Well, as we've been doing for the last eight years, I invite you to open the Bible and turn with me to John, chapter 4. John 4:28-42 is what we'll be looking at together this morning. And we have talked about John for many times here at our church. We've talked about this woman at the well and how Jesus offered her living water that could satisfy her soul. And in fact, we've even talked about how she asked whether the Samaritans or the Jews were right about where to worship and how to worship. And Jesus taught her that you worship in spirit and in truth. And we even know that Jesus said to her, that she had five husbands and the man she was now living with was not her husband. At the end of this epic conversation, the woman says, well, I know the Messiah is coming, and he's going to tell us all things. And Jesus says to the woman, I who speak to you am he. Now what we haven't really studied is what happens next. And that's what we're going to find in John For 28 to 42. And I want to invite everybody on the front lawn to open your Bible, everybody who's at home or traveling, watching this live online, welcome; open your Bible to John 4 and let's all stand out of respect for God's Word. Let us all stand for the public reading of Scripture that Jesus had an amazing life-changing conversation with this woman at the well. And here's what happened. Next, please follow along, as I read John 4:28-42:
“So the woman left her water jar and went away into town and said to the people, 29 ‘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. Meanwhile the disciples were urging him, saying, ‘Rabbi, eat.’ But he said to them, ‘I have food to eat that you do not know about.’ So the disciples said to one another, ‘Has anyone brought him something to eat?’ Jesus said to them, ‘My food is to do the will of him who sent me and to accomplish his work. Do you not say, ‘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. Already the one who reaps is receiving wages and gathering fruit for eternal life, so that sower and reaper may rejoice together. For here the saying holds true, ‘One sows and another reaps.’ I sent you to reap that for which you did not labor. Others have labored, and you have entered into their labor.’ Many Samaritans from that town believed in him because of the woman's testimony, ‘He told me all that I ever did.’ So when the Samaritans came to him, they asked him to stay with them, and he stayed there two days. 41 And many more believed because of his word. They said to the woman, ‘It is no longer because of what you said that we believe, for we have heard for ourselves, and we know that this is indeed the Savior of the world.’”
That's the reading of God's Word, please have your seat. And I want to invite you, if you're going to pay attention to this sermon, we’ve got your bulletin there, pull a handout out of there, and maybe you can jot down a few notes. And we're going to go through this text, we're going to break it down into three different parts. We're going to have the witness of the woman in John 4:28-30; then we're going to have the joy of Jesus in John 4:31-38; and then we're going to see the testimony of the town in John 4:39- 42.
And so, we want to start with this woman. And the first thing that happens in verse 28, is she left her water jar. Now skip back all the way to John 4:7-8. Let's remember how this began here in John 4. Because the whole reason she came out to this well outside of town in the middle of the day was to draw water. And we presume, we suppose that the reason she came out in the middle of the day is this woman didn't want to be around all the other people of the town, who probably came out in the morning before it got hot to get their water for the day. And you can see, Jesus said to her in verse 7, give me a drink, for his disciples had gone away into the city to buy food. In fact, if you even go back up to verse 6, where it talks about Jacob's well was there. So, Jesus, wearied as he was from his journey, was sitting beside the well, about the sixth hour there, which is about noon in the middle of the day. So, Jesus, he's hungry and thirsty because they've been traveling. He's ready for lunch, a woman comes to draw water. He says, give me something to drink. Now they have this epic conversation about her salvation, about her soul, and by the end of it, verse 28, she has left her water jar. What has happened between her and Jesus has been so powerful, it's so on her heart and mind that she completely leaves behind the original reason she came to the well, and she now runs back into the town of people that we think she was trying to avoid. Now she runs straight to them. And you could preach the whole sermon from verse 29. Look what this woman says to her townspeople. She says, “Come, see a man who told me all that I ever did. Can this be the Christ?” This is a clear message, a clear theme in the Gospel of John is the invitation to come and see Jesus. In chapter one, Jesus gives it to some of the disciples, the disciples go and spread it to more people. Now we've got this woman, and she's running to her whole town, and she's saying, you’ve got to come and see who Jesus is.
Now, when we got started here in Huntington Beach, I remember the first fall we ever had in this building, we started preaching the Gospel of John, and our whole theme was “Come and See.” I remember when this room seemed so big, like, how are we ever going to fill it with people? And it's like all of Huntington Beach and Garden Grove and Westminster, I mean, even people all the way over in Stanton, they were all welcome to come and see, like, we’ve got room for everybody in North Orange County. That's what we thought back then. Right? And so, this is the first graphic we ever made at our church, first T shirt we ever printed was like an eye chart, Come and See Jesus. And we are wearing this. We're like, yeah, people are going to come and see Jesus. I remember Scott and I made a video to celebrate our first birthday. And we put in big letters “Come and See” on the top of this building right above us, on the roof. It was like our first drone flight over the building. And at the end of the video, it was like, Come and See Jesus! we were so excited, just like this woman, that people could come, and they could see who Jesus is, and they could be saved. If over the last eight years, you came to this church and Jesus saved you, will you stand up right now so we can praise the Lord together everybody that Jesus has saved at his church? Will you stand up right now? Let's all praise the Lord everybody. This is what Jesus does. Thank you so much. Praise the Lord. Go ahead and have a seat. That's what Jesus does is when people come they see Jesus, Jesus saves souls. Can I get an Amen from anybody in the congregation? All right.
So, this woman, she is giving this idea of how we should all be, I've just found living water from my soul. I've just found free refills for the rest of my life. I've got a fountain of living water inside of me, I’ve got to go tell everybody to come and see. Now, that was what we were doing at eight, seven years ago. Let me tell you what's happening. Now I want to tell you what I just talked to a friend of mine here at the church. And he's the guy who got saved here at the church. And he usually goes to the Saturday night at five o'clock service. And sometimes he comes to this service on Sunday. But last week, for the first time in a long time, he went to the Sunday at 11 o'clock service. And he thought it was awesome because the courtyard was popping after the service. And they're seeing like he and his wife, they're seeing all kinds of people. And they're chit chatting, and they're hanging out. And they're having a great time. Wow, there's a lot of people hear in between services. This is awesome. And then they want to walk right through that door in the back. And one of our friendly ushers says to them not Come and See, we've got a seat for you to see Jesus. Actually, can you guys please go away and walk over to the building across the parking lot and watch this on TV? That's what he got told here at this church. So, people are getting told that almost every week now at Sunday at 11. It's even happened during this service a few times where we don't have seats anymore in this building. And so, people who come to see, come to worship, and study the Word with us are now being told there is no room for you here at this church at this service. We need you to go watch it on TV over here. Have you ever gone to an overflow room at a church before? It doesn't feel awesome, we'll just put it like that. Okay? People aren't singing, people aren't responding. You can't feel it in the room in quite the same way when you're watching it on TV. So, that is what starting to happen.
So, the question we want to ask ourselves today coming up on our eighth birthday, if you're taking notes, write this question down. Do we want to be a “Come and See” church? Do we want to continue to be a church where we go to all the cities around here, and we say to our family, friends, neighbors, coworkers, wow, Jesus is doing something, he is building his church, he's on the move, you’ve got to come and see. Do we want to keep saying that? Or is that just some phase that kind of we went through when we were a new church, when we were just getting started? And now we've got our people. Now we don't need to keep reaching out. Now we can just kind of what you get, we got a crew, we fill up our box. Now we're just going to kind of hang out here in Huntington Beach, we can just mature, we can grow up in our knowledge of Jesus. But we don't need to keep reaching out. Do we want to keep reaching out to our cities, or are we kind of full here at our church? This is a real question that we're having to now consider is, what are we going to be like moving forward? I agree with Taylor, the last eight years have been the best eight years of my life. I'm ready to do this another eight years, I'm ready to go HB till I die doing church here with all of you. I mean, I'm rooting for Jesus to come back today. But if he doesn't, let's keep opening our Bibles and praying for revival together here in Huntington Beach. And so, should we just kind of hunker down and grow up? Or should we keep saying, Come and See?
And look back at John 4:29. I love the two things the woman says, she says, come and see, that's the general invitation. But then look at how she describes her encounter with Jesus, this conversation that has changed her life, she says, “Come, see,” I love this “a man who told me all that I ever did.” I mean, she's referring to the part of the conversation, where Jesus kind of dropped the truth bomb on her that you've had five husbands and the man you're living with now is not your husband. What she's referring to here is the conviction of her sin. This is what she wants to tell people. I met this man out there by the well, and I felt really bad when he was talking to me about all that I ever did. See, this is what's amazing. This is a work of God. When you come and hear the Word of God, it is living and active. It is sharp, like a two-edged sword. And it cuts straight to the thoughts and intents of your heart. Many people come and hear the Word preached, the Word of Christ, and for the first time in their life, they see themselves for who they really are. That's what happened to this lady. And she's now recommending it to everybody. You’ve got to come and see this this man, because he told me who I really am. He told me what I really did in my life.
Have you heard people when they share their testimonies, getting baptized here at the church, how they are so open and honest about their sin in front of everybody? Have you walked out of this church before and had somebody say to you that sermon was so good, I feel so convicted right now? I mean, what kind of people are like, wow, that was great. I feel terrible. Can't wait to come back next week, right? That's how we are here to compensate. Right? There's something refreshing about seeing your sin for what it is knowing Jesus paid for your sin, and you're forgiven for it, knowing that in Jesus Christ, there's power and his resurrection to live a new life, no longer defined by your sin, but defined by being a new creation in Christ. And so, we get excited about this. I can now see myself as a sinner, and God can save me. That's what this woman is now recommending, you guys have got to come and hear this guy, he'll tell you, he's the Prophet. He's the new Moses, he'll tell you what you did. You'll be convicted. It's awesome. That's what's being recommended here. And then I love how she puts it in the form of a question, “Can this be the Christ?” I love that. That's what we've been trying to do. Do you know who Jesus is? That's one of the questions we love to ask people. We love to go up to people, whether they say they're a Christian coming from church, or whether they've been living in the world their whole life, we like to ask, what is the gospel? Can you tell us what we need to believe to be saved? Do you know the words of eternal life? Do you know the message of Jesus? Can it be him? Is it true? What is the good news that saves our soul? That's what we've been trying to spread around. We want that gospel to ring out. We want the ripple effects to spread far and wide. Like when people see Jesus, when their eyes are open. That means everything for the rest of their life. Can Jesus really be the Christ? The Messiah? Is he the one you've been waiting for? And many people are seeing Jesus and the answer is, yes, he's the Christ, the Son of the living God. So, this woman and she's spreading in her town what we've been spreading in our town.
And the question is coming up on our eighth birthday. Do we want to be a come and see church? Do we want to keep inviting everybody we can to come and see Jesus and you’ve got to see Jesus. It's not just the woman that's affected by the conversation. Look at Jesus here in John 4:31. Because the disciples are now back. I don't know where they went, maybe they hit up In-and-Out right? They bring it back some double doubles. I don't know what food they got there in this Samaritan town but they're back and verse 31, the disciples are like, hey, Jesus, here, eat something. It's lunchtime. We've been on this journey. We know you are thirsty, you are hungry, here. Here's something to eat. And look what Jesus says. He says, I have food to eat that you do not know about. See, Jesus who admittedly, in the text, it starts out the conversation, Jesus is thirsty; disciples going to get lunch, after Jesus talks to the woman, after the woman now has a fountain of living waters in her, Jesus feels full, Jesus is now… I mean, that Word for food there in John 4:32, Jesus is basically saying, I've already had meat to eat, I've already got sustenance in my soul. See, there's something more important than physical life going on here. Jesus has joy after talking to the woman at the well. And the disciples, they just don't get it here, because verse 33, the disciples said to one another, you can imagine this conversation, has anyone brought him something to eat? Did Jesus do DoorDash while we went to get lunch? Like, did somebody slip Jesus an Uncrustable? Like, you can see the conversation going on right here. Like I didn't know we had snacks. Did you know we had snacks? Who gave Jesus the snacks? Like, this is how it works. And the Gospel of John, the way the story moves often is through the confusion of the disciples, because Jesus is saying that something that just happened between him and that woman has filled Jesus up. And the disciples are like, did he already… what did he eat, who gave them food? They're missing the point.
And so here he is, now he's going to teach them in John 4:34, “My food,” my meat, “is to do the will of him who sent me.” And to accomplish his work, I have been sent on a mission, I am here with a purpose. And when I do what God has sent me to do, that is what fills me up. That is my meat, what I am living off of Jesus says. And he goes on to give here an analogy of the harvest field, look at John 4:35. “Do you not say, ‘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.” So, let's get back into the mindset of the agricultural society at that time, right? All these people are walking out from the town towards them. So, the people are perhaps walking through the fields to come and see Jesus, the man who told the woman all that she ever did well, here they come. And Jesus is like, look at these fields right now with the people walking towards them. And he's saying, usually you think you got to sow the seed, and then it's four months till you get a harvest. But I say, look right now, look at all these souls. Look at all these people. I mean, Jesus is excited, not just because he talked to the woman, but here comes the entire town. And we're going to experience revival here today. Salvation is about to happen. I don't need physical food, because God sent me to save I came to seek and save the loss and we are about to feast right now. That's what Jesus is saying. In fact, look at John 4:36. He says, already the one who reaps is receiving wages and gathering fruit for eternal life. This is a unique situation. The sower and the reaper are all there together here in this town. We didn't have to sow the seed and wait a long time to reap a harvest. Jesus is saying, we just walked up, I talked to one lady, and now the whole town is coming out. Many of them are going to believe by the end of this. They're going to be saying, this guy, Jesus, this man right here, he's the Savior of the world.
So, something amazing is about to happen in this Samaritan town. And Jesus is saying can you guys see what we don't got time for lunch? Look, feast your eyes on what is happening? And he says in John 4:37, “For here the same holds true, ‘One sows and another reaps I sent you to reap that for which you did not labor. Others have labored and you have entered into their labor.’” See, this town, this woman she already had this idea of the Messiah, of the Christ. She already knew the prophecies, she already knew going back to the Law of Moses, going back to the Prophets, going back to the Psalms, that there was one who was coming, that God was going to send someone, an Anointed One, a holy and set apart one. And that one was going to come and save God's people. And people knew because of the sowing of the Prophets, they knew the Messiah was coming. Now they're coming to come and see. And he's like, you guys are about to reap a harvest, and you did no work. But here you are ready to be the reapers, let us all rejoice. Can you see how excited Jesus is here? He's way past lunch. If you ever have the privilege of talking to someone, if you ever have the privilege of inviting someone to church, and they hear the Word of Christ, and they repent of their sin, and they believe in who Jesus really is, if you get to see somebody get saved, it will immediately go to one of the all-time best experiences you've ever had in your life. There is nothing better in this life than seeing souls get saved by Jesus. And Jesus is letting the disciples know, we are feasting today, guys, that woman just got saved. And here, look at this harvest coming out to us right now. See, Jesus, he's teaching the disciples. And this is an analogy that he loves to use, where you live is a field, the souls of all the people where you live, they are the harvest. And all we need to see some of these souls get saved in this field is we need some laborers to go and do work in the field. So, Jesus is saying, Guys, my food, my meat, is to make disciples.
Let's get that down for point number one, that is our one and only point from this sermon: The meat of church is making disciples. Okay? This is what Jesus said the food was, the meat was, this is the Father's will, this is what he was sent to do is to see people become disciples. That starts with people getting saved, then they need to get baptized, then they need to be taught and mature into all that Christ has commanded us. That is the mission that we have all been given. We are not here to do church on Sunday mornings. We are not here to just read the Bible sometimes go to fellowship sometimes, and just kind of hang out at church, we are here so that more people will get saved. And the people who do get saved, grow up and mature in their faith, and they become so mature, that they can then help other people get saved. We are here to make disciples who mature as disciples, and then make even more disciples. That is the mission that we have been given here in Huntington Beach. That is the meat, all right.
And I am going to talk about In-and-Out Burger and I'm even going to hold up this wrapper. And it's not cruelty because it's open on Sunday. Okay, so we can talk about it. All right? And so, here's the thing, when you go to in and out, can everyone recognize this logo, right? Everybody loves to have verses on the back of their printed materials, right? I think In-and-Out is one of the coolest places I've ever eaten in my entire life. And I'm not ashamed to say I've eaten that In-and-Out Burger many times. All right. I love going there. It's been a tradition in my family since I was growing up. It's always seemed cool. But I don't go to In-an-Out and say, can I have the wrapper please? I go to In-an-Out for two words, everybody, meat and cheese. That's why I go to In-an-Out. And last night, somebody said, Well, what about the spread? And somebody in the tech booth was like, yeah, the spread around here. That's the gospel. That's what we're spreading around. I was like, oh, wow, it's getting powerful. You guys are really getting into this illustration. This is great. All right?
You see today, people come to church, and they literally think like, what's this building? Like, what's this worship? It's like, people go to church for the wrapper these days. The meat of why we are here is you need to get saved. And if you are saved, you need to grow. And those of us who are growing, we need to know there's a whole field out here, a whole harvest just waiting to happen. And the whole thing we're waiting for are all these souls to get saved is for us to get our act together. That's what we're here to do. We're not here to play church, we're here on a mission to make disciples. Are you going through the motion of church or are you going on a mission to make disciples? That's the meat, that's the substance of why we're here.
Go back to Matthew chapter 9. Look at how Jesus used this same idea of the field and the harvest. So, where you live is your field, all the souls of the people around you there the harvest. And look what Jesus said, this is something that's really been important for us. You're at this church to see people as souls. And then we get that idea from Matthew 9:36-38,”Wwhen he saw the crowds,” this is Jesus looking at all the people, “he had compassion for them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd. Then he said to his disciples,” so, here, he's teaching his disciples, just like he taught them in John chapter 4, he's teaching them, “The harvest is plentiful.” Look at all the souls that need to be saved, “but the laborers are…” what what's the problem? The laborers are what? “Few, therefore pray earnestly to the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest.” So, let's talk about that. We came here to Huntington Beach, we said to a bunch of people, “Come and See”; some of those people are standing up now. They've been saved by Jesus. Should we now just say, hey, we’ve got our people? And all we're going to focus on now for the next eight years is everybody maturing? Let's talk about that. What is the point of maturing as someone who has faith in Jesus? Everybody here, if you're a believer, you should want to grow in your faith, you should want to grow up in the knowledge of who Jesus is. That's what it is, a relationship with God the Father through his Son, Jesus Christ, that's eternal life. You should want to grow and be mature. That should be our goal that everybody here matures in their faith. But I asked you this question, what is the point of being mature? What I mean, this is such an obvious thing. Like if we take two people who are mature, if we could take a man here and a woman here, mature adults, and they were to come before all their family and friends on a special day and time, and we were to be witnesses of God joining a man and a woman together, and he joins them together in this awesome thing that God is called marriage. He joins them together as one. What is everybody going to immediately start to expect from that man and that woman who just got married? They're going to expect what everybody? Children? Okay? When two mature people come together in marriage, there is not only an external expectation, there is a growing desire within those two people, there is even a heartbreak if it can't or does not happen, that they, mature people… What does it mean to be mature? It means you are responsible enough that you could actually take care of someone else. That's what it means. This idea that we're going to go mature, and it's going to become about all about us, us growing, us maturing, and I’ll be really strong, my marriage will be really strong, my family will be really strong. If you're making life all about you, that doesn't really sound very mature to me, when the two biggest commandments are love God and love others. The mature Christian understands this life is not about you. That's maturity, that you exist here on planet earth as a disciple to make more disciples. And yes, a mature Christian, mature dad, a mature mom should definitely teach the Bible to their children at home, but you should have children outside of your home in the church, you should pass on what you know about Jesus to other men and women, you should make disciples, it should be your life goal as a mature Christian.
Go to Hebrews, chapter 5, verse 11. And let me show you what it says here. And Hebrews 5:11, in this book, he's talking to a bunch of Jews who are stuck in the ways of the old covenant of Moses, and he's telling them how much greater The New Covenant is in Jesus. And he's telling them about the priesthood of Melchizedek here in Hebrews five, and then he stops and gives a major rebuke. Here in Hebrews 5:11, he interrupts the flow of his argument that we should not continue in the Old Covenant. He's saying to this Jewish audience, but they should embrace the greater New Covenant in Jesus. And then he says this, this is Hebrews 5:11. “About this we have much to say, and it is hard to explain, since you have become dull of hearing.” You're not really paying closer attention. You're not really listening anymore. “For though by this time you ought to be…” what does he say there, everybody, you ought to be what? “Teachers”. Do you see how it works? Have you been a Christian for a long time? Have you been a Christian for over 10 years, over a decade of your life? You've been seeking out Jesus first. You've been growing in your faith. Have you matured? If you've been a Christian over 10 years, I'm definitely talking to you right now. And I'm asking you, hey, by this time, aren't you to be a teacher? Shouldn't you be a disciple who's now a disciple-maker? See, if you think you're mature, if you think you are paying attention, you should be now teaching it to other people, you're now taking someone else through Partners, you're now stepping up to lead your own fellowship group, you're now talking through what it means to repent and believe, just like somebody did with you. You're now passing that on to somebody new. You want to be a teacher, if you've been a Christian for a long time. That's the goal. That's what he says.
Let's get this down for our dash under the meat of churches: Making disciples. Making disciples requires maturity. This is how it works. One of the reasons we want to mature in Christ is then we can be an example to somebody else, we can know what to say to somebody else, we can say to somebody, I'm following Jesus, come and follow me, and we will all teach you how to be a disciple of Jesus, just like I've been taught. So, the part of the reason to be mature is that you would make disciples, a growing maturity. If even what we're growing in maturity, how could that not lead to more disciples being made? If people here are really maturing? And let me just tell you, I'm all about maturing. What can we do to help everybody who stood up and got saved at this church, we want you to get sanctified, we want you to get set apart from who you used to be. We want you to be set apart for God's purpose in your life. We want you to be holy, as he is holy. So, what is like the most sanctifying book of the Bible we could preach through? How about Romans? Let's go through what can we do to help people all week long? What if we read the Scripture all five days of the week? Hey, let's start. Let's try. What if we had fellowship groups that met during the week so that you could really encourage one another, not just to hear the word, but do the word? What if we even have this one-on-one discipleship program called Partners that you could take people through? What if we start Sunday at nine o'clock a Bible class across the way? We're pastor Bruce Blakey is teaching every Sunday at nine o'clock, sanctifying topics that will help Christians grow up in their faith? Yeah, we want to do everything we can. So, people who are saved will grow up. But can we all agree right now that mature people reproduce; that's how maturity works.
I mean, we can rejoice even yesterday, there was a family from our church, they were driving to the hospital yesterday morning at 6:57. I don't know why there was traffic on PCH at 6:57 on a Saturday morning? Something must have been going on, because they didn't make it to the hospital. And a lady from our church gave birth in the back seat at 6:57 yesterday, everybody. And I thought that was amazing. I was like, That's some real maturity right there. I'll tell you what, and then her dad was here at church last night. And he's like that actually happened in their family, the previous generation, somebody was born outside of the hospital. I'm like, wow, what a family tradition to have, you guys were all you know. Yesterday, I got this great message from a brother in Christ here at our church, he and his wife, were flying to another part of America because they're going to go adopt a baby. And he said to me, next time you see me at church, we'll have our baby with us. So that's what mature people do. Mature people invest their lives into other people.
We ought to be teachers, there are many people in this room, you've been going to church so long, you ought to be a teacher by now. You ought to be making disciples by now. That's what it's saying here. And look what he goes on to say, Hebrews 5:12. “For though by this time you are to be teachers, you need someone to teach you again the basic principles of the oracles of God.” Look, you need to keep going back to the bottle. “You need milk, not solid food,” you're not a meat eater, you’ve got to keep having it broken down for you. “For everyone who lives on milk is unskilled in the word of righteousness, since he is a child. But solid food, meat is for the mature, who have their powers of discernment trained by constant practice to distinguish good from evil.” Hebrews 6:1, “Therefore, let us leave the elementary doctrine of Christ and go on to…” what is it say there, everybody? Will “go on to maturity.” You should make it your mission to grow in your own faith. And the end goal of you growing is that you would be such a person who's living for Jesus and obeying his commands and knowing his word that you could take your relationship with Jesus, and you could teach it to somebody else. That's a mature Christian. And we need many people here to mature so we can keep doing; we need more laborers in the harvest field here in North Orange County.
But go back to John 4 because we’ve got the testimony of the town. I want to take you through the testimony of the town, because it's not just the woman who has this amazing witness come and see. And it's not just the joy of Jesus of seeing the reaping of the harvest happening right there in front of his eyes, but it's the town themself. See, John 4:39 says, “Many Samaritans from that town believed in him because of the woman's testimony.” I mean, her testimony, I mean, they might have known this lady was sneaking out in the middle of the day to avoid them. And here she comes boldly, freely. And her message is so simple. Come and see somebody who told me about my own sin told me all that I ever did. Can he be the one? She’s asking a powerful, provocative question? And many believe because of her testimony, and they came to him, and then it says something interesting I want to talk about; “they asked him to stay with them. And he stayed there two days.” But then look, John 4:41, “many more believed because” they hear Jesus. So, Jesus must keep teaching there. And now many believe because of his Word. And this is, this is awesome. I love this line, John 4:42, “It is no longer because of what you said that we believe, for we have heard for ourselves, and we know,” see now I'm not coming to this church because somebody else invited me, now I'm coming because I have seen, I have heard, “and we know that this is indeed the Savior of the world.” Wow, that's when you know, the message is getting out. The gospel is spreading when your town knows Jesus is the Savior of the world.
This is what really bothers me about a lot of churches, a lot of churches, I don't know how they evaluate themselves, like when they come to their eighth birthday, how are we doing as a church? I think a lot of churches, what they do is they compare themselves to who they were before. And if it seems like we were growing, we're better than we used to be, then we must be doing good. Even what I hear a lot of people do is they think they're a good church because they compare themselves to other churches. I hear people talk like this. Well, we're a good church because we're not doing it like this church down here. We're doing it like this. No, I think if you're really going to find out if you're a good church or not, there's only one standard you should be comparing yourself to. And that's what God says the church should be right here in his Word. In fact, I think if you want to ask yourself, are we even doing anything as a church, you should probably compare yourself to your field. And you should probably ask yourself, what kind of harvest are we reaping? Maybe we should ask ourselves, how many laborers do we even really have at this church? That might be a good way, like two people in Huntington Beach, Garden Grove, Westminster, Stanton. I mean, we’ve got people driving here all the way from Anaheim Hills, all the way from Downey, people coming from South County, and we’ve got people coming from a far area to get here to church and fellowship to people that we live by know, Jesus is indeed the Savior of the world. Because I'm not sure Huntington Beach is getting the message yet. And so, we might think, well, we're doing good for a church, we'll know how are we doing at reaching where we live? So, I want to ask you a question. I don't know if you've ever thought about this. But look back at verse 40. Because verse 40, is a verse you could just skip over real quick, but it says, “So when the Samaritans came to him, they asked him to stay with them.” And he and he and all these disciples apparently stayed there “two days.”
Have you ever asked yourself, how did Jesus stay anywhere two days? How did those disciples buy lunch? Like, how did this thing really work in the real world? Because it seems to me that for three years, Jesus and the twelve, and sometimes it seems like there's even more people with so at least thirteen men, maybe even a whole crew of over hundred. Sometimes, I mean, it seems like they just go around on like Jesus’ Miracle Tour, and he's just over here, healing people. He's over here multiplying fishes and loaves. He's over here walking on the water. I mean, who's paying for all of this? Have you ever wondered that before? Like when I went to on a three year experience to go learn a bunch of things, when I went to have a bunch of teachers, it cost me $60,000 For three years to go learn a bunch of stuff. How are they affording? Oh, yeah, we'll just post up here in Sidecar for a couple of nights. No problem, who's paying for all of this? So, you might know, this is where we were going today. But we want to talk about money at church. And as soon as I say money at church, there's like this little cringe feeling that I start to feel in my body. I don't know if anybody else gets awkward when you talk about money at church because there's been so many false teachers who have been in it for the money, like guys who preach God's word so that they can get rich. That's a sure sign of a false teacher. And there have been so many bad examples. So many people who've been hurt, who've seen it, heard about it, that now it's like don't talk about money at church. I know those people. They're in it for themselves. Oh, here we go. I knew it was coming. Somebody's thinking this in the room right now. I knew we were going to get to money. That's what they do at church, they hang on to your wallets. Everybody hide your Apple Pay, here they come. They want your money, right? Because that's how we've seen it. I want to actually take you through right now, what does the Bible actually say about money and the making of disciples? Because maybe we've seen so many bad examples that we actually need to learn from the biblical example like, how did Jesus afford to have a three-year discipleship college with these twelve guys, and other people? Where did that money come from?
Go back to Luke chapter 8. I want to make sure if you might have never seen this before, I want to highlight some things to you. Because when it comes to making disciples, there have always been generous people giving money to make the making of disciples happen. Look at Luke chapter 8:1. This is something you might not have really thought about. Maybe you have when we read through Luke before, but it says here, “Soon afterward, he,” this is Jesus “went on through cities and villages.” So here he is, seems like he's on tour, seems like he's just going around, proclaiming and bringing the Good News of the Kingdom of God and the twelve are with him. I don't know if you've gone on a road trip for thirteen people, it's not cheap. Right? So, they're going around. There are the twelve there, and also we’ve got more people here, Luke 8:2-3, “also some women, women who had been healed of evil spirits,” they've had demons cast out of them, and healed of “infirmities,” they got healed of sicknesses, diseases. In fact, “Mary called Magdalene, from whom seven demons had gone out. And Joanna, the wife of Chuza, Herod's household manager, and Susanna and many others.” Wow. So, there's a whole crew. But look what it says right here, “who provided for them out of their means.” You mean that Jesus and the disciples have ladies maybe you've never heard of Joanna and Susanna, but it seemed and Mary Magdalene, but it seems like they're going along with them. And they're the ones paying for lunch. They're the ones paying for where they stay for two days. There are some benefactors here, some patrons, some women who are providing out of their household out of their means. They're providing for Jesus and the disciples to be about making these disciples. That's what Jesus is doing for three years. And apparently, there are people paying for it.
Go to Acts chapter 4. Look at this, when the church got started in Jerusalem. I've gone to church my whole life. I've heard a lot of people say I wish church like it was in the book of Acts. I wish it was more like the early church where everybody had each other's back, and it wasn't so corporate, and it wasn't so institutionalized. I wish church was like it was back in the day in Jerusalem. Okay, well, here's what church was like back in the day and Acts 4:32. I mean, thousands of people are getting saved. I mean, this is a mega church from day one. It is so big here in Jerusalem, you’ve got three thousand souls saved on day one, more being added to their number day by day. In fact, it says here in Acts 4:32-37. “Now the full number of those who believed were of one heart and soul,” so it got big, but it was still united, it was still strong, people were in it together. And “no one said that any of the things that belonged to him was his own, but they had everything in common. And with great power, the apostles were giving their testimony to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus, and great grace was upon them all. There was not a needy person among them, for as many as were owners of lands or houses sold them and brought the proceeds of what was sold and laid it at the apostles’ feet, and it was distributed to each as any had need. Thus Joseph, who was also called by the apostles, Barnabas (which means son of encouragement), a Levite, a native of Cypress, sold a field that belonged to him and brought the money and laid it at the apostles’ feet.”
I've heard a lot of people say, I wish the church was more like the early church. I haven't seen anybody selling their houses or lands and giving the money to the church. See, that's how it worked. That's how they met everybody’s needs. I mean, huge. They changed the guy's name, the guy sold the field and gave the money to meet the needs of the church. They said, we’re not calling you Joe anymore. You're Barnabas, you are the Son of Encouragement. Thank you very much for your generosity. See, that's this is how Jesus how did he make his disciples, people providing the church? How did it grow in Jerusalem? I mean, so selling major investments and saying, hey, I'm going to give up on this earthly investment and I'm going to make an investment in the kingdom in the church. That's what Barnabas did.
Go to Romans 15. One more passage I want you to see here in Romans 15. We're going through Romans as a church right now. And when I told my friend Andrew Gutierrez, you might know him, he's preached here before, he's my pastor friend at a church in Prescott, Arizona Canyon Bible Church. And I told Andrew, we talk to one another to encourage one another mutually, and I told him, I'm going to preach through Romans at our church. His immediate response is, oh, you're going to preach through the biggest missionary giving letter ever written. That's how he described the book of Romans. He said, this is the biggest money-ask letter ever written in history. And what he's referring to is Romans 15:24, because he gets into where he is, he's on his way to Jerusalem. And then he wants to go see Rome, some of us went through the book of Acts together, we followed Paul to Jerusalem, and then to Rome. And he says he wants to get there to Rome. Look what he says in Romans 15:24. “I hope to see you in passing as I go to Spain, and to be helped on my journey there by you, once I have enjoyed your company for a while.” That is one of the nicest ways anyone has ever asked people for money right there. I can't wait to go to Spain and be a missionary, and I can't wait for all of you to help me on my way. Because you guys are going to be so refreshing when I come and hang out with you guys. Your company's going to be so great. And you guys are going to support me to go to Spain. I mean, that's what he just said. He's already prepping them, like, hey, get ready. When I come, we're going to take the Spain-offering everybody. That's what's happening here in the holding pages of scripture, and he doesn't think it's a bad thing. In fact, look at Romans 16:1-2. You might not have ever looked at this lady before, because in chapter 16, he greets so many people. We know about Priscilla and Aquila, who he greets but he greets so many people there in Rome by name. But before he greets all the people who are in Rome, he recommends someone to them. He says, “I commend to you our sister Phoebe,” so it's possible that Phoebe is the one bringing Paul's letter to Rome, or that she's at least coming along with the letter that here Okay, so he says, hey, I want to introduce you to Phoebe. Who is this lady? “a servant of the church at Cenchreae, that you may welcome her in the Lord in a way worthy of the saints and help her and whatever she may need from you. For she has been a underlying this circle this she has been a patron of many and of myself as well.” Excuse me? Did Paul just say that this lady Phoebe is his patron. Have you ever wondered how does Paul just go from synagogue to synagogue in town to town with a crew, just preaching the Gospel all over the place? Apparently, Phoebe was supporting Paul's missionary journey. When you look for it, you will see the entire biblical history of making disciples includes people generously giving, for the making of disciples.
So, let's get this down for our second dash here: Making disciples costs money. Making disciples costs money. And it's not just in these passages in the Bible, we can see that people did very generous things so that Jesus could make disciples, so they could make disciples in Jerusalem, or Paul could go around making disciples, but you can continue to study this throughout church history. In fact, if you flip your handout over, you'll see that I'm recommending a book. They're called Gospel Patriots, and it's got some great stories in this book by John Reinhardt. And he tells stories… Who here has ever heard of William Tyndale? Raise your hand if you've heard of William Tyndale, shout it out. What did William Tyndale do, everybody? He translated the Bible into what language? English. Seems pretty relevant for us, right? William Tyndale sought to translate the Bible into English. Was it legal to do so? Did he end up getting killed for doing that? Do you know that this man, who is the original guy who translated the Bible into English died so that you could have the Bible in a language that you understand? And did you know that the whole reason he had the time and the resources to translate the Bible is he had a man named Humphrey Monmouth, who was his patron? This guy heard Tyndale preach. He got to know Old Tyndale and he found out Tyndale had a passion to translate the Bible into English just like Martin Luther had translated it into German. He wanted to translate it into English. And it was Monmouth who said, I will be your patron, I will support you, you should go full time and give yourself to the work of translation. It would not have been translated into English without somebody paying for it. You know, this guy Humphrey Monmouth spent a year in prison? Not only did he give his money to support William Tyndale, but he went to prison for a year for supporting illegal Bible translation.
That kind of generosity is not often known. But when you start looking into great works of God, revivals, when God is really on the move, somebody is generously giving to making it happen. Who's ever heard of George Whitfield? Anybody ever heard of George Whitfield? If you ever studied the Great Awakening, you know George Whitfield. He would ride on horseback up and down the colonies right here in America. And he would preach the gospel to thousands of people. I mean, and Benjamin Franklin once went to hear George Whitfield preach, and he estimated that there were eighteen thousand people listening to George Whitfield, completely silent, hanging on every word. George Whitfield is seeing eighteen thousand people outside of Boston, at that time, the entire population of the city of Boston was only eighteen thousand people. So, you’ve got literally a whole town going out to hear the gospel. And have you ever wondered how did George Whitfield just ride on horseback up and down the colonies preaching and people are coming from miles around, thousands of people hearing his Gospel, hundreds of people getting saved, a revival that would shape the very fabric of American society? Well, for generations, how did he do that? Well, there was a lady, a lady Huntington in England. She was his benefactor, she paid for his trips, his missionary trips here in the American colonies. You can go read about it in Gospel Patriots, it's this lady who is giving the money, so, George Whitfield can go and make disciples. It's always cost money to do this. So don't let the bad examples keep you from realizing that it does require dollar bills to keep making disciples. It requires dollar bills for these lights to be on, for this air conditioning to be flowing, to lease this space, everything for us to gather together. Money is required. This is just a part of the facts.
And so, I want to give you an update on the Double Double project because this problem that is starting to happen here in our church, where people are coming to see Jesus, and they're being told to go away and watch it on TV. We're setting up now to be an overflow church. And not just on Easter Sunday. It already bothers me that on the biggest Sunday of the year, we already know a lot of people are going to sit in another room and watch it on a screen. But this is now happening every Sunday here at our church. And it's amazing that the owner of these buildings, I mean, we he already let us get in here to do church, then we already got… who remembers the compass Circle project when we did that? And we got this building across the way, which we haven't even had for a year yet. Can we praise the Lord for this new building over here? Then anybody want to praise the Lord? I mean, just to review history, if you're just joining us, we started running out of room in this part of the building. The kids, the junior high, the high school, there wasn't enough room for all of them. And so, we were praying, what are we going to do? We need more space. And the owner of all these buildings here, he came and offered us more space right across the parking lot; it was better than we could have imagined. And now our high schoolers have a great room, or junior highers have a great room. And who has a fellowship group over there in that new building? Who's ever been to Trolley Coffee over there in that new building? Who's ever been in a meeting in one of the offices over there? I mean, it's an awesome space that God has given us and now we would have never thought that the space right across the parking lot here would open up for us. We never saw that one come, and the owner he wants us to have it. He has been willing to sign with us a twenty-year lease because he wants us here long term in Huntington Beach. Okay? So, if you want to talk about an open door, there is an open door literally right across the parking lot from us. Eighteen thousand square feet! And so, we announced the Double Double project. The Double Double project has two clear goals. One is to double up the maturity of this church, double up even the size of this auditorium to go from four hundred people at a time to eight hundred people at a time across the parking lot. The other part of the Double Double project, which we'll get to more next week, is we want to plant another church in Long Beach, California, and reach South LA County with the gospel of Jesus Christ. Who's excited about that part of the Double Double project? That's a big deal we're praying for today. I just want to focus in on we have an opportunity to double the auditorium right across. We've announced it, we've talked about it a couple of times, people have given towards it, let me tell you what has happened. One thing we did with what people have given towards Double Double, is to help the kids out, because I mean, not only did the junior high and high school get these new spaces, and the Bible class get a great space to meet, but the kids got to really spread out. And so, we invested in this room right here. And we built a playground right here for our kids. And what's more important than the playground, the playground is fun, but it is now a great room for teaching the Bible to kids. Do you know that over three hundred kids come to this church every weekend and get taught the Bible by Pete, by some of us who are teaching them. There is a whole church of kids who are being taught the Bible. And so, we got to build that playground because people gave to the Double Double project. Another thing we’ve got to do was we’ve got these architectural plans for double the auditorium. Now this auditorium, and not only will it be double the size, but it will have a mom's room and a family room. Because somebody who gets told to go away and watch on a screen is a mom, hey, great job being mature mom, great job reproducing, you can now watch the service on TV in a dungeon down the hall. That's basically what we're saying to people. Okay? Well, we want to actually have all the moms and all the families right there as a part in their own little special rooms. And so, it's going to have a mom's room, a family room, it would also have as a part of this auditorium, a whole new junior high room down on the ground floor, basically take what the Bible classes in meeting and right there a whole new one of those to be used at our church along with the eight-hundred-person auditorium. So, we made these plans. And we use this guy who's a friend of ours, an architect, he helped us every step of the way. He did that project for Compass Circle over there; he's helped us all the way through. So, we made these plans. We spent a lot of time on these plans for this auditorium. We've been working on this, literally, I think for over a year. And just in the last month, we put the plans out to bid. And now the bids have come back, multiple bids from different general contractors. And so here I am now, I'm going to construction meetings. Okay? I don't know about construction. Alright, let's get honest. Some of you are like me, they start talking about lead times, they start talking about price gouging. You're just like, wow, these seem like important terms. I'm going to write these down. Right? Some of you, you know, way more about this than I do. Some of you scarily might even know less about this than I do. But now we're sitting down. Now we're talking about actually building a new auditorium here in that space. And I am excited. And they start talking about how prices and construction are just going up with no sign of letdown. And you start your site. Okay? Okay, that doesn't sound good. And then we start talking about these lead times. See, one of the big problems with this space over here is it's just a big empty warehouse. It has no air conditioning. Who wants an auditorium with no air conditioning? Right? Nobody I saw you when the air conditioning broke here in this room. Man, you want to talk about needing God to really do a mighty work among us, for people to listen to sermons with no air conditioning? Can I get an Amen from anybody on that? I mean, whoa, right. And can we praise God for the people who put new air conditioning units in this room? That was awesome. They did it in one week. It was amazing. So, the one of the big-ticket items, I mean, the electrical is a big deal in this place over here. And then I mean, there is not even a breeze in that space. All right? There's not even a fan in there right now. Right? So, you start thinking about HVAC that could make eight hundred people not even think about the temperature and just hear the Word of God. They start talking about how hard it is to get units like that these days, and these long lead times for these units. And can you even find units like that, and it could take longer than our entire construction project, just to get those units. Here is what they're saying. And I'm like, leaving this meeting, and I'm thinking, well, we need to get on the phone right now. Someone needs to get on the phone right here today. Let's get some HVAC units. Let's nail this down. And then I start thinking to myself, well, we can't get on the phone and get these units unless we sign this contract here on this bid. And then I start like going through all the numbers on this contract. And I get to the total of what they're saying it's going to cost to build the auditorium and when you see this number, it's like you just got hit in the stomach. Anybody ever had the wind knocked out of you before? That's what's about to happen right now because the number at the bottom there is $3 million for construction over here. And when they say that you think that felt bad when I just said that, imagine having to be the person to say that at church on a Sunday morning, right? $3 million. This project, I don't know if you know this, this project over here, for this Compass Circle, that was a $2.6 million project. Now they're saying this is a $3 million project. And that's just the contract with the company to do construction. That doesn't include everything else you need to make the building work. That doesn't include things like all the stuff, you have the microphone sound system, some kind of screen or stage, some kind of light, so you can see what's going on, some kind of video cameras, so people like all the things to build out, like who thinks it would be a good idea to have chairs in the new auditorium? Right? That's not included in that $3 million amount. So, you start adding up all the other things that you need, besides just the construction, you get to at least 1 million more dollars on top of that. Now, this is discouraging. Has anybody here ever bought chairs before? Okay, if you've never bought chairs in your life, consider yourself blessed. Okay? Stay blissfully unaware of the cost of chairs, don't look it up because you start looking up. And somebody was talking to me right before the service. They were like, I went to this other church, their chairs were a lot nicer than our chairs. That's what they said. And I was like, I know I've been to that church, too. Aren't they so nice? As like, do you realize that every single one of those chairs is over $100 a piece? See, it hurts, hurts. And I was like, and we need not just probably eight hundred, we’ve got to get chairs in the mom's room, a family room. I mean, we need eight hundred plus chairs. And over $100 a piece, we're talking about $100,000, for chairs alone in the new auditorium. See, these are just real-world facts, you start looking this stuff up. Making disciples costs money.
So, I'm asking my church a real question about us on our eighth birthday coming up next week, hey, do we want to be a common see church, because if we want to have more room to keep saying Come and See, you’ve got to come and see Jesus, he's the savior of the whole world. If we want more people to keep coming and knowing who Jesus is, we need $3 million dollars to do construction. Now. So far, people along with all that we've spent so far in the Double Double project. Right now in the bank, we have $1.3 million that people at this church have given to the Lord for the Double Double project. Now, let me just be very clear. If you look at the back of your bulletin, okay, it'll tell you that you can see there are two ways to give, two QR codes. And there are always little boxes at the doors when you leave where you can give. You can see there's the General Fund, the Double Double project, let me just make it very clear. If anybody gives to the Double Double project, that money is not going to any person that's here at this church. Okay? No person is getting that money, that money is going towards this project, it is not even possible for somebody to be in it for the money about the Double Double project. The Double Double project is just simply, do we want to have space, so we can keep saying Come and See for the next eight years or the next twenty years, and keep inviting people to come to church. And so, I'm asking you, if you would consider giving and if you open up your bulletin, you'll see there's a pledge card because we want to have a response. Time is wasting. This company that we're talking to is saying that they think they could finish this project before Easter. Wouldn't that be awesome, everybody? Okay, well, you know how construction goes, it always costs more, and it always takes longer. But we would like to get this started soon. And so, I am coming to our church, and I am saying making disciples costs money. And I'm asking you, every single person here, will you consider what you could give right now to the Double Double project? And you can just go and give it online through the QR code or if you can't give it right now, we're asking you to pray about it, to consider it. I hope you don't feel obligated to give if you don't want to give. Nobody's forcing you, nobody's going to be coming and asking, you know. It's just between you and the Lord if you want to give towards having double the auditorium in Huntington Beach, and if you do we need to know now so we can make wise decisions here financially. And so, even if you can't give this week, if you can by the time we meet at the assembly next Sunday at four o'clock. We want to have an answer of what has happened, and what we're going to do moving forward. So, we're asking you to give this week and if you can't give this week, and if you think about it carefully, well, what could you give by the end of the year, letting us know, putting that online or on a card and throwing it into a box. That would help us figure out if we're able to move forward with this project or not? It sounds crazy to hear at least $3 million, plus another million $4 million. That hurts and hurts me. Trust me, I don't like being the guy talking about it. But when you think about $4 million investment now, and you play that out over 20 years, do you realize 20 years is over a thousand Sundays. You break 4 million down by thousand Sundays, that's $4,000 a Sunday. The thousand people show up at church like they do now, that's just $4 a person to do this. We really double, and twice as many people are hearing the word, that's $2 per person to have this place. I can't even park around here for $2. That seems like a worthy investment, that more people could come and see that Jesus is indeed the Savior of the world. So let me close our service in prayer. Everybody let's pray.
Father in heaven, we come before you and Father we’ve just got to confess that we don't like talking about money in church because of so many bad examples. And we don't even like the idea of churches getting big, because we've seen maybe churches where they stop preaching the gospel, and they stop caring about people and so maybe money, maybe big church, maybe these are bad ideas in our mind. Father, I pray that you would open our eyes so we can look, and we can lift up our eyes and see the harvest. And we've got a long way to go and reach in Huntington Beach. Got a long way to go with Garden Grove and Westminster. We’ve got people coming from Anaheim Hills, Costa Mesa, so many people coming from Long Beach and Lakewood because they want to hear the Word of Christ. So, Father, we pray that Jesus will keep building his church here in Huntington Beach. We pray that the best days of making disciples will be ahead of us, and we pray that you will put it if everybody here gives, Father, everybody gives a little become a lot. Father, we pray that there would be some Joannas, some Susannas, some Barnabases, some Phoebes here among us, who decide that they want to make a difference in making disciples. They want to make an investment, not in earthly riches, but in the heavenly rewards and the eternal kingdom in more people. So far, the one thing we know is we sing this one last song, as we start a new song here today, a new song for the future of this church. One thing we know is that you hold us in your hand, and no one can snatch us out of your hand, that you will hold us fast. That no matter what's going to happen in the future, Jesus will keep building his church. That is the promise. You will keep saving your people, that is the promise. And so, Father, let us realize that the one sure thing going on planet earth is your church. And let us give all we have to making disciples in Jesus’ name. Father, thank you for this song that we can dinh here today. Let it be on our hearts, that you love us through your Son Jesus, and you will hold our souls till we're there with you. We pray this in Jesus’ name. Amen.