When he meets you at the well | Feat. Luke Taylor

What happens when Jesus meets you where you are at? You are just living your day not expecting for your life to change and yet in a moment, Jesus being God elects to step into your story and change it forever...

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WILDFIRE, the youth branch of Hope to Families, seeking unity and community, helping people come to know Jesus and pointing people to the local body. So, speaking of plans that weren't scheduled, obviously we're supposed to be down in the prom today, and that's not happening. But also, I was supposed to go to somebody else's house today, but David Fraser knocked my window, and he invited me to lunch with the clarks and with the Frasers, who have some really amazing kids, beautiful kids. And you always hear that phrase, you know, like from young, naive people like me. It's like, I can't wait to have kids. Well, safe to say after today's lunch that I can't wait to have kids. There is time enough for that. But I want you to ask the person beside you, what is one significant moment in your life? OK, so feel free. I know we're in a service, but you can talk to the person beside you. What is one significant moment in your life? Okay, we'll bring it back in, we'll bring it back in, because we all know that we could talk forever, but all of us have significant moments that make up our life, right? And whenever we look back at the pages of history, we can all think of a significant moment, right? But for me, your significant moment in history, I guarantee, is not what I'm thinking of. in the pages of scriptures, a story that just stands out to me, I absolutely love it, that's recorded for us in history, is of a nameless woman. We don't even know this lady's name, and to be honest with you, sometimes I didn't even know why she has made it in the history books. I mean, from any human metric, there is no reason why we should be talking about her tonight. I mean, we've all got lives to live, right? So why talk about a nameless woman? I mean, she didn't discover anything. At least not any island or any medicine. She wasn't a political figure. She wasn't a celebrity So why is it that this nameless lady is recorded for us in the pages of Scripture? She's often described as the woman at the well. She's often described as the Samaritan woman, but that's all that there is And so we have to ask ourselves, why is this lady recorded for us in the pages of scripture? And so you're probably saying, well, there's gotta be a reason, and look at the story and see, she's gotta be of some notoriety. And I've looked at the story, and all this lady is known as is the town adulteress, right? You can go to Port Steuart, Corian, whatever town that you reside in, think of the town alcoholic, the town drug addict. I mean, the person that is disenfranchised, looked down upon, like nobody really wants to talk to them. And this is that lady. She has been through five marriages, okay, and she's on the sixth man committing yet another adulterous relationship. Okay, so... Why is that recorded for us in the pages of scripture, right? No significance, no meaning. Well, what does this lady need? It's probably easier to ask ourselves or say what she doesn't need, and that's another man, right, to come into the story. Yet that is exactly what happens. Another man comes into the story. And what I absolutely love about this is that the narrative completely changes. Upside down. The man that steps into the story is someone that we are more acquainted with, right? Jesus. Jesus steps into the story and begins a conversation with this lady. And at the end of that conversation, something happens whereby her life and the trajectory of that life completely changes. Her lifestyle changes. What she proclaim completely changes. She goes back, she leaves that town. scorned by her community, ashamed, and yet she walks back into that same town with confidence and boldness, proclaiming a message, a message of this man Jesus and the encounter that she had. What I love about this story is it teaches us that we do not have to be cemented into our current lifestyle, that whatever story you find yourself in, that story isn't fixed, it doesn't have to stay there. Like that lady. your story can change. But the reality that I'm here to proclaim to you tonight is that it's not a new car, it's not money, it's not job, it's nothing that this world could ever offer you. It's Jesus. Jesus is the one who can step into your story and completely change it. The next question I want you to ask the person beside you is what is your life story in three seconds? All right, great, nobody attempted it, right? All of our life stories, all of our life stories, there's a lot of diversity in the room, right? You can't look to the person to your left or to your right and say like, their story is completely different to mine, right? And that so often happens in a church, right? You look at all the people around us like, man, I'm not comfortable here. Like these people are completely different from me. That's not true. All of our stories are united in that they have a start, they have an end, they have... need and they have a moment. They have a start. I mean the reality is a lot of people say a lot of different things as to how you came to be but most of the time it's just scraping the surface about your physical frame right? It's just what we can see, smell and touch but have you ever thought about the beginning of your personhood? What makes you you? I mean the reality is and people closest to me will know this there is only one look Taylor out there right? and I am unique, but yet that is a true testimony of every single individual in here. There is nobody like you. And you gotta ask yourself why. What, because we originated from the dirt and by chance, by time, you just came to be, your personhood, the way that you think, all of your unique features, that just happened by chance. That's what the world wants you to believe. And they say we're insane. Jesus followers. that by chance your personhood, who you are, your identity just came to be by chance and that there's nobody else like you, your life had a beginning. Personhood. You matter. And your personhood is a direct imprint of a designer. And that designer is Jesus. The one who met the woman at the well. Can you imagine the woman at the well now meeting her designer? And so the invitation is tonight. Jesus wants to meet you just as he met the woman. All of our stories have a beginning, a start, and all of our stories have an end. I mean, the reality is, all of us are gonna die, right? That's just a fact. And the age-old question that dominates our world and has done and always will do is what happens when you die? What happens when you die? When the heartbeat stops, when brain activity ends, what happens? I mean, if it happened right now, and you were sitting here, and your time on this earth was done, what happens? Yeah, your physical body may go to the grave, but what about that personhood that had a beginning? I think the reality is, no matter how many people try to convince you otherwise, all of us know and have a deep sense that there is something more. It just testifies to humanity. The majority of humanity believes that after death there is an eternity, there is a something. And my invitation to you tonight is to step into the reality that if you die and God exists, this Jesus is who he says he is, which means his words are true. that you and I are sinners separated from him and that when we die. God will say to you, I don't know you. And it makes sense because you're sitting in the room and you're like, it's for sure that I don't know him. If you don't know him, he will say to you, I don't know you, and you will be cast into hell, separated from him for eternity. That is the end, the destiny of our lives. All of us together have that same end, if not for Jesus and him meeting us at the well and stepping into our story. Our stories have a beginning, our stories have an end, our stories have a need. All of us collectively, we have needs. We're hungry, we're thirsty, but there are deeper needs that surround all of us in our lives. All of us desire to be loved, all of us desire to feel significance, purpose, meaning. And what if that's absent? Perhaps you're sitting and you have the love, you have the purpose, you have the meaning, you have everything. It is only in your life when you realize that you have none of that, in and of yourself. You do not possess that. that the questions start to become more potent and they strike deeper. We all know it. When existential moments in our life come, when a loved one dies, the questions hit deeper. Or whenever you can't appeal to the love of somebody else, whenever you feel that loneliness, whenever you close the door behind you and you ask yourself, is this all that there is? You have a deep need. And that is true of every single one of us. Don't let anyone ever tell you that. That they don't have a need that needs met. And finally, all of us have a moment. All of us have a moment in our life where we will respond to the invitation of Jesus whenever he says, come. You will either accept him or you will either reject him. There is no middle ground. All of us will make a decision and we will be held accountable to that. I mean, if it's true that Jesus is who he says he is and you just sit here tonight and say that it doesn't matter, say that you don't believe it, that's your decision. But if it's true, you've made the wrong one. If it's true that Jesus is who he says he is, then this moment and the decision that you make was the biggest moment of your life. And whenever it comes to Jesus Christ, he too had a life that had a start and end, but the difference was he came to meet the need. Our God is a God who steps into the story like he did at the woman of the well and he's a God who's stepping into your story tonight. He's drew you here tonight and he's inviting you tonight. He's the one who at the end of his life was crucified to a cross. And the question is why? And the answer is you. That is what is true. Jesus died. for you. He came to meet that need so that when you close the door behind you and no matter how lonely it gets, He will always be there for you, in relationship for you. That the sin and the selfishness that dominates all of our lives, He is the one who's came to bring justice to that sin by taking it upon Himself and pouring His blood over you. So just like that woman at the well, us the worst of sinners no matter our baggage no matter our story Jesus says it is my joy to step into that story of sin of need of desperation and I'm gonna take it because I love you That's his story. He died on a cross and three days later in history, recorded and preserved for us. Historically true, verifiable. You can't falsify it. It's there in the pages of scripture. He's made it clear, not just by his creation, but by history that you can read. He died and he rose again, proving that he is who he says he is. Jesus Christ is Lord. Christ, the anointed one who came to set captives free, you and me. Lord, he is the one who sits enthroned on high over all dominions and over all kingdoms. He is the one to which I bow the knee to, the King of the universe. And if that's true, you're defying the King of the universe? If we come back to the story, the invitation that I extend to you tonight is not to come to a genie, but to come to Jesus. Jesus, when he addressed the crowd, he said that if you want to follow me, remember that in this world, you will have trouble. The life of a follower of Jesus is not an easy one, but it is a great one. Jesus, in front of a crowd, wasn't looking to get subscriptions or money. He said to them that if you wanna follow me, Lord and King, then you have to take up your cross and follow me. Cross, a representation of suffering, of trial. You've got to ask yourself, why is it that you would take up a cross and follow Jesus? Why is it that you would say yes to Jesus? That's because the value of an invitation is shown not so much by the content of that invitation, but rather the one who's doing the inviting. If someone random came up to you and gave you an invitation to their wedding, it wouldn't mean anything to you because you don't know them and who's doing the inviting. But yet, when your daughter, your son... someone that you love comes and extends an invitation to you. It means so much because it's significant and a value because of who it is that is inviting you. And in this story, with that woman at the well, Jesus says to this woman, if only you knew who it is that is standing before you, you would ask and you would receive. You would receive this living water that I wanna give to you. this need that I want to meet. And that's the invitation tonight. All of us have a story, and all of those stories like that woman at the well are marred by sin and in need. and the invitation tonight is from our God and our King. And if that is true, isn't the response not only beautiful but inevitable? Shouldn't we just say yes? Enough hiding, enough running, enough rejecting. Our God loves us so much so that he stepped into the story, he met us at the well, he stepped into our story of sin, and he said in a moment, will you accept an invitation? So if you don't know Jesus. accept the invitation and we as a family promise to not just leave you aside, but it is our privilege and joy to journey with you in your relationship with him, to welcome you into his glorious family, our Father's family in heaven. And for those of you who already know Jesus and your response to everything that I have said has been one of. I'm just going to dismiss that because it's not applicable to me. We have to ask ourselves, have we become desensitized to that gospel? Have we forgotten the encounter at the well when Jesus took us from our sin and saved our lives? And so our testimony to other people, to this dying world is not a fragrant one, one of joy, one of love, one of life. Because we have forgotten. how sinful we were and how great his grace was to take us from that sin. And how amazing it is that we get to live out that freedom that he has given to us. This is the good news of the gospel. That the father loves the world that he sent his son, the son loves the world that he sent his spirit so the spirit could transform us. Change us. You cannot change yourself. but our God can't. And if that doesn't get you excited that you sit here tonight and you act as a monument of His grace, if it doesn't thrill you and excite you that we get to take this space and time to gather as His people, as His children, and that we get to join with the angels in heaven as we sing tonight. To who? The one who met us at the well, Jesus Christ, the name that the world talks about, the name that you will either accept or reject, the name that in a moment can change your life like you did at the woman at the well.