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We are starting a new series about notable people in the bible, namely those who have suffered abuse. This week we will explore the story of the woman at the well. We’ll dive into the culture, history, geography, and glorious truths that are part of this story. Why was this conversation between Jesus and the woman at the well so extraordinary? Come get a fresh perspective on a well-known story.
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Woman at the well
[00:00:00] Welcome to the Wounds of the Faithful Podcast. Brought to you by DSW Ministries. Your host is singer songwriter, speaker and domestic violence advocate, Diana Winkler. She is passionate about helping survivors in the church heal from domestic violence and abuse and trauma. This podcast is not a substitute for professional counseling or qualified medical help. [00:00:25] Now here is Diana. [00:00:29] Hi, everybody. Welcome. It is an honor to have you with me today. As we travel this journey together, healing from our trauma, our abuse. [00:00:44] and maybe some other things. I hope that you enjoyed the podcast last week on healthy coping strategies. Did you try any of those? I know that I was in my garden this [00:01:00] morning just doing my pruning and watering and just cleaning up a little bit. We just had some cold weather where we had to cover up the plants, frost warning and so to speak. [00:01:15] But now it is starting to warm up a little bit and I’m looking forward to the flowers all blooming and my vegetable garden, getting more heat loving vegetables. [00:01:31] I do have tomato plants out there growing under the greenhouse, but they seem to really like the hot weather more than the cold weather. And I got some rose bushes. Now I have killed every rose we have ever owned. And I would say probably 20 rose bushes, they’ve all died. And there were several years that I [00:02:00] didn’t buy any rose bushes. And it was, I think it was either the fungal infection or the heat that we get here. [00:02:08] So I have since learned a lot from growing the vegetables and realize I need to pick roses that love hot weather. They’re drought tolerant and I need to put them in a bigger pot and keep them away from reflecting walls and the gravel and give them a little shade in the afternoon. So I bought a bunch, bought like 10 rose bushes, all different kinds. [00:02:40] So you pray for my rose bushes. I hope they make it. So anyway, we were talking about healthy coping strategies. That’s one of those on the list is to get outside and enjoy nature in some form or fashion. So I hope that you pick something [00:03:00] on that list and put it to practice. Maybe pick something off that list every week and see what works for you. [00:03:11] Now I have been looking for new guests for this year and I’m a bit picky because some people have asked to be on the show. Very nice folks. They have great testimony, great ministry, but they’re not quite the right fit for the show. So while we’re waiting for scheduling some new guests, I’m going to start a new series about people in the Bible, particularly those that suffered abuse in the Bible. [00:03:43] And actually there’s a lot and there’s lessons that we can learn from that. So [00:03:50] I think this is gonna be a great series. Just sharing some things that I’ve observed while reading my [00:04:00] Bible in the morning and maybe my Women’s Bible study group or maybe some other podcasts that I’ve been learning from. So this week I wanted to start with the woman at the well, which is located in John four, and that’s versus one through 42. [00:04:22] So I’ve recently learned a lot about this story and I wanted to share those thoughts with you. In my days with my legalistic churches, they presented the women at the well in a different way. Even the women’s groups, the focus was always on the women’s sin, and kinda like Jesus was doing a parlor trick. [00:04:51] And isn’t that exciting that he could read her thoughts. He knew exactly who she was because he is God in the [00:05:00] flesh. And so the focus was always on that part. And yes, that’s, that is part of the story that she, she is a sinner just like the rest of us, and she was forgiven. But there’s so much more to the story that is so exciting, and that’s what we’re gonna be talking about today. [00:05:23] Now we are all familiar with the Good Samaritan. When you hear the word Good Samaritan in, in our culture in the United States, . I don’t know about other countries if they feel this way, but when you talk about, oh, he’s a good Samaritan. Somebody’s stuck on the side of the road and needs a tired change or something. [00:05:45] You know, You think about, oh he’s a good guy that came and helped somebody. [00:05:51] That’s half true. But I never really understood until maybe the last few years, what exactly is a [00:06:00] Samaritan? Cuz it wasn’t really explained to me. Even in Bible college, we didn’t talk very much about Samaritans except that they were enemies of the Jews, which I didn’t really know all the details. So until I did a bible study on the woman at the well, [00:06:18] then yeah, I thought a Samaritan was a good neighbor, a good person. [00:06:23] This is very important to this story, to know exactly what the history is with this people group. Very significant. I’m going to, [00:06:33] I’m going to tell you a very brief history of the Samaritans. You can, Google or go on the internet, or you can go on the internet. and research it for yourself. There’s a lot of information about the history and culture of this Samaritan people, but I’m just gonna give you a basic summary just for the sake of [00:07:00] time, [00:07:00] But basically, you know about the Good Samaritan story that a man helped a Jew that was beat up and robbed on the side of the road. And his own people didn’t even stop and help him. So that’s usually the context that we know the word Samaritan, at least where I come from. [00:07:22] So the Samaritans were originally part of the Ephraim and Manassa tribe, so they were Israelite tribes. And when the tribes were carried away into captivity to the northern nation of Assyria, then the king of Assyria sent people to Samaria to inhabit the region. So these foreigners intermarried with the Israelite population that was still in and around Samaria. [00:07:57] So these Samaritans [00:08:00] at first worship the gods of their own nations, [00:08:04] but apparently there were troubles with wild lions around, and they supposed it was because they had not honored the God of that territory. So a Jewish priest was then sent to them from Assyria to instruct them in a Jewish religion, and they were instructed in the books of Moses in the law, but they still decided to keep their pagan idolatrous customs. [00:08:33] So the samaritans embraced a religion that was a mix of Judaism and idolatry. because the Israelite inhabitants of Samaria had intermarried with the foreigners and adopted their idolatrous religion. The Samaritans were universally despised by the Jews. [00:08:58] Don’t [00:09:00] misunderstand that [00:09:00] marrying people that have different skin colors are not sinful. It is. It is about the nations that are idolatrous, the nations that do not worship the God of the Bible, the God of Abraham, Joseph and, Isaac. [00:09:19] And the Assyrians. That’s another people group to research. They were really, there isn’t any other word to say it, they were horrible people. They sacrificed their own children to their gods, and they would burn their children alive, sacrificing them to Molek was one of the gods. And they would impale their enemies, all kinds of torturous things they would do to their enemies. [00:09:50] So I’m not gonna get into a serious history. You can look that up when you have time, but that wasn’t the only reason that [00:10:00] the Jews despised Samaritans. [00:10:02] So on top of Intermarrying with the Assyrians and adopting their paganism, after the Jews returned from their captivity in Babylon, they began rebuilding the temple. So if you knew who Nehemiah was, he rebuilt the walls of Jerusalem. And for some odd reason, the Samaritans vigorously attempted to halt the undertaking. [00:10:33] The Samaritans built a temple for themselves on Mount Garazim, which the Samaritans insisted was designated by Moses as a place where the nation should worship. Sanballat, he was a leader of the Samaritans. [00:10:49] He established his son-in-law, Manassas as high priest. The idolatrous religion of the Samaritans thus became [00:11:00] perpetrated. So third reason why they were hated, Samaria became a place of refuge for all of the outlaws of Judea. The Samaritans willingly received Jewish criminals and refugees from justice, the violators of the Jewish laws, and those who had been excommunicated, found safety for themselves in Samaria, greatly increasing the hatred which existed between the two nations. [00:11:29] So the Samaritans received only the first five books of Moses. We call that the Pentateuch today, first five books of the law. But the Samaritans rejected the writings of all of the other prophets and all of the Jewish traditions. So from these causes arose and irreconcilable difference between them so that the Jews regarded the Samaritans [00:11:57] as the worst of the [00:12:00] human race. Now that’s probably pretty extreme to label them that way, but they had no dealings with the Samaritans. So in spite of the hatred between Jews and Samaritans, we’re going to see here that in this passage, Jesus broke down the barriers between them reaching the gospel of peace to the Samaritans and then later the apostles followed his example. [00:12:27] Okay, so that’s a brief, [00:12:29] very brief history lesson. [00:12:31] A very geeky with history. I just really enjoying history, okay, so [00:12:37] we’re just gonna go through the passage and I need to bring up my verses. [00:12:43] John chapter four. We’re gonna read verses one through 42, and I’m reading from the ESV version. You’re welcome to use any version that you prefer. [00:12:57] This is a very readable version, [00:12:59] [00:13:00] so I’m going to start reading in verse one, and we’re just going to talk through this so I don’t leave anything important out. Now, when Jesus learned that the Pharisees had heard that Jesus was making in baptizing more disciples than John, although Jesus himself did not baptize, but only his disciples, he left Judea and departed again for Galilee, and he had to pass through Samaria. [00:13:27] So I’m not gonna really get into the part about the baptisms, [00:13:31] but we’re gonna do a geography lesson now, which is important for this story. [00:13:38] So I am going to, if you are on YouTube, I’m gonna share my screen so you can see my map. Yeah. I have visual aids today. Woo-hoo. If you’re not on YouTube and you can’t see my screen, then just pull up a map. You could probably see it in the back of your Bible. I am [00:14:00] looking@biblearcheology.org. That’s where I’m getting my map. [00:14:03] And this is three different routes to Jerusalem. [00:14:06] So if you’re going from Jerusalem to Galilee in the north up here where Capernaum is in Magdala is the Sea of Galilee, you had three different paths you can take. Now the fastest route if you wanted to go to Jerusalem and worship in the temple and bring your sacrifice. The fastest route was, for example, from Capernaum. [00:14:33] You go straight down the middle. It’s not straight. I mean it’s wiggly. You could see the wiggle. Right. You pass, Magdala, you pass Sephoras, Nazareth, you go down to Dothan. Tierza, and here’s Samaria right in the middle. below that is Shechum, Bethel. And then you come into [00:15:00] Jerusalem and below Jerusalem you have Bethlehem. [00:15:03] That was the easiest and fastest route. You knew that would take approximately three days. [00:15:11] But going through here is very dangerous when you go through Samaria, of course. [00:15:19] and a lot of Jews or pilgrims would avoid going through this route because of safety and because they did not want to deal with the Samaritans. [00:15:34] So if you were, quote unquote a devoted worshiper, you would take one of these other routes. So a second route would be you go to the east, so you’d go east where Mount Moriah is. You’d go to Bet Shan, you cross the Jordan River, and you’d go down towards Pella and Succoth. [00:15:58] You’re almost at the Dead Sea. [00:16:00] And then you go back to the west over the Jordan again to Jericho, and then you keep going west and you’ll hit Jerusalem. [00:16:12] So that takes about seven days according to my sources. And then the third one was along the coastline on the west. So you would go west. After you pass Nazareth, you’ll hit Megiddo and you’ll pass Caesarea Maritime. You go down to Aphek and you’ll pass Jaffa. It’s a Port City LOD, Beth Horan. And then you’ll hit Jerusalem. So that was just as long as the Eastern route. And so the significance of this is going to come into play when we read our passage here. [00:16:56] So verse three, we left Judea [00:17:00] and departed again for Galilee. . So he’s going northbound and he had to pass through Samaria. So he came to a town of Samaria called Sycahar, near the field that Jacob had given to his son Joseph. Jacob’s well was there. There’s big significance to that. You can see Jacob’s well today. It is one of the few wells in Israel that, that is still standing. [00:17:25] It still works. And this was the well of the patriarchs. Jesus ancestors, drank out of that. And you can go visit there. [00:17:35] Let me see if I can find a picture. There’s a church on top of it now. [00:17:40] Most Israel tours do not go here because it’s more on the Palestinian side, [00:17:46] but I have seen it on Wayne Stile’s videos to Israel, and it’s really neat. [00:17:53] Jacobs well, [00:17:55] and you can Google this too, but [00:17:57] share my screen again. [00:18:00] Okay. I’m just showing you a picture just for fun. and there is a church over Jacob’s well. It does look really old. There’s the black hole. [00:18:12] And let’s see if we can find some other cool pictures. [00:18:16] So that’s what the church looks like. [00:18:19] That’s probably a better picture. So I’m gonna stop sharing [00:18:23] anyway, there are sites in Israel when you go on a tour there, and you’ll talk about this with your tour guide, which sites in Israel or any other Bible land are legitimate? This actually happened. We have evidence. This is one of the places in the Bible in Israel that we know that this is Jacob’s well, and we do know that Jesus was here and we know that Jacob and his descendants were here,[00:19:00] so that is pretty cool. [00:19:02] One of the other places that they pointed out when we were in Israel was the southern steps. to Into the temple we visited, no, it’s closed off now, but our guide told us that Jesus definitely walked up these stairs to the temple because all the worshipers coming to the temple, that’s where they would come through. [00:19:26] So you’ll get that there are some sites that they’re not sure a hundred percent, but for the most part, most of the evidence supports particular sites. And then others they’ll tell you, we don’t think that this is a legitimate and actual place that we can say for certain Jesus was here. [00:19:46] We’re not really sure. So I wonder if, when Jesus came up on the well, he was super cool [00:19:51] and he was like, oh, cool, this is Jacob’s well. And isn’t that neat? Or if Jesus was just chill oh yeah, here’s the well and I’m [00:20:00] thirsty and I need a drink. That’s kind of what goes through my head. [00:20:03] So it says in verse six, Jacobs well was there. So Jesus wearied, as he was from his journey, was sitting beside the well, and it was about the sixth hour. Now my notes say that is noon, and I was in Israel in the end of October, and it was 85 degrees, and we had our winter clothes with us, and we had to go and buy t-shirts because it was so hot. [00:20:34] And I think that the elevation we weren’t used to and the humidity, because we’re in Phoenix, we’re no stranger to heat. But [00:20:42] coming to a well and drawing all of your water for the day at noon would be really hot, very uncomfortable. So in this context, the women would come to the well to draw in the morning, duh. Which is cool. In the summertime in [00:21:00] my garden, I have to get up at six o’clock on a Saturday and go out there. [00:21:05] Water and prune and do all the chores. So the significance is there was a woman from Samaria coming to draw water at noon, and you probably know this [00:21:17] but she was there at noon because she was not welcome to draw water with the other women in the morning cuz of her reputation, of course. [00:21:25] And Jesus said to her, give me a drink, verse eight, for his disciples had gone away into the city to buy food. So the disciples were not there, did not see this transaction between Jesus and the Samaritan woman. Verse nine, the Samaritan woman said him. How is it that you, A Jew asked for a drink from me, A woman of Samaria where the Jews have no dealings with the Samaritans. [00:21:52] Pause here. Some other cultural context that you need to know is that Jewish men did [00:22:00] not speak to women unless they were in their immediate family. I mean, they spoke to them if they had to, but they didn’t have long conversations or meaningful conversations. You spoke to the women’s father or the women’s husband, but you didn’t have big, long conversations with a woman that wasn’t your wife, your sister, your mother, your cousin, whatever. [00:22:23] That’s the cultural. Thing during Jesus day. So he is talking to a woman, having a long conversation, a meaningful conversation. So that’s taboo. Okay, [00:22:35] and she’s a Samaritan. She’s mentioning, [00:22:37] and we’ll get to the third part, but in verse 10, Jesus answered her. If you knew the gift of God and who it is that is saying to you, give me a drink, you would’ve asked him and he would have given you living water. Verse 11, the woman said to him, sir, you have nothing to draw water with, and the well is [00:23:00] deep. [00:23:00] Where do you get that living water? [00:23:02] are you greater than our father Jacob? [00:23:05] So the plot thickens here. Jesus is starting to give this woman a taste of salvation. [00:23:13] I have living water. And of course this woman, as any of us would want, wants the living water. She doesn’t wanna come out here in the middle of the day and keep drawing water [00:23:24] and she seems concerned. Hey, you don’t have a pail or anything to draw water with. Were you getting this water? And we can see that she is a believer in [00:23:36] The God of Abraham. Are you greater than our father Jacob? He gave us the well and drank from it himself, as did his sons and his livestock. Cuz she’s acknowledging that history of this well, which is very important. Hey, I worshiped a God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. [00:23:56] And Jesus said to her in verse 13, everyone who drinks of [00:24:00] this water will be thirsty again. When whoever drinks of the water that I will give him will never be thirsty again. The water that I will give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life. So he’s pointing to himself. He is the living water. [00:24:18] You will never spiritually thirst again if you have him. Verse 15, the woman said to him, sir, give me this water so that I will not be thirsty or have to come here to draw water. verse 16. Jesus said to her, go call your husband and come here. So the story’s getting more interesting and this is probably why my previous churches would focus on this cuz it’s pretty amazing that a complete stranger knows everything about you. [00:24:47] I get that. [00:24:48] there’s so much more. Verse 17, the woman answered him, I have no husband. Jesus said to her, you are right in saying, I have no husband [00:25:00] where you have five husbands, and the one you now have is not your husband. What you have said is true. Verse 19, the woman said to him, sir, I perceive that you are a prophet. [00:25:14] Our father’s worshiped on this mountain, but you say in Jerusalem, that’s the place where people ought to worship. We already talked about that. She is pointing out the difference between Samaritans and Jews. [00:25:29] Samaritans believe they’re supposed to be worshiping at Mount Garazim, and the Jews believe that we’re supposed to be worshiping at the temple in Jerusalem. So again, I believe that she is a follower of God. She has faith in God. Jesus said to her women, believe me, the hour is coming when neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem will you worship the Father, you worship [00:25:56] what you do not know, we worship what we know where [00:26:00] salvation is from the Jews. So Jesus is explaining there’s gonna be a day when the temples are gonna be gone. You’re not gonna be traveling to the temple to worship. worship is gonna be right here in front of you. You can worship because the spirit of living God is gonna live inside of you. [00:26:18] You will have access to the Father through Jesus, anywhere in the world you can worship. So he’s talking about that’s what’s coming. It doesn’t matter, Jerusalem or Gerazim, you’re gonna be able to worship in a new way. [00:26:32] And when he says the salvation is from the Jews, he is talking about Jesus came from heaven to the earth to offer salvation to all of us. But the Jewish people were given the first rite of refusal, [00:26:47] they were as children of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, given the first chance to accept the gospel. Now we’re going to see in other places in the Bible when the Jews started [00:27:00] rejecting Jesus and the gospel, that the gospel would be offered to the Gentiles as well. [00:27:07] Gentiles are anybody that wasn’t a Jew. [00:27:09] Verse 23, but the hour is coming and is now here when the true worshipers will worship the father and spirit and in truth. Where the father is seeking such people to worship him. Verse 24, God is a spirit and as that worship him must worship in spirit and in truth, [00:27:32] that’s a very familiar passage. If [00:27:33] you’ve been a Christian for any length of time, you’ll hear that. Verse 25, the woman said to him, I know that the Messiah is coming. He who is called the Christ. When he comes, he will tell us all of these things. Again, she is a believer in the God of Abraham. She is waiting for the Messiah. [00:27:54] And I think that’s very significant because [00:27:56] we tend to label women of Ill [00:28:00] repute, quote unquote, or divorced people or sex workers, or we think of them as, okay they couldn’t possibly have any faith in God because they’re quote unquote sinners or they’re not following God’s laws. Fill in the blank. But I’ve met many people that, yeah, they made some wrong choices, but when you talk to them, they do believe in God. [00:28:25] They have a faith. Faith is damaged or they may not understand what’s going on or they may have walked away, but the belief is still there. The faith is still there. I think that’s the case here. [00:28:38] So here’s the, of course, the, [00:28:41] the exciting part. Verse 26. Jesus said to her, I, who speak to you, am He. The strange wording of that sentence. It’s kind of Yoda ish. [00:28:53] I’m the one. I am the Christ. I am the Messiah. The one speaking to you. [00:29:00] Okay? And Here comes the disciples in verse 27. They came back [00:29:05] and here we go. They marveled that he was talking with a woman, , but no one said, what do you seek? Or Why are you talking with her? They wouldn’t dare. I guess they’ve learned that [00:29:20] Jesus does what he wants to do and you just do what you’re told and listen and be teachable. It just kind of marveled at, okay, what is he up to? I find that very humorous. [00:29:34] So the disciple said, no clue what was going on, but listen to this in verse 28. So the women left her water jar and went away into town and said to the people, come see a man who told me all that I ever did. Can this be the Christ? They went out of the town and were coming to him. [00:29:54] So immediately after Jesus said, I am the Messiah. I am the [00:30:00] Christ. She’s like, I need to go and tell somebody. This is exciting. She believed him or she would not have gone back into town and told those people because keep in mind, she was not likable in the town. She was kind of an outcast, even among her own people, and people didn’t listen to women. [00:30:21] but they listened to this one. She came into town and somehow she got them to listen. I met this man at Jacob’s well, and he told me, he’s the Christ, you need to come and meet him right now. [00:30:35] So meanwhile, Back at the disciples were urging him in verse 31, saying, rabbi, eat. But he said to them, I have food to eat that you do not know about. [00:30:49] Isn’t that the truth? I am the Bread of life. I am the living water. His priority right then and there was to minister to that woman. [00:30:59] He took [00:31:00] the shortest way, the most dangerous way from Jerusalem to Galilee, and he purposely wanted to go to Samaria to meet her. He wanted to connect with her, even with her sin, even with her many husbands. That she believed he wanted to reach this Samaritan people. And I get so Ben outta shape when there’s this fight, and especially my former denomination, that women can’t do all these things. [00:31:36] Women can’t be in leadership. They certainly can, and there’s many examples in the Bible of women taking leadership. So she is evangelizing to her people, which included men. There’s this big upset about a woman preaching or woman evangelizing. There’s lots of examples. Anna the [00:32:00] Prophetess. [00:32:00] We’re all called to do that. All called to tell others about Jesus, man or woman or child. [00:32:08] But it’s very obvious that Jesus used women to evangelize their own people, the despised people. There’s blood sucking enemies, . I think it’s really exciting. [00:32:23] So that was his priorities, telling the disciples my food is to do the will of him who sent me and to accomplish his work. [00:32:32] And he says in verse 35 to the disciples, do you not say there are yet four months that comes the harvest. There are yet four months. Then comes the harvest. Look, I tell you, lift up your eyes and see that the fields are white for harvest. That’s a big missionary verse right there. [00:32:54] Already the one who reaps is receiving wages and gathering fruit for eternal life [00:33:00] so that sower and reaper may rejoice together. [00:33:03] For here the saying holds true. One sows and the other reaps. I send you to reap that which you did not labor. Others had labored and you have entered into their labor. So that’s pretty much talking when we tell others about Jesus in our everyday life, like your coworker or your neighbor, your cousin, they might not get saved right then and there. But if you had a good conversation where you’re just sharing and telling them about what God’s done for you, not being pushy or being a jerk, but you’re planting seeds, that’s what he is talking about. [00:33:49] Sowing. You’re planting seeds. Some of us, that’s our job to plant seeds, but other people are going to reap the harvest, which [00:34:00] means maybe they don’t get saved now, but down the road they’ll go to a church or they’ll talk to a different coworker and they will get saved. They’ll make the decision, I think it’s time. [00:34:13] to get saved. It’s time to get baptized and to turn my life around. And that’s exciting when you get to see the other side of somebody getting saved. You didn’t see all of the stuff that led up to that. But, so Jesus is saying that even though one person is planting the seeds, but the other one is reaping the harvest, everybody gets credit for it. [00:34:42] We get rewards when we cross into eternity. We will receive rewards for telling others about the Lord. For evangelizing. . So back to the story in verse 39, here come the Samaritans. Many Samaritans from [00:35:00] that town believed in him because of the woman’s testimony. [00:35:04] Isn’t that exciting? He told me all that I ever did. [00:35:08] Verse 40. So when the Samaritans came to him, they asked him to stay with them, and he stayed there two days. I mean, that is wild. You’re asking a Jew to come and stay with you for two days. Unheard of. Verse 41 and many more believe because of his word, verse 42, they said to the woman, it is no longer because of what you said, that we believe. For we have heard for ourselves. [00:35:38] And we know that this is indeed the savior of the world. [00:35:42] Ooh, isn’t that deep? Yeah. We came here because you said, Hey, you need to check out this man, Jesus. I think he’s the Christ. They came and checked him out, met Jesus for themselves, and they believed for themselves. [00:36:00] And so what are our takeaways from this story [00:36:04] That you have a past that you’re ashamed of, God can still use you. God can still take your life and redeem it if you , if you’ll let him, if you’re open to him, [00:36:18] God can use women. That’s very obvious. And you should do a study in the gospels of how God used women. God ministered to women. Women were like second class citizens in that day. [00:36:36] Three, evangelizing [00:36:38] the hated groups of your community. I’m not gonna list them, but think about very carefully. Who in our culture right now. , who’s being hated right now, who’s on the chopping block? You can make a list just by watching the news. Who are the outcasts of our society? [00:37:00] Those are who we need to reach. [00:37:02] The marginalized, the oppressed. [00:37:05] What else can we take from this passage? Maybe convenience. There’ll be opportunities for you to share Christ with somebody, and it’s not gonna be convenient. You’ll be in a hurry, or, [00:37:20] You might have to make a little bit extra effort. To plant those seeds, to even reap that harvest. You might have to go pick ’em up for church. You might have to visit a shut in, out of your way. Embrace those opportunities and know that God’s gonna use you and he’s going to reward you in this life. [00:37:38] In the next word for sharing. And I don’t mean, hitting them over the head with the Bible, but it’s, maybe they’d enjoy you praying for them. Hey, you got some, you ha you’re going through some hard times in trials. Is it okay if I pray for you? 90% of the time they will, even if they’re not a believer, they will [00:37:59] [00:38:00] okay you to pray for them. That’s planning a seed. Hey, we’re having this women’s dinner at our church, you wanna come? I don’t have a car. I will come and pick you up and we’ll go together. How’s that? Those kind of examples. [00:38:13] It’s where I come from. Evangelizing meant reading the Romans road and sticking your foot in their door to force them to let you in and make them pray the sinners prayer and make them come to church. And that’s not how we should be doing that. That’s we want people to choose willingly, choose the savior willingly out of love and of they see Jesus in you. [00:38:40] They see your love. know this sounds like an evangelistic kind of a podcast episode, but there’s a lot in this story. But be encouraged that Jesus went out of the way to minister to her, to the Samaritan woman here, and he is going [00:39:00] out of his way to minister to you. You look for, and be sensitive to God reaching out to you with his love. [00:39:08] With resources, with help. With comfort. [00:39:12] So if you haven’t read the story before, go back in there and read it for yourself, and you might find something in the passage that I didn’t mention. [00:39:22] but I hope you enjoyed that, and that was a blessing to you. [00:39:26] I’m enjoying it so much more now that I know the history and the nooks and crannies of this story. It’s so much more exciting to me. So I haven’t decided who I’m going to talk about next time. I’m considering Hagar. [00:39:47] Or I’m considering Tamar it’ll be a surprise. How’s that? And we’ll talk about, a significant person in the bar who’s suffered abuse and will unpack. [00:40:00] Get some lessons, some encouragement, some, [00:40:03] Knowledge about the Bible all at the same time. So just a reminder, I know I’ve been talking about this every week, but asking you to fill out the survey in the show notes with some questions. Just a few about 10 questions on what you want out of this podcast this year. I’m in the planning stages, so I wanna make it the best one possible for you. [00:40:30] Probably take you three minutes, maybe. Multiple choice. So I appreciate if you help me out with that. So I will leave you today. [00:40:39] Many blessings to you. Take good care of yourself this week. God bless, and we will see you next time. [00:40:47] Thank you for listening to the Wounds of the Faithful Podcast. If this episode has been helpful to you, please hit the subscribe button and tell a friend. You could connect with us [00:41:00] at DSW Ministries dot org where you’ll find our blog, along with our Facebook, Twitter, and our YouTube channel Links. Hope to see you next week.