Greg Laurie - The Good the Bad and the Ugly
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Let's start with the bad. Who was the bad? It was the woman. She was a bad girl. We don't know her name. We just know that she is called the woman at the well. She was a woman from Samaria. We do know this much about her. She had been married and divorced five times. We know she was living with a guy as well. Here is a woman who was trying to fill the hole in her heart with relationships with men and even with sex.
So when Jesus sees her one day sitting by the well at 12:00 noon. She would go there to draw water at that time because none of the other girls wanted to have anything to do with her. They would go to the well in the morning and get their water and catch up on the latest town gossip. She would come alone to the well. Little did she know she had an appointment with Jesus. He was waiting there for her. He looked at her with great love and compassion.
This woman at the well reminds me a little bit of my mother. But my mom just wasted her life. She was raised in the church. She was taken to church Sunday morning and Sunday night and Wednesday night. When she got a little bit older she left home and she eloped. She wanted nothing to do with that Christian life. Then when I was born and I went along for the wild ride she never told me about God. She never took me to church. In fact one day I remember as Easter was approaching I said, "Mom what is the meaning of Easter"? She said, "I don't know". She knew but she didn't want me to know. Thank God he got hold of me and I heard the Gospel. I responded just like some of you are hearing the Gospel and you will respond.
You say, "What do you mean the Gospel? What is the Gospel"? The Gospel means good news. Here is the good news. All of us have broken God's commandments and all of us have sinned. But 2.000 years ago God sent his son Jesus Christ on a rescue operation. He walked in our shoes. He lived our life. He died our death. Then three days later he rose again from the dead. Now he stands at the heart of every person and he says, "If you will hear my voice, and open the door, I will come in". That is the Gospel. You can believe it tonight and be forgiven of all your sins and go to heaven when you die.