I was invited by to speak at the First Church of God in Rapid City by their pastor, Jacob Jurado. I really like his heart and am glad to have connected with him. They were gracious to me even though I went nearly an hour and probably said a few things that rocked the boat.

I spoke on how Christians are to be missionaries in our culture. I preached expositionally (verse-by-verse) through John 4:1-42 -where Jesus’ path crossed with the Samaritan woman at Jacob’s well and how that changed everything. Here are some highlights:

• “Verse 1-2 tells us that the Pharisees kept score between who was baptizing more- John the Baptist or Jesus’ disciples. The Pharisees didn’t get that John and Jesus’ disciples were on the same team. Funny how religious people still do this today. “
• “I don’t want to go to Heaven because I’m afraid of hell. I want to go to Heaven because I love Jesus.”
• “Only God changes hearts.”
• “Too many of us think we’re the Holy Spirit because we seem to think it’s our job is to convict people of their sin.”
• “Scratch beneath the surface of Rapid City and you’ll see people hurting, marriages falling apart, people without direction, men addicted to porn. And that’s just the people in church.”
• “Samaritans had a mixed bag of religion including the a belief in the first 5 books of the Bible. But it was tangled in some other pagan religions. Not unlike today when many in America have some hybrid religious system where Jesus, Oprah, and Ghandi are all prophets.”
• “Jesus crossed barriers. What barriers should we cross to reach people?
• “Are we too good to sit in the smoking section?”
• “Don’t sell Jesus like you would Mary Kay.”
• “Being a missionary doesn’t mean handing out tracts, slapping on a bumper sticker, or wearing a Christian t-shirt. It means loving people no matter what. Even if it takes 5 months, 5 years, or 50 years before they come to Jesus.”
• “Jesus loves to use people who are screwed up like this Samaritan woman. It’s all over the Bible. That gives me hope because I’ve screwed up a lot.”
• “Jesus chose this moment to reveal that worship wasn’t about a time or a place; on a Saturday or Sunday; on a mountain or in a building. It was anywhere, anytime, 24/7.”
• “Our cause should be Christ and our reputation should be love.”
• “Who are you in this story? If you see yourself as someone other than the Samaritan woman, you may have a self-righteousness issue.”
• “You’ve never experienced grace unless you’ve been able to see and admit just how messy you really are.”
• “Who are the Samaritans in our city? Where do they hang out? Would Jesus be there with them? Are we?”
• “If your aim in life is to be comfortable- just know that’s not God’s aim for your life.”
• “Do we share the same heartbeat as Jesus? To seek and save those who are lost. Even in the mess?”
• “What’s at stake if we don’t? Do we even care?”
• “My passion is to hear other people say their version of verse 42- ‘We no longer believe just because of what you said; now we have heard for ourselves, and we know that this man really is the Savior of the world.’”

I tried to be a good guest but I think I said, “sucks” a few times and “pull your pants up” another. Hopefully I wasn’t too offensive.

I believe the message was recorded- but I guess it may have been cut off at some point. If/when it’s available- I’ll post a link to it on my blog.

Thanks again Jacob for your invitation to speak and your kindness towards me. It was a different crowd than what I’m used to but overall a really good experience.

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