DISCIPLESHIP BASCIS 101: SALVATION

JESUS AND THE SAMARITAN WOMAN  

JOHN 4:1-26 

Through our Discipleship Basics 101, we want to help disciple you to actively live your life representing Christ. We don’t want you to try to look like a Christian, we want you to look like Christ. That’s what it means to be a disciple of Jesus Christ.  

So, in today’s Faith Friday I want to demonstrate to you how it looks like to spread the gospel in the way Jesus taught us through His example, as He preached the gospel to the Samaritan woman.  

But before spreading the Gospel of Salvation to unbelievers you need to understand what it is first. 

What is the Gospel of Salvation? In theology salvation is “deliverance from sin and its consequences, believed by Christians to be brought about by faith in Christ”.  

Now, how do we talk about or spread the Gospel of Salvation? Well, Gospel means the teaching or revelation of Christ. Therefore, when we spread the Gospel of Salvation to unbelievers what you are supposed to do is reveal to them the truth about Jesus that was once hidden to them, by teaching them about who Jesus is and what He did for them (this is explained further in Study Sunday ‘From Courtroom to Salvation’ blog post).  

What is the purpose of spreading the Gospel of Salvation? It is to make disciples of Jesus Christ. This means, when we are teaching people about Jesus, we are helping people to follow Jesus, making them aware and understand who and what Jesus did for them. So, that they live their lives with the intention of worshipping Him only; living the fulfilled and purposeful life we all desire and God wilfully desires for us. And then in turn will encourage them to also spread the Gospel of Salvation to others. 

“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 4:10 NLT 

What better way to understand how to preach the gospel then by following the example of Jesus proclaiming the Gospel of Salvation to the Samaritan woman in John 4:1-26. We can learn 4 things on how you as a follower of Jesus can proclaim the Gospel of Salvation to unbelievers: 

1. What did the Father do for us when sending Jesus to earth? 

• God (the Father) gave us the gift of eternal life. And within that gift comes with grace and faith.  

• It is by grace through putting our faith in Jesus, we will not perish even though we deserve to; due to sin being a consequence of death; but have eternal life.  

• He sent Jesus to save us from death, by dying on the cross for our sins, so that we can spend eternity with Him in heaven and have a satisfied, fulfilled, purposeful and fruitful life here on earth also. 

• Scriptures: John 4:10, John 3:16, Romans 3:26, Ephesians 2:8-9. 

2. Who is Jesus? Believe in Jesus and confess who He is to be saved. 

• Jesus is the answer to eternal life. 

• He is the Messiah (which means Christ/Anointed One). 

• He is the Son of God/Son of Man 

• Jesus’ name is Yeshua in Hebrew which means “to rescue, to save, or to deliver” and “Yahweh [the Lord] is Salvation”. 

• The Mediator, the Way, the Truth, the Life. 

• The Light of the World. 

• The Bread of Life. 

• He is Love. 

• Scriptures: John 4:25-26 (AMP), Matthew 16:13-16, Hebrews 9:15, Philippians 2:6-8, Hebrews 7:25, John 14:6, John 6:35, John 8:12, 1 John 4:13-16. 

3. Understand the person you are talking to and connect with them. 

• When spreading the Gospel of Salvation to people, you don’t just want to tell them about it, you also want them to personally connect to the Gospel that they in fact can be saved. 

• This is a great opportunity to share your testimony. 

• Make sure you relate to them. It’s all good to spread the Gospel in power and in truth, but make sure you share it through love. 

• Also, they will have questions that is why it is important to study the word of God. But, if you don’t know the answer always be honest and say you don’t know, but that a relationship with Jesus is journey of getting to know Him more. 

• Scriptures: John 4:16-18, Luke 15:1-7, Colossians 2:6-7, 1 Peter 2:2-3, 2 Peter 1:5-8, Hebrews 6:1-3 (NLT), 2 Peter 3:18. 

4. Let your answers lead to how Jesus can fulfil them. Using scripture.  

• Every unbeliever in the world whether they know it or not feel like they are missing something in their life. That something is a someone, Jesus. So, make them aware that Jesus is the one who can make them whole, full, complete, satisfy and fulfil them. 

• However, they need to be filled with the Holy Spirit and this is through baptism of water and the Spirit, so they can enter the kingdom of God. 

• But also, by being filled with the Holy Spirit, you have the fruits of the Spirit (which are the characteristics of Jesus) living in you.  

• The Holy Spirit then helps and teaches us how to live life whole, fulfilled, satisfied and fruitful; all like Jesus.  

• Scriptures: John 4:13-15, John 3:5-8, John 14:15-21, Galatians 5:22-23, John 6:35, John 7: 37-39, 1 John 4:13-15. 

I hope this blog post helped you to understand what the Gospel of Salvation is, what the purpose of salvation is and how to spread the Gospel of Salvation to unbelievers.  

Also, I hope you understand the importance of sharing the gospel so that others also can be saved. It is not good enough for yourself to be saved yet people around you, strangers, colleagues etc are yet to hear or understand the truth of the gospel and the gift that it is. 

Stay Blessed, 

Divine L.