“From the Heart” teaching by Drs. Rodney & Adonica Howard-Browne.
Foundation Scriptures: 1 John 3:8-9
He who sins is of the devil, for the devil has sinned from the beginning. For this purpose the Son of God was manifested, that He might destroy the works of the devil. 1 John 3:8-9 NKJV
I. Jesus was born, lived and died, to destroy the works of the devil and empower us to do the same.
- If you want to know what the works of the devil are, take a look at the works of Jesus. Look at everything Jesus destroyed and undid.
- Luke 5:17b NKJV – And the power of the Lord was present to heal them.
- Matthew 10:8 NKJV – Heal the sick, cleanse the lepers, raise the dead, cast out demons. Freely you have received, freely give.
- Luke 9:2 NKJV – He sent them to preach the kingdom of God and to heal the sick.
- Jesus did nothing but love, save, heal, deliver and restore – and He directs us to do the same.
II. Everything Jesus said and did was motivated by love.
- Motivated by love, He patiently taught them: Mark 6:34-35 NKJV – And Jesus, when He came out, saw a great multitude and was moved with compassion for them, because they were like sheep not having a shepherd. So He began to teach them many things.
- Motivated by love, He fed them: Mark 8:2 NKJV – I have compassion on the multitude, because they have now continued with Me three days and have nothing to eat.
- Motivated by love, He healed them: Matthew 14:14-15 NKJV – And when Jesus went out He saw a great multitude; and He was moved with compassion for them, and healed their sick.
- Motivated by love, He raised them from the dead: Luke 7:13-15 NKJV – When the Lord saw her, He had compassion on her and said to her, “Do not weep.” 14 Then He came and touched the open coffin, and those who carried him stood still. And He said, “Young man, I say to you, arise.” 15 So he who was dead sat up and began to speak. And He presented him to his mother.
- In Jesus’ parables – out of compassion – the Good Samaritan rescued the robbed man (Luke 10:33) and the father of the Prodigal Son gladly forgave and restored him (Luke 15:20).
III. Jesus went to where the people are.
- Jesus did not come to minister to the well and the righteous, but to the average person.
- Mark 2:17 NKJV – When Jesus heard it, He said to them, “Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. I did not come to call the righteous, but sinners, to repentance.”
- Jesus showed compassion on everybody, with no distinctions.
- John 4:3-45 NKJV – He left Judea and departed again to Galilee. 4 But He needed to go through Samaria. 5 So He came to a city of Samaria which is called Sychar, near the plot of ground that Jacob gave to his son Joseph. 6 Now Jacob’s well was there. Jesus therefore, being wearied from His journey, sat thus by the well. It was about the sixth hour. 7 A woman of Samaria came to draw water. Jesus said to her, “Give Me a drink.” 8 For His disciples had gone away into the city to buy food. 9 Then the woman of Samaria said to Him, “How is it that You, being a Jew, ask a drink from me, a Samaritan woman?” For Jews have no dealings with Samaritans. 10 Jesus answered and said to her, “If you knew the gift of God, and who it is who says to you, ‘Give Me a drink,’ you would have asked Him, and He would have given you living water.” 11 The woman said to Him, “Sir, You have nothing to draw with, and the well is deep. Where then do You get that living water? 12 Are You greater than our father Jacob, who gave us the well, and drank from it himself, as well as his sons and his livestock?” 13 Jesus answered and said to her, “Whoever drinks of this water will thirst again, 14 but whoever drinks of the water that I shall give him will never thirst. But the water that I shall give him will become in him a fountain of water springing up into everlasting life.” 15 The woman said to Him, “Sir, give me this water, that I may not thirst, nor come here to draw.” 16 Jesus said to her, “Go, call your husband, and come here.” 17 The woman answered and said, “I have no husband.” Jesus said to her, “You have well said, ‘I have no husband,’ 18 for you have had five husbands, and the one whom you now have is not your husband; in that you spoke truly.” 19 The woman said to Him, “Sir, I perceive that You are a prophet. 20 Our fathers worshiped on this mountain, and you Jews say that in Jerusalem is the place where one ought to worship.” 21 Jesus said to her, “Woman, believe Me, the hour is coming when you will neither on this mountain, nor in Jerusalem, worship the Father. 22 You worship what you do not know; we know what we worship, for salvation is of the Jews. 23 But the hour is coming, and now is, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth; for the Father is seeking such to worship Him. 24 God is Spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth.” 25 The woman said to Him, “I know that Messiah is coming” (who is called Christ). “When He comes, He will tell us all things.” 26 Jesus said to her, “I who speak to you am He.” 27 And at this point His disciples came, and they marveled that He talked with a woman; yet no one said, “What do You seek?” or, “Why are You talking with her?” 28 The woman then left her waterpot, went her way into the city, and said to the men, 29 “Come, see a Man who told me all things that I ever did. Could this be the Christ?” 30 Then they went out of the city and came to Him. 31 In the meantime His disciples urged Him, saying, “Rabbi, eat.” 32 But He said to them, “I have food to eat of which you do not know.” 33 Therefore the disciples said to one another, “Has anyone brought Him anything to eat?” 34 Jesus said to them, “My food is to do the will of Him who sent Me, and to finish His work. 35 Do you not say, ‘There are still four months and then comes the harvest’? Behold, I say to you, lift up your eyes and look at the fields, for they are already white for harvest! 36 And he who reaps receives wages, and gathers fruit for eternal life, that both he who sows and he who reaps may rejoice together. 37 For in this the saying is true: ‘One sows and another reaps.’ 38 I sent you to reap that for which you have not labored; others have labored, and you have entered into their labors.” 39 And many of the Samaritans of that city believed in Him because of the word of the woman who testified, “He told me all that I ever did.” 40 So when the Samaritans had come to Him, they urged Him to stay with them; and He stayed there two days. 41 And many more believed because of His own word. 42 Then they said to the woman, “Now we believe, not because of what you said, for we ourselves have heard Him and we know that this is indeed the Christ, the Savior of the world.” 43 Now after the two days He departed from there and went to Galilee. 44 For Jesus Himself testified that a prophet has no honor in his own country. 45 So when He came to Galilee, the Galileans received Him, having seen all the things He did in Jerusalem at the feast; for they also had gone to the feast.
- At midday, Jesus sat down to rest by a well. There are many wells in a city – the place where people came to drink.
- The woman, whom Jesus asked for water, did not come looking for Him. He came to where she was and engaged her there.
- The Samaritans were looked down upon by the Israelites, but not by Jesus. He just sees people who need a Savior.
- Jesus offered Living Water and the woman asked, “Where can I get this Living Water?”
- This is the cry of the world.
IV. Your past does not disqualify you from receiving God’s forgiveness.
- Jesus knew the woman’s past and told her so, yet with no condemnation.
- She was so touched that that she went and called all the people of her town to come to Jesus.
- Jesus remained there and ministered to all of them for two days.
- They all believed in Jesus, not just because of what the woman told them, but because they heard what He had to say themselves (verse 42).
V. The harvest is ripe and the laborers are few (verse 35).
- The harvest will not be made ripe in the future, but it’s ripe right now.
- Lift your eyes and see that the fields are white for harvesting.
- It is time for the mass mobilization of the Body of Christ to reap this harvest – from the littlest child to the oldest saint.
- Full of the Holy Ghost, full of compassion, meeting the needs of the people right where they are.
- Souls, souls, souls!