WEBVTT 00:00:04.369 --> 00:00:08.029 Howdy When I was younger my mom my sister and 00:00:08.029 --> 00:00:10.330 I were driving down a road in the neighborhood 00:00:10.330 --> 00:00:13.849 near the school We're heading along normally 00:00:13.849 --> 00:00:17.350 when suddenly my sister says stop we need to 00:00:17.350 --> 00:00:21.789 turn around My mom and I were We look at her 00:00:21.789 --> 00:00:24.629 and we asked well why she points back and she 00:00:24.629 --> 00:00:28.609 says the sign it says dead end And we were so 00:00:28.609 --> 00:00:32.140 confused We had driven that road before and there 00:00:32.140 --> 00:00:35.539 wasn't a dead end there, but she was convinced, 00:00:35.880 --> 00:00:38.719 no, the sign says dead end. We can't go this 00:00:38.719 --> 00:00:43.020 way. So we turned around and we drive back to 00:00:43.020 --> 00:00:45.759 look at the sign that she saw. And when we got 00:00:45.759 --> 00:00:50.140 close enough, we finally saw that dead end sign 00:00:50.140 --> 00:00:54.159 clearly for ourselves in big bold letters saying, 00:00:55.340 --> 00:00:59.920 road humps. And that was the day we discovered 00:00:59.920 --> 00:01:05.980 my sister needed glasses. What she thought was 00:01:05.980 --> 00:01:08.799 the end of the road wasn't the end of the road 00:01:08.799 --> 00:01:13.500 at all. It was just something in the road. Sometimes 00:01:13.500 --> 00:01:16.260 the very thing that looks like the obstacle isn't 00:01:16.260 --> 00:01:19.060 the end. Sometimes the thing that we think is 00:01:19.060 --> 00:01:21.900 blocking the way is actually part of the road 00:01:21.900 --> 00:01:26.819 itself. And that happens in life too. Sometimes 00:01:26.819 --> 00:01:30.060 we look at a difficult and devastating situation 00:01:30.060 --> 00:01:33.519 and we think, this must be a dead end. This must 00:01:33.519 --> 00:01:36.819 mean God isn't providing. This must mean there's 00:01:36.819 --> 00:01:40.239 no way forward. But the scriptures show us something 00:01:40.239 --> 00:01:44.719 amazing. What looks like an obstacle may be the 00:01:44.719 --> 00:01:49.019 very place where God is about to give life. And 00:01:49.019 --> 00:01:51.780 we see that happen three times in today's message. 00:01:52.420 --> 00:01:57.060 In the wilderness? At a well? and at the cross. 00:01:58.340 --> 00:02:01.500 The people of Israel once faced a moment where 00:02:01.500 --> 00:02:03.439 everything in front of them looked like a dead 00:02:03.439 --> 00:02:06.640 end. In the book of Exodus chapter 17 the people 00:02:06.640 --> 00:02:09.099 of Israel are traveling through the wilderness. 00:02:10.120 --> 00:02:13.639 This wilderness actually sits between Egypt and 00:02:13.639 --> 00:02:17.240 the promised land. In many ways it serves as 00:02:17.240 --> 00:02:21.060 a kind of barrier between Israel and the power 00:02:21.060 --> 00:02:24.710 that once enslaved them. But traveling through 00:02:24.710 --> 00:02:27.490 that wilderness to get to that promised land, 00:02:27.569 --> 00:02:31.849 it's not easy. There's dust, there's heat, and 00:02:31.849 --> 00:02:35.990 most importantly, there's no water. So the people 00:02:35.990 --> 00:02:39.729 begin to argue with Moses. They complain, they 00:02:39.729 --> 00:02:44.210 accuse him, they even question God. Why did you 00:02:44.210 --> 00:02:47.569 bring us up out of Egypt? Was it just so that 00:02:47.569 --> 00:02:51.810 we could die out here? From their perspective, 00:02:52.169 --> 00:02:55.310 The situation looks obvious. There's no water. 00:02:56.050 --> 00:02:59.629 There's only rock, dry ground, wilderness. In 00:02:59.629 --> 00:03:04.009 their minds, they have reached a dead end. But 00:03:04.009 --> 00:03:07.650 God tells Moses to do something strange. He says, 00:03:08.069 --> 00:03:12.569 pass on before the people, taking with you some 00:03:12.569 --> 00:03:16.069 of the elders of Israel, and strike the rock. 00:03:17.449 --> 00:03:21.229 Notice something important. God tells Moses to 00:03:21.229 --> 00:03:26.270 bring the elders with him. Not everyone, but 00:03:26.270 --> 00:03:29.750 enough witnesses. Because what God is about to 00:03:29.750 --> 00:03:33.909 do is something they must see. So Moses walks 00:03:33.909 --> 00:03:37.689 up to the rock with his staff in his hand. The 00:03:37.689 --> 00:03:42.050 same staff God used to part the Red Sea. The 00:03:42.050 --> 00:03:46.409 same staff God used to strike Egypt. The elders 00:03:46.409 --> 00:03:49.699 are watching. The people through them are watching, 00:03:50.180 --> 00:03:53.139 and nothing about that rock looks promising. 00:03:53.960 --> 00:03:59.020 It's just stone. It's hard, it's dry, it's lifeless. 00:03:59.819 --> 00:04:04.979 Then Moses raises the staff, and he strikes the 00:04:04.979 --> 00:04:08.580 rock. The sound echoes across the wilderness, 00:04:09.000 --> 00:04:12.580 wood against stone. Maybe for a moment, nothing 00:04:12.580 --> 00:04:19.069 happens. And then suddenly, the rock cracks and 00:04:19.069 --> 00:04:23.750 water begins to pour out. Water spilling down 00:04:23.750 --> 00:04:26.569 the rock and running across the ground so the 00:04:26.569 --> 00:04:30.410 people can drink. The very thing that looked 00:04:30.410 --> 00:04:34.350 like an obstacle became the place where life 00:04:34.350 --> 00:04:38.689 appeared. And maybe in that moment, something 00:04:38.689 --> 00:04:43.990 else cracked open too. Not just the rock, but 00:04:43.990 --> 00:04:47.660 the hearts of the people. Hearts that had been 00:04:47.660 --> 00:04:52.939 hard with fear, with anger, with distrust. Because 00:04:52.939 --> 00:04:55.420 now the elders have seen it with their own eyes, 00:04:56.160 --> 00:05:00.040 God had not abandoned them. The rock that looked 00:05:00.040 --> 00:05:03.720 lifeless was exactly where God had hidden the 00:05:03.720 --> 00:05:07.459 water. What looked like the obstacle was the 00:05:07.459 --> 00:05:14.100 place where God gave life. Centuries later, Another 00:05:14.100 --> 00:05:17.100 person stood at another place where water was 00:05:17.100 --> 00:05:21.240 being drawn. In the Gospel of John chapter 4, 00:05:21.459 --> 00:05:24.740 a Samaritan woman comes to a well in the middle 00:05:24.740 --> 00:05:31.000 of the day. Now, that detail about the time matters. 00:05:32.019 --> 00:05:34.339 Because people usually came to the well in the 00:05:34.339 --> 00:05:37.379 cool of the morning or later in the evening. 00:05:38.279 --> 00:05:41.399 Coming at noon suggests she wants to avoid others. 00:05:42.160 --> 00:05:46.319 She has a past. She has a reputation. She has 00:05:46.319 --> 00:05:49.779 reasons to keep her distance. And when she arrives, 00:05:50.459 --> 00:05:55.660 she finds something unexpected. A man sitting 00:05:55.660 --> 00:06:03.259 at the well. A Jewish rabbi in Samaria. And immediately 00:06:03.259 --> 00:06:07.740 she feels the obstacles. Jews and Samaritans 00:06:07.740 --> 00:06:12.420 did not get along. And a man, let alone a rabbi, 00:06:12.800 --> 00:06:15.399 normally wouldn't speak to a woman like her. 00:06:16.079 --> 00:06:20.579 So when Jesus asks her for a drink, she's surprised, 00:06:21.459 --> 00:06:25.279 maybe suspicious, maybe even a little sarcastic. 00:06:26.079 --> 00:06:30.240 How is it that you, a Jew, ask a drink from me, 00:06:30.279 --> 00:06:34.379 a woman of Samaria? In her mind, Jesus is probably 00:06:34.379 --> 00:06:37.860 just another obstacle. Another reminder of the 00:06:37.860 --> 00:06:41.819 divide between their people. Another voice representing 00:06:41.819 --> 00:06:45.959 a religious system she hasn't lived up to. But 00:06:45.959 --> 00:06:50.160 Jesus says something unexpected. Whoever drinks 00:06:50.160 --> 00:06:52.060 of the water that I will give him will never 00:06:52.060 --> 00:06:57.079 be thirsty again. And slowly, the conversation 00:06:57.079 --> 00:07:01.500 begins to change. Jesus reveals he knows her 00:07:01.500 --> 00:07:07.519 life. and every man in it. Not to shame her, 00:07:07.879 --> 00:07:10.839 not to condemn her, but to show that he sees 00:07:10.839 --> 00:07:14.920 her completely. He knows that bad relationships 00:07:14.920 --> 00:07:18.300 are not only about making bad choices. Every 00:07:18.300 --> 00:07:21.279 relationship has been another trip to the same 00:07:21.279 --> 00:07:25.279 unsatisfying well. Another hope that this time 00:07:25.279 --> 00:07:29.860 she would finally find security, love, worth. 00:07:31.320 --> 00:07:35.839 Jesus still speaks with her, still offers her 00:07:35.839 --> 00:07:39.360 life, and suddenly, as he reveals his true identity 00:07:39.360 --> 00:07:43.399 as the Messiah, she realizes something. The man 00:07:43.399 --> 00:07:49.000 she thought was the obstacle is actually the 00:07:49.000 --> 00:07:51.959 source of the living water she's been searching 00:07:51.959 --> 00:07:56.360 for. Her heart breaks open, and the hardened 00:07:56.360 --> 00:08:00.050 woman who came to the well alone, now... runs 00:08:00.050 --> 00:08:04.009 back into town. She says to the people, come 00:08:04.009 --> 00:08:07.050 see a man who told me everything I ever did. 00:08:07.589 --> 00:08:12.290 Could this be the Christ? The isolated woman 00:08:12.290 --> 00:08:15.029 becomes a witness, just like the elders in the 00:08:15.029 --> 00:08:17.910 wilderness, because once again, what looked like 00:08:17.910 --> 00:08:22.110 the obstacle was the place where God gave life. 00:08:22.949 --> 00:08:25.589 And her story is not as unique as we might think. 00:08:25.980 --> 00:08:30.000 People today still go searching for life in wells 00:08:30.000 --> 00:08:34.320 that cannot satisfy. Some people believe success 00:08:34.320 --> 00:08:37.399 will finally satisfy them. Another promotion, 00:08:37.659 --> 00:08:40.539 another milestone, another accomplishment. And 00:08:40.539 --> 00:08:44.840 for a moment, it feels like water. But the thirst 00:08:44.840 --> 00:08:48.840 always returns. But Jesus doesn't look at your 00:08:48.840 --> 00:08:51.799 achievements to determine your worth. Your worth 00:08:51.799 --> 00:08:55.620 is what you are given because of His grace. Others 00:08:55.620 --> 00:08:58.159 believe the right relationship will finally fill 00:08:58.159 --> 00:09:01.360 the emptiness. If someone truly loves me, everything 00:09:01.360 --> 00:09:05.059 will be okay. But even the best relationship 00:09:05.059 --> 00:09:08.759 cannot carry the weight of being someone's ultimate 00:09:08.759 --> 00:09:12.779 source of meaning. Eventually the well runs dry 00:09:12.779 --> 00:09:16.919 again. Jesus, though, offers something different. 00:09:17.720 --> 00:09:20.360 He gives a love that does not collapse under 00:09:20.360 --> 00:09:25.480 pressure. Others... don't chase success or romance 00:09:25.480 --> 00:09:31.500 necessarily, they chase escape. Endless scrolling, 00:09:32.200 --> 00:09:35.879 constant entertainment, never allowing silence. 00:09:37.080 --> 00:09:39.340 But distraction is like drinking salt water. 00:09:39.539 --> 00:09:42.840 The more you consume, the thirstier you become. 00:09:44.000 --> 00:09:47.059 But Christ offers something else entirely. A 00:09:47.059 --> 00:09:51.740 spring of water, welling up to eternal life. 00:09:52.269 --> 00:09:57.250 That is why Jesus' promise is so powerful. He 00:09:57.250 --> 00:10:02.389 doesn't offer another flawed well. He offers 00:10:02.389 --> 00:10:06.690 living water. But when Jesus began preaching 00:10:06.690 --> 00:10:09.350 and teaching, he was not always recognized as 00:10:09.350 --> 00:10:13.889 bringing life. Many people saw him as a problem. 00:10:14.830 --> 00:10:17.789 He challenged their authority. He exposed their 00:10:17.789 --> 00:10:21.940 hypocrisy. He didn't fit their expectations. 00:10:23.120 --> 00:10:25.519 So they treated him like the obstacle to what 00:10:25.519 --> 00:10:29.240 they thought they wanted. And what do people 00:10:29.240 --> 00:10:34.519 do with obstacles? They remove them. They silence 00:10:34.519 --> 00:10:37.899 them. They get rid of them. And that is exactly 00:10:37.899 --> 00:10:41.960 what they did to Jesus. They arrested him. They 00:10:41.960 --> 00:10:49.460 condemned him. They nailed him to a cross. To 00:10:49.460 --> 00:10:52.799 them, it looked like the end of the obstacle, 00:10:52.919 --> 00:10:56.340 the end of the troublemaker, the end of the disruption. 00:10:57.360 --> 00:11:02.080 But God had something else in mind. Because the 00:11:02.080 --> 00:11:04.159 scriptures had already spoken about this moment. 00:11:04.639 --> 00:11:09.360 In the book of Psalms 118 verse 22, we hear these 00:11:09.360 --> 00:11:12.580 words, the stone the builders rejected has become 00:11:12.580 --> 00:11:17.659 the cornerstone. The very stone they rejected, 00:11:17.980 --> 00:11:21.379 the one they thought was useless, the one they 00:11:21.379 --> 00:11:24.240 tried to remove, the one they broke on the tree. 00:11:25.240 --> 00:11:29.039 That stone becomes the cornerstone, the place 00:11:29.039 --> 00:11:32.379 upon which everything would be built. And at 00:11:32.379 --> 00:11:36.620 the cross, something astonishing happens. The 00:11:36.620 --> 00:11:40.419 one they thought was the obstacle becomes the 00:11:40.419 --> 00:11:44.860 source of salvation. Whatever they thought they 00:11:44.860 --> 00:11:50.210 were doing, Jesus was giving himself. He was 00:11:50.210 --> 00:11:54.190 laying down his own life. And through his death 00:11:54.190 --> 00:11:57.769 comes forgiveness. Through his suffering comes 00:11:57.769 --> 00:12:01.789 mercy. Through his cross comes life for the world. 00:12:02.710 --> 00:12:06.029 The cross looked like defeat, but it became the 00:12:06.029 --> 00:12:10.149 fountain of salvation. The water mingled with 00:12:10.149 --> 00:12:13.730 the blood became the living water for us all. 00:12:14.389 --> 00:12:17.940 And once again, What looked like the obstacle 00:12:17.940 --> 00:12:23.639 was the place where God gave life. The rock that 00:12:23.639 --> 00:12:26.919 looked lifeless gave water. The rabbi at the 00:12:26.919 --> 00:12:29.899 well offered living water. The cross that looked 00:12:29.899 --> 00:12:33.559 like defeat became salvation. Jesus looked like 00:12:33.559 --> 00:12:36.399 a stumbling block, but He was the cornerstone. 00:12:38.600 --> 00:12:44.539 But we still misread the signs in our lives. 00:12:45.230 --> 00:12:48.870 Just like my sister mistook road humps for a 00:12:48.870 --> 00:12:52.690 dead end, we sometimes look at our lives and 00:12:52.690 --> 00:12:57.250 assume we know what is happening. We see hardship 00:12:57.250 --> 00:13:00.570 and we think this must mean God has abandoned 00:13:00.570 --> 00:13:04.409 me. We see a challenge and we think this must 00:13:04.409 --> 00:13:08.049 be the end of the road. We encounter something 00:13:08.049 --> 00:13:10.490 difficult and assume there's no way forward. 00:13:11.309 --> 00:13:13.809 And when that happens, something even deeper. 00:13:14.240 --> 00:13:19.100 takes place. We begin to misread Jesus himself. 00:13:20.100 --> 00:13:22.259 Instead of seeing him as the source of life, 00:13:22.279 --> 00:13:26.480 we start to see him as the obstacle. When Jesus 00:13:26.480 --> 00:13:28.980 calls us to forgive someone who hurt us, when 00:13:28.980 --> 00:13:32.700 Jesus calls us to humility instead of pride, 00:13:33.659 --> 00:13:37.419 when Jesus calls us to trust God instead of controlling 00:13:37.419 --> 00:13:41.200 everything ourselves, when Jesus calls us to 00:13:41.200 --> 00:13:45.399 faith instead of fear. Sometimes we look at those 00:13:45.399 --> 00:13:48.960 things and we think this is what's getting in 00:13:48.960 --> 00:13:54.220 the way of the life that I want. Some people 00:13:54.220 --> 00:13:56.600 look at Jesus and think I'm doing fine on my 00:13:56.600 --> 00:14:00.480 own, a stable career, financial security, a respected 00:14:00.480 --> 00:14:04.899 reputation, but Jesus says something unsettling. 00:14:05.919 --> 00:14:09.759 Apart from me, you can do nothing. Admitting 00:14:09.759 --> 00:14:13.000 that means admitting we are not the foundation 00:14:13.279 --> 00:14:18.159 of our own lives. Christ is not coming to tear 00:14:18.159 --> 00:14:21.659 down your life, though. He is coming to be the 00:14:21.659 --> 00:14:26.019 foundation that can actually hold it up. Others 00:14:26.019 --> 00:14:31.419 like the idea of spirituality, meaning, meditation, 00:14:31.940 --> 00:14:36.299 personal truth, but Jesus does not simply offer 00:14:36.299 --> 00:14:43.669 inspiration. He says, I am the way. People, they 00:14:43.669 --> 00:14:46.710 want inspiration. They don't want a cornerstone 00:14:46.710 --> 00:14:51.309 that defines the whole structure. Yet the gospel 00:14:51.309 --> 00:14:55.710 says the structure collapses without him. And 00:14:55.710 --> 00:14:59.149 sometimes a stumbling block is grace itself. 00:15:00.309 --> 00:15:03.970 We would rather fix ourselves, climb that ladder, 00:15:04.470 --> 00:15:09.769 improve enough, earn our way. But the cross declares 00:15:09.769 --> 00:15:13.419 something different. Life does not come from 00:15:13.419 --> 00:15:16.820 what we achieve. It comes from what Christ has 00:15:16.820 --> 00:15:20.519 done for us. The rock struck in the wilderness, 00:15:21.259 --> 00:15:24.840 the Savior struck on the cross, both say the 00:15:24.840 --> 00:15:28.779 same thing. Life comes from what God provides, 00:15:29.120 --> 00:15:33.159 not from what we achieve. The thing we think 00:15:33.159 --> 00:15:35.620 is the obstacle is actually the place where God 00:15:35.620 --> 00:15:39.820 is giving life. Israel saw a rock and assumed 00:15:39.820 --> 00:15:45.929 death. but the rock released water. The Samaritan 00:15:45.929 --> 00:15:49.309 woman saw a rabbi and assumed rejection, but 00:15:49.309 --> 00:15:54.070 he offered living water. The world saw a cross 00:15:54.070 --> 00:15:58.250 and assumed defeat, but the cross became salvation. 00:15:59.570 --> 00:16:02.570 And sometimes the things that we're pushing against, 00:16:03.490 --> 00:16:07.799 the things that we think are in the way, That's 00:16:07.799 --> 00:16:10.179 actually the place where God is calling us to 00:16:10.179 --> 00:16:13.779 receive His grace. Because the truth is simple. 00:16:14.700 --> 00:16:18.820 Jesus is not the obstacle. Jesus is the way. 00:16:19.679 --> 00:16:22.139 He is the one who gives living the water, the 00:16:22.139 --> 00:16:28.059 one who opens our sins, the one who forgives 00:16:28.059 --> 00:16:31.340 our sins, the one who opens heart and hearts, 00:16:32.399 --> 00:16:37.200 the one who leads us into life. So when life 00:16:37.200 --> 00:16:42.220 feels like a dead end, when the road looks blocked, 00:16:42.360 --> 00:16:47.679 when the situation feels dry and lifeless, remember 00:16:47.679 --> 00:16:52.139 the rock in the wilderness. Israel saw nothing 00:16:52.139 --> 00:16:56.899 but stone. But when the rock was struck, water 00:16:56.899 --> 00:17:00.840 flowed. Remember the woman at the well. She came 00:17:00.840 --> 00:17:04.279 searching for ordinary water. But the man she 00:17:04.279 --> 00:17:07.799 met there offered living water. And remember 00:17:07.799 --> 00:17:11.339 the cross. The world looked at that cross and 00:17:11.339 --> 00:17:14.359 thought it was the end. The end of the troublemaker. 00:17:15.079 --> 00:17:18.359 The end of the road. But the cross was not the 00:17:18.359 --> 00:17:22.420 end. It was where new life began. It was the 00:17:22.420 --> 00:17:24.880 place where forgiveness began to flow. Where 00:17:24.880 --> 00:17:27.680 mercy began to flow. Where living water began 00:17:27.680 --> 00:17:30.279 to flow for the world. And that living water 00:17:30.279 --> 00:17:38.359 is for you. forgiveness, life, salvation, given 00:17:38.359 --> 00:17:43.559 through Jesus Christ. Because we spend our lives 00:17:43.559 --> 00:17:46.319 walking from well to well hoping the next one 00:17:46.319 --> 00:17:50.579 will finally satisfy, but every well runs dry 00:17:50.579 --> 00:17:55.019 until we meet the one who does not just draw 00:17:55.019 --> 00:18:01.680 water, he is the living water. Thanks be to God.