The LORD's Day, May 6, 2007

Jesus is Seeking Lost Souls

John 3-4, Mark 5

God is no respecter of people. He is not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance. He loves the world. He loved it so much He sent His One and Only Son to die for us.

This morning we are going to look at three people who had an encounter with Jesus Christ. One was a respected religious leader, another was a woman with a bad reputation and who had been married 5 times and was living with a man who was not her husband and the other was a man who was as close to insanity and self destruction of any that we read about in God’s Word.

Whether a person is successful and accomplished in this life, or whether they are people who have severely broken God’s law of marriage or whether they are people whom society has banished, they all have one common need. They all need the saving power of Jesus Christ. They are multitudes of people like them all around us today. Jesus has left us with the supreme privilege of telling them about Him. He wants us to join Him is this desire I Timothy 2.3 This is good, and pleases God our Savior, 4 Who wants all men to be saved and to come to a knowledge of the truth.

We are to be prepared. I Peter 3.15 But in your hearts set apart Christ as Lord. Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have. But do this with gentleness and respect,

We become prepared by reading God’s Word and hiding it in our hearts. The Word of God is living and active and sharing it cuts to the heart of a person. Tell people when they inquire why you have hope that is because of Jesus Christ.

I love the examples Jesus gave us and they are recorded here for us to read and learn. Notice that in every one of these encounters the subject is Jesus Christ Himself. I get concerned in this day of the Christian Celebrity that people are focusing on a personality other than Jesus Christ. He is the only One that is worthy to be called Wonderful. No one else should have that title. His name should be mentioned often. His name is above all others. He is the LORD God Almighty.

Let’s look at how Jesus shared His love with people.

1. Nicodemus, the man who came to Jesus at night. John 3

Nicodemus was a secret disciple. He started out that way. I think many are like that We keep our faith hidden from others for a vast array of reasons. Nicodemus kept his secret for fear of the Jews- his own brothers. Perhaps he was afraid he would lose his standing or even his position. It is interesting that he began this way. Coming to Jesus at night.


There are many things about the Old City of Jerusalem today which are very similar to Jesus’ time- one them is that the city sleeps at sundown. You can move around at night and very few people if any will see you. In the daylight hours Jerusalem is a beehive of activity but at night, shops close, people go to their homes and the streets are empty. Only a few gate remain open. This meeting could have taken place in the Garden of Gethsemane. Jesus often went there with His disciples.

Nicodemus came seeking and Jesus said (John 6:37) All that the Father gives me will come to me, and whoever comes to me I will never drive away. God is patient with those in the struggle that Nicodemus and Jospeh of Armithea were in but there comes a time when secret disciples must come out of the woodwork and stand up and be public about their faith.

Is this where you are at this morning? The power of the Holy Spirit makes you a witness for Jesus. Let Jesus baptize you with the Holy Spirit and give you a holy boldness. Perhaps you need a fresh infilling of His Spirit. This is God’s work, it is a gift of God.

The conversation Jesus had with Nicodemus forms a great deal of our understanding of what it means to experience the New Birth. Being born again is first mentioned here.

As we look at the conversation with the woman at the well and this one with Nicodemus, we see that both lack spiritual understanding. Their lack was in great part centered around Who Jesus really was. Nicodemus had Him down as a teacher (sent from God) and the woman a the well in Samaria had Jesus down as prophet. He is the Master Teacher and He fulfilled the office of the prophet. As the woman said He was the prophet that (Moses told about) that was to come into the world. But He is the Son of God He came to bring us into God’s family.

We can learn a lesson here from Nicodemus’s encounter with Jesus. He needed to be born again. He had considered who Jesus was but had not come to faith in Him yet. Many people today are one hit wonders. They are like the multitudes in Jesus’ time. They brush up against things that are spiritual and they hold onto that experience but they never believe on Him to forgive their sins. They never follow. They never embrace the gospel. They need the Savior but they think He is just a good teacher or a prophet. They miss the time of God’s coming to them.

Now Nicodemus did go on to faith and following Jesus. But it was not until after Jesus died that he came forward.

There are very religious people around today. Their need, like Nicodemus, is for faith in Jesus Christ as their Savior. When you encounter them, do what Jesus did. Tell them they must be born again.


Let’s head over to Samaria...

2. The Woman from Samaria Who Came to Jesus in the Day John 4

Probably for the same reasons as Nicodemus coming at night- she didn’t want to be seen. Day time in the West Bank between 11 and 3 the sun is hot and it is dangerous to travel back. I found this out my last time in Israel not very far from where this exchange took place between Jesus and the woman at the well.

I love this verse in the KJV 4 And he must needs go through Samaria. Necessary lying in the nature of the case, necessary in what is required to attain some end.

The Jews had no dealings with the Samaritans. They avoided Samaria. Jesus was breaking down the prejudicial nature of the disciples against the Samaritan’s and against women. He was also on his way to appointment He had to go there.

This appointment with Jesus the woman had no idea was coming She didn’t know that this afternoon her life was going to be completely changed So often when God works in us we are just going about our routines. He uses every day life to meet with His people. He doesn’t always tell us He is going to show up. So was the case with this lady.

This woman’s life was totally changed by Jesus Christ that day. He took away her shame, sin and sorrow. He revealed Himself to her. A while later a revival broke out in Samaria (Acts 8.4-8) We are to be like those early followers- witnesses of Jesus Christ.

As the Spirit directs us and we follow we will be witnesses.

The woman at the well and the Nicodemus had individual meetings with Jesus that transformed them. They show us it doesn’t matter how religious a person is they need Christ and it doesn’t matter how wicked a person is they are nor beyond His Grace



3. The Demoniac Whom Jesus Came To Mark 5

Some people can’t make appointments to see Jesus. They are beyond the ability to move themselves. The demoniac was like this. The man who was lowered to Jesus through the roof was like that. His friends had to help them. The demoniac had no friends. He had a lot of silent enemies.

People were afraid of him. They tried to bind him. No one could. He would break the chains.

Back in the late 60's after Israel took control of the Golan Heights, they put in a highway around the Sea of Galilee. As they worked this area with the machinery, something happened that occurs there frequently when digging goes on- they discovered or should I say uncovered history.
It turned out that years after healing of the demoniac took place, a church was built by the shore and up on the cliff a chapel was erected. For hundreds and hundreds of year it lay buried in the ground, now it has been rebuilt in commemoration of the miracle.

We understand this man was absolutely helpless. There are some like that today. So Jesus went to him, cast the demons out and sent him home.

Frustration - Fulton J. Sheen

1. What Sin Had Done To Him
It divided him.
It defiled him.

2. What Society had Done to Him.
It bound him.
It banished him.

3. What the Savior did for Him
He cleaned him up.
He sent him home.

There are people around and we may know some of them who are like this man
divided, being defiled, bound, banished. They need Jesus. He can do what no other can do


Nicodemus, the woman at the well, this man among the tombs all had one single need. They needed Christ Jesus.

In our lives these days we come in contact with people like this all the time. May the LORD open our eyes so we can see the harvest field next door, across the street and around the block.

Remember Jesus’ Words to the disciples that day with the woman at the well.

Don’t say 4 months and then the harvest Look to the fields they are ripe for harvest now

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The LORD’s Day
May 3, 2007

We Worship In Singing
We Worship In Receiving the LORD’s Supper
We Worship In Hearing the Word of God
Jesus in Seeking Lost Souls
John 3-4, Mark 5

*Tithes and Offerings can be placed in the box at the rear of the sanctuary*
Please join us for coffee and bagels downstairs if you are visiting today.

V
This Week
Bible Reading Psalm 101-103
Monday Men’s Prayer Meeting 6:30am in the church basement
Wednesday Bible Study - 7:30pm 1312 Pine Acres Blvd.
Thursday Bible Study - 10:30am at the church
Next Lord’s Day
Morning Prayer- 10am in the church basement
Morning Worship- 10:30am(Sunday School for Children)
Spanish Service- 4pm

In Your Prayers For All of God’s People
Remember the men serving in the armed forces: Bradley, Julia Bujold’s grandson with Special Forces in Afghanistan, home on leave right now, Ken Brown, Pastor’s friend’s son on his third tour of Iraq. Please pray for the whole family. Billy Knapp, Jr. in Iraq with the Marines (neighbor of the church and Pastor- Billy’s sister graduated from Good Shepherd). Matthew Klaus, brother of Good Shepherd parent in Iraq as a firefighter for Haliburton... Pray for them and the others away from their families. Praise God for keeping David Louis, Jake Morgan and Tom Hindelang safe during their times in Iraq. Christine Frankland, Katharina’s daughter continuing to recover from surgery, still having pain. Please pray for Monica’s (Katrina’s granddaughter) mother-in-law, Rosemary, with breast cancer doing well. Kathy, Ziggy and Margot’s daughter-in-law, under the doctor’s care for fibromyalgia. Their son Michael is recovering from surgery from last week . Pray for Eloise Brooks in Southside undergoing rehab. Remember Jean Louis as both he and Eloise are on dialysis. Christopher (Uncle of Good Shepherd Grad) with leukemia. Grace Martin, Edie Raevis’ daughter, fibromyalgia. kidney stones and liver inflamation. Reginald Mooney, friend of Terri and John Garry, with a tumor in his kidney. Also Lisa Siler, a staff member of John’s, is expecting a baby and has three year old named Lauren with scarlet fever.
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A number of nursery school families are going through difficult times. If you would like to sponsor a child presently at Good Shepherd, see Alice or call the school at 666-7503
If you would like to help with the Sunday Morning Bagel ministry see John or Terri Garry.

Notes on Our Time in the Word of God This Morning:
Jesus in Seeking Lost Souls

John 3-4, Mark 5

Pastor’s messages are now available online:
http://thesundaymorningmessage.blogspot.com/
Church e-mail: bayshorenaz@rock.com
(Church Phone: 631-969-1730
*1314 Pine Acres Boulevard, Bay Shore, Long Island, NY 11706-5436


Whatever you do, in word or deed, do all for the glory of God