Once Upon A Time

 COMPELLING VISION 

Sermon Notes

Q: Your life is telling a story, but is it a compelling story?

 

Compelling -- evoking interest, or admiration in a powerfully irresistible way

 

John 10:10 (NLT) 10 The thief’s purpose is to steal and kill and destroy. My purpose is to give them a rich and satisfying life. 

 

John 10:10 (The Message) A thief is only there to steal and kill and destroy. I came so they can have real and eternal life, more and better life than they ever dreamed of. 

 

Compelling Vision — a picture of what might be and why it matters.

 

I will do whatever it takes to be in a loving relationship with the people I have created and will prove it through my son, Jesus.

 

John 4:6-9(NLT) 6 Jacob’s well was there; and Jesus, tired from the long walk, sat wearily beside the well about noontime. 7 Soon a Samaritan woman came to draw water, and Jesus said to her, “Please give me a drink . . . 9 The woman was surprised, for Jews refuse to have anything to do with Samaritans. She said to Jesus, “You are a Jew, and I am a Samaritan woman. Why are you asking me for a drink?” 

 

John 4:10 (NLT) 10 Jesus replied, “If you only knew the gift God has for you and who you are speaking to, you would ask me, and I would give you living water.” 

 

John 4:11-12 11 “But sir, you don’t have a rope or a bucket,” she said, “and this well is very deep. Where would you get this living water? 12 And besides, do you think you’re greater than our ancestor Jacob, who gave us this well? How can you offer better water than he and his sons and his animals enjoyed?” 

 

John 4:13-14 Jesus replied, “Anyone who drinks this water will soon become thirsty again. 14 But those who drink the water I give will never be thirsty again. It becomes a fresh, bubbling spring within them, giving them eternal life.” 

 

John 4:15 “Please, sir,” the woman said, “give me this water! Then I’ll never be thirsty again, and I won’t have to come here to get water.”   

 

John 4:16-18 “Go and get your husband,” Jesus told her. 17 “I don’t have a husband,” the woman replied. Jesus said, “You’re right! You don’t have a husband—18 for you have had five husbands, and you aren’t even married to the man you’re living with now. . . 

 

John 4:23 (NLT) 23 . . . the time is coming—indeed it’s here now—when true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and in truth. The Father is looking for those who will worship him that way. 

 

John 4:25–26 (NLT) 25 The woman said, “I know the Messiah is coming—the one who is called Christ. When he comes, he will explain everything to us.” 26 Then Jesus told her, “I Am the Messiah!” 

 

John 4:39(NLT) 39 Many Samaritans from the village believed in Jesus because the woman had said, “He told me everything I ever did!” 

 

If you watched a movie about a guy who wanted a Volvo and worked for years to get it, you wouldn’t cry at the end when he drove off the lot, testing the windshield wipers. You wouldn’t tell your friends you saw a beautiful movie or go home and put a record on to think about the story you’d seen.  

 

The truth is, you wouldn’t remember that movie a week later, except you’d feel robbed and want your money back. Nobody cries at the end of a movie about a guy who wants a Volvo.  

 

But we spend years actually living those stories, and we expect our lives to be meaningful. The truth is, if what we choose to do with our lives won’t make a story meaningful, it won’t make a life meaningful either.

 

I exist to . . .

 

Enter the battle for each other’s souls.