WEBVTT 00:00:09.819 --> 00:00:12.400 Hey everyone, this is Charlie from Encounter 00:00:12.400 --> 00:00:15.080 Church Henley and thanks so much for tuning into 00:00:15.080 --> 00:00:18.420 our podcast. Our prayer is that through this 00:00:18.420 --> 00:00:20.739 podcast, you can have an encounter with Jesus 00:00:20.739 --> 00:00:23.719 that will change your life. And now, get ready 00:00:23.719 --> 00:00:25.980 for an inspiring message from our preaching team. 00:00:29.300 --> 00:00:33.539 Hi everyone, my name is Emma. For those of you 00:00:33.539 --> 00:00:36.740 who don't know me, I am the kids coordinator 00:00:36.740 --> 00:00:41.479 here at Encounter Henley. Just a precursor, ignore 00:00:41.479 --> 00:00:45.619 my voice. I had a end of term dance concert on 00:00:45.619 --> 00:00:50.259 Wednesday and our little friends were not the 00:00:50.259 --> 00:00:54.679 best listeners, so there went my voice. So if 00:00:54.679 --> 00:00:58.079 I sound like a boy going through puberty, just... 00:00:58.859 --> 00:01:02.859 Leave it there. Can we pray together before I 00:01:02.859 --> 00:01:05.340 start? Heavenly Father, thank you that we can 00:01:05.340 --> 00:01:08.400 gather here today. Thank you that whenever we 00:01:08.400 --> 00:01:11.739 come together, you are already here, ready to 00:01:11.739 --> 00:01:14.219 meet with us. And what a gift it is to worship 00:01:14.219 --> 00:01:17.760 you, to open your word and to grow together as 00:01:17.760 --> 00:01:20.879 your people. And as we open your word today, 00:01:21.040 --> 00:01:23.980 we pray that you would speak to us, help us to 00:01:23.980 --> 00:01:27.480 hear your voice, and shape us to become more 00:01:27.480 --> 00:01:30.879 like Jesus. Lord, I pray today that the words 00:01:30.879 --> 00:01:34.560 I speak are yours and yours alone. Use them to 00:01:34.560 --> 00:01:38.000 encourage us, to challenge us, and to draw us 00:01:38.000 --> 00:01:42.540 closer to you. In Jesus' name, we all say, amen. 00:01:44.730 --> 00:01:50.109 Today we are into our last episode of our core 00:01:50.109 --> 00:01:53.769 value series and today we are exploring the value 00:01:53.769 --> 00:01:57.730 of Monday Invaders. Now when I first found out 00:01:57.730 --> 00:02:01.049 that I was preaching on Monday Invaders, I have 00:02:01.049 --> 00:02:05.629 to be honest with you, I wasn't exactly excited 00:02:05.629 --> 00:02:09.550 and I immediately started making a list of reasons 00:02:09.550 --> 00:02:12.810 why this message clearly wasn't meant for me 00:02:12.810 --> 00:02:14.949 and it was meant for some …somebody else, someone 00:02:14.949 --> 00:02:18.449 better. You see, I'm an introvert. I don't like 00:02:18.449 --> 00:02:21.490 being the centre of attention. And I actually 00:02:21.490 --> 00:02:24.129 don't really naturally start conversations with 00:02:24.129 --> 00:02:27.590 strangers very easily. And surely I thought to 00:02:27.590 --> 00:02:32.069 myself, that's why God created extroverts. He 00:02:32.069 --> 00:02:34.729 just missed that when He was making me. He missed 00:02:34.729 --> 00:02:40.000 the sprinkle of extrovertedness in my make. And 00:02:40.000 --> 00:02:41.740 maybe I thought, maybe there's people sitting 00:02:41.740 --> 00:02:45.919 here today that are thinking the same thing. 00:02:46.199 --> 00:02:49.099 You've heard stories of people boldly sharing 00:02:49.099 --> 00:02:52.139 their faith, praying for someone at work, and 00:02:52.139 --> 00:02:57.560 you think, that's amazing for them. But that's 00:02:57.560 --> 00:03:02.180 not for me. So then, as my brain always goes 00:03:02.180 --> 00:03:05.819 to, it goes somewhere very random. The bathroom. 00:03:06.330 --> 00:03:11.789 Just stay with me. It always goes there but we've 00:03:11.789 --> 00:03:14.969 all heard of the great philosopher and theologian 00:03:14.969 --> 00:03:20.229 Shrek who once said, better out than in, I always 00:03:20.229 --> 00:03:24.069 say. And now Shrek was talking about a burp but 00:03:24.069 --> 00:03:27.090 I think the principle here applies more broadly. 00:03:27.449 --> 00:03:29.969 Now imagine if someone decided that everything 00:03:29.969 --> 00:03:32.310 that was meant to happen in the bathroom should 00:03:32.310 --> 00:03:35.949 stay there forever. Inside. No flushing, no letting 00:03:35.949 --> 00:03:39.330 go, keeping everything locked up inside. It's 00:03:39.330 --> 00:03:43.169 gross. It's uncomfortable. It's also unhealthy. 00:03:43.909 --> 00:03:45.990 And eventually everyone around you is going to 00:03:45.990 --> 00:03:49.629 notice that something isn't right. Why? You ask. 00:03:49.949 --> 00:03:52.689 Because some things were never designed to stay 00:03:52.689 --> 00:03:57.710 in. They were meant to flow out. Overflow. And 00:03:57.710 --> 00:04:01.370 as ridiculous as that sounds physically, I actually 00:04:01.370 --> 00:04:04.270 think that we do it spiritually all the time. 00:04:04.879 --> 00:04:07.819 Now there's a very Aussie rule that we've all 00:04:07.819 --> 00:04:11.419 absorbed without anyone teaching it to us. And 00:04:11.419 --> 00:04:14.699 it is this to leave politics and religion off 00:04:14.699 --> 00:04:18.899 the table, especially at a dinner party. Controversial 00:04:18.899 --> 00:04:22.500 umpire ring decisions in footy, though fair game. 00:04:22.560 --> 00:04:25.720 Everyone talk about it. We're all happily argue 00:04:25.720 --> 00:04:29.180 about that umpiring decision that was uncalled 00:04:29.180 --> 00:04:32.300 for for 20 minutes. But somewhere along the way, 00:04:32.500 --> 00:04:35.959 we took that same agenda. and we applied it to 00:04:35.959 --> 00:04:39.079 our faith. We treated faith like a topic that's 00:04:39.079 --> 00:04:42.379 too risky for polite company, something best 00:04:42.379 --> 00:04:45.959 kept for Sunday and to never be brought up over 00:04:45.959 --> 00:04:49.680 the family barbecue. Now our culture encourages 00:04:49.680 --> 00:04:53.269 us to keep our faith suppressed. like something 00:04:53.269 --> 00:04:55.769 that surfaces up on a Sunday morning and then 00:04:55.769 --> 00:04:58.670 gets tucked back away again the moment we walk 00:04:58.670 --> 00:05:01.050 out those doors. We're taught that it should 00:05:01.050 --> 00:05:04.430 stay private when really, like a burp, it was 00:05:04.430 --> 00:05:08.490 never meant to be held in. And it's not just 00:05:08.490 --> 00:05:11.970 culture that tells us to keep it quiet. The main 00:05:11.970 --> 00:05:15.310 culprit is actually ourselves. We are the ones 00:05:15.310 --> 00:05:18.129 that are silencing ourselves. It is the fear 00:05:18.129 --> 00:05:21.029 that if I mention Jesus to my friend the friendship 00:05:21.029 --> 00:05:24.209 gets weird, the conversation ends. It's telling 00:05:24.209 --> 00:05:26.930 ourselves that we're not the type because that 00:05:26.930 --> 00:05:30.069 type has all the answers, the right gifting and 00:05:30.069 --> 00:05:33.029 the right tools and we just don't feel like that 00:05:33.029 --> 00:05:36.850 person. It's the quiet belief that who we are 00:05:36.850 --> 00:05:40.970 or who we were disqualifies us before we even 00:05:40.970 --> 00:05:44.110 open our mouths. And those are all real reasons, 00:05:44.449 --> 00:05:47.389 but none of them change what God has already 00:05:47.389 --> 00:05:50.790 commissioned us to do. Tim Keller said it like 00:05:50.790 --> 00:05:54.009 this, you are never called into a new relationship 00:05:54.009 --> 00:05:56.970 with God without being radically sent out into 00:05:56.970 --> 00:05:59.730 the world to live for others. Every Christian 00:05:59.730 --> 00:06:02.730 man and woman is a man and woman in mission. 00:06:03.129 --> 00:06:06.250 And yet, for a lot of us, that mission goes completely 00:06:06.250 --> 00:06:08.750 quiet the moment we leave this building on a 00:06:08.750 --> 00:06:12.430 Sunday. Now, Monday Invaders the Value has been 00:06:12.430 --> 00:06:16.170 a part of Encounters DNA for a long time. I mean, 00:06:16.310 --> 00:06:20.269 we did a whole series on it, with merch included. 00:06:20.790 --> 00:06:23.589 And you know that if there's merch, that it is 00:06:23.589 --> 00:06:27.759 important. Monday Invaders speaks to this idea 00:06:27.759 --> 00:06:30.319 that the church is not a place that we come to 00:06:30.319 --> 00:06:32.959 hide from the world, that we are God's people, 00:06:33.319 --> 00:06:37.060 we are called out people sent back into the world. 00:06:37.519 --> 00:06:40.939 Not the confident ones, not the extroverts, not 00:06:40.939 --> 00:06:44.540 the one with all the answers, all of us. Now 00:06:44.540 --> 00:06:47.160 don't get me wrong, our Sundays, they still matter. 00:06:47.389 --> 00:06:50.290 They're for worship and celebration, they're 00:06:50.290 --> 00:06:53.550 for welcome, for testimony and for rest, but 00:06:53.550 --> 00:06:57.430 they are not the destination. They are just the 00:06:57.430 --> 00:07:01.430 fuel stop. We gather here to be refuelled and 00:07:01.430 --> 00:07:05.230 refocused for our week ahead with eyes towards 00:07:05.230 --> 00:07:08.810 our family, to our friends, our neighbours, the 00:07:08.810 --> 00:07:11.949 strangers, the poor and the world that is beyond 00:07:11.949 --> 00:07:16.110 these church walls every day, every week and 00:07:16.110 --> 00:07:20.149 every Monday. So what does it actually look like 00:07:20.149 --> 00:07:23.610 for someone to be a Monday invader, for someone 00:07:23.610 --> 00:07:28.870 to go? For just another ordinary person who's 00:07:28.870 --> 00:07:32.550 encountered Jesus and can't keep it to themselves. 00:07:32.810 --> 00:07:35.910 How do they go and take that into their Monday? 00:07:36.829 --> 00:07:41.449 We see exactly that play out in John 4 in the 00:07:41.449 --> 00:07:44.629 teaching text today. Now a little bit of a background. 00:07:45.209 --> 00:07:48.089 The Gospel of John It's believed to be written 00:07:48.089 --> 00:07:52.069 by the Apostle John and the text refers to this 00:07:52.069 --> 00:07:57.110 John as the author being the disciple whom Jesus 00:07:57.110 --> 00:08:01.189 loved. And I thought to myself, wow, that's a 00:08:01.189 --> 00:08:04.829 way to sign off your message. It's like I'm sending 00:08:04.829 --> 00:08:07.410 a message to grandma being like, dear grandma, 00:08:07.970 --> 00:08:10.949 thank you for the birthday money. Love Emma, 00:08:10.970 --> 00:08:14.269 your granddaughter who you adore and has always 00:08:14.269 --> 00:08:19.860 been the favorite. a super humble brag. And whether 00:08:19.860 --> 00:08:23.079 it was Apostle John or not, he definitely made 00:08:23.079 --> 00:08:27.259 sure to make it known who Jesus' favourite disciple 00:08:27.259 --> 00:08:32.899 was. Now John writes his gospel later than the 00:08:32.899 --> 00:08:36.919 other three gospels. which meant that he had 00:08:36.919 --> 00:08:39.980 time to write it with intention and reflection. 00:08:40.700 --> 00:08:43.919 He says it himself near the end of his gospel, 00:08:44.100 --> 00:08:46.940 but these are written so that you may continue 00:08:46.940 --> 00:08:49.860 to believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the son 00:08:49.860 --> 00:08:53.019 of God, and that by believing in him, you will 00:08:53.019 --> 00:08:57.740 have life by the power of his name. Every story 00:08:57.740 --> 00:09:00.519 that John includes in his gospel is deliberate. 00:09:00.830 --> 00:09:03.710 And John is the only gospel writer who includes 00:09:03.710 --> 00:09:07.389 this encounter of the woman at the well at all. 00:09:08.009 --> 00:09:10.970 Mark, Matthew and Luke don't record it, but John 00:09:10.970 --> 00:09:14.870 chose it specifically. And that's a detail worth 00:09:14.870 --> 00:09:19.070 paying attention to. Now a quick recap of the 00:09:19.070 --> 00:09:22.409 teaching text. We have Jews and we have Samaritans. 00:09:22.450 --> 00:09:26.299 We have two groups. I'm so divided. that the 00:09:26.299 --> 00:09:29.240 Jews would purposely walk the long way around 00:09:29.240 --> 00:09:34.179 Samaria just to avoid any interaction or association 00:09:34.179 --> 00:09:38.320 with them. But Jesus made the deliberate decision 00:09:38.320 --> 00:09:43.080 in this story to go through Samaria. And he stops 00:09:43.080 --> 00:09:47.299 at Jacob's well at midday, the hottest, the quietest 00:09:47.299 --> 00:09:50.539 hour, the time nobody in their right mind would 00:09:50.539 --> 00:09:54.629 be collecting water. Most women in the time they 00:09:54.629 --> 00:09:57.750 came early together in the cool of the morning 00:09:57.750 --> 00:10:02.029 like sophisticated people. But this woman comes 00:10:02.029 --> 00:10:05.690 alone at noon in the heat of the day and she 00:10:05.690 --> 00:10:09.490 did that for a reason. Earlier on in the chapter 00:10:09.490 --> 00:10:13.370 it says that Jesus reveals that he knows her 00:10:13.370 --> 00:10:16.710 past. He says you have had five husbands and 00:10:16.710 --> 00:10:19.110 you aren't even married to the man you are living 00:10:19.110 --> 00:10:23.639 with now. I thought, five husbands? Wow. I'm 00:10:23.639 --> 00:10:27.899 still surprised that I managed one. My mum wasn't 00:10:27.899 --> 00:10:31.820 convinced that I would. Her mum must be thrilled. 00:10:33.340 --> 00:10:37.919 No, but seriously, five husbands. That's not 00:10:37.919 --> 00:10:40.659 just a statement meant to grab your attention, 00:10:40.899 --> 00:10:44.269 but it's actually her life. By the time she gets 00:10:44.269 --> 00:10:47.190 to number five, she isn't just unlucky in love, 00:10:47.250 --> 00:10:50.529 but she is someone who the community has formed 00:10:50.529 --> 00:10:53.970 an opinion about. She's someone that the community 00:10:53.970 --> 00:10:58.129 has judged and she knows it. She isn't avoiding 00:10:58.129 --> 00:11:01.049 the well because she's busy or because she prefers 00:11:01.049 --> 00:11:04.970 being out in the hot. She's avoiding the people 00:11:04.970 --> 00:11:09.019 who would recognize her. She has built her whole 00:11:09.019 --> 00:11:12.360 day around staying invisible, around managing 00:11:12.360 --> 00:11:16.440 exactly what people get to see. Doesn't that 00:11:16.440 --> 00:11:20.220 sound a little bit familiar? That's the same 00:11:20.220 --> 00:11:23.460 quiet calculation, the same questions that we 00:11:23.460 --> 00:11:26.679 named earlier. She had her own version of a faith 00:11:26.679 --> 00:11:29.899 that is kept hidden, except for her it was shame, 00:11:30.559 --> 00:11:33.399 locked away where nobody could reach it. And 00:11:33.399 --> 00:11:38.509 then Jesus comes. He sits down at her well with 00:11:38.509 --> 00:11:41.350 the wrong ethnicity, the wrong gender, the wrong 00:11:41.350 --> 00:11:45.309 hour and yet he stayed with her anyway. And I 00:11:45.309 --> 00:11:47.769 think that says something important about the 00:11:47.769 --> 00:11:51.269 people who Jesus chooses to send out into Monday. 00:11:51.929 --> 00:11:54.769 Because the disciples come back in verse 27 and 00:11:54.769 --> 00:11:57.950 they're stopped cold not by a miracle but by 00:11:57.950 --> 00:12:01.750 the conversation with this woman. The woman nobody 00:12:01.750 --> 00:12:05.320 would have picked. And the teaching text it says, 00:12:05.700 --> 00:12:08.799 just then his disciples came back. They were 00:12:08.799 --> 00:12:12.039 shocked to find him talking to a woman, but none 00:12:12.039 --> 00:12:14.840 of them had the nerve to ask, what do you want 00:12:14.840 --> 00:12:18.820 with her? Or why are you talking to her? And 00:12:18.820 --> 00:12:21.500 those two questions that are hanging in the air, 00:12:21.740 --> 00:12:24.460 what do you want with her? And why are you talking 00:12:24.460 --> 00:12:27.879 to her? That's not curiosity, that's judgment. 00:12:28.110 --> 00:12:32.029 And the whole town had already decided who she 00:12:32.029 --> 00:12:35.549 was and what she was worth. And the disciples 00:12:35.549 --> 00:12:39.029 agreed. But those aren't just questions about 00:12:39.029 --> 00:12:41.350 her. I mean, those are the questions most of 00:12:41.350 --> 00:12:44.970 us have already asked about ourselves. What does 00:12:44.970 --> 00:12:47.909 Jesus want with me? Why would he bother with 00:12:47.909 --> 00:12:51.409 someone like me? Because most of us are carrying 00:12:51.409 --> 00:12:54.539 something like the woman. A past we've managed 00:12:54.539 --> 00:12:58.080 carefully, our own version of our noontime walk, 00:12:58.840 --> 00:13:01.679 and that becomes the internal voice that we've 00:13:01.679 --> 00:13:04.960 already accepted before Jesus has even spoken 00:13:04.960 --> 00:13:08.519 a word over our lives. I'm too messy, I'm too 00:13:08.519 --> 00:13:12.519 broken, I'm too far gone to be a Monday invader. 00:13:13.559 --> 00:13:17.779 I'm too far gone to be sent. And yet in this 00:13:17.779 --> 00:13:22.019 story, confronted with her past Jesus doesn't 00:13:22.019 --> 00:13:25.080 even flinch he doesn't ask her to go and saw 00:13:25.080 --> 00:13:28.179 herself out first he names everything about her 00:13:28.179 --> 00:13:31.159 broken past and keeps talking to her like the 00:13:31.159 --> 00:13:35.000 conversation was never in danger of ending he 00:13:35.000 --> 00:13:39.059 sees her and he sees her fully and he sends her 00:13:39.059 --> 00:13:42.460 exactly as she is back to the town the mess and 00:13:42.460 --> 00:13:44.980 all that back to the town that she'd already 00:13:44.980 --> 00:13:50.210 been hiding from Now most of us are waiting to 00:13:50.210 --> 00:13:53.549 be ready. We're waiting to be sorted enough, 00:13:53.769 --> 00:13:56.809 put together enough. But Jesus never asked her 00:13:56.809 --> 00:14:00.809 to be ready. He just asked her to go. And what 00:14:00.809 --> 00:14:03.750 he did for her, he does for us too. He looks 00:14:03.750 --> 00:14:06.509 straight past every reason for us not to go. 00:14:06.610 --> 00:14:09.169 Every verdict we've ever placed upon ourselves 00:14:09.169 --> 00:14:13.610 and he chooses us anyway. Not fixed, not perfect, 00:14:13.909 --> 00:14:17.879 just chosen and sent. And that is the type of 00:14:17.879 --> 00:14:23.080 person Jesus chooses to send out. Jesus chooses 00:14:23.080 --> 00:14:28.299 who the world overlooks. Now we move into the 00:14:28.299 --> 00:14:30.740 next part of the text. And it says the woman 00:14:30.740 --> 00:14:33.580 left her water jar beside the well and ran back 00:14:33.580 --> 00:14:36.580 to the village. Now notice the detail about the 00:14:36.580 --> 00:14:41.279 woman leaving the jar. It is an easy miss. But 00:14:41.279 --> 00:14:43.899 the Jai is the whole reason she was there. She 00:14:43.899 --> 00:14:46.240 arrived at the well with a practical problem. 00:14:46.559 --> 00:14:49.399 She needed water and yet she walked away from 00:14:49.399 --> 00:14:52.200 this encounter with Jesus having completely forgotten 00:14:52.200 --> 00:14:56.820 it, leaving it at the side of the well. Because 00:14:56.820 --> 00:14:59.580 something so much more important happened to 00:14:59.580 --> 00:15:03.309 her at the well. John actually gives us the contrast 00:15:03.309 --> 00:15:06.409 of the woman's encounter with Jesus one chapter 00:15:06.409 --> 00:15:09.950 earlier, and we meet Nicodemus, a religious ruler, 00:15:10.289 --> 00:15:12.730 someone who has spent his whole life studying 00:15:12.730 --> 00:15:16.509 scripture. He comes to Jesus at night, privately, 00:15:17.110 --> 00:15:20.669 carefully, and making sure nobody sees him. And 00:15:20.669 --> 00:15:22.830 he hears some of the most profound words ever 00:15:22.830 --> 00:15:26.710 spoken, and then he quietly slips back into the 00:15:26.710 --> 00:15:31.340 dark. He came and got something. But we never 00:15:31.340 --> 00:15:36.080 see him run anywhere Then there's the woman at 00:15:36.080 --> 00:15:39.740 the well no religious credentials a complicated 00:15:39.740 --> 00:15:44.059 history Yet she leaves her job and then runs 00:15:44.059 --> 00:15:47.399 towards the town and it wasn't because her practical 00:15:47.399 --> 00:15:50.419 need was met or fulfilled but because she had 00:15:50.419 --> 00:15:53.899 an encounter with Jesus and was given so much 00:15:53.899 --> 00:15:57.799 more than just physical water and these two comparisons 00:15:57.799 --> 00:16:01.730 show us that Whilst a transaction is informative, 00:16:02.950 --> 00:16:06.409 an encounter is the thing that transforms us. 00:16:07.049 --> 00:16:10.629 And that's not just her story, that's why we 00:16:10.629 --> 00:16:13.789 exist at Encounter Henley. We believe that people 00:16:13.789 --> 00:16:16.990 from city to beach need more than anything else, 00:16:17.309 --> 00:16:20.750 isn't a better program, or a louder Sunday, it's 00:16:20.750 --> 00:16:24.399 an encounter with Jesus. And because we've seen 00:16:24.399 --> 00:16:28.220 what actually happens when people meet Jesus 00:16:28.220 --> 00:16:31.559 We've seen people walk in carrying something 00:16:31.559 --> 00:16:35.139 heavy and walk out having left it at the well 00:16:35.139 --> 00:16:40.480 But it goes to say that you can only give away 00:16:40.480 --> 00:16:45.519 what you've actually received if Sunday becomes 00:16:45.519 --> 00:16:49.419 our routine rather than a place to go for encounter. 00:16:49.879 --> 00:16:51.980 If we're showing up, if we're going through the 00:16:51.980 --> 00:16:55.379 motions, leaving the same person we arrived as, 00:16:55.620 --> 00:16:58.940 then we are doing what Nicodemus did. He got 00:16:58.940 --> 00:17:02.460 something, but he didn't run anywhere. We are 00:17:02.460 --> 00:17:06.059 coming to church for a transaction instead of 00:17:06.059 --> 00:17:10.140 leaving this building transformed. We don't share 00:17:10.140 --> 00:17:12.519 Jesus with the outside world because we have 00:17:12.519 --> 00:17:15.960 something to say but we share about Him because 00:17:15.960 --> 00:17:20.519 He has changed us. You can keep a transaction 00:17:20.519 --> 00:17:24.000 to yourself but you cannot keep an encounter 00:17:24.000 --> 00:17:29.680 with Jesus quiet. A transformed person cannot 00:17:29.680 --> 00:17:32.480 stay hidden and not because they've got it all 00:17:32.480 --> 00:17:36.660 figured out but because they are no longer who 00:17:36.660 --> 00:17:42.650 they were. Now we moved on into the last part 00:17:42.650 --> 00:17:45.549 of the teaching text. It says here that the woman 00:17:45.549 --> 00:17:48.049 left her water jar beside the well and ran back 00:17:48.049 --> 00:17:50.910 to the village telling everyone, come and see 00:17:50.910 --> 00:17:54.710 a man who told me everything I ever did. Could 00:17:54.710 --> 00:17:58.529 he possibly be the Messiah? So the people came 00:17:58.529 --> 00:18:02.309 streaming from the village to see him. And catch 00:18:02.309 --> 00:18:06.319 this detail, she ran. She didn't walk. She didn't 00:18:06.319 --> 00:18:09.619 wander back to the village. She ran back to the 00:18:09.619 --> 00:18:13.400 village. The woman who came alone quietly at 00:18:13.400 --> 00:18:16.519 noon to the well to avoid everyone ran back to 00:18:16.519 --> 00:18:19.279 those very people that she had been hiding from. 00:18:20.119 --> 00:18:23.640 Something happened to her that made staying hidden 00:18:23.640 --> 00:18:27.940 impossible. And I think with the whole Monday 00:18:27.940 --> 00:18:30.880 Invaders value, I think we've made it sound like 00:18:30.880 --> 00:18:34.650 a big thing. Like it needs to be a new season 00:18:34.650 --> 00:18:38.549 for us or a new strategy to try or a new version 00:18:38.549 --> 00:18:40.670 of you that you need to go out and show the world. 00:18:41.049 --> 00:18:44.589 But look at what Jesus actually does. He doesn't 00:18:44.589 --> 00:18:48.390 send her to a platform. He doesn't send her to 00:18:48.390 --> 00:18:51.329 a new ministry. He doesn't send her with a plan. 00:18:51.589 --> 00:18:55.289 He actually sends her back. Back to her town. 00:18:55.589 --> 00:18:58.710 Back to her neighbours. Back to the people who 00:18:58.710 --> 00:19:02.819 knew her name and they knew her shame. Jesus 00:19:02.819 --> 00:19:05.779 didn't remove her from her world. He put her 00:19:05.779 --> 00:19:09.480 back into it. Those same streets, those same 00:19:09.480 --> 00:19:14.140 faces, with the same history. But watch what 00:19:14.140 --> 00:19:17.099 happens when she gets there. Come and see a man 00:19:17.099 --> 00:19:20.359 who told me everything I ever did. That's it. 00:19:20.859 --> 00:19:24.799 That was her whole message. She had no theology 00:19:24.799 --> 00:19:27.660 degree. She didn't have the perfect answers. 00:19:28.140 --> 00:19:31.170 She just had something. that happened to her 00:19:31.170 --> 00:19:34.730 and she said, come and see. And that was enough 00:19:34.730 --> 00:19:38.269 for the whole town. It says in verse 39, it tells 00:19:38.269 --> 00:19:40.490 us that many of the Samaritans from that town 00:19:40.490 --> 00:19:43.210 believed in him because of that woman's testimony. 00:19:43.809 --> 00:19:46.829 And here's what that means for us. Our Mondays 00:19:46.829 --> 00:19:50.150 are so much closer than we think. The calling 00:19:50.150 --> 00:19:52.829 for us isn't somewhere new. It's back to where 00:19:52.829 --> 00:19:56.950 you already are. The office, your street, your 00:19:56.950 --> 00:20:00.170 dinner table, the group chat. the school gate. 00:20:00.589 --> 00:20:03.970 You are already there. You have already been 00:20:03.970 --> 00:20:07.789 placed where God is going to use you. And that's 00:20:07.789 --> 00:20:10.390 what Monday Invasion actually looks like. It's 00:20:10.390 --> 00:20:13.130 not a program. It's not an event that we put 00:20:13.130 --> 00:20:17.750 on. It's you. walking back into the same Monday 00:20:17.750 --> 00:20:20.910 morning, the same workplace kitchen, the same 00:20:20.910 --> 00:20:24.210 school gate, but this time differently, with 00:20:24.210 --> 00:20:27.269 your eyes open, with the presence of God with 00:20:27.269 --> 00:20:31.750 you, willing to stop, willing to ask, willing 00:20:31.750 --> 00:20:36.190 to see. We're just ordinary people in ordinary 00:20:36.190 --> 00:20:40.049 places. We are living from the overflow of a 00:20:40.049 --> 00:20:43.849 Sunday encounter that we just can't keep hidden. 00:20:45.609 --> 00:20:49.730 But here's the question worth asking, is how 00:20:49.730 --> 00:20:53.049 do we actually live like that? Where does that 00:20:53.049 --> 00:20:57.430 kind of overflow come from? And like we've said 00:20:57.430 --> 00:21:00.109 before, we can't give away what we haven't received 00:21:00.109 --> 00:21:03.089 and we can't be sent the same way she was sent 00:21:03.089 --> 00:21:06.970 without understanding who sent her and who sends 00:21:06.970 --> 00:21:10.710 us. Because before she was ever a Monday invader, 00:21:10.990 --> 00:21:15.990 there was one who went first. Jesus is the original 00:21:15.990 --> 00:21:19.809 Monday invader. God looked at a world that didn't 00:21:19.809 --> 00:21:23.349 want Him, people that wouldn't accept Him, a 00:21:23.349 --> 00:21:26.549 culture that had its own rules about who was 00:21:26.549 --> 00:21:30.690 worth reaching, and He came anyway. He didn't 00:21:30.690 --> 00:21:33.460 stay in heaven where it was safe. He crossed 00:21:33.460 --> 00:21:37.880 every boundary to get to us. He went to the Samaritan 00:21:37.880 --> 00:21:40.720 woman. He went to the tax collector. He went 00:21:40.720 --> 00:21:43.539 to the widow. He went to the leper. He went to 00:21:43.539 --> 00:21:46.880 the beggar on the side of the road. He went to 00:21:46.880 --> 00:21:49.720 the ones whose society had already written off, 00:21:49.859 --> 00:21:52.579 the ones with nothing to offer back. He didn't 00:21:52.579 --> 00:21:55.839 wait for them to clean themselves up and he came 00:21:55.839 --> 00:22:00.680 to them. He went to where they were. They didn't 00:22:00.680 --> 00:22:04.319 come close to him. He went to them. He was sent 00:22:04.319 --> 00:22:08.279 and He went. And here's why. Jesus knew that 00:22:08.279 --> 00:22:12.480 being fully known and fully loved creates an 00:22:12.480 --> 00:22:15.039 overflow that you can't contain. He couldn't 00:22:15.039 --> 00:22:18.869 stay silent about that His Father's love. He 00:22:18.869 --> 00:22:21.990 couldn't distance himself from broken people. 00:22:22.650 --> 00:22:24.769 Every time he crossed a boundary, the disciples 00:22:24.769 --> 00:22:27.430 thought he shouldn't cross. Every time he stopped 00:22:27.430 --> 00:22:29.789 for someone the world had decided wasn't worth 00:22:29.789 --> 00:22:32.950 stopping for, he was overflowing with the Father's 00:22:32.950 --> 00:22:36.430 love. Not performing, not following a strategy, 00:22:36.930 --> 00:22:40.430 overflowing. And that overflow led him all the 00:22:40.430 --> 00:22:43.809 way to the cross. Because Jesus understood what 00:22:43.809 --> 00:22:48.500 it meant to be fully exposed. He came in human 00:22:48.500 --> 00:22:52.880 vulnerability. He was seen completely. His suffering, 00:22:53.200 --> 00:22:57.019 his shame, his death, laid bare in front of everyone. 00:22:57.740 --> 00:23:00.779 There was nowhere to hide on that cross. And 00:23:00.779 --> 00:23:04.369 yet he stayed. He went through with it. He didn't 00:23:04.369 --> 00:23:07.069 manage what people got to see. He let it all 00:23:07.069 --> 00:23:10.269 be seen. He paid the price. He absorbed every 00:23:10.269 --> 00:23:13.450 reason we should be disqualified. Every afternoon 00:23:13.450 --> 00:23:16.609 walk, every jar left at the wall, every version 00:23:16.609 --> 00:23:20.109 of ourselves we've kept hidden. He took it all. 00:23:20.710 --> 00:23:24.369 And He went to that cross anyway. So here is 00:23:24.369 --> 00:23:28.130 what that means for us. Jesus doesn't ask us 00:23:28.130 --> 00:23:31.460 to do anything that He hasn't already done. He 00:23:31.460 --> 00:23:35.079 was fully exposed. He was fully sent. He went 00:23:35.079 --> 00:23:37.819 to the spaces where culture said he didn't belong. 00:23:38.319 --> 00:23:41.740 He overflowed with grace, with seeing, with choosing, 00:23:42.140 --> 00:23:45.839 choosing the unchosen. And when exposure came, 00:23:46.160 --> 00:23:49.740 when shame came, when death came, he went through 00:23:49.740 --> 00:23:53.779 it for us so that we wouldn't have to hide anymore. 00:23:54.960 --> 00:23:57.599 That's the only thing that moves people from 00:23:57.599 --> 00:24:02.220 hiding to being sent. From going from a Sunday 00:24:02.220 --> 00:24:06.319 into your Monday From the well to the village. 00:24:06.440 --> 00:24:09.000 It's not a good sermon that makes you go through 00:24:09.000 --> 00:24:12.380 back out those doors It's not a fancy alliterated 00:24:12.380 --> 00:24:15.880 series that we do It's an encounter with Jesus 00:24:15.880 --> 00:24:18.740 who knew everything about you before you even 00:24:18.740 --> 00:24:24.240 showed up and chose you anyway He went first 00:24:24.240 --> 00:24:28.539 so that you could go he was sent so that you 00:24:28.539 --> 00:24:32.309 could be sent He overflowed all the way to a 00:24:32.309 --> 00:24:34.710 cross so that you would have something to overflow 00:24:34.710 --> 00:24:38.809 with. That woman at the well didn't manufacture 00:24:38.809 --> 00:24:41.390 her own courage. She didn't talk herself into 00:24:41.390 --> 00:24:44.470 going back into that town. She had an encounter 00:24:44.470 --> 00:24:47.950 with Jesus. And that was enough to change everything 00:24:47.950 --> 00:24:51.430 for her. The same Jesus who sat down with her 00:24:51.430 --> 00:24:54.279 at the well. who crossed every boundary to get 00:24:54.279 --> 00:24:57.240 to her, who saw everything she had been through 00:24:57.240 --> 00:25:00.299 and stayed anyway. He is the one that is sending 00:25:00.299 --> 00:25:05.240 you. Now, we've walked through the text and we've 00:25:05.240 --> 00:25:08.559 seen this woman's story, but their sermon isn't 00:25:08.559 --> 00:25:12.339 called Sunday Invaders. It's called Monday Invaders 00:25:12.339 --> 00:25:16.380 and Monday is well, it's tomorrow. So the biggest 00:25:16.380 --> 00:25:19.720 barrier to everything we have just talked about 00:25:19.720 --> 00:25:22.849 isn't out there in the world. It's actually here 00:25:22.849 --> 00:25:28.329 in this room on a Sunday afternoon. If we never 00:25:28.329 --> 00:25:31.869 let ourselves be actually encountered here, you 00:25:31.869 --> 00:25:36.089 will never flow out there. If our Sunday stays 00:25:36.089 --> 00:25:39.950 a performance, the right songs, the right responses, 00:25:40.109 --> 00:25:43.210 the right version of ourselves on show, we will 00:25:43.210 --> 00:25:45.950 leave this room the same person as we arrived. 00:25:47.029 --> 00:25:50.309 And a transaction we know doesn't move anyone. 00:25:51.079 --> 00:25:53.799 It won't move you, it won't move your neighbour 00:25:53.799 --> 00:25:57.039 and it won't move your street. So before we talk 00:25:57.039 --> 00:26:00.200 about Monday, we need to talk about right now. 00:26:01.839 --> 00:26:05.799 What are you hiding? What have you been managing 00:26:05.799 --> 00:26:08.720 behind the scenes? What shame have you carried 00:26:08.720 --> 00:26:12.740 into this room today that you thought would disqualify 00:26:12.740 --> 00:26:17.480 you? Jesus already knows it. He knows all of 00:26:17.480 --> 00:26:21.170 it. He knows every version of yourself that you've 00:26:21.170 --> 00:26:23.930 kept hidden, every noontime walk that you've 00:26:23.930 --> 00:26:26.589 taken, every reason you've told yourself that 00:26:26.589 --> 00:26:29.430 you're not the type. He sees it and he names 00:26:29.430 --> 00:26:33.750 it. And instead of walking away, he stays. He 00:26:33.750 --> 00:26:36.990 goes to the cross. He absorbs every reason. You 00:26:36.990 --> 00:26:39.509 should be disqualified and pays the price for 00:26:39.509 --> 00:26:42.349 it all. And that's the gospel. That's a God who 00:26:42.349 --> 00:26:44.809 sees everything about you and chooses you anyway. 00:26:45.210 --> 00:26:49.500 So just for a moment, Stop performing, stop managing 00:26:49.500 --> 00:26:52.420 and let him see what you actually brought in 00:26:52.420 --> 00:26:55.599 here today, because that's where encounter happens. 00:26:56.019 --> 00:26:58.940 Not when we have it all together, but right here, 00:26:59.039 --> 00:27:02.569 right now, exactly as we are. That encounter 00:27:02.569 --> 00:27:05.089 being completely known, completely forgiven, 00:27:05.450 --> 00:27:08.349 completely chosen, that's what overflows on Monday. 00:27:08.769 --> 00:27:12.150 Not out of obligation, not out of guilt, just 00:27:12.150 --> 00:27:15.269 the overwhelming reality that you have been fully 00:27:15.269 --> 00:27:18.890 seen and are still fully loved. That's what sent 00:27:18.890 --> 00:27:21.710 her running and that's what will send us out 00:27:21.710 --> 00:27:24.769 into our Monday. So this week... I challenge 00:27:24.769 --> 00:27:29.549 you, go and find, go and serve, go and sit with, 00:27:29.789 --> 00:27:32.849 feed someone who's hungry, listen to someone 00:27:32.849 --> 00:27:36.309 who's lonely, see someone the world has already 00:27:36.309 --> 00:27:39.450 walked past, the person sleeping rough on the 00:27:39.450 --> 00:27:41.910 way to work, the family that's doing it tough 00:27:41.910 --> 00:27:45.130 on your street, the one with nothing to give 00:27:45.130 --> 00:27:50.109 back, the gospel in one hand and the meal in 00:27:50.109 --> 00:27:55.410 other to anyone God places in front of us. And 00:27:55.410 --> 00:27:58.130 sometimes it doesn't feel like a big moment. 00:27:59.069 --> 00:28:02.789 Sometimes it won't feel like a mission. Sometimes 00:28:02.789 --> 00:28:08.150 it will just feel like an ordinary Monday. Bonhoeffer 00:28:08.150 --> 00:28:11.559 puts it like this. We must be ready to allow 00:28:11.559 --> 00:28:14.759 ourselves to be interrupted by God who will send 00:28:14.759 --> 00:28:18.039 people across our path with their demands and 00:28:18.039 --> 00:28:21.559 requests. We can then pass them by preoccupied 00:28:21.559 --> 00:28:25.500 with our important daily tasks. When we do that, 00:28:25.640 --> 00:28:29.039 we pass by the visible sign of the cross raised 00:28:29.039 --> 00:28:34.420 in our lives. That last line, the visible sign 00:28:34.420 --> 00:28:39.230 of the cross is what he means. The cross is the 00:28:39.230 --> 00:28:42.309 moment God chose radical love over convenience. 00:28:43.289 --> 00:28:47.250 Jesus didn't walk past anyone, not once. He stopped 00:28:47.250 --> 00:28:50.349 for the inconvenient ones, the ones who needed 00:28:50.349 --> 00:28:53.410 too much, the ones who would cost him something, 00:28:53.829 --> 00:28:57.869 and it ended up costing him everything. So every 00:28:57.869 --> 00:29:01.250 person God places in front of you on a Monday 00:29:01.250 --> 00:29:05.079 is a cross -shaped moment. And when we walk past 00:29:05.079 --> 00:29:08.819 them too busy, too preoccupied, too focused on 00:29:08.819 --> 00:29:11.299 where we're going to stop, we're not just missing 00:29:11.299 --> 00:29:14.740 an opportunity. We're walking past the very thing 00:29:14.740 --> 00:29:18.160 the cross was for. The person in the checkout 00:29:18.160 --> 00:29:21.720 line, the coworker eating lunch alone, the neighbour 00:29:21.720 --> 00:29:25.940 you wave to, but you never stop for. Jesus died 00:29:25.940 --> 00:29:30.539 for that person. Sometimes being a Monday invader 00:29:30.539 --> 00:29:36.349 is just refusing to walk past them. And being 00:29:36.349 --> 00:29:38.970 a Monday invader doesn't always look the same. 00:29:39.250 --> 00:29:42.309 Sometimes it looks like the woman at the well 00:29:42.309 --> 00:29:45.369 running, actively seeking people out, going back 00:29:45.369 --> 00:29:49.009 to the town, going first. Sometimes it's just 00:29:49.009 --> 00:29:52.309 being the one person who actually saw someone, 00:29:53.130 --> 00:29:57.130 because that's what Jesus did at the well. Sometimes 00:29:57.130 --> 00:29:59.789 it looks like slowing down, enough to notice 00:29:59.789 --> 00:30:03.369 who God has already placed in front of you. And 00:30:03.369 --> 00:30:07.269 sometimes, It's an invitation to come and see. 00:30:08.650 --> 00:30:13.809 All are the same overflow. All are the overflow 00:30:13.809 --> 00:30:17.369 of the same encounter. All are the same cross 00:30:17.369 --> 00:30:21.450 -shaped love. The posture might look different, 00:30:21.869 --> 00:30:25.329 but the source of the sending is the same. So 00:30:25.329 --> 00:30:29.039 go and invite someone. to come and see not because 00:30:29.039 --> 00:30:31.759 you have to not because what happened to you 00:30:31.759 --> 00:30:34.500 but because what happened to you is too real 00:30:34.500 --> 00:30:38.559 to keep hidden the woman at the well didn't prepare 00:30:38.559 --> 00:30:41.160 a fancy sermon for her friend she didn't have 00:30:41.160 --> 00:30:44.440 all the answers to tell the town people she just 00:30:44.440 --> 00:30:51.720 said come and see that's a whole invitation but 00:30:51.720 --> 00:30:55.039 just what is she actually asking them to see 00:30:55.039 --> 00:30:57.640 i wondered She's not asking them to come and 00:30:57.640 --> 00:31:00.359 see our building, though it is very nice. She 00:31:00.359 --> 00:31:03.839 didn't ask to come and see a service. We've got 00:31:03.839 --> 00:31:07.380 good people here. She didn't ask them to come 00:31:07.380 --> 00:31:11.680 and see our program. She came to ask them to 00:31:11.680 --> 00:31:17.019 come and see a person. Come and see. Jesus. Come 00:31:17.019 --> 00:31:19.819 and see someone who knew everything about me 00:31:19.819 --> 00:31:23.079 and didn't walk away. Come and see someone who 00:31:23.079 --> 00:31:25.720 sat down at the well when nobody else would. 00:31:25.980 --> 00:31:29.119 Come and see someone who saw me fully and chose 00:31:29.119 --> 00:31:32.380 me anyway. That's what she's pointing to. Not 00:31:32.380 --> 00:31:38.079 an idea, not a religion. Jesus. And that's still 00:31:38.079 --> 00:31:41.490 the invitation for us to take. When we say come 00:31:41.490 --> 00:31:45.029 and see, we're not selling a church. We're pointing 00:31:45.029 --> 00:31:49.369 our people to a person. The same person who sat 00:31:49.369 --> 00:31:52.650 down at the well is the one who's sitting with 00:31:52.650 --> 00:31:55.670 you in this room today and wants to be sitting 00:31:55.670 --> 00:31:59.529 out there with those people. Come and see what 00:31:59.529 --> 00:32:06.390 he could do for you. Now your mission field isn't 00:32:06.390 --> 00:32:10.380 somewhere you need to go and find. It's already 00:32:10.380 --> 00:32:13.480 around you, it's out of those doors. You're already 00:32:13.480 --> 00:32:16.799 on the doorstep to your mission field. You're 00:32:16.799 --> 00:32:20.359 already placed where you are needed. She invaded 00:32:20.359 --> 00:32:23.180 her own town with nothing but an encounter and 00:32:23.180 --> 00:32:27.559 an invitation. That's Monday Invaders. Not a 00:32:27.559 --> 00:32:31.619 value on a wall, not a series with merch. A decision 00:32:31.619 --> 00:32:34.599 that you make when you walk out of here today. 00:32:35.909 --> 00:32:39.670 Like a burp, an encounter with Jesus was never 00:32:39.670 --> 00:32:43.009 designed to be kept in. It was meant to flow 00:32:43.009 --> 00:32:47.450 out, back onto those streets. No longer do we 00:32:47.450 --> 00:32:51.970 stay hidden. We give a simple invitation, come 00:32:51.970 --> 00:32:56.930 and see. That is enough. It was enough for her 00:32:56.930 --> 00:33:06.359 and it's going to be enough for us. Let's pray. 00:33:07.640 --> 00:33:10.900 Lord Jesus, we just thank you that you show us 00:33:10.900 --> 00:33:14.480 an example of what it means to be a Monday invader. 00:33:15.019 --> 00:33:18.059 We thank you for the work that you did upon the 00:33:18.059 --> 00:33:21.200 cross for us, that you took our shame, that you 00:33:21.200 --> 00:33:24.359 took our disqualifications, that you chose us 00:33:24.359 --> 00:33:29.119 and you went on the cross anyway. Lord Jesus, 00:33:29.240 --> 00:33:32.160 we just ask that this week that you give us a 00:33:32.160 --> 00:33:36.700 fresh reminder of the people who the world overlooks. 00:33:36.859 --> 00:33:39.420 Lord, speak to us as we go about our day. Help 00:33:39.420 --> 00:33:42.420 us to see the people that we walk past, the people 00:33:42.420 --> 00:33:45.160 that are in front of us, the people that need 00:33:45.160 --> 00:33:50.799 to hear about what you could do. Lord Jesus, 00:33:50.900 --> 00:33:54.660 as we worship today. May you put upon our hearts 00:33:54.660 --> 00:33:57.880 about having an encounter with you. Don't let 00:33:57.880 --> 00:34:00.980 us perform. Don't let us stay the same. Meet 00:34:00.980 --> 00:34:07.359 us here. Meet us as we are. Transform us so that 00:34:07.359 --> 00:34:10.340 we can go back into our Mondays with an overflow 00:34:10.340 --> 00:34:22.500 of what you have done, of your love. would love 00:34:22.500 --> 00:34:25.420 to hear from you on Instagram, at Encana Henley. 00:34:26.099 --> 00:34:28.099 Or if you're interested in how you can support 00:34:28.099 --> 00:34:31.579 this ministry, please go to our website, EncanaAdelaide 00:34:31.579 --> 00:34:35.179 .com .au. Thanks again for listening. God bless 00:34:35.179 --> 00:34:35.480 you.