WEBVTT 00:00:21.899 --> 00:00:25.000 Well, thank you to our worship team. I want you 00:00:25.000 --> 00:00:28.140 to imagine with me a song about God being a way 00:00:28.140 --> 00:00:35.020 maker. It never crossed my mind that the first 00:00:35.020 --> 00:00:37.759 example of the first moment of miscommunication 00:00:37.759 --> 00:00:39.799 in our 20 -year marriage would happen today in 00:00:39.799 --> 00:00:44.020 front of all of you. But here we are. So probably 00:00:44.020 --> 00:00:45.780 just as well that happened with all of you present. 00:00:47.179 --> 00:00:49.960 Yeah, no, I don't know what happened other than 00:00:49.960 --> 00:00:52.159 miscommunication. But just imagine if God was 00:00:52.159 --> 00:00:55.219 a way maker and said he's a slave deliverer and 00:00:55.219 --> 00:00:57.039 we can live into that promise as well. Amen. 00:00:57.679 --> 00:01:00.420 Thank you to our worship team. We've added these 00:01:00.420 --> 00:01:02.780 kind of Sundays where we kind of unplug a little 00:01:02.780 --> 00:01:06.010 bit. And man, it's beautiful. Beautiful sound. 00:01:06.090 --> 00:01:08.709 We can hear you all. Sounds so great. I told 00:01:08.709 --> 00:01:11.609 Haas, my favorite version of Haas is ambidextrous 00:01:11.609 --> 00:01:14.650 Haas, where he's like going both ways. And I 00:01:14.650 --> 00:01:17.730 had this weird thing like in my early 20s. People 00:01:17.730 --> 00:01:18.769 asked me like, what do you want to do when you 00:01:18.769 --> 00:01:21.049 grow up? I said, I want to be ambidextrous. And 00:01:21.049 --> 00:01:23.109 it was very weird. I had this weird fascination 00:01:23.109 --> 00:01:25.290 with being able to do things with both hands. 00:01:25.409 --> 00:01:27.569 And it lasted for about two days. And I gave 00:01:27.569 --> 00:01:29.969 up. So here we are. But thank you to our worship 00:01:29.969 --> 00:01:33.090 team. Flaws and all, that's my fault. But the 00:01:33.090 --> 00:01:36.819 worship is beautiful. The truths of the songs 00:01:36.819 --> 00:01:39.579 are most important. They're beautiful. So we 00:01:39.579 --> 00:01:41.700 continue our series today, Echoes of Her Faith, 00:01:41.900 --> 00:01:45.079 which we kicked off last Sunday. The intent of 00:01:45.079 --> 00:01:47.739 this series, if you weren't with us or didn't 00:01:47.739 --> 00:01:49.799 catch it online or whatever, is to examine and 00:01:49.799 --> 00:01:53.290 listen closely to the stories. and the voices 00:01:53.290 --> 00:01:56.909 of some incredible women in the Bible who I think, 00:01:56.930 --> 00:01:59.069 because of the timeless nature of the scripture 00:01:59.069 --> 00:02:01.150 that we hold in our hands today, that their voices 00:02:01.150 --> 00:02:04.250 still echo into our faith and our lives today. 00:02:04.609 --> 00:02:07.909 And last week, we began our series by looking 00:02:07.909 --> 00:02:09.550 at the story of Hannah, if you were with us, 00:02:09.610 --> 00:02:11.550 and what hope in suffering looks like as she 00:02:11.550 --> 00:02:14.629 waited in this pretty prolonged period of time 00:02:14.629 --> 00:02:16.729 for the blessing of a child that God eventually 00:02:16.729 --> 00:02:20.439 did give her. And we just looked at her story 00:02:20.439 --> 00:02:22.539 and said, what does it look like to live with 00:02:22.539 --> 00:02:24.659 hope in the midst of suffering and being misunderstood 00:02:24.659 --> 00:02:27.319 and having these longings that, quite honestly, 00:02:27.460 --> 00:02:32.159 are somewhat paralyzing for your soul and your 00:02:32.159 --> 00:02:35.280 heart? And what a powerful story. And today we're 00:02:35.280 --> 00:02:37.000 going to move on into our second character in 00:02:37.000 --> 00:02:39.699 this series, a story and a longing that is deeply 00:02:39.699 --> 00:02:42.300 human. And one of the things that I said last 00:02:42.300 --> 00:02:44.659 week is I think all of these characters that 00:02:44.659 --> 00:02:46.319 we're going to look at, five women in the Bible, 00:02:46.460 --> 00:02:49.710 all of their stories are... deeply human in the 00:02:49.710 --> 00:02:52.110 sense that there's something very relatable for 00:02:52.110 --> 00:02:54.469 us. And I know sometimes when you read the scripture, 00:02:54.689 --> 00:02:56.909 it can get a little heady. You can kind of get 00:02:56.909 --> 00:02:59.629 lost in some of these heroes of the Bible, like 00:02:59.629 --> 00:03:01.990 we'll never be the Apostle Paul. He did things 00:03:01.990 --> 00:03:04.909 we long for, aspire to, right? But there's some 00:03:04.909 --> 00:03:07.229 characters in the Bible that are just deeply 00:03:07.229 --> 00:03:11.689 human and deeply relatable. And that is something 00:03:11.689 --> 00:03:14.789 that we all understand, the story of the woman 00:03:14.789 --> 00:03:18.240 at the well, which is to experience thirst. Now, 00:03:18.240 --> 00:03:19.939 I'm not just talking about physical thirst, although 00:03:19.939 --> 00:03:21.900 we experience that more living in the deserts 00:03:21.900 --> 00:03:24.659 than a lot of people. But I'm talking about that 00:03:24.659 --> 00:03:28.680 which is like, the physical thirst is kind of 00:03:28.680 --> 00:03:30.939 the piece that initiates this encounter with 00:03:30.939 --> 00:03:32.479 Jesus, as you're going to see. But I'm talking 00:03:32.479 --> 00:03:35.419 more about like the soul level thirst, if you 00:03:35.419 --> 00:03:37.680 know what I mean. And I can describe it for you. 00:03:37.699 --> 00:03:40.479 It's that thing that keeps you up at night or 00:03:40.479 --> 00:03:42.240 wakes you up in the middle of the night. Or it's 00:03:42.240 --> 00:03:44.689 that thing that... The kind that just kind of 00:03:44.689 --> 00:03:47.689 keeps you scrolling and striving and searching 00:03:47.689 --> 00:03:51.930 and achieving and acquiring, and you still kind 00:03:51.930 --> 00:03:55.129 of feel like something is missing. We've all 00:03:55.129 --> 00:03:57.310 heard the interviews with celebrities and famous 00:03:57.310 --> 00:03:59.650 athletes who have more money than we could even 00:03:59.650 --> 00:04:03.729 write out on paper, and yet they tell these stories 00:04:03.729 --> 00:04:06.990 of feeling empty or lonely or whatever it may 00:04:06.990 --> 00:04:09.710 be, and you're just like, how? How is that possible? 00:04:10.560 --> 00:04:13.060 So that's that soul level thirst that I'm talking 00:04:13.060 --> 00:04:14.520 about. And to help us to see it, we're going 00:04:14.520 --> 00:04:16.699 to turn to one of the most remarkable encounters 00:04:16.699 --> 00:04:19.220 in all of the Bible. This is truly one of the 00:04:19.220 --> 00:04:22.519 most, I mean, you could say so many things about 00:04:22.519 --> 00:04:24.740 Jesus, and we do. And we know so many things 00:04:24.740 --> 00:04:26.180 about Jesus. But one of the things that I'm so 00:04:26.180 --> 00:04:29.620 struck by is his encounters with people were 00:04:29.620 --> 00:04:32.009 just... Did he just keep you on the edge of your 00:04:32.009 --> 00:04:33.970 seat because he was just a master at kind of 00:04:33.970 --> 00:04:36.829 helping people to see their true need? He's an 00:04:36.829 --> 00:04:38.709 example for us. This is one of the most remarkable 00:04:38.709 --> 00:04:41.170 encounters in the entire Bible. It's the encounter 00:04:41.170 --> 00:04:43.089 of Jesus and the woman at the well in John chapter 00:04:43.089 --> 00:04:45.550 4. And here's the main thing that I want us to 00:04:45.550 --> 00:04:47.649 see in her story today, and that is what redemption 00:04:47.649 --> 00:04:50.689 in brokenness looks like. Redemption in brokenness. 00:04:52.039 --> 00:04:53.800 Let me give you the context of where this scene 00:04:53.800 --> 00:04:56.779 occurs. It's the most unlikely of meetings. I 00:04:56.779 --> 00:04:58.240 don't know if you've ever had an experience like 00:04:58.240 --> 00:05:01.220 that where you ran into someone somewhere that 00:05:01.220 --> 00:05:04.180 just felt so unlikely or so random, as you would 00:05:04.180 --> 00:05:05.779 call it. I just got an email from one of you 00:05:05.779 --> 00:05:07.259 this week who was telling me a story of like, 00:05:07.319 --> 00:05:09.819 you were out for a walk and someone literally 00:05:09.819 --> 00:05:11.839 came by on their bike that you had been longing 00:05:11.839 --> 00:05:13.860 to talk to and you had lost connection and like, 00:05:14.000 --> 00:05:16.779 this felt so random, right? Like, what are the 00:05:16.779 --> 00:05:19.949 odds kind of moment? And that's the scene in 00:05:19.949 --> 00:05:22.569 which this story is going to unfold here. That's 00:05:22.569 --> 00:05:25.269 the situation in John chapter 4. Jesus is traveling 00:05:25.269 --> 00:05:29.889 through Samaria, which is already unusual in 00:05:29.889 --> 00:05:32.209 the sense that Jewish people did not typically 00:05:32.209 --> 00:05:35.209 go through Samaria unless they absolutely had 00:05:35.209 --> 00:05:37.870 to. Maybe you've experienced something like that. 00:05:37.970 --> 00:05:42.370 There was a history, if you will, of just deep... 00:05:43.189 --> 00:05:45.670 Tension, prejudice, there was mutual suspicion 00:05:45.670 --> 00:05:50.110 between Samaritans and Jews. You just didn't 00:05:50.110 --> 00:05:52.730 go there unless you absolutely had to. But there's 00:05:52.730 --> 00:05:54.850 an interesting few words in the account of which 00:05:54.850 --> 00:05:56.870 it happens in John chapter 4, and we're going 00:05:56.870 --> 00:05:59.350 to read together in a moment. But in verse 4 00:05:59.350 --> 00:06:00.949 it says this, and we'll kind of read the whole 00:06:00.949 --> 00:06:02.730 thing, but I wanted to set it up for you this 00:06:02.730 --> 00:06:06.310 way. He had to travel through Samaria. If you 00:06:06.310 --> 00:06:09.490 were a Bible scholar and a geographical whiz, 00:06:09.569 --> 00:06:13.089 geography whiz I should say, You could look at 00:06:13.089 --> 00:06:15.389 a map and be like, I'm not sure that he had to 00:06:15.389 --> 00:06:17.889 travel through Samaria. There's other ways to 00:06:17.889 --> 00:06:20.009 go. If I said, hey, you got to go to Phoenix 00:06:20.009 --> 00:06:21.970 and you have to go down I -10, that's the only 00:06:21.970 --> 00:06:23.310 way to get there. He'd be like, no, you can go 00:06:23.310 --> 00:06:25.970 up through Globe or through whatever. There's 00:06:25.970 --> 00:06:27.889 other ways that you could go all the way over 00:06:27.889 --> 00:06:30.230 to LA and come in the back way. There's a lot 00:06:30.230 --> 00:06:32.750 of ways you can get there. They said he had to 00:06:32.750 --> 00:06:34.470 travel through Samaria. It's interesting because 00:06:34.470 --> 00:06:37.600 we can... I think safely speculate, although 00:06:37.600 --> 00:06:39.319 it is that, I want to be clear, it's a speculation, 00:06:39.319 --> 00:06:42.519 that geographically speaking, he didn't have 00:06:42.519 --> 00:06:44.959 to travel through Samaria. He didn't have to. 00:06:45.160 --> 00:06:48.480 There are other routes. So what's the had to 00:06:48.480 --> 00:06:51.420 all about? I think we read scripture with hindsight. 00:06:51.420 --> 00:06:53.839 I recognize that. But I think in hindsight, it's 00:06:53.839 --> 00:06:56.100 because there was a divine encounter to be had 00:06:56.100 --> 00:06:58.639 with a certain woman that lived in Samaria. And 00:06:58.639 --> 00:07:01.120 therefore, he had to travel through Samaria. 00:07:01.759 --> 00:07:05.050 And it's not just any woman. It's someone that 00:07:05.050 --> 00:07:07.569 society had quite literally pushed to the margins. 00:07:08.230 --> 00:07:10.110 And so we're going to read her story together. 00:07:10.170 --> 00:07:11.709 We're going to kind of stop along the way and 00:07:11.709 --> 00:07:13.910 make some key points. We see this encounter between 00:07:13.910 --> 00:07:16.250 Jesus and this woman. It begins in verse 1 in 00:07:16.250 --> 00:07:18.829 John chapter 4 this way. When Jesus learned that 00:07:18.829 --> 00:07:21.709 the Pharisees had heard he was making and baptizing 00:07:21.709 --> 00:07:23.949 more disciples than John, though Jesus himself 00:07:23.949 --> 00:07:26.930 was not baptizing, but his disciples were, he 00:07:26.930 --> 00:07:30.500 left Judea and went again to Galilee. He had 00:07:30.500 --> 00:07:33.180 to travel through Samaria. So he came to a town 00:07:33.180 --> 00:07:35.600 of Samaria called Sychar, near the property that 00:07:35.600 --> 00:07:38.220 Jacob had given to his son Joseph. Jacob's well 00:07:38.220 --> 00:07:40.879 was there. And Jesus, worn out from his journey, 00:07:40.920 --> 00:07:44.160 sat down at the well. It was about noon, and 00:07:44.160 --> 00:07:46.459 a woman of Samaria came to draw water. Now let's 00:07:46.459 --> 00:07:48.800 just pause there to consider some of the context. 00:07:49.060 --> 00:07:50.480 Because if you just read it, it's like, okay, 00:07:50.540 --> 00:07:53.240 it's a pretty normal encounter. It's not normal 00:07:53.240 --> 00:07:55.480 by any means, because the women would come to 00:07:55.480 --> 00:07:57.860 draw, they don't come to draw water at noon, 00:07:57.959 --> 00:08:00.339 typically. Why not? It's the hottest part of 00:08:00.339 --> 00:08:02.920 the day. The small details tell us something, 00:08:03.040 --> 00:08:06.339 that this woman had not been welcomed in by other 00:08:06.339 --> 00:08:09.399 groups of women because the place to be in the 00:08:09.399 --> 00:08:12.579 morning was like the water cooler gathering. 00:08:12.660 --> 00:08:15.120 The Starbucks gathering was at the well to draw 00:08:15.120 --> 00:08:19.220 water. If you were welcome, if you were in the 00:08:19.220 --> 00:08:21.899 in crowd, so to speak, you were probably at the 00:08:21.899 --> 00:08:24.540 well to draw water in the morning, maybe late 00:08:24.540 --> 00:08:27.160 in the evening, but certainly not at noon. Certainly 00:08:27.160 --> 00:08:30.680 not at noon. The small detail tells us that this 00:08:30.680 --> 00:08:34.360 woman had been kind of pushed out, so to speak, 00:08:34.539 --> 00:08:37.480 from her culture, her society that she lived 00:08:37.480 --> 00:08:39.879 in. Because it was just not a time for people 00:08:39.879 --> 00:08:43.399 to come draw water at noon. She comes alone. 00:08:44.539 --> 00:08:48.360 Why? Most likely, people ask me, like, are you 00:08:48.360 --> 00:08:50.379 introverted or extroverted? I'm like, the more 00:08:50.379 --> 00:08:52.080 I'm around people, the more introverted I become. 00:08:52.580 --> 00:08:54.340 Like, how many of you have a place in town where 00:08:54.340 --> 00:08:56.200 you go because you're hoping you won't run into 00:08:56.200 --> 00:08:59.539 anybody else? Anybody? There are options close 00:08:59.539 --> 00:09:01.639 to home, but sometimes I go farther because I 00:09:01.639 --> 00:09:07.179 don't want to see any of you. That's, of course, 00:09:07.200 --> 00:09:14.000 a total joke. She went at noon because she's 00:09:14.000 --> 00:09:17.240 smart. And she's like, there's less chance I'm 00:09:17.240 --> 00:09:19.620 going to run into anybody. Because she knew the 00:09:19.620 --> 00:09:22.460 stigma towards her. She knew the shame that other 00:09:22.460 --> 00:09:24.559 women, other people, not just women, anybody 00:09:24.559 --> 00:09:27.970 thought had towards her. I'm going to go at noon. 00:09:28.029 --> 00:09:30.149 I'm not going to run into anybody. I'm going 00:09:30.149 --> 00:09:32.350 to avoid conversation. I'm going to avoid judgment. 00:09:32.649 --> 00:09:34.490 Put it this way, if there's social media that 00:09:34.490 --> 00:09:36.309 existed back then, she would have been the person 00:09:36.309 --> 00:09:40.070 that had been unfriended, unfollowed, muted, 00:09:40.190 --> 00:09:42.330 however you want to say it, definitely not invited 00:09:42.330 --> 00:09:47.149 into the social network. And yet, Jesus is there 00:09:47.149 --> 00:09:49.929 waiting for her. And the conversation begins 00:09:49.929 --> 00:09:52.470 with a very simple request from Jesus in verse 00:09:52.470 --> 00:09:56.809 7. Give me a drink, Jesus said to her. because 00:09:56.809 --> 00:09:58.769 his disciples had gone into town to buy food. 00:09:59.590 --> 00:10:01.690 Now, on the surface, this seemed like a very 00:10:01.690 --> 00:10:03.870 ordinary request from Jesus. Somebody said to 00:10:03.870 --> 00:10:05.730 you, if you showed up at a well and someone said, 00:10:05.769 --> 00:10:07.470 give me a drink, you'd be like, what? What are 00:10:07.470 --> 00:10:11.009 you talking about? Give me a drink. But culturally, 00:10:11.269 --> 00:10:13.809 this is a radical request from Jesus, and I'll 00:10:13.809 --> 00:10:16.149 tell you how so. Multiple ways. First of all, 00:10:16.230 --> 00:10:18.450 a Jewish man speaking to a Samaritan woman, it 00:10:18.450 --> 00:10:21.490 just was out of bounds. It's not supposed to 00:10:21.490 --> 00:10:25.549 happen that way. Secondly, a rabbi initiating 00:10:25.549 --> 00:10:29.409 conversation is unheard of. Thirdly, a man asking 00:10:29.409 --> 00:10:32.169 a woman, no matter the ethnicity, if you will, 00:10:32.250 --> 00:10:35.070 like, you just don't do that. Men don't ask women 00:10:35.070 --> 00:10:37.990 for anything. Totally backwards. Everything about 00:10:37.990 --> 00:10:41.370 this moment, Jesus' simple request of, give me 00:10:41.370 --> 00:10:44.389 a drink. That's all he said to her. And because 00:10:44.389 --> 00:10:46.789 of this, her response is obviously one of shock. 00:10:47.029 --> 00:10:50.480 She knows the... cultural, societal context that 00:10:50.480 --> 00:10:53.200 I just explained to you. Verse 9, this is her 00:10:53.200 --> 00:10:56.820 response. How is it that you, talking to Jesus, 00:10:56.960 --> 00:11:00.879 a Jew, ask for a drink from me, a Samaritan woman? 00:11:00.960 --> 00:11:04.960 She just takes all of those barriers and puts 00:11:04.960 --> 00:11:07.700 them in one sentence. How is it that you, a Jew, 00:11:08.759 --> 00:11:11.179 This man asking me a Samaritan woman. She asked 00:11:11.179 --> 00:11:13.580 him, for Jews you're not associated with Samaritans. 00:11:13.740 --> 00:11:15.779 And here's where it starts to get really interesting. 00:11:16.360 --> 00:11:18.960 Jesus doesn't back away from the awkwardness, 00:11:18.960 --> 00:11:22.139 does he? But he leans into it in verse 10. Jesus 00:11:22.139 --> 00:11:25.399 answered, if you knew the gift of God, and who 00:11:25.399 --> 00:11:28.259 is saying to you, give me a drink, you would 00:11:28.259 --> 00:11:32.019 ask him and he would give you living water. Her 00:11:32.019 --> 00:11:34.500 confusion at this point, and if you say you wouldn't 00:11:34.500 --> 00:11:36.360 have the same confusion, you're probably lying. 00:11:36.909 --> 00:11:40.049 Her confusion is just escalating. It's multiplying 00:11:40.049 --> 00:11:43.450 quickly. Like, what in the world? First of all, 00:11:43.450 --> 00:11:46.330 this Jewish man, why is he even here? Second 00:11:46.330 --> 00:11:47.950 of all, he's asking me for water, and now he's 00:11:47.950 --> 00:11:50.049 talking about, if you knew who I was, you would 00:11:50.049 --> 00:11:53.250 ask me to give you living water? Like, has this 00:11:53.250 --> 00:11:57.169 man lost his mind? Verse 11 and 12. Sir, said 00:11:57.169 --> 00:11:59.809 the woman, you don't even have a bucket, and 00:11:59.809 --> 00:12:02.470 the well is deep. Where do you get this living 00:12:02.470 --> 00:12:05.690 water? You aren't greater than our father Jacob. 00:12:05.850 --> 00:12:08.169 This is his well, by the way. You aren't greater 00:12:08.169 --> 00:12:10.129 than our father Jacob, are you? He gave us the 00:12:10.129 --> 00:12:12.649 well and drank from it himself, as did his sons 00:12:12.649 --> 00:12:15.529 and livestock. She's just radically confused. 00:12:15.769 --> 00:12:18.850 You don't even have a bucket. She's totally very 00:12:18.850 --> 00:12:22.929 relatable. Okay, let's say that you will give 00:12:22.929 --> 00:12:24.129 me this living water. What are you going to do? 00:12:24.190 --> 00:12:27.009 Just snap your fingers and draw it up? You at 00:12:27.009 --> 00:12:29.450 least need a cup. You at least need a bucket, 00:12:29.610 --> 00:12:32.629 which honestly is a very fair point. If someone 00:12:32.629 --> 00:12:34.769 offered you water and you didn't have a bottle 00:12:34.769 --> 00:12:38.350 or a cup or whatever hydro flask you guys spend 00:12:38.350 --> 00:12:42.710 $80 on today to buy, you'd be skeptical too, 00:12:42.909 --> 00:12:46.610 right? Like, this guy has weird motives here. 00:12:46.710 --> 00:12:48.929 Like, give me a drink. There's nothing to give 00:12:48.929 --> 00:12:50.970 you a drink with. Like, what do you really want 00:12:50.970 --> 00:12:54.049 from me? But with the advantage of hindsight, 00:12:54.389 --> 00:12:56.470 as we read the story, we know, of course, that 00:12:56.470 --> 00:12:58.809 Jesus isn't talking about physical water, was 00:12:58.809 --> 00:13:01.940 he? He's talking about something much deeper. 00:13:02.159 --> 00:13:04.379 And this is where the point in the story where 00:13:04.379 --> 00:13:06.840 the whole conversation begins to shift. The whole 00:13:06.840 --> 00:13:09.620 conversation begins to shift. Jesus was a master 00:13:09.620 --> 00:13:12.399 at this. I alluded to it earlier. He had a way. 00:13:12.559 --> 00:13:15.000 He had a way. I was talking with a friend earlier 00:13:15.000 --> 00:13:18.120 in the week, and he was expressing to me, I want 00:13:18.120 --> 00:13:22.620 to know how to share my faith. I'm kind of paraphrasing 00:13:22.620 --> 00:13:24.200 a longer conversation, but I want to know how 00:13:24.200 --> 00:13:26.559 to tell people about Jesus. I want to know how 00:13:26.559 --> 00:13:30.059 to be more confident in what I share. Quite honestly, 00:13:30.200 --> 00:13:32.539 just look at how Jesus engaged people. He often 00:13:32.539 --> 00:13:34.799 started with a physical need that opened the 00:13:34.799 --> 00:13:37.899 door to a spiritual need. Why do the scriptures 00:13:37.899 --> 00:13:40.779 tell us, this is a tangent, but here we go. Why 00:13:40.779 --> 00:13:43.759 do the scriptures tell us to like, not just love 00:13:43.759 --> 00:13:47.360 in word and deed, but in action and in truth, 00:13:47.440 --> 00:13:49.419 like there's something, there's action to our 00:13:49.419 --> 00:13:54.460 love because so often it opens the door to meet 00:13:54.460 --> 00:13:57.210 a spiritual need. Why do we give away? thousands 00:13:57.210 --> 00:13:59.389 of dollars, maybe hundreds of thousands of dollars 00:13:59.389 --> 00:14:02.330 a year as a church because meeting physical needs 00:14:02.330 --> 00:14:05.590 opens the door to meet spiritual needs. Why do 00:14:05.590 --> 00:14:08.169 people go into these remote villages with clean 00:14:08.169 --> 00:14:11.710 water and bread? Because meeting physical needs 00:14:11.710 --> 00:14:14.269 often opens the door to meet spiritual needs. 00:14:14.429 --> 00:14:17.049 When we were in India and we went into this village, 00:14:17.230 --> 00:14:19.269 went into a lot of villages, one that we went 00:14:19.269 --> 00:14:24.120 into. They knew the Americans were coming, and 00:14:24.120 --> 00:14:26.840 it's a big deal. You feel like this weird celebrity 00:14:26.840 --> 00:14:30.159 actually took a lot of getting used to, and now 00:14:30.159 --> 00:14:33.820 I miss it. I'm kidding. But it's this weird thing 00:14:33.820 --> 00:14:36.980 where you go in, and they treat you like gods. 00:14:37.000 --> 00:14:40.480 It's very strange, humbling, quite honestly. 00:14:40.840 --> 00:14:44.860 Nevertheless, the draw that night was not primarily 00:14:44.860 --> 00:14:47.059 the Americans, although that's a piece of it, 00:14:47.139 --> 00:14:50.470 but they were feeding the entire village. And 00:14:50.470 --> 00:14:53.649 so it was food. It was free food. And it was 00:14:53.649 --> 00:14:56.549 going to be good food. And so the entire village, 00:14:56.629 --> 00:14:59.629 I mean, hundreds of people just everywhere. And 00:14:59.629 --> 00:15:01.169 it was almost like they're sitting there just 00:15:01.169 --> 00:15:02.909 like, all right, as soon as this guy stops talking, 00:15:03.009 --> 00:15:04.809 we'll get to eat. Much like you are on Sundays, 00:15:04.909 --> 00:15:09.450 probably. But the draw was the physical need. 00:15:10.269 --> 00:15:13.230 And so we said, yeah, we'll feed the whole village. 00:15:14.169 --> 00:15:16.610 We'll meet a physical need if it enables us to 00:15:16.610 --> 00:15:18.789 maybe meet a spiritual need. That's the tangent. 00:15:19.759 --> 00:15:21.679 Meeting physical need opened the door to expose 00:15:21.679 --> 00:15:24.039 the spiritual need, and Jesus was masterful at 00:15:24.039 --> 00:15:26.100 this. Watch it in verse 13. Jesus said, everyone 00:15:26.100 --> 00:15:28.600 who drinks of this water will get thirsty again. 00:15:29.840 --> 00:15:33.539 And that makes sense. But whoever drinks from 00:15:33.539 --> 00:15:35.600 the water that I will give him will never get 00:15:35.600 --> 00:15:38.240 thirsty again. In fact, the water that I will 00:15:38.240 --> 00:15:40.159 give him will become a well of water springing 00:15:40.159 --> 00:15:43.639 up for him in eternal life. And so just pause 00:15:43.639 --> 00:15:47.000 here, because it's not just her story. This is 00:15:47.000 --> 00:15:49.720 where it has to begin to kind of land into our 00:15:49.720 --> 00:15:54.039 own story. We live in a world obsessed with quenching 00:15:54.039 --> 00:15:59.080 thirst. Metaphorically speaking, of course. We 00:15:59.080 --> 00:16:03.139 keep going back to what? Empty wells, essentially. 00:16:03.600 --> 00:16:06.139 Or at least things that you'll have to come back 00:16:06.139 --> 00:16:08.299 for the next day because you'll be thirsty again. 00:16:09.779 --> 00:16:12.899 Success, but it's never enough. We're never successful 00:16:12.899 --> 00:16:15.759 enough. I mean, you see it in professional sports 00:16:15.759 --> 00:16:18.100 all the time. Like, they just keep trading bigger 00:16:18.100 --> 00:16:20.259 contracts for bigger contracts for bigger contracts. 00:16:20.440 --> 00:16:21.940 And you're like, how is it that at 10 million 00:16:21.940 --> 00:16:24.379 you're unhappy? Well, I suppose if you had 10 00:16:24.379 --> 00:16:26.679 million and someone offered you 20 million, all 00:16:26.679 --> 00:16:28.320 of a sudden you'd be unhappy at 10 million. Like, 00:16:28.320 --> 00:16:31.340 we can't fathom it, but it's a real thing. How 00:16:31.340 --> 00:16:33.960 do you keep chasing success when you have it? 00:16:33.980 --> 00:16:36.919 It's just never enough. Relationships, but they 00:16:36.919 --> 00:16:40.019 don't fully satisfy. Comfort and entertainment 00:16:40.019 --> 00:16:42.879 and distraction. But the silence and the emptiness 00:16:42.879 --> 00:16:44.480 still creeps in. And you've heard the famous 00:16:44.480 --> 00:16:46.360 quote. I don't know who it's by, but you've heard 00:16:46.360 --> 00:16:49.799 it. We buy things that we don't need with money 00:16:49.799 --> 00:16:52.340 that we don't have to impress people we don't 00:16:52.340 --> 00:16:58.480 even like. And yet, you're still thirsty. You're 00:16:58.480 --> 00:17:02.000 still thirsty. This woman at the well doesn't 00:17:02.000 --> 00:17:04.259 fully understand yet, but she's at least now 00:17:04.259 --> 00:17:09.789 intrigued. There's something unique about this 00:17:09.789 --> 00:17:13.390 man, this conversation, this promise. So verse 00:17:13.390 --> 00:17:25.009 15, In other words, I don't get it, but I'll 00:17:25.009 --> 00:17:28.029 buy what you're selling. I don't get it, but 00:17:28.029 --> 00:17:31.950 it sounds intriguing. And that's a really good 00:17:31.950 --> 00:17:34.430 starting point, at least. And then Jesus does 00:17:34.430 --> 00:17:37.640 something really unexpected in verse 16. Go call 00:17:37.640 --> 00:17:39.480 your husband, he told her, and come back here. 00:17:40.319 --> 00:17:46.400 And this is where her world just goes. And here 00:17:46.400 --> 00:17:48.140 comes yet another shift in this conversation 00:17:48.140 --> 00:17:50.380 because suddenly she's realizing this isn't really 00:17:50.380 --> 00:17:56.200 about water at all. Her reply, I don't have a 00:17:56.200 --> 00:17:59.759 husband, she answered. Jesus' reply in second 00:17:59.759 --> 00:18:03.900 part of verse 17, you have correctly said, I 00:18:03.900 --> 00:18:08.279 don't have a husband. Just imagine in the moment 00:18:08.279 --> 00:18:11.740 you came at noon because you wanted to avoid 00:18:11.740 --> 00:18:15.400 this very conversation. You came at noon because 00:18:15.400 --> 00:18:17.819 you didn't want anybody to give you a hard time 00:18:17.819 --> 00:18:21.660 about your life and all the judgment and all 00:18:21.660 --> 00:18:24.480 the cultural shame you'd experienced. And so 00:18:24.480 --> 00:18:27.339 you came at noon to avoid this very thing. Imagine 00:18:27.339 --> 00:18:29.619 what this lady is suddenly feeling like this 00:18:29.619 --> 00:18:31.559 is the point where most of us would want to disappear. 00:18:32.460 --> 00:18:34.200 We want to change the subject. Like, you know 00:18:34.200 --> 00:18:36.220 what? Turns out I don't want this water that 00:18:36.220 --> 00:18:38.920 you're offering. Have a good day. Change the 00:18:38.920 --> 00:18:42.099 subject. Fake a phone call. Pretend we got to 00:18:42.099 --> 00:18:44.900 run because the kids need picked up unexpectedly. 00:18:45.259 --> 00:18:48.000 Like, whatever it is, we're scooting out from 00:18:48.000 --> 00:18:50.440 this conversation as quickly as we can. But notice 00:18:50.440 --> 00:18:53.700 what happens next. With this woman, like, she's 00:18:53.700 --> 00:18:56.539 feeling all of these things. And Jesus, he's 00:18:56.539 --> 00:18:59.460 going to expose her truth without shaming her. 00:19:00.039 --> 00:19:03.940 This is in verse 18. For you have had five husbands, 00:19:04.059 --> 00:19:06.519 and the man you now have is not your husband. 00:19:07.099 --> 00:19:11.059 What you have said is true. What does she say? 00:19:11.160 --> 00:19:13.099 I don't have a husband. She's like, you're correct. 00:19:14.019 --> 00:19:16.880 And I know a few details. And the details are, 00:19:16.960 --> 00:19:19.640 you've had five. The man you now have is not 00:19:19.640 --> 00:19:23.759 your husband. What you have said is true. So, 00:19:23.859 --> 00:19:27.140 he doesn't humiliate her. He doesn't condemn 00:19:27.140 --> 00:19:30.420 her. He doesn't. Is she feeling some of her own 00:19:30.420 --> 00:19:33.410 condemnation? Perhaps. He doesn't humiliate her. 00:19:33.470 --> 00:19:35.569 He doesn't condemn her. He simply reveals that 00:19:35.569 --> 00:19:39.769 he knows her. Like, I know about you. I know 00:19:39.769 --> 00:19:42.890 your story fully. And he still is going to continue 00:19:42.890 --> 00:19:45.509 to engage her. I think of the old quote. It's 00:19:45.509 --> 00:19:47.190 attributed to several different people, but it 00:19:47.190 --> 00:19:49.529 says it this way. It's on the screen for you. 00:19:49.609 --> 00:19:51.930 To be known and not loved is our greatest fear. 00:19:52.990 --> 00:19:56.450 To be loved and not known is superficial, but 00:19:56.450 --> 00:19:59.890 to be fully known and fully loved, that is grace. 00:20:00.369 --> 00:20:03.099 That is grace. Just leave that up there for a 00:20:03.099 --> 00:20:06.099 second so you can see it. To be known and not 00:20:06.099 --> 00:20:08.460 loved, which is that's all the further this conversation 00:20:08.460 --> 00:20:10.500 is between this woman and Jesus at this point, 00:20:10.519 --> 00:20:14.099 is he knows me. He knows my history. He knows 00:20:14.099 --> 00:20:16.480 I've had five husbands. The one I'm with now 00:20:16.480 --> 00:20:19.640 is not my husband. He knows that, but she doesn't 00:20:19.640 --> 00:20:23.500 know if he loves her yet. To be known and not 00:20:23.500 --> 00:20:26.319 loved is our greatest fear. To be loved and not 00:20:26.319 --> 00:20:28.619 known is superficial. To be fully known and fully 00:20:28.619 --> 00:20:33.559 loved, that is grace. That is grace. And certainly, 00:20:33.619 --> 00:20:37.119 that's what this woman is at least about to experience 00:20:37.119 --> 00:20:40.279 in this moment with Jesus. But like many of us 00:20:40.279 --> 00:20:43.000 would have, she's going to try and deflect, and 00:20:43.000 --> 00:20:44.599 she's going to try and redirect the conversation 00:20:44.599 --> 00:20:48.960 away from her to who Jesus is. John 4, 19 -20, 00:20:49.019 --> 00:20:52.279 Sir, the woman replied, I see that you are a 00:20:52.279 --> 00:20:55.180 prophet. Our ancestors worshipped on this mountain, 00:20:55.259 --> 00:20:57.380 but you Jews say that the place to worship is 00:20:57.380 --> 00:21:01.099 in Jerusalem. What is she really... doing in 00:21:01.099 --> 00:21:04.059 this moment. She's deflecting. She's changing 00:21:04.059 --> 00:21:05.660 the conversation. She's like, hey, let's talk 00:21:05.660 --> 00:21:11.960 about theology instead. That was her attempt 00:21:11.960 --> 00:21:13.759 to redirect the conversation, like, hey, help 00:21:13.759 --> 00:21:15.900 me sort out this, like, are we worshiping here? 00:21:16.559 --> 00:21:20.039 Are we worshiping there? Instead of letting things 00:21:20.039 --> 00:21:23.339 get personal, she wants them to get, what, philosophical. 00:21:24.680 --> 00:21:27.660 And as I was preparing for this, one story in 00:21:27.660 --> 00:21:30.759 my mind sticks out so clearly. Many years ago, 00:21:30.980 --> 00:21:37.099 I had a guy who was constantly emailing me deep 00:21:37.099 --> 00:21:40.440 philosophical, theological questions. Finally 00:21:40.440 --> 00:21:41.819 get to a point where I say, hey, man, why don't 00:21:41.819 --> 00:21:44.240 you just come in, bring your Bible, we'll talk. 00:21:44.400 --> 00:21:46.039 And he comes in with the thickest study Bible 00:21:46.039 --> 00:21:48.240 I've ever seen, and I'm instantly intimidated 00:21:48.240 --> 00:21:52.019 by him. Like, I mean, I went to seminary, but 00:21:52.019 --> 00:21:58.400 I don't think I went to that seminary. And we 00:21:58.400 --> 00:22:00.480 talked. The point of the story is six months 00:22:00.480 --> 00:22:04.099 later, he dipped out on his marriage of 50 years 00:22:04.099 --> 00:22:08.420 to go rekindle with a high school sweetheart. 00:22:10.960 --> 00:22:13.519 It wasn't about theology for that guy, let me 00:22:13.519 --> 00:22:17.960 assure you. He had too much and had not penetrated 00:22:17.960 --> 00:22:21.079 his heart. Bring that back to the story. Like, 00:22:21.119 --> 00:22:24.220 if you don't want to be known, there's easy ways 00:22:24.220 --> 00:22:28.549 to deflect. Hey. Cool that you know about my 00:22:28.549 --> 00:22:30.769 five husbands, but can you sort out this, where 00:22:30.769 --> 00:22:32.609 are we going to worship? Mountain stuff for me? 00:22:33.910 --> 00:22:38.009 I think it's humorous, quite honestly. She doesn't 00:22:38.009 --> 00:22:39.710 want to get personal. She wants to be philosophical. 00:22:41.529 --> 00:22:43.430 She's questioning Jesus about the appropriate 00:22:43.430 --> 00:22:45.589 place for worship in the midst of this conversation, 00:22:45.809 --> 00:22:48.490 mind you. And Jesus' reply to her is one of the 00:22:48.490 --> 00:22:50.829 most profound statements in the whole Bible. 00:22:50.849 --> 00:22:52.890 Verse 21, Jesus told her, believe me, woman, 00:22:53.089 --> 00:22:56.150 an hour is coming when you will worship the Father. 00:22:56.750 --> 00:22:58.970 neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem. In 00:22:58.970 --> 00:23:02.450 other words, you want your answer? Neither. You 00:23:02.450 --> 00:23:06.029 Samaritans worship what you do not know. We worship 00:23:06.029 --> 00:23:07.809 what we do know because salvation is from the 00:23:07.809 --> 00:23:10.009 Jews, but an hour is coming and is now here. 00:23:10.579 --> 00:23:12.799 when the true worshipers will worship the Father 00:23:12.799 --> 00:23:16.319 in spirit and in truth. Yes, the Father wants 00:23:16.319 --> 00:23:19.180 such people to worship him. God is spirit, and 00:23:19.180 --> 00:23:21.539 those who worship him must worship him in spirit 00:23:21.539 --> 00:23:24.380 and in truth. Just imagine that you're that lady, 00:23:24.460 --> 00:23:26.339 and she's like, hey, tell me, we'll be here or 00:23:26.339 --> 00:23:28.420 we'll be on that mountain, and this is the answer 00:23:28.420 --> 00:23:31.779 you get back. You're like, if I wasn't confused 00:23:31.779 --> 00:23:36.779 before, I am now. Thank you very much. Jesus 00:23:36.779 --> 00:23:40.359 told her, like, I'll answer your question. but 00:23:40.359 --> 00:23:43.099 probably in a way that you don't expect and maybe 00:23:43.099 --> 00:23:46.880 don't even like. God is spirit. Those who worship 00:23:46.880 --> 00:23:48.740 him must worship in spirit and truth. What was 00:23:48.740 --> 00:23:51.099 Jesus trying to show her? He was trying to show 00:23:51.099 --> 00:23:53.000 her that true worship was not about a place, 00:23:53.099 --> 00:23:56.019 was not about a ritual, was not about a performance, 00:23:56.359 --> 00:24:00.559 but rather authenticity and honesty and a real 00:24:00.559 --> 00:24:04.900 true connection with God. He was trying to just 00:24:04.900 --> 00:24:09.359 pull back those layers of... philosophical, theological 00:24:09.359 --> 00:24:13.339 confusion for her. And then in one last moment 00:24:13.339 --> 00:24:15.759 of confusion, Jesus responds with total clarity. 00:24:17.000 --> 00:24:19.259 Verse 25, the woman said to him, by the way, 00:24:19.259 --> 00:24:21.259 you should mark this in your Bible and go read 00:24:21.259 --> 00:24:24.559 it for yourself. There's something profound about 00:24:24.559 --> 00:24:26.960 opening a physical Bible and knowing the story 00:24:26.960 --> 00:24:28.839 and looking at it and digesting it for yourself. 00:24:29.019 --> 00:24:32.359 John chapter 4, it's all there. Verse 25, the 00:24:32.359 --> 00:24:35.339 woman said to him, I know that the Messiah is 00:24:35.339 --> 00:24:38.160 coming who is called Christ. When he comes, he 00:24:38.160 --> 00:24:41.160 will explain everything to us. Jesus told her, 00:24:41.160 --> 00:24:45.339 imagine just being in the room. I, the one speaking 00:24:45.339 --> 00:24:50.059 to you, am he. It reminds me of so many of the 00:24:50.059 --> 00:24:52.220 other stories where, like, we were talking about 00:24:52.220 --> 00:24:57.859 Downey Thomas on Easter, right? Like, Thomas 00:24:57.859 --> 00:24:59.420 wasn't the only one that was skeptical, right? 00:24:59.519 --> 00:25:01.980 He appeared to the lady in the gardener. She 00:25:01.980 --> 00:25:06.769 thought he was the gardener. Remember that? She's 00:25:06.769 --> 00:25:10.230 having this entire conversation, knowing about 00:25:10.230 --> 00:25:13.109 the Messiah, who is called the Christ. When he 00:25:13.109 --> 00:25:15.970 comes, he will explain everything. She had a 00:25:15.970 --> 00:25:19.230 pretty good familiarity with this coming Jesus. 00:25:20.509 --> 00:25:23.150 And Jesus told her, I, the one speaking to you, 00:25:23.210 --> 00:25:26.430 am he. You just think about this. This is the 00:25:26.430 --> 00:25:29.809 first time. I love this. These are just the details 00:25:29.809 --> 00:25:32.390 that I get the privilege of kind of mining out 00:25:32.390 --> 00:25:35.779 and bringing to us. This is the first time in 00:25:35.779 --> 00:25:38.299 John's gospel that Jesus explicitly declares 00:25:38.299 --> 00:25:41.519 himself as the Messiah. Why is that significant? 00:25:41.960 --> 00:25:44.559 It's significant because this woman who, culturally 00:25:44.559 --> 00:25:47.859 speaking, he should have never been engaged with 00:25:47.859 --> 00:25:50.640 in the first place, is the first one to whom 00:25:50.640 --> 00:25:54.440 Jesus makes this declaration. A woman of total 00:25:54.440 --> 00:26:00.450 shame. It's not to some religious leader. It's 00:26:00.450 --> 00:26:03.750 not in the temple to some noble king or dignitary. 00:26:03.970 --> 00:26:07.150 It's not even to his own disciples. It's to this 00:26:07.150 --> 00:26:10.289 woman at the well who everybody else had said, 00:26:10.390 --> 00:26:13.609 don't go near her. Go in the morning to draw 00:26:13.609 --> 00:26:15.690 water because she's going to come at noon. And 00:26:15.690 --> 00:26:18.589 it's to this very woman that Jesus, for the first 00:26:18.589 --> 00:26:21.349 time in this gospel account, makes this declaration 00:26:21.349 --> 00:26:25.549 of who he is to her. Who he is to her. It reminds 00:26:25.549 --> 00:26:29.069 me of the story of Jesus' birth. It was to the... 00:26:29.889 --> 00:26:33.890 shepherds that the angels declared first. And 00:26:33.890 --> 00:26:36.930 when you read the scripture and it talks about 00:26:36.930 --> 00:26:39.289 the first shall be last and the last first, I 00:26:39.289 --> 00:26:41.289 think it's embodied in some of these stories 00:26:41.289 --> 00:26:44.569 that we already see in the scripture. There's 00:26:44.569 --> 00:26:45.869 going to come a point where Jesus is going to 00:26:45.869 --> 00:26:47.430 reveal his identity. Who do you think it's going 00:26:47.430 --> 00:26:49.789 to be? It's got to be his disciples. It's got 00:26:49.789 --> 00:26:54.009 to be some dignitary in the temple. No, it's 00:26:54.009 --> 00:26:58.589 going to be that woman. Oh, to a Samaritan woman, 00:26:58.730 --> 00:27:02.200 huh? Yep, to a Samaritan woman. An outsider, 00:27:02.559 --> 00:27:06.920 a marginalized voice, and this is not only surprising, 00:27:07.099 --> 00:27:14.299 it's also very intentional. Jesus didn't, I mean, 00:27:14.319 --> 00:27:16.180 I do it every Sunday. I get home and I'm like, 00:27:16.200 --> 00:27:18.920 did I really say that? Like, dang, I could take 00:27:18.920 --> 00:27:22.200 that back. Jesus didn't have those moments. We 00:27:22.200 --> 00:27:25.039 all have those moments. Like, oh, I didn't mean 00:27:25.039 --> 00:27:28.980 to do that. Be totally clear, Jesus wasn't like, 00:27:29.059 --> 00:27:30.859 oh, she drew it out of me before I was going 00:27:30.859 --> 00:27:35.279 to tell everybody else. Like, hey, think you 00:27:35.279 --> 00:27:40.900 could keep this between us? And so that's where 00:27:40.900 --> 00:27:43.220 her direct interaction with Jesus ends, but that's 00:27:43.220 --> 00:27:45.779 not where the story ends, because the text tells 00:27:45.779 --> 00:27:48.799 us that after this, she immediately leaves her 00:27:48.799 --> 00:27:51.220 water jar, which, why is that ironic? Well, because 00:27:51.220 --> 00:27:53.400 she came considering that's what she thought 00:27:53.400 --> 00:27:57.990 she needed in the first place. She leaves her 00:27:57.990 --> 00:28:01.329 water jar. She runs back into the town. Mind 00:28:01.329 --> 00:28:03.990 you, to the same people that she's avoided, the 00:28:03.990 --> 00:28:06.250 same people that she's been afraid of, the same 00:28:06.250 --> 00:28:08.670 people that she's been shamed by and unwelcomed 00:28:08.670 --> 00:28:13.250 by. And in verse 29, she says, come, see a man 00:28:13.250 --> 00:28:15.269 who told me everything I did, which, by the way, 00:28:15.269 --> 00:28:19.289 is not good. I've had a history of just broken 00:28:19.289 --> 00:28:23.630 relationships. Come, see a man who told me everything 00:28:23.630 --> 00:28:29.500 I ever did. Could this be the Messiah? It's so 00:28:29.500 --> 00:28:33.660 profound, my friends. You have to sit in the 00:28:33.660 --> 00:28:37.420 significance of this moment to think that not 00:28:37.420 --> 00:28:39.599 only was it this woman that Jesus declared this 00:28:39.599 --> 00:28:43.039 to, but it was the same woman who went back into 00:28:43.039 --> 00:28:47.380 a community that had totally rejected her and 00:28:47.380 --> 00:28:51.960 said, I got something to tell you. Think about 00:28:51.960 --> 00:28:54.670 it for a moment. The same woman who... came alone 00:28:54.670 --> 00:28:57.630 at noon to avoid people is now inviting people. 00:28:58.450 --> 00:29:02.690 You think about how profound that is. Like, and 00:29:02.690 --> 00:29:04.789 so here's a point to make. When grace meets truth, 00:29:04.869 --> 00:29:09.430 it transforms shame into testimony. When grace 00:29:09.430 --> 00:29:13.069 meets truth, it transforms shame into testimony. 00:29:13.670 --> 00:29:16.529 And that's exactly what happened here in the 00:29:16.529 --> 00:29:20.490 story of the woman at the well. Verse 39. This 00:29:20.490 --> 00:29:27.319 is, I don't know. There are a few better endings 00:29:27.319 --> 00:29:30.039 to a story than right here. Now, many Samaritans 00:29:30.039 --> 00:29:34.279 from that town believed in him because of what 00:29:34.279 --> 00:29:37.200 that woman said when she testified. He told me 00:29:37.200 --> 00:29:42.259 everything I did. Many Samaritans, who, mind 00:29:42.259 --> 00:29:46.000 you, don't like Jews, believed in him because 00:29:46.000 --> 00:29:48.500 of what that woman said when she testified. He 00:29:48.500 --> 00:29:50.720 told me everything I did. And he didn't tell 00:29:50.720 --> 00:29:54.880 her all the things he liked about her. He told 00:29:54.880 --> 00:29:57.980 her truth. And in that place of truth, it transformed 00:29:57.980 --> 00:30:03.059 her to the point where she's now inviting. And 00:30:03.059 --> 00:30:05.380 many Samaritans would come to believe in Jesus. 00:30:05.539 --> 00:30:09.920 One conversation, one encounter, one life transformed, 00:30:10.019 --> 00:30:11.880 and it ripples out from there. One of my favorite 00:30:11.880 --> 00:30:14.220 quotes from C .S. Lewis says, there are no ordinary 00:30:14.220 --> 00:30:16.500 people. And he goes on to say, you have never 00:30:16.500 --> 00:30:19.960 talked to a mere mortal. In other words, no conversations 00:30:19.960 --> 00:30:22.930 like, oh yeah, we're just chit -chatting. Like 00:30:22.930 --> 00:30:26.809 you're talking to an immortal soul, a body that's 00:30:26.809 --> 00:30:29.349 mortal for sure, a soul that's immortal, it'll 00:30:29.349 --> 00:30:33.210 live forever. And so there's no just happenstance 00:30:33.210 --> 00:30:36.670 in life. One conversation, one encounter, one 00:30:36.670 --> 00:30:38.769 transformation that would ripple out from there. 00:30:38.950 --> 00:30:41.289 Jesus knew and understood who this lady was. 00:30:42.119 --> 00:30:44.960 He didn't see a scandal that needed to be publicized 00:30:44.960 --> 00:30:47.019 and to be shamed, but he saw it as an immortal 00:30:47.019 --> 00:30:49.119 soul that he was trying to get to understand 00:30:49.119 --> 00:30:52.619 what true living water will do for you when it 00:30:52.619 --> 00:30:57.279 hits your soul. One conversation, one transformation. 00:30:59.400 --> 00:31:02.039 And so just in the few minutes that we have left, 00:31:02.119 --> 00:31:03.279 I'm going to give you a couple things that I 00:31:03.279 --> 00:31:06.180 think this story, how it intersects with us, 00:31:06.259 --> 00:31:08.279 right? Because it's a powerful story, but you 00:31:08.279 --> 00:31:11.470 got to also ask the so what, like. What's the 00:31:11.470 --> 00:31:14.309 intersection? What's the echo of this faith forward 00:31:14.309 --> 00:31:16.309 to us today? And here's the first thing, Jesus 00:31:16.309 --> 00:31:19.950 meets us in unexpected places. Now, I don't mean 00:31:19.950 --> 00:31:22.630 this to mean in the kitchen as opposed to church, 00:31:22.829 --> 00:31:27.210 although that is possible. So when I say Jesus 00:31:27.210 --> 00:31:29.250 meets us in unexpected places, the focus here 00:31:29.250 --> 00:31:31.789 is not so much geographically, okay? Although 00:31:31.789 --> 00:31:34.569 that could be true, but rather the unexpected 00:31:34.569 --> 00:31:38.119 places of our soul. The unexpected places of 00:31:38.119 --> 00:31:39.859 our soul. What do I mean by that? Think about 00:31:39.859 --> 00:31:42.339 it. This woman, again, at the well, she wasn't 00:31:42.339 --> 00:31:45.220 in a temple. I mean, if you had said, hey, you're 00:31:45.220 --> 00:31:46.819 going to meet the Messiah, where do you think 00:31:46.819 --> 00:31:47.940 that's going to happen? She would have said, 00:31:48.039 --> 00:31:51.859 well, I suppose if I go to the synagogue, like 00:31:51.859 --> 00:31:55.519 maybe go to the temple, certainly not at the 00:31:55.519 --> 00:32:00.279 well. And I understand it's a geographical example, 00:32:00.420 --> 00:32:02.579 but the point is, is like her soul was not ready 00:32:02.579 --> 00:32:05.990 for that. She had just gone like she did. countless 00:32:05.990 --> 00:32:08.150 times before to avoid people, to draw water, 00:32:08.210 --> 00:32:11.829 to get on with her day. And it wasn't in the 00:32:11.829 --> 00:32:13.789 synagogue, which is another way of saying that 00:32:13.789 --> 00:32:17.930 she wasn't even looking for Jesus. I mean, if 00:32:17.930 --> 00:32:20.009 you had told her, hey, the Messiah's in town, 00:32:20.069 --> 00:32:22.869 go find him, where would she have gone first? 00:32:23.150 --> 00:32:26.910 The synagogue, the temple, to where the religious 00:32:26.910 --> 00:32:29.269 leaders were. She certainly wouldn't have gone 00:32:29.269 --> 00:32:33.900 to the well, like of all places. She was at the 00:32:33.900 --> 00:32:36.079 well, she's doing chores, she's avoiding people, 00:32:36.200 --> 00:32:39.779 she's living life, and Jesus shows up. And so, 00:32:39.839 --> 00:32:42.799 might it be, friends, might it be that in your 00:32:42.799 --> 00:32:45.839 search for success, where your soul is, you bump 00:32:45.839 --> 00:32:49.559 into Jesus? Might it be in your search for a 00:32:49.559 --> 00:32:52.099 perfect relationship or a family, you bump into 00:32:52.099 --> 00:32:55.599 Jesus? Like, in your soul, I mean. Might it be 00:32:55.599 --> 00:32:58.039 that in your search for financial wealth or... 00:32:58.679 --> 00:33:01.079 Whatever it may be, you bump into Jesus or in 00:33:01.079 --> 00:33:04.019 your search for sexual satisfaction, you bump 00:33:04.019 --> 00:33:06.440 into Jesus. Like in these places of our soul, 00:33:06.680 --> 00:33:09.619 we're like, we thought we were thirsty for this. 00:33:10.319 --> 00:33:12.859 I need water, so I'm going to go to the well. 00:33:13.519 --> 00:33:16.359 I need sexual satisfaction, so I'm going to go 00:33:16.359 --> 00:33:19.200 to the internet. I need financial gain, so I'm 00:33:19.200 --> 00:33:20.880 going to go to the stock market. Like I need 00:33:20.880 --> 00:33:23.680 success, so I'm going to keep changing jobs until 00:33:23.680 --> 00:33:26.369 I can find the right one. And look. All those 00:33:26.369 --> 00:33:28.150 things have their place in life, in the right 00:33:28.150 --> 00:33:31.369 context, of course. But might it be that in that 00:33:31.369 --> 00:33:34.210 search for the thing you think you're after, 00:33:34.289 --> 00:33:37.589 you bump into Jesus in that place of your soul. 00:33:38.589 --> 00:33:41.990 In your search to be satisfied, the true thirst, 00:33:42.269 --> 00:33:44.549 the thing you've convinced yourself will solve 00:33:44.549 --> 00:33:46.789 it all, you bump into Jesus who meets us in unexpected 00:33:46.789 --> 00:33:50.450 places, sometimes geographically, but more often 00:33:50.450 --> 00:33:53.869 than not in the place of our soul, when you aren't 00:33:53.869 --> 00:33:57.759 looking for him. In fact, maybe even purposely 00:33:57.759 --> 00:34:01.339 avoiding him. So many places in the Bible we 00:34:01.339 --> 00:34:04.279 see it, especially in the gospel accounts, we 00:34:04.279 --> 00:34:07.460 see it play out that way. I think of the account 00:34:07.460 --> 00:34:09.639 of where Jesus is calling his disciples and they're 00:34:09.639 --> 00:34:12.519 fishing. Like, come on man, don't disturb me 00:34:12.519 --> 00:34:17.960 while I'm fishing. Zacchaeus, up in the tree, 00:34:18.179 --> 00:34:20.219 just wanted to see Jesus but not know Jesus. 00:34:22.719 --> 00:34:24.800 Jesus is like, come on down, man. I'm going to 00:34:24.800 --> 00:34:27.219 your house today. In the middle of his career, 00:34:27.420 --> 00:34:30.980 collecting taxes, doing his thing, Jesus meets 00:34:30.980 --> 00:34:34.559 him in that unexpected place. Secondly, our deepest 00:34:34.559 --> 00:34:38.719 thirst is spiritual. It might be obvious, but 00:34:38.719 --> 00:34:41.840 it should be said. A few chapters later in John 00:34:41.840 --> 00:34:44.039 chapter 6, Jesus cautions his disciples in a 00:34:44.039 --> 00:34:46.340 group of gathered people. If you were to go over, 00:34:46.380 --> 00:34:48.659 you'd see it not to work for food which perishes, 00:34:48.699 --> 00:34:50.980 he says, but that which endures to eternal life. 00:34:51.849 --> 00:34:56.250 And if you think about it, we spend so much time 00:34:56.250 --> 00:34:58.170 trying to satisfy the wrong thirst that costs 00:34:58.170 --> 00:35:02.130 us so much time, money, emotional. And I would 00:35:02.130 --> 00:35:06.190 say the newest, the most valuable asset that 00:35:06.190 --> 00:35:08.550 we now have as a culture and as individuals is 00:35:08.550 --> 00:35:12.449 mental bandwidth. Because we are so distracted. 00:35:13.170 --> 00:35:18.329 So distracted. And so we... We try to satisfy 00:35:18.329 --> 00:35:20.650 the wrong thirst that costs us these things, 00:35:20.789 --> 00:35:22.750 our time, our money, our mental and emotional 00:35:22.750 --> 00:35:24.829 bandwidth. But underneath it, there's just like 00:35:24.829 --> 00:35:28.650 a deep thirst. You don't scroll on your phone 00:35:28.650 --> 00:35:31.650 and then put it away for two years. You do it 00:35:31.650 --> 00:35:33.530 again two hours later because you might have 00:35:33.530 --> 00:35:39.250 missed something. I do it. It's dumb. But there's 00:35:39.250 --> 00:35:43.949 a deeper thirst that we're just like, hmm. I 00:35:43.949 --> 00:35:45.610 mean, you don't check your stock account and 00:35:45.610 --> 00:35:49.480 then never check it again. You don't, I mean, 00:35:49.500 --> 00:35:52.179 you get it. You just play it out in your own 00:35:52.179 --> 00:35:55.800 life. There's a deeper thirst. There's a thirst 00:35:55.800 --> 00:35:58.940 for purpose. There's a thirst for belonging and 00:35:58.940 --> 00:36:00.760 acceptance and forgiveness and love. And don't 00:36:00.760 --> 00:36:02.260 you know the woman at the well had all of those 00:36:02.260 --> 00:36:04.300 things but had not the first clue how to find 00:36:04.300 --> 00:36:06.519 it because the people that she did life with 00:36:06.519 --> 00:36:08.739 were like, no, you don't do life with us. You're 00:36:08.739 --> 00:36:11.960 unwelcome here. Thirst for purpose, belonging, 00:36:12.219 --> 00:36:14.280 acceptance, forgiveness, love, and we keep coming 00:36:14.280 --> 00:36:16.940 back for more, but they don't truly satisfy us. 00:36:18.269 --> 00:36:20.670 St. Augustine said, you have made us for yourself, 00:36:20.929 --> 00:36:22.989 O Lord, and our hearts are restless until they 00:36:22.989 --> 00:36:28.570 find rest where? In you. In you. That is what 00:36:28.570 --> 00:36:30.690 Jesus was offering this woman, and that is what 00:36:30.690 --> 00:36:33.789 Jesus still offers us today, which is living 00:36:33.789 --> 00:36:38.409 water. That's the key phrase in that whole story. 00:36:39.250 --> 00:36:42.690 Living water. Meaning what? Like a spring that 00:36:42.690 --> 00:36:44.429 never runs out. We don't know anything of those 00:36:44.429 --> 00:36:48.260 in Arizona, but they exist. Unlike the other 00:36:48.260 --> 00:36:51.199 things that we try to pursue to satisfy our thirst, 00:36:51.320 --> 00:36:53.239 this is not a temporary relief, but this is a 00:36:53.239 --> 00:36:58.440 lasting fulfillment in Christ, in Christ. Thirdly, 00:36:58.440 --> 00:37:02.360 grace tells the truth. Grace tells the truth. 00:37:03.480 --> 00:37:06.780 Jesus didn't ignore her past. You got to hear 00:37:06.780 --> 00:37:09.139 this. Jesus didn't ignore her past, but he also 00:37:09.139 --> 00:37:13.559 did not weaponize it either. He did not weaponize 00:37:13.559 --> 00:37:16.800 it. He brought it into the light because healing 00:37:16.800 --> 00:37:20.260 happens in the light. When you go to the doctor 00:37:20.260 --> 00:37:23.059 and they need to do an important procedure on 00:37:23.059 --> 00:37:24.739 your body, what do they do? They turn on the 00:37:24.739 --> 00:37:26.780 headlamp because they've got to make sure that 00:37:26.780 --> 00:37:31.099 they see it so that they can cure it. They don't 00:37:31.099 --> 00:37:33.699 do it in the cover of dark. They get the room 00:37:33.699 --> 00:37:35.440 as bright as they can. They get the light on 00:37:35.440 --> 00:37:39.639 the wound or whatever, the surgical. That's how 00:37:39.639 --> 00:37:42.840 healing happens. We've got to light it up. And 00:37:42.840 --> 00:37:44.739 that's exactly what Jesus is doing. He's not 00:37:44.739 --> 00:37:47.780 weaponizing it against her, but he's also not 00:37:47.780 --> 00:37:50.039 ignoring it. And I think we live today in two 00:37:50.039 --> 00:37:52.940 extremes. Either we hide our truth out of shame 00:37:52.940 --> 00:37:55.139 or we celebrate everything without transformation. 00:37:55.940 --> 00:37:58.059 Those are the two extremes that I think we live 00:37:58.059 --> 00:38:00.360 in, which is why I think people struggle to figure 00:38:00.360 --> 00:38:02.340 out our church because we're trying to do something 00:38:02.340 --> 00:38:05.559 in the middle. We say we have truth and we live 00:38:05.559 --> 00:38:08.159 into that truth and we have to expose what is 00:38:08.159 --> 00:38:10.519 untrue by what is true. But we're not going to 00:38:10.519 --> 00:38:12.800 use it as a weapon against you just because you 00:38:12.800 --> 00:38:15.780 haven't got there yet. But we need to bring that 00:38:15.780 --> 00:38:17.599 into the light so that you might experience true 00:38:17.599 --> 00:38:21.079 transformation in Jesus. He didn't weaponize 00:38:21.079 --> 00:38:24.460 it. There's two extremes. We hide it. She tried 00:38:24.460 --> 00:38:26.280 to, right? She's like, hey, what about this mountain? 00:38:26.320 --> 00:38:27.920 And Jesus is like, there's a bigger issue here. 00:38:29.179 --> 00:38:31.219 Or we celebrate everything without transformation. 00:38:31.820 --> 00:38:34.079 Jesus offers a third option, a better option, 00:38:34.139 --> 00:38:35.900 which is truth and grace. And this is how he's 00:38:35.900 --> 00:38:38.239 described in the first chapter of John. The words, 00:38:38.239 --> 00:38:42.480 that's Jesus, became flesh, dwelt among us. We 00:38:42.480 --> 00:38:44.500 observed his glory. The glory is the one and 00:38:44.500 --> 00:38:46.719 only son from the father, full of what? Say it 00:38:46.719 --> 00:38:51.079 with me. Grace and truth. That's John's description 00:38:51.079 --> 00:38:54.840 of Jesus. This is how he came. This is how he 00:38:54.840 --> 00:38:57.559 came. This is how he arrived on the scene. We 00:38:57.559 --> 00:39:00.659 observed his glory, the one and the only from 00:39:00.659 --> 00:39:04.059 the Father. And what is he like? Well, he's full 00:39:04.059 --> 00:39:08.860 of grace and truth, both. And it's transformational. 00:39:09.860 --> 00:39:11.840 If you had said, are the woman at the well and 00:39:11.840 --> 00:39:16.340 Jesus going to be friends? Unlikely. But there 00:39:16.340 --> 00:39:18.340 was not somebody in that whole community that 00:39:18.340 --> 00:39:20.480 had better things to say about Jesus than that 00:39:20.480 --> 00:39:25.539 woman who had been... transformed by Jesus. Jesus 00:39:25.539 --> 00:39:28.780 knew this woman, and he knows you, and he still 00:39:28.780 --> 00:39:30.500 welcomes and invites you into something that's 00:39:30.500 --> 00:39:33.500 deeper that will satisfy your soul. One final 00:39:33.500 --> 00:39:37.380 point. Your testimony is your faith invitation. 00:39:39.719 --> 00:39:42.500 From time to time, people will say to me as a 00:39:42.500 --> 00:39:45.019 pastor, I could never do what you do. I don't 00:39:45.019 --> 00:39:49.860 know enough of the Bible, etc. Okay, I could 00:39:49.860 --> 00:39:51.460 never do what you do. I don't know how you like. 00:39:52.319 --> 00:39:55.079 Sit in a building without your phone all day 00:39:55.079 --> 00:39:58.480 and do secret work, but that's what you do. Or 00:39:58.480 --> 00:40:01.179 not kill seventh graders who are in your math 00:40:01.179 --> 00:40:05.039 class. I can never do what you do, which is tolerate 00:40:05.039 --> 00:40:15.320 middle schoolers. They will say that to me, but 00:40:15.320 --> 00:40:17.679 here's the point in saying that. Think of the 00:40:17.679 --> 00:40:19.500 woman in the story. She didn't have a theology 00:40:19.500 --> 00:40:23.179 degree. She didn't even have a well -rehearsed, 00:40:23.179 --> 00:40:26.300 polished testimony. Like when she went back, 00:40:26.320 --> 00:40:28.940 she wasn't like, yeah, so here it is. I was after 00:40:28.940 --> 00:40:32.219 water that doesn't satisfy, and now I have living 00:40:32.219 --> 00:40:35.019 water. And it comes from Jesus, who is the spring 00:40:35.019 --> 00:40:38.880 of living water who flows. Like, she didn't have 00:40:38.880 --> 00:40:42.500 that. No theology degree, not a well -rehearsed, 00:40:42.500 --> 00:40:44.019 polished testimony. Instead, what she had was 00:40:44.019 --> 00:40:47.420 a winsome, inviting story of transformation. 00:40:48.780 --> 00:40:51.659 There is something. There is nothing, I should 00:40:51.659 --> 00:40:53.780 say, more powerful than that. And the invitation, 00:40:54.059 --> 00:40:59.579 come and see, was so magnetic. So magnetic. Come 00:40:59.579 --> 00:41:02.579 and see. And sometimes we think we're disqualified 00:41:02.579 --> 00:41:05.219 from sharing our faith because of our past, but 00:41:05.219 --> 00:41:08.559 often it is our past that makes our stories most 00:41:08.559 --> 00:41:13.019 powerful. Most powerful. Why do we spend the 00:41:13.019 --> 00:41:15.039 time to let people tell their story on Baptism 00:41:15.039 --> 00:41:16.760 Sunday? Because there are other churches that 00:41:16.760 --> 00:41:18.920 don't do that, and I'm good with that. It's preference, 00:41:19.159 --> 00:41:24.340 not... Theologies. Preference. Because we believe 00:41:24.340 --> 00:41:27.219 that there's power in that. The story of transformation. 00:41:27.519 --> 00:41:29.940 The people that come up onto this stage. I mean, 00:41:29.940 --> 00:41:34.119 it is powerful. There's a winsomeness to it. 00:41:34.159 --> 00:41:37.260 Like, wow. If it can happen for that person, 00:41:37.380 --> 00:41:40.739 maybe it can happen for me. Maybe it can happen 00:41:40.739 --> 00:41:42.519 for me. I mean, you had five husbands and you're 00:41:42.519 --> 00:41:46.380 now kind of on your sixth. Like, okay. If it 00:41:46.380 --> 00:41:50.059 works for you, it might work for me. People can 00:41:50.059 --> 00:41:53.239 argue doctrine, and there's a place for that, 00:41:53.280 --> 00:41:56.480 I suppose, but they can't argue with a transformed 00:41:56.480 --> 00:41:59.559 life. They can't argue with a transformed life. 00:41:59.719 --> 00:42:03.300 I'll say accidentally, but I think it was by 00:42:03.300 --> 00:42:06.440 God's design. I put on my CR shirt today for 00:42:06.440 --> 00:42:08.739 Celebrate Recovery, and every time I go, which 00:42:08.739 --> 00:42:11.659 is not as often as I would like to, but every 00:42:11.659 --> 00:42:17.260 time I go, what you see in stories of people 00:42:17.260 --> 00:42:20.269 who are really living it, And actually being 00:42:20.269 --> 00:42:23.050 transformed and taken from darkness to light 00:42:23.050 --> 00:42:28.130 in the name and in the power of Jesus. It's undeniable. 00:42:29.429 --> 00:42:31.449 It's hard to be like, oh, this is some weird 00:42:31.449 --> 00:42:34.210 theology thing. No, this is transformation. And 00:42:34.210 --> 00:42:36.110 give me another explanation other than the person 00:42:36.110 --> 00:42:39.730 who spent so much of their life oppressed and 00:42:39.730 --> 00:42:43.449 under the weight of this addiction who now just 00:42:43.449 --> 00:42:49.099 coincidentally is not. It's powerful. And you 00:42:49.099 --> 00:42:53.139 can't dispute it. And I've shared this example 00:42:53.139 --> 00:42:55.960 before from the scripture. But I always think 00:42:55.960 --> 00:42:57.719 of it, the story of the blind man. I'll show 00:42:57.719 --> 00:43:00.059 it to you in a moment. But let me tell you about 00:43:00.059 --> 00:43:03.039 it before you see it. Jesus heals this blind 00:43:03.039 --> 00:43:06.340 man in John chapter 9. And they're pressing this 00:43:06.340 --> 00:43:09.199 blind man about who Jesus is. Because they don't 00:43:09.199 --> 00:43:12.050 want it to be true. They don't like Jesus. So 00:43:12.050 --> 00:43:14.030 they're pressing him about, like, tell us theology, 00:43:14.269 --> 00:43:16.329 doctrine, what was his response to their persistent 00:43:16.329 --> 00:43:17.929 questioning? They're questioning the blind man. 00:43:18.269 --> 00:43:20.630 Here's what it is. So a second time they summoned 00:43:20.630 --> 00:43:22.969 the man who had been blind and told him, give 00:43:22.969 --> 00:43:25.010 glory to God. We know that this man is a sinner. 00:43:26.170 --> 00:43:28.889 Speaking of Jesus, he answered, whether or not 00:43:28.889 --> 00:43:30.389 he's a sinner, I don't know. Although he kind 00:43:30.389 --> 00:43:31.949 of fumbled that one, but we'll give him some 00:43:31.949 --> 00:43:37.329 grace. But one thing I do know, I'm confused 00:43:37.329 --> 00:43:41.460 about theology, but one thing I do know. I was 00:43:41.460 --> 00:43:47.179 blind, and now I can see. And this real transformation. 00:43:48.780 --> 00:43:50.440 Like, you can be like, the guy's a sinner, he's 00:43:50.440 --> 00:43:52.460 not a sinner, he's a priest, he's a rabbi, he's 00:43:52.460 --> 00:43:55.420 a good Samaritan. Like, who is he? I don't know. 00:43:56.940 --> 00:43:59.400 But what I do know, and what you can't argue 00:43:59.400 --> 00:44:02.360 with, is the real transformation. In his case, 00:44:02.360 --> 00:44:04.599 physically, right? I was blind, and now I see. 00:44:05.159 --> 00:44:07.099 I've told you before, if we could do that, not 00:44:07.099 --> 00:44:10.579 a seat next to you would be empty. Because you 00:44:10.579 --> 00:44:15.360 would see it and you can't deny it. Real transformation, 00:44:15.639 --> 00:44:17.659 impossible to deny and ignore. And so many of 00:44:17.659 --> 00:44:19.800 you have a story of transformation. And here's 00:44:19.800 --> 00:44:22.800 what I will say to you. It is such an easy faith 00:44:22.800 --> 00:44:26.940 invitation. I get it. To sit down with your Bible, 00:44:27.079 --> 00:44:29.059 it can kind of feel intimidating. Like, well, 00:44:29.079 --> 00:44:30.420 what if it asks me a question I don't know? I 00:44:30.420 --> 00:44:34.300 get that. But lead with your story of transformation. 00:44:35.519 --> 00:44:38.219 Lead with that. That's what the woman at the 00:44:38.219 --> 00:44:40.559 well did. She just went home and said, come and 00:44:40.559 --> 00:44:42.960 see. Like, I can't put it into words. Just come 00:44:42.960 --> 00:44:45.780 and see it for yourself. Come and see and meet 00:44:45.780 --> 00:44:48.619 this man who told me everything I ever did. And 00:44:48.619 --> 00:44:50.639 the outcome of that is what? Many Samaritans 00:44:50.639 --> 00:44:53.860 believed in him because of her simple invitation 00:44:53.860 --> 00:44:58.179 to come and see. Come and see. A woman comes 00:44:58.179 --> 00:45:00.199 to a well carrying emptiness. She leaves without 00:45:00.199 --> 00:45:04.300 her water jar. But note this, filled with purpose. 00:45:05.179 --> 00:45:08.300 And totally transformed. Because she discovered 00:45:08.300 --> 00:45:12.239 something greater than what she came for. And 00:45:12.239 --> 00:45:15.079 unquestionably, there's some of us that are in 00:45:15.079 --> 00:45:18.320 that same place today. You came for one thing 00:45:18.320 --> 00:45:22.760 or you go to that well at noon for one thing. 00:45:23.719 --> 00:45:25.739 Thinking that that's what you really need or 00:45:25.739 --> 00:45:29.219 that's what you're really after. answers, peace, 00:45:29.500 --> 00:45:31.860 clarity, whatever it may be, but Jesus offers 00:45:31.860 --> 00:45:33.659 you something deeper, and it's not just water, 00:45:33.699 --> 00:45:35.800 it's living water, like the kind that gets into 00:45:35.800 --> 00:45:40.300 your very soul and transforms you. And so the 00:45:40.300 --> 00:45:41.980 question I'll leave you with is, what is the 00:45:41.980 --> 00:45:45.900 thirst of your soul today? What are you thirsting 00:45:45.900 --> 00:45:51.599 for? I mean, a good way to diagnose it is just 00:45:51.599 --> 00:45:54.980 to look at how you spend your time, how you spend 00:45:54.980 --> 00:45:59.329 your money. The things that you do in your career, 00:45:59.469 --> 00:46:01.090 the things you do in your home, the things you 00:46:01.090 --> 00:46:05.010 do on social media. All those things are diagnostic. 00:46:05.110 --> 00:46:08.389 They tell us, like, what are we craving? Is it 00:46:08.389 --> 00:46:11.170 money? Is it attention? Is it love? Is it acceptance? 00:46:12.849 --> 00:46:15.070 What's the craving? What's the thirst in my soul 00:46:15.070 --> 00:46:17.349 today? And are you willing to let Jesus meet 00:46:17.349 --> 00:46:19.389 you there, not just to comfort you, but to transform 00:46:19.389 --> 00:46:21.369 you? Like, Jesus could have done a different 00:46:21.369 --> 00:46:23.429 kind of miracle, which is what? Like, hey, yeah. 00:46:24.380 --> 00:46:26.239 I'll get the water for you today. Here you go, 00:46:26.260 --> 00:46:28.179 ma 'am. Here's a bucket of water. Good luck. 00:46:28.320 --> 00:46:29.920 I might not be here tomorrow when you come back 00:46:29.920 --> 00:46:32.619 for more. He could have done that. We would have 00:46:32.619 --> 00:46:35.039 been like, that was very kind of him. That was 00:46:35.039 --> 00:46:38.119 very noble of him. And so he wasn't just trying 00:46:38.119 --> 00:46:40.500 to comfort her. Like, here's some water. Go and 00:46:40.500 --> 00:46:42.880 be well. But he was actually trying to transform 00:46:42.880 --> 00:46:49.920 her. And he did. Because when he transforms us, 00:46:52.079 --> 00:46:55.039 It's not just that you're satisfied, although 00:46:55.039 --> 00:46:58.239 that is primary, but you also become a conduit 00:46:58.239 --> 00:47:02.420 pointing others to the same source of life. Imagine 00:47:02.420 --> 00:47:04.519 in that scenario, it's like, hey, that well over 00:47:04.519 --> 00:47:08.420 there is different. There would be a line around 00:47:08.420 --> 00:47:13.800 the block. That's what it is about. It's not 00:47:13.800 --> 00:47:17.579 just that I'm transformed. Thank God that I am. 00:47:18.849 --> 00:47:22.369 But hopefully, hopefully that I become a conduit 00:47:22.369 --> 00:47:24.409 pointing others to the same source of life. And 00:47:24.409 --> 00:47:28.550 what was the invitation? Come and see. That was 00:47:28.550 --> 00:47:32.170 it. Come and see. What about your life is the 00:47:32.170 --> 00:47:33.929 come and see part that people would be like, 00:47:34.050 --> 00:47:38.730 yeah, like I'm not sure about that person's theology. 00:47:40.369 --> 00:47:43.409 But it's really hard to ignore how they live. 00:47:44.489 --> 00:47:48.139 How they live. Like come and see. How Jesus has 00:47:48.139 --> 00:47:51.719 changed my life. The story of redemption in brokenness 00:47:51.719 --> 00:47:56.920 is powerful. And it insulates us in our place 00:47:56.920 --> 00:47:59.760 of brokenness and shame and whatever it is. We're 00:47:59.760 --> 00:48:02.420 insulated with that so that we may share it with 00:48:02.420 --> 00:48:05.539 others. Amen. Let's pray together. Father, thank 00:48:05.539 --> 00:48:09.000 you that in our place of shame and brokenness, 00:48:09.039 --> 00:48:13.300 you are waiting. At the noon hour at the well, 00:48:13.380 --> 00:48:17.699 you are waiting. When we're hoping to not run 00:48:17.699 --> 00:48:21.079 into anybody, we're hoping to avoid it, we're 00:48:21.079 --> 00:48:25.599 hoping to deflect it, hoping to change the subject. 00:48:26.820 --> 00:48:29.760 Whatever it may be, God, in our place of brokenness 00:48:29.760 --> 00:48:36.360 and shame and superficial thirst, we'll call 00:48:36.360 --> 00:48:43.019 it, you give us living water through Jesus. May 00:48:43.019 --> 00:48:48.170 not one person leave today. unclear on where 00:48:48.170 --> 00:48:50.730 that well of living water is and how to get it. 00:48:53.349 --> 00:48:57.230 Would you expose in our hearts our superficial 00:48:57.230 --> 00:49:00.809 thirst and would you do a transformational work 00:49:00.809 --> 00:49:05.269 that only you can do? We come thinking we're 00:49:05.269 --> 00:49:07.730 after this and you meet us in that place unexpectedly 00:49:07.730 --> 00:49:10.050 and say, no, actually what you really need is 00:49:10.050 --> 00:49:13.110 the living water that can only come through Jesus. 00:49:14.320 --> 00:49:17.179 And in that, in that place of transformation, 00:49:17.420 --> 00:49:21.139 that we would go to the very people who maybe 00:49:21.139 --> 00:49:25.739 we haven't even been welcomed by before. Go to 00:49:25.739 --> 00:49:27.920 those places that feel scary. Go to those places 00:49:27.920 --> 00:49:29.860 where we experience shame. Go to those places 00:49:29.860 --> 00:49:32.260 where we're nervous. Go to those places where 00:49:32.260 --> 00:49:33.599 we're certain people will say, we don't want 00:49:33.599 --> 00:49:37.420 to hear it. And we would just simply lead with 00:49:37.420 --> 00:49:40.380 our faith, our story of transformation, say, 00:49:40.480 --> 00:49:44.730 come and see. Come and see. Come and see what 00:49:44.730 --> 00:49:49.510 Jesus has done. Do that in our very lives today, 00:49:49.590 --> 00:49:51.929 in our soul. We love you and we trust you. In 00:49:51.929 --> 00:49:53.309 Jesus' name, amen.