Makes the lame to walk and the blind to see
Opens prison doors, sets the captives free
I've got a river of life flowing out of me
Spring up oh well, within my soul
Spring up oh well, and make me whole
Spring up oh well, and give to me
That life abundantly
"... so I listened to the words that I was saying and I thought to myself, 'Are we serious? Do we MEAN what we're saying? That we've got a river of life flowing out of us? That is has the power to open prison doors and set people FREE? That people who are stuck and can't walk out of situations, that, because of what's in us, the doors get busted open and they get to walk out, clean and free? We've got that inside of us?!?! Do we MEAN that? Or is that just a ditty we sing in worship?' When I thought about that I thought, that's powerful.
And that's not just a song to splish or splash. That's a song to flood the nations!"
At Urbana, Brenda Salter McNeil continued to speak about how that song reflects John chapter 4, where Jesus meets the Samaritan woman at the well, and asks her for a drink. Her, a member of a race despised by the Jews, a woman, seen as perpetually unclean. And yet Jesus, a Jew, comes and not only talks to her, but drinks from her cup. She talked about how the Bible said that Jesus had to go into Samaria, a place most Jews took the long way around just to avoid. He took on credibility because he showed this woman that she, too, was valuable. He moved into her neighbourhood.
That's what the world is looking for from us... they're looking for us to be credible witnesses of Jesus Christ. They want to know if we walk our talk. The want to see people who do what Jesus did, who say what Jesus said, who love like Jesus loved, and who go where Jesus went. They're looking for it. They're expecting it. They're searching for it. They have us under scrutiny... and they're looking for our testimony to match our lifestyle. So if we're looking to be credible witnesses in this generation, we're going to HAVE to go through Samaria...
That means that we will have to make the conscious decision to be with people who we have not seen ourselves identified with before. We'll have to make the conscious decision to be with the marginalized and people who have been discriminated against in society because of their gender or because of their ethnicity or because of their socio-economic background. We're going to have to decide, just like Jesus, we have GOT to go there, if we're going to be the church. Amen. Because people are still wondering, all around the world, will Jesus come into MY neighbourhood? Does Jesus love me enough to come into MY reality and the stuff I face? ... There are people all over the world who are thinking about that same question... They're wondering if Jesus loves them enough to come into their neighbourhood.
When we say that God so loved the world that he sent his Son, that the Word took on flesh and stepped into our neighbourgoods, was he talking about Samaria? And this is our generation's opportunity to answer the question and say, YES! Yes, Sam, he was talking about YOU. Yes, young man, he was talking about YOU. That's why we can't afford to avoid Samaria - those neighbourhoods where the people are from different cultures or who don't speak our language or who don't eat our food. We can't avoid Samaria, because those places that are inconvenient or that are outside our comfort zones demand our presence if we're going to win back our credibility. We need to be witnesses who can be believed. And so if we're going to follow Jesus, we're going to have to go THERE. We're going to have to go to those places, those Samarias, those intentional places where the people may not be happy to see us and don't expect us to come...
She continued on to talk about where to start, and how to proceed in the midst of the fact that we are broken people who don't have all the answers but who still have a testimony.
She told us how to say, "I can't tell you everything, but I can bring you to a man who told me everything I ever did. He just. might. be. who he said. he. is."
Jesus answered, "Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again, but whoever drinks the water I give him will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life." John 4:13-14
I've got a river of life flowing out of me
Makes the lame to walk and the blind to see
Opens prison doors, sets the captives free
I've got a river of life flowing out of me.
This isn't just a song to splish and splash about.
This is a message to flood the nations!
Watch the full talk here.
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