Mensa Otabil - Believing In Christ For Yourself (10/03/2025)
Well, we’re coming to our final reading from John chapter four. We started looking at Jesus’s encounter with a Samaritan woman at the well, and we’ve seen the conversation progress until other people are coming to the saving knowledge of Jesus Christ. Now, we look at the final reading from John chapter 4, verses 41 to 42: «And many more believed because of His own word. Then they said to the woman, 'Now we believe, not because of what you said, for we ourselves have heard Him and we know that this is indeed the Christ, the Savior of the world.'»
What a great conclusion to a remarkable story! From the woman looking for water to finding the living water, Jesus Christ-she not only found Christ for herself but also introduced Christ to her town, which came to a personal conviction that Jesus is indeed the Christ. That is what our Christian testimony is supposed to be: that we encounter God and introduce people to Him, so they can find Him for themselves. Many of us were introduced to Christianity by our parents. They took us to church, taught us to read the Bible, and taught us to pray.
Over time, our faith, or our Christian belief, centered around our parents and what they introduced to us. We call ourselves Christians, and we believe that we are Christians, but our relationship with God is courtesy of our parents. We haven’t come into a personal relationship with Jesus Christ. We are like the people of this woman’s town; they had heard testimony and believed, but they had to encounter Jesus Christ for themselves. If you don’t encounter Jesus for yourself and know Him as your own Lord, when adversity strikes and trials come, you will abandon the faith of your fathers. The faith of your fathers is not your faith. Some of us became Christians because of our church or because of a pastor, but we haven’t known Christ for ourselves.
Christianity cannot be lived through others. It’s about each individual knowing God for themselves, having Christ in their hearts and serving Him. Until you have that personal relationship with Jesus Christ, when you are faced with adversity, your faith will be wobbly. You must know Him for yourself; you must consciously receive Jesus Christ as your Lord and personal Savior. So if you call yourself a Christian but have not personally received Christ as your Lord, you need to. If you are just a church member but have never received Christ as your Lord and Savior, you need to.
The people of this woman’s village said, «At first we believed because you said it, but now we believe because we have met Him ourselves.» That is where God wants us to be, and I pray that you will know the Lord for yourself. You will grow in Him, in His word, and in His spirit as you worship Him in spirit and in truth.
Let us pray. Say with me, «Heavenly Father, I have decided to follow Jesus; help me live as Your child all the days of my life.» In Jesus' name, amen and amen. Well, my friends, I trust that these two weeks have been a blessing to you as you’ve learned how the message of the gospel is shared and probably learned about how to have a personal relationship with God yourself. Tomorrow, I start a new message when I talk about the Christian race. Having known Christ as Lord and Savior, you have to live the Christian life, so I’ll be discussing the Christian race throughout next week. Well, I’ll catch you tomorrow. I’m Pastor Mensa Otabil. Shalom, peace, and life to you.