“He Told Me All That I Ever Did.”

“He Told Me All That I Ever Did.”

Jesus told ALL of His disciples to go to all nations and make disciples. This can be intimidating to some people, but it doesn’t have to be that way. The lady at the well, a Samaritan who probably didn’t have as much knowledge of the coming Messiah as the Pharisees had, brought many people to Christ by simply sharing her testimony! “He told me all that I ever did.” Because of the Samaritan woman’s belief, many Samaritans were saved.

Podcast 57 Transcript

(This is a computer generated transcript of this podcast. This is NOT a typed transcript and it has not been edited. Expect grammatical and syntactical errors.)

Hello, and good day. I am B. R. Maul, and you are listening to the podcast, Living God’s Way in an Ungodly World. Thank you for joining me. Today, we are going to be talking about the importance of sharing our testimony with those around us. It’s amazing how much God uses our stories to get other people to look to His Son, Jesus Christ.

It’s through hearing the gospel message, and the word of God, that saves people with the power of the Holy Spirit. It’s not our job as Christians to save people. He, thankfully, does not place that responsibility on us. But we have been commissioned by Jesus before He left to go out to all nations and to make disciples, baptizing them in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. A disciple is someone who’s learning. To be able to do that, a person first needs to know who Jesus is. So let’s take a look at God’s word and see what He says in the book of John, chapter 4.

I’ll be jumping around some, but we are visiting the lady at the well. That is the Samaritan woman who Jesus met at the well, asked for a drink, and because he’s Jew and she’s Samaritan, she was very uncomfortable about that and tried avoiding the topic that Jesus was getting to. Partway through their conversation is where I’m going to leave off because Jesus explains to her, whoever drinks of this water will thirst again.

Verse 14, But whoever drinks of the water that I shall give him will never thirst. But the water that I shall give him will become in him a fountain of water springing up into everlasting life. I believe that’s referring to the fact that once we are born again, that springing up into everlasting life, we will be sharing that good news. It will spring up. We will not be able to avoid that as we walk with him and as he reveals to us who he is. Verse 15, The woman said to him, Sir, give me this water that I may not thirst, nor come here to draw. Jesus said to her, Go, call your husband, and come here. The woman answered and said, I have no husband.

Of course, that’s what Jesus was looking for, her response. Jesus said to her, You have well said, I have no husband. For you have had five husbands, and the one whom you now have is not your husband. In that you spoke truly. So now the Samaritan woman is catching on, that there’s something going on here.

Verse 19. The woman said to him, Sir, I perceive. that you are a prophet. She tries changing the subject. Our fathers worshiped on this mountain, and you Jews say that in Jerusalem is the place where one ought to worship. Now this is interesting because how Jesus responds should really stand out in our time today, in a time that we live in, where we have 40,000 plus denominations in Christianity. I’ve talked on this topic several times, it’s near and dear to me, because we shouldn’t have 40,000 plus denominations in Christianity. We have one Bible, we have one Savior, and so we should have one holy family on earth, all those who are born again. But the problem with that is people really love their tradition. People take safety in knowing what is familiar to them. And so it’s easy to get caught up in this is the way you worship, and this is how you’re supposed to do it. Now, in the case of the Jews, they had good reason, based on the Old Testament, to go to the temple. and worship the Lord. Because in Old Testament times, that’s how God was wanting to be recognized.

He made himself known by prophets and where he chose to meet the prophet, such as Moses, when God would descend in the cloud upon the tabernacle where he would meet Moses. And once Solomon had the temple built, God made himself known in the temple as his presence filled the temple where even the priests could not go in. But then after the cross, and Jesus is going to set this up for us here in just a moment, the next verses, But after Jesus died on that cross, if you recall, after he had given up his spirit, God the Father tore the veil from top to bottom, exposing the holy of holies, and now making it accessible to all. Now we can go and pray directly to Him. We don’t need to go to a building anymore. So listen to Jesus.

Verse 21, Jesus said to her, Woman, believe me, the hour is coming when you will neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem worship the Father. You worship what you do not know. We know what we worship, for salvation is of the Jews.

I’ll pause there for a second. What Jesus is talking about is the Samaritans, they used the Pentateuch, not the whole Old Testament with all the prophets. They stuck just to the Pentateuch. They didn’t have all of the information. Whereas the Jews, they had the Old Testament. So, moving on, verse 23, But the hour is coming, and now is, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth. For the Father is seeking such to worship Him. God is spirit, and those who worship Him must worship its spirit and truth. Jesus is saying, the time is coming, which of course, we live in that time and have for a couple thousand years, that we no longer go to the temple that was designated for worship to worship God. We no longer had to go to the high priest to do that. He says, when the true worshipers will worship the father in spirit and truth, so it’s not a physical thing, all right? Because now we have the Holy Spirit dwelling in us. The worshipers before that time, they showed up and they did it because they were told to do it, they didn’t have the Holy Spirit in them, and they did it out of the reverent fear of God. So they would go through the motions, but now we have the Holy Spirit dwelling in us. So true worshipers worship in spirit and truth. I find it interesting when he says, For the Father, the Heavenly Father, is seeking such to worship Him.

God wants worshippers who love Him, who are worshiping Him truthfully and spiritually, so it’s their whole being, not just through the motions, not just singing the songs. Repeating prayers, doing what you’re told to do at church, and then leave. No, he really wants worshippers who are worshipping Him in spirit and truth because God is spirit. The other part that’s interesting, in verse 24, if you caught it, Jesus says, And those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth, because now we believe in Jesus that takes that faith and we are given that choice. But I don’t want to get ahead of myself, so I’ll keep reading.

Verse 25. The woman said to him, I know that Messiah is coming, who is called Christ. When he comes, he will tell us all things. Jesus said to her, I who speak to you am he. In one of my, my Bibles, I had made the note that the Pharisees should have known. I find it really interesting that this Samaritan woman who wouldn’t have had the knowledge that the Pharisees had at that time, and yet she’s still. knew about the Messiah coming. And not only that, but was still anticipating it. So, she knew enough about it where she was still anticipating, and she knew that when He would come, that He would tell us all things. I find that really amazing. The other thing I find amazing is that Jesus, in verse 26, said to her, I who speak to you, am he.

This is John chapter 4. Now remember, in John chapter 3, Jesus was speaking to Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews, a high teacher. I would think Jesus, would want to reveal Himself to someone like Nicodemus and just flat out say like you did to the Samaritan woman, “I’m Him, I’m the one you’ve been waiting for.” But Jesus never comes out and tells Nicodemus that. My own opinion, I think is because Jesus knew that Nicodemus along with the other Pharisees should have identified him. Now, in all fairness, Nicodemus did become a follower. So, no doubt we’ll be able to meet Nicodemus in eternity, but Jesus reveals himself to this Samaritan woman.

So, now we’re going to get to the part where how our witness can make a big difference. Verse 27, And at this point his disciples came, because they left to go get food, and they marveled that he talked with a woman. Yet no one said, What do you seek, or why are you talking with her? I can imagine they were quite stunned because they wanted to completely go around Samaria because they hated the Samaritans so much. Here’s their teacher that they are in awe of talking to this Samaritan, and to top it all off, she’s a woman. The woman then left her water pot, went her way into the city. So this shows how excited now the Samaritan woman really is, because she just left her water pot. I mean, she came all this way to the well. The well would have been outside, away from the town. So she would have had to bring this, and it would have been a good size pot, and on top of that, this stuff was, you know, valuable to people. It wasn’t just like, oh, you know, whatever, it’s just a little pot. This is ancient times, so they didn’t just go down to Walmart and just replace it with another pot, right?

So she went all this way on this hot day to get this water. Now she’s so excited that she left her water pot, went her way into the city, And it continues on, And said to the men, “Come, see a man who told me all things that I ever did. Could this be the Christ?” Then they went out of the city and came to him. So, there she is. She goes in and she is sharing already her testimony of what she has seen. She’s so excited. And I believe that she does believe that this is the Messiah, because he identified himself. Maybe she’s so excited that when she says, Could this be the Christ? Perhaps she’s telling them, Come and see for yourself. What do you think? Because she seems rather excited and convinced. Now, in the meantime, his disciples urged him, urged Jesus, saying, Rabbi, eat. But he said to them, I have food to eat of which you do not know. Therefore, the disciples said to one another, Has anyone brought him anything to eat? , I find that, I find that, you know, kind of funny because they’re still trying to learn too.

They’re still trying to catch on. I mean, I could see myself saying something like that. Like what? We just went to go get food and did one of you give him food or did he already eat? Jesus said to them, my food is to do with the will of him who sent me and to finish his work. Do you not say There are still four months and then comes the harvest?

Behold, I say to you, lift up your eyes and look at the fields, for they are already white for harvest. Physically, they would have looked around. This was wintertime, and so more than likely the crops would have been green. But Jesus is referring to, probably, Samaria, because he probably wasn’t looking. At the fields, he was probably looking at Samaria itself, where the Samaritan woman went.

And he’s looking at that and saying, here’s the harvest. Verse 36, And he who reaps receives wages and gathers fruit for eternal life that both he who sows and he who reaps may rejoice together. I’m going to skip some, drop down to verse 39. and many of the Samaritans of that city believed in him because of the word of the woman who testified.

Now be careful because this certainly can’t mean that she’s the one who made them believe, but it was because of her. Coming into the town and saying you have got to come see who I’m talking to so not just her words But her excitement without a doubt they saw something in her that would have been very convincing I’ll read that one more time And many of the Samaritans of that city believed in him because of the word of the woman who testified as she said, he told me all that I ever did.

So very excited. So when the Samaritans had come to him, they urged him, Jesus, to stay with them. And he stayed there two days. And many more believed because of his own word. Ah, so now Jesus goes in and preaches. And of course, what’s He preaching? He’s preaching His word, the word of his Father, which we now know as, of course, the Bible. He’s speaking that to them. Verse 42, Then they said to the woman, Now we believe, not because of what you said, for we ourselves have heard him. And we know that this is indeed the Christ. The Savior of the world. So that sums that up because John is letting us know what got it going was the woman sharing her testimony right away in her excitement. When people come to know Christ, when they’re born again, we are excited because wow, we, we see him now and we know who he is now. He’s not this mystery and he’s not this just name, but he’s. Flesh and blood. He’s our Savior. And with that excitement, the new born again believer shares the testimony. But it’s ultimately, when the people came out to Jesus, and Jesus stayed for several days, so it was when they heard Him speak God’s Word.

Why is that important? What does that have to do with us today? Well, I take you into the book of Romans, chapter 10, verse 14. How then shall they call on him, that’s God, Jesus, how then shall they call on him in whom they have not believed? It’s a pretty good question. If you don’t believe who Jesus is, How are you going to call on him? How are you going to repent and accept him as your Savior? But it goes on even more. And how shall they believe in him of whom they have not heard? If you don’t believe in Jesus, you’re not going to repent and be a follower. But you can’t believe if you haven’t even heard. It goes on even more. And How shall they hear without a preacher?

So if nobody is speaking, if no one’s preaching the gospel message, if no one’s sharing who Jesus is, then they’re not hearing it. If they don’t hear it, they can’t believe. They can’t believe, well, then they can’t accept Christ. And verse 15 goes on to say, And how shall they preach unless they are sent? As it is written, How beautiful are the feet of those who preach the gospel of peace. And verse 17, this kind of sums it up for us right here. So then faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word of God. So that’s where the faith comes from. So with that, when the Samaritan woman went into Samaria and was all excited and said, you must come see who I am speaking with. I’m drawing a picture here of bringing the people to the gospel message.

She herself wasn’t delivering the message, but with her testimony, she was pointing to Jesus. Now, in her case, she was literally pointing to Jesus. You got to come see this man. Come. In her excitement, she draws some people out there. They go out to see Jesus. They hear him speak and they say, you must stay with us.

And so he does, and in that time, many are saved. Many begin to follow Jesus, because they hear the Word. So then, faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God. So, when Jesus commissions us, his followers, to go out to all nations and make disciples, well, we can’t save people. The Holy Spirit does that. But making disciples is teaching, reading God’s Word together, out loud, and talking about it, learning it, memorizing it. So those verses that I just read, we can look and kind of flip that backwards a little bit How shall they preach unless they are sent? Okay, well, we’re all sent. This isn’t referring just to those who are called by God, so ordained by God, to feed, his sheep, to continue to teach his people.

I like the term under shepherd myself, because although I have been called, have been placed on my heart, I must teach his word. But we are all commissioned, we are all sent as Christians, so it’s not just those who have the spiritual gifts of teaching and preaching. And then, how shall they hear without a preacher? That isn’t just preachers in the church setting that we think of, no, that is Christians. His children out sharing the gospel. Like the Samaritan woman, she was preaching, she was excited, she was saying, look here, and she was pointing to him. And how shall they believe in him of whom they have not heard?

And that’s where reading the gospel, sharing that gospel message comes in. Then how shall they call on him whom they have not believed? That is where the messenger can do no more. So he or she that has brought their testimony, shared the fact that I have seen Jesus, and then shared the gospel and teach the gospel, that’s as far as us as messengers can go.

The belief part, that’s on the shoulder of the one hearing. The teaching part, perhaps you’re one who knows the gospel very well, you love Jesus, you love following Jesus, but not everybody has the gift of teaching. And that’s okay. You don’t have to know how to teach. And that’s where sharing your testimony is so valuable, because we only need to point to Jesus. There are other ways of sharing the gospel, the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ. I mean, that is the gospel message. So, beloved, your story, your personal story of how you came to know Jesus as your Savior is very powerful. And being sent out doesn’t mean that all of us need to go to other countries and travel about. No, those are missions that God places in the hearts of those that he sends out. But in your very influence of people, this Samaritan woman, she just went and spoke to those that were around her. We can assume that she went right away to some people she knew, or at least people that she recognized, perhaps the same person that she buys fruit from. Or the people that she passes by in this market or that market. Friends and family that she knew growing up. People that she would know their names. And then, with her excitement, attracting the attention of others. I think in our time, our modern time, we have so much information. We can jump on the internet and we can find out what’s going on in other countries.

So we have a wealth of information, and may I dare say, probably too much information. But in ancient times, that wasn’t so. People got their information from people who would come and announce things to the community, often in the public square. But also just such as the Samaritan woman, somebody who’s very excited about something that has happened or is happening or about to happen. People wanted to know; that was how they got their news. They couldn’t just go, Oh, did you hear about this? Now, let me take my phone here, my smartphone. I’m going to just, yeah, get on the internet. They couldn’t do that. So people would gather around. And with our testimony, our sharing with other people, That’s really what it’s about.

Not everybody has to have a podcast ministry. Not everybody has to be a pastor at a church. Not everybody even needs to be group leader for small groups with gathering for teaching. The Lord will put that in your heart, if He has given you that gift, you’ll know when you’re around brothers and sisters in the faith, you’ll know that, you’ll want to teach, you’ll want them to understand, but we all have that ability by just sharing what the Lord has done with our family, our friends, with the sphere of influence that God gives everybody.

And I certainly understand that everybody’s sphere of influence, some are small and some are really big. But that’s the responsibility we have, beloved, as born again believers, is to not hold back this message that we have, having known Jesus, our Savior, and to not share it with other people. That’s selfish. We can’t do that. Has it been a while, maybe, since you have thought about when you had come to know Christ? Has time passed on and the world has gotten really loud and you’re distracted? I encourage you to go back to God’s Word, because just like faith comes by hearing and hearing by the Word of God, so does God.

Our knowledge of Him, and as He sanctifies us as we read the Word of God. So if you are one who is already born again, and you know you’re going to be in the heaven someday, that’s great. And if you’re not sharing this great news with others that you run into, it doesn’t even have to be necessarily family and friends. Some people, they don’t have family where they live and they might not even have a lot of friends. But we all have people that we come in contact with. Whether we’re students going to college, whether we’re a career person, whether we own a business, Whatever it is that the Lord has us doing. He has us by other people.

Even just grocery shopping. I often find talking to people who are at the cash register in, in gas stations or grocery stores, other place where it’s a captivated audience, right? I mean, the person is there at the till and they’re just kind of stuck there and what a place to share. And it’s just sharing our story.

Because, believe me, as we follow the Lord, God sanctifies us and we continue to change. And we are not like this world. People see that light in us, and they want to know, why are you shining so bright? How come there’s so much hope behind your eyes? They want to know, and they deserve to know. So like the Samaritan woman, take the opportunities that God presents before you, whether it’s strangers or somebody you have known for a long time, but to share your testimony, to share who Jesus is, and the Holy Spirit will continue from there on.

I want to go back to John chapter 4, verse 36, and this is when the Samaritan woman went into the city. And so it is Jesus and his followers around him, around the well. And Jesus says, And he who reaps receives wages and gathers fruit for eternal life, that both he who sows and he who reaps may rejoice together.

Now, this is following right after Jesus talks about that the harvest is white. It is ready to be brought in. And he’s looking at Samaria and seeing the people who are in need. And what he means then about he who reaps receives wages and gathers fruit for eternal life. Jesus tells us that we should build up treasures in heaven, and not treasures on this earth where moth and rust can destroy and that thieves can steal.

This is one of those passages where we can know how we store up those treasures in heaven. And this is what he’s talking about as we share the gospel with other people. When we share our story and witness to people what God has done in our lives, that’s what he means by reaping and gathering fruit for eternal life. He defines what that looks like because he says that both he who sows and he who reaps may rejoice together. So there are times that we are sowing. Sowing is that process of spreading seed on the ground. So your testimony, your testimony might not be part of the reaping process. But it may be somebody who’s hearing for the first time, or that influence, that moment that you share with them. In that time of life, there’s that moment, and I believe that the Lord puts us in these places just at the moment that is right for the people that he places us before. So whether it’s kindness, kind words, a kind gesture. And letting them know that Jesus just loves them so much.

In that moment, they may not be wanting more, but we are sowing seed. And when the Lord continues to put others in their life, eventually, as that grows, and like the Samaritan woman, suddenly it’s, you have to come see this. Well, that’s the moment of reaping. You’re in that position where somebody who has sown seeds already, And a person really needs more and they may be on a threshold of wondering what, what is this all about that I hear? What is this that I see these Christians who they have this bright light behind their eyes and they have this hope that I don’t have. And suddenly you’re the last one that the Lord puts right in front of them. And they say, I need to know Him. We have the privilege of praying with them and helping them to repent and to help them to see who God is at that very moment when they accept Him.

And we reap in all that has been done as the Holy Spirit. We see for ourselves, the Holy Spirit seal the person and they become one. Part of our family amazing, but either way we get to be a part of that We win beloved because whether we are sowing or that last action is what finally is what the person needed To say that’s it.

I need this. I need Jesus in my life That last moment of reaping might not even pertain to praying with them. I say this because there are times where if we say something or do something, and that was it, that is reaping what has been sown, perhaps in that moment we don’t have time. We are passing by so quickly, but it’s what the person needed to hear. Then they go straight to a friend or family member that knows Christ, and that person prays with them. Or maybe the next time they go to church and for the first time they actually see the Savior that they’ve been just singing about and just going through the motions about, and for the first time they see him and they’re born again.

What an awesome privilege, right? To be a part of this. So I wanted to share this with you today because we all are able to participate. It is such a wonderful thing to be able to do. Every chance you get, share your story. Every chance you get, mention the name Jesus. Because you just never know when it’s that last ripe time that the person needed to truly know and come to know Jesus Christ as their Savior.

And that’s about it for today. Remember to keep reading God’s Word. Let him sanctify you, beloved, as you read through his Word, and you become stronger in your faith as you walk with him. Pray to him every day. He sure loves to hear from you. Meet with brothers and sisters every week, as often as you can, and worship him.

Oh, how worthy He is of our worship. He loves you so much, and I love you. I look forward to the day, hopefully in eternity, where I get to visit with some people that heard these messages. And I hope they share our blessing, you and others who come to listen to these messages.

So, until next time,

God bless.

Songs from Storyblock

“Heroes Inspire Hope” and “Mountainscape” by Humans Win

“Inspiring Orchestra” by Boris Skalsky