what the Samaritan experience tells us.

A breakthrough in a tribe begins with a breakthrough in the heart of one member of that tribe.

Maybe you'll be the one to start that going.

By the way, most people believe in a Christian before they will believe in Christ They usually have to believe in a Christian they can see before they believe in a Christ they can't see.

How are you doing being that that glory person who reflects his glory?

Remember the earthquake in Nepal?

A lot of it happened around the capital city of Kathmandu.

And those people got relief pretty quickly.

But up in the mountains, the mountain passes, the earthquake collapsed, rocks on the mountain passes.

They didn't know if those people were alive or dead up there.

They didn't know how to get to them.

The rescue people, they didn't know if they were starving to death, that they were alive, what to do.

There were six guys who were all Nepalese.

And they said, we'll get there.

And they found their way in a circuitous path where there was no path up the mountain, made their way to those hard-to-reach villages.

And when they got there, they found gratefully that most of the people who'd been working in the fields during the earthquake were not in any building, and so they were alive, but they were starving.

They were able to get there.

They were able to able to help other people get there, ultimately able to help choppers come in and bring in the food Do you know why they could do you know why they could do the rescue?

Because they were from there.

They had lived there.

And the only way that those hard-to-reach people could be reached was by one of them who knew how to get to them.

You got my drift?

The only way some hard-to-reach people are going to be reached in your circle of people is by someone who is one of them, or was one of them, and knows how to get to them.

That's the power of the on eagle's wings miracle in Native America.

Because they can get to the hard-to-reach people because they are them.

But there's a tribe you are them for them.

Last of all is opening hearts with your hope story.

Opening hearts with your hope story.

Let's go to 428 and John John 4. 28, leaving her water jar, the woman went back to the town and said to the people, Come see a man.

I love this.

Not come change your religion.

Not come to a meeting.

Come see a man.

I got a person for you.

I don't got a religion.

I got a man.

Come see a man who told me everything I ever did.

Could this be the Christ?

Later the people of Samaria will proclaim He is the Savior of the world.

You can read it for yourself in John chapter 4.

They figured it out before the Jews did.

He is the Savior of the world.

So now , and let's go on because I think there's more of this.

It says that many of them believed in him because of what?

The sermon Jesus preached.

Nope.

They believed in him because of the woman's testimony.

She went back with her hope story.

And that's what will open the hearts of people in your world is your story.

And you have one.

If you belong to Jesus, you have a hope story.

Because your hope story is what you would be without him.

And what you are because of him.

I believe everyone in this room is living proof of Jesus' power to change what nobody else can change.

Someone in this room is living proof that a father can change, that a mother can change, that a f a wife can change, that a husband can change, that a marriage can change, that a temper can change, that an add This thing can change That self-centeredness can change.

That the destructive mouth can change.

Someone in this room is proof.

Living proof.

That Jesus can change people.

I want to hear from you for just a minute.

I want to hear a couple sentence hope story from you.

I am living proof.

I am living proof that Jesus can change what?

Can I hear your hope story in a couple of words?

I am living proof that Jesus can change what?

What has it changed about you?

Without him, this would be totally different.

Your appetite.

That's amazing.

Because of Jesus.

I know I am living proof.

Jesus can change what?

What?

I focus on life.

From what to what?

Focus on life.

Focus on materialism.

From materialism to To Jesus.

To Jesus.

What else?

I'm living proof that Jesus can change.

What?

Brian?

Spouses that pray. and never argue.

Hmm.

Jesus can change.

You think that would be of interest to some people in our world?

What else?

Living pro I'm living proof that granted Jesus can change. prodigal life.

A rebellious prodigal life.

I am living proof that Jesus can change what?

Tell me.

Well daily?

Pain.

Day really, daily pain.

Wow.

I am living proof that Jesus can change what?

Perspective.

Perspective.

From what to what?

Not about me.

About yourself.

I I'm living proof Jesus can change.

Jim?

Uh greediness.

Greediness.

I'm living proof that Jesus can change.

What?

But give me more time, you can make a list.

Self-sufficiency.

Self-sufficiency and self-sufficiency to dependence.

To dependence.

Dana?

An unforgiving heart.

The list goes on.

You have a hope story.

Yeah, you do.

And your hope story, you see this about look at this stories.

You a living proof that Jesus can change.

Their story, you start with their story.

You listen to their story, which gives you the right to tell your story.

Especially the parts of your story that might have some connection to their story And as you're telling your story, you tell his story.

How his story of what happened on the Middle Cross changed your story. and could change their story.

Forever.

It is a tale of three stories.

One hope story changed the heart of a whole Samaritan village.

Because they listened to someone who was them.

All through John's gospel we see how we miss the glory. of this soul-saving partnership.

Why have we not done this more?

What and it really is is one word.

Look at Philemon.

I know you were probably touched talking about the book of Philemon over dinner tonight.

But let me look at let me show you this one verse in verse six.

I pray that you may be active in sharing your faith So that people will go to heaven.

Well, that's true, but listen, so you will have a full understanding of every good thing we have in Christ.

You don't even totally get what you got.

You don't get it Until you have to explain it to somebody else.

It is in the process of you telling other people about your Jesus that you begin to fully understand what you have in him.

And that's where the glory comes in.

You know what the thing is?

It keeps us from being a part of his glory, the glory of his life-saving partnership?

One word, fear , fear, which I call the father of regrets.

You think about how you should have told that person who's no longer here.

Why didn't you?

You afraid of something?

Rejection?

What they would think of you?

Losing something?

Losing some ground?

Now that fear is the father of regrets.

It will be it will be at the end of your life.

We'll be at the end of their life.

Look at John 7.

Let me just show you real quickly how I know this.

John shows this.

No one would say anything publicly about him for fear of the Jews.

Let's keep going.

Go to another scripture.

Um we got uh we go to uh um yeah, uh here This is the blind man, the parents of the blind man.

His parents said because they were afraid of the Jews.

They said, well we don't we're not we don't really know about this at all.

It's like their son was blind for heaven's sake.

Jesus did heal them like really don't ask us.

We're afraid of the Jews, for the Jews had already decided anyone who acknowledges Jesus is the Christ would be put out of the synagogue.

That's what we're afraid of, being put out of something.

Being left out, being thought less of, that's what we're afraid of.

Why aren't we more afraid of what will happen to them if we don't than what will happen to us if we do?

That's far worse Let's go to another example.

At the same time, many among even the Jewish leaders believed in him, but because of the Pharisees, they would not confess their faith. for fear that they here we go again.

Fear, fear, fear, fear, fear.

I'm not going to do Jesus.

I'm not going to let anybody know.

I love him, but no one's going to know about it.

For they and it was a love issue.

They loved praise from men more than love from God.

It is a love choice.

Who matters most to you?

Apparently they matter more Because I'm more concerned about what they think of me.

But the fear that makes us let down, both the lost and our Savior, does not have to win.

We have some Oklahoma friends here, and some of you, I know they have, some of you may have been at the Oklahoma City Bombing Memorial.

Roger was at that day, as was was an officer on duty that day at that bombing.

Terry's with the state patrol in Oklahoma.

And he provided some security for an event where I was speaking for a Billy Graham event.

Big, huge guy.

We'll build a lot alike.

And I mean he's intimidating.

If you met him in a dark alley , whoa.

But he's a great Christian brother.

We went to the Oklahoma Memorial with Terry.

If you've never been there, there's two arches on that block where the moor building once stood.

Help me, John, Roger.

I think one of them says 9. 02 a. m.

The other one says 9. 04 a. m.

It's always 9. 03 a. m.

On that piece of ground where 168 people died, many of them little children in the child carcin.

You remember that day.

And Terry was one of the first ones there within the first five minutes.

He called his wife and he said, I love you.

Tell the kids.

I'll see you later.

He wasn't quite sure how much later that might be.

He said when we went in there, First thing we heard was a woman screaming in the wreckage in the rubble.

I'm gonna die.

My crew chief said, not if we can help it, not unless we do.

We're gonna get you out of here.

And they did.

And Terry said to his crew chief, and later he went into the child care center, he was carrying out the children's bodies, kissing them on the forehead to humanize them.

But they went in there and they saved some lives.

And he said to his crew chief, Chief, you hear that groaning of the up above us?

See, I think this building could come down on us.

And his chief said, then it's a good day to die.

And it's a good way to die.

We went up with Terry up above to the survivor tree and prayed with him As this big, intimidating, strong guy just cried again.

Remembering that day, having parked his truck right there, he said, where the pond is, the memorial pond is.

And where now, he went into the building where now the memorial chairs are, the little ones for their children.

And as I drove away that night, I thought I now understand what is the essence of rescue.

It is self-abandonment.

When the firefighters and policemen of New York City went in to what was left of the World Trade Center?

They didn't know if they would come out or not.

But rescue means it doesn't matter what happens to me, it matters what happens to them And God has called you to live eternity encounters and see the glory of Jesus as you encounter eternity in your everyday.

To say I care more about what happens to them than what happens to me.

Look at this happy news.

I'm going to give you one happy example.

John 19.

We'll wrap up right away here.

Joseph of Arimathea was on the Sanhedrin.

Who condemned Jesus to death?

The Sanhedrin.

They're in the governing body.

They are in the highest level of the Jewish nation.

People name their sons and daughters after the guys on the Sanhedrin.

This guy has a huge amount to lose.

And he knows it.

Joseph of Arimathea asked Pilate for the body of Jesus.

Do you understand what's happening here?

He had been, look, Joseph was a disciple of Jesus.

Put your name in here maybe, but secretly.

Secretly.

For fear of the Jews.

There we go.

But with Pilate's permission, he came and took the body.

He was accompanied.

Remember Nicodemus?

John chapter 3?

Comes by night.

No one will see me.

Everybody's asleep.

I'm going to go see Jesus now.

He too was in the ruling body.

He said, I want anybody to know.

But you got these two guys, they're blowing their cover totally.

They're blowing their cover.

They're going to pilot.

The governor, the whole city's gonna know I want him buried in my tomb.

This is scandal.

In his club, in his tribe.

What in the world changed it?

Nicodemus, Joseph.

Had made their decision.

I got too much to lose to come out for Jesus.

You know what happened.

The cross.

They must have seen it.

They saw the Lamb of God slaughtered.

They knew the scriptures And when they realized when it fully dawned on them the price Jesus paid, they said, this is nothing.

There is no sacrifice, nothing worthy of the word, compared to what he did, and they could no longer be in secret.

They had to be identified with Jesus, and they would be from then on, whatever the cost.

Will you say, I don't know what I've done with my life up until now, but from now on, I will be about rescuing the dying, whatever it costs and whatever it takes, because I'm around some of them all the time.

They saw the price that Jesus paid.

So Jesus is inviting us to join him in the greatest cause on the planet.

And you know what's really cool?

Let's just end at John 17.

Jesus' prayer.

Did you know he prayed for you?

His last night there before he was arrested?

This is eternal life that they may know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent.

I have brought you glory on earth by completing the work you gave me to do.

And now, Father, glorify me in your presence with the glory I had with you, which I gave up to go to a cross.

I'm about to give up to go to a cross, with the glory I had with you before the world began.

Now as you sent me into the world, to bring glory to you, and glory is coming to me because of what I've done.

Now as you sent me, I'm going to send them into the world.

My prayer is not for these twelve guys alone.

I pray also for those who will believe in me through their message.

I want you to know I believe on that last night.

Jesus was praying for you, looking down through the centuries, 2,000 years in his omniscience and saying, I am praying for you and the people who will believe in me through you.

He prayed for us that night, that his glory would break out by somebody going to heaven because of us, and them seeing the glory of Jesus in us.

The ultimate issue in getting out Jesus' gospel even transcends the importance of rescuing the dying.

You know what ultimately bringing people to Jesus is about?

We're back where we started.

You will be elevating Jesus to someone's rightful place. to his rightful place in someone's heart.

They have not glorified him.

They don't know his glory. but his glory will come to them through you, and you have placed Jesus where he belongs in another life on this planet.

And he is glory and more people will see his glory.

I saw the story on TV of a of a noted test pilot well past his retirement time.

Who could uh easily have retired.

But they had him testing now the most advanced aircraft because of his experience.

His life story was on TV.

And part of it was his lifelong search for the one that would pilot his life.

And eventually he did give his life to Christ.

And he told the story of a very dangerous day for flying.

It was a heavy fog around the city.

Very dangerous weather, and there was a rookie pilot who radioed in who was lost in the fog and who did not have the equipment on board to find his way to the airport They sent him up, this veteran pilot, they sent him up in a state-of-the-art aircraft that he was testing And he comes in and flies in with this sophisticated equipment, flies in right off the wingtip.

Has to find the guy in the fog, flies right next to his wind, and all of a sudden there's a voice coming over the rookie's radio.

Look to your left Whoa, there's a plane there.

He says, look to your left.

And stick with me.

And turn where I say turn.

And follow me.

And they flew together, wingtip to wingtip.

And eventually they broke out of that fog, and the first sight they saw were the lights of the airport, both of them landing safely.

You know what that rookie pilot did.

He jumped out of that plane and ran over to that pilot and hugged him like it was his last hug ever. was he would not be alive.

Unless someone had come and found him, moved in close Instead, follow me home.

That will be you.

Moving in close enough to save someone For your Jesus has brought you out of the fog and out of the danger and rescued you forever.

You are truly rescued.

To be a rescuer.

You got a name right now.

How about you fly close and tell them how to get home safe?

And when you both land.

They'll thank you forever.

Welcome to a life of eternity encounters.

When the glory comes down.

You got nothing better to do with the rest of your life.

Let's pray.

Lord, you uh you're amazing.

And thank you for, we needed a picture to know what to do.

And you go to this woman in Samaria and a whole community comes to you Because one person goes to one person in the course of everyday life And eternities are changed.

Lord, there's some names we wrote down in our book.

I dare to pray tonight that because of the person who wrote that name down, who probably is that person's best chance at heaven.

Best chance of Jesus.

I pray That because in the heart of one of my brothers and sisters here, they will lay their life on the line to say, I will do everything within God's power.

Setting aside my fear, abandoning me.

I want them in heaven with me, and I want them to have Jesus elevated to the throne room of their heart.

I will bring you glory, Jesus, by bringing your glory into their gloryless life.

I pray, Lord, that that name in our little notebook will one day be entered in another book, in the Lamb's Book of Life.

And Lord, I pray you'd help us to examine our lives and look and see what it is about us that might confuse them about Jesus.

That's not like you.

That's hiding the glory because of our mouth or our attitude or our negativity or our worry or whatever it is.

May we get that out of the way.

So the light shines brightly, and they finally get a chance to touch the glory as we have.

I pray because of our little president's retreat at Big Cedar Lodge Someone who is on the list that says known to be lost will soon be on a list called known to be saved.

And I pray for that in the name of the one who is the way, the truth, and the life.

I pray in Jesus' name.

Amen.