"Place: Where God Meets Us" - God With Us: Part 1 - Pr. Erwin Nanasi - March 7, 2026

In John 4, Jesus declares that worship is not confined to a mountain or a city. Instead, God meets us in our stories—where He engages with our longing, loneliness, guilt, and shame. It's from a place of nearness that He calls us to worship Him in spirit and truth. When God draws near, worshipers become transformed into witnesses! Listen in as Pastor Erwin Nanasi begins his three-part series "God With Us: Place, Time, People" with a message titled "Place: Where God Meets Us."

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Transcript

SPEAKER_01 0:00

I'm delighted that you are here, and I'm excited about this three-part sermon series, God with us. Today we're going to talk about where God meets us. Next time we're going to talk about the time that he might meet us. And in three weeks, we're going to talk about the people he wishes to meet. If you have a bulletin, I hope that you do. There is a leaflet in there with sermon notes. I'm really hoping that you're going to make use of it. And if you're a child, I hope that you will make use of it too. And if you're an adult, I hope that you'll make use of it too. If you need a pen or pencil, maybe there's somebody that can help you out that you have one, maybe in the pew right in front of you. I want you to think about something. And I want you to take some notes. Reflect on the contour of your life sketch. Just think of your life, of your own personal life. Visualize your life story. You might have a long story to tell. If somebody asks you, well, tell me the story of your life, you're like, boy, how much time do you have? Perhaps your story is fairly short. What are the high points in your life? What are the low points in your life? Grab a pen and pencil, really. Draw it out because we'll come back to it. You'll have a sheet of paper today, you'll have a sheet of paper next week, and in two weeks as well. This is for you. You don't have to turn it in, you don't have to hand it to me. You can share it, of course, but this is for you as your personal note. What are your defining moments in life? In fact, if someone looked at your life story, would they say it's a good read? Would they say, boy, this is a feel-good story. Is it a tearjerker? Is your story going according to plan? Or is it out of control? Is your story moving forward or is it moving backwards? Or is it moving in circles? Is it a wow story or is it a meh story? Are you proud of your story? Or are you ashamed of it? Are you the hero of your story? Or are you sometimes the villain in your story? Are there episodes in your story? Is this life the end of your story? Or is there a sequel? Is the sequel better than the first volume? Chances are that as you look on your story, there might be passages that you wish were edited. That you wish perhaps weren't there. Words spoken. Actions committed. Thoughts imagined. Perhaps it's more than a section for you. For her, it perhaps it's a whole chapter you want rewritten. You want to erase the whole chapter. Chapters like my abuse, my addiction, my disastrous decision, my failed marriage, my regret, my loss, my cancer, my business, my career, my lust, my fear. And whether you love your story or whether you are having a hard time with your own story because you dislike parts of them, eventually we all have to face the same question. How do you want your story to end? So hopefully by now you have a piece of paper. If you don't have a piece of paper, use your phone or something. Just write this down. Did you have it? I don't know about you, but going back to something that you have once written and you have forgotten about and reading it again sometimes gives you a reflection point in life of putting things into perspective. Perhaps this might be one of those moments for you. Write down a one sentence or bear up a one word how you would describe your past story up to the point of today. What would you say? What is the one sentence? It's a one word. Your story. Right now.

SPEAKER_00 4:38

What about your future story? What do you want that description to be? That sentence, that word that would describe it. Maybe your forever story. What do you want that word or sentence to be?

SPEAKER_01 5:05

Your past, your present, your future. This might just be the first draft for you. You might want to go back and add in more details and put them in, and maybe you even want to share it with somebody, or somebody might be peeking on your paper right now and say, whoa, that looks very interesting. Tell me about it sometime. Well, they surveyed Americans, and uh about 81% of Americans believe that they have a book in them that should be written. Yet of those who begin writing, 97% never finish. And only one in five manuscripts sent to publishers get published. So one and a half, you know, million books published every year, the average book sells only 250 copies. So that means that even of those that get published, a lot of those authors are disappointed. Because there's only a few that are reading them. But in a sense, aren't we all authors? In a sense, you and I are in fact authors of our lives. And if we're honest, we have some chapters, we have some passages that we wish were rewritten, some poor choices that we have made, some regrets that we cannot edit. I thought of scripture. Not every story in the Bible ends well. The Bible is brutally honest, in fact, about human history. A few people live consistent, admirable lives. I think of Enoch, think of Esther, Daniel. But most lives in Scripture fall into other categories. Some were just tragic from the beginning to the end. Some started well, but then they end up poorly. Some struggle back and forth. They have their ups, they have their downs, and you're just continually reading what's gonna be next. And for some, they had a terrible beginning, and then they have a beautiful ending. Let's look at a few. Some stories that just seem plain bad. You remember Pharaoh in Egypt? It was just a hardened heart. It just seemed that this person just did not want any changes. They said, the way that my life is written is good enough for me. I'll keep it that way. You think of King Ahab and Jezebel. No, we'll rather keep it this way. Think of King Herod. Heard the things, got the information, but was never transformed by it. What about stories that started well but then ended in disaster? Think of just, you know, Adam and Eve and then Cain and Abel. You think of Cain. You think of the first king of Israel, Saul. You think of Judas Iscaria. Tragic ending. What about people that struggle back and forth? Some names come to mind. What about Samson? He had his ups, he had his downs. You think of King David. He had his ups, he had his downs. You think of his son Solomon. You think of Jonah. You think of Peter. Life's marked by calling, failure, repentance, growth. And there are other stories where people really started with an activating event, a rough start. Think of Jacob, a deceiver, who then becomes the father of tribes and nations, Israel. Moses, a fugitive murderer, who becomes a deliverer of the people. Rahab, a prostitute, becomes part of the Messiah's lineage. King Manasseh, evil ruler, who then becomes a repentant man. King Nebuchadnezzar, proud emperor, who then humbles himself before the Lord. The Apostle Paul, persecuting, and then ending up being a missionary. Stories rewritten by God. So I started asking myself, what made the difference in their stories? Was it just luck? Was it just the time they lived in? Was it just the specific place they were? I mean, God met Jacob in the wilderness, Moses in the desert, Rahab in Jericho, Nebuchadnezzar in Babylon, Paul on the road to Damascus, and the Samaritan woman at a well. Don't misunderstand me. I believe that we can meet God in a church building. But God is not limited to meeting you in the church building. God meets people where they are in the wilderness, in the desert, in palaces, on roads, and sometimes at wells. And I'd like to draw your attention to a passage where Jesus met someone at a well. John chapter 4. If you would turn there with me, we're going to look at this case study, if you will. A moment where God meets a broken person exactly where she was. From the outset, this woman had several things against her. She was a Samaritan, she was living in sin, and she was alone in a public place. No respectable Jew would speak to her, let alone a rabbi, but Jesus did. Because the gospel is for every person, regardless of race, reputation, or past. The gospel is for every person, regardless of race, reputation, or past. Jesus didn't make a pre-selection and said, I'm sorry, but this gospel is going to be preached to a certain people, to a few people. We're gonna narrow it down. I'm sorry, we're gonna weed out, we're gonna funnel it. No, no, no. Jesus and his gospel is for every person. She comes to the well at noon, the hottest part of the day. Most women would draw water in the hours of the morning or evening, but she comes at noon, likely to avoid people. She's avoiding the vispers, and she probably wants to avoid the shame. Her story included already five husbands, a broken relationship, a complicated reputation. So safe to say that if her life was a book, most people would have already judged it by its cover. But then something extraordinary happens. Jesus meets her right where she is. John chapter 4. Verse 4. And he passed through Samaria, so he came to a town of Samaria called Sikar, near the field that Jacob had given to his son Joseph. Jacob's well was there. So Jesus, wearied as he was from his journey, was sitting beside the well. It was about the sixth hour. A woman from Samaria came to draw water, and Jesus said to her, Give me a drink. Now don't miss this. Ellen White comments on this passage, and she says the following words The king of heaven came to this outcast soul, asking a service at her hand. He who made the ocean, who controls the waters of the great deep, rested from weariness at Jacob's well, dependent upon a stranger's kindness for even the gift of a drink of water. Give me a drink. The Samaritan woman said to him, How is it that you, a Jew, ask for a drink from me, a woman of Samaria? Don't we do this sometime? We're so peculiar about our idiosyncrasies. Well, is it not that you are this and I am this? How come that? Notice Jesus' approach to evangelism. He's not just saying, I have something that you need and want it. No, no, no. He puts himself so approachable that he says, Hey, I have a need. Could it be that sometimes when we're in our community, people just need to see that we also have a need? We don't just have answers, but we have a need. Jesus entered into humanity. He said, I have a need. Please give me a drink. Verse 10. Jesus answered her, If you knew the gift of God and who it is that is saying to you, give me a drink, you would have asked him, and he would have given you living water. Now this woman might be thinking, Oh, he's just talking about this cistern. He's talking about this well. So maybe he knows of a better well that actually is a spring that gives more water that might be closer to where I am. She's thinking literal. Just like Nicodemus in the chapter before was thinking literal birth. And now it continues. He says, Are you greater than the father Jacob? He who gave us the well and drank from it himself as did his sons and his livestock. It's amazing how a stranger who you might think has no idea of the story of the Bible has a lot of knowledge about theology. The same is true when you meet people in the neighborhood. People have heard, people have seen, people have their theology. Well, Jesus says to her now, everyone who drinks of this water will be thirsty again, but whoever drinks of the water that I will give him will never be thirsty again. That water I will give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life. And now the woman says, Sir, give me this water so that I will not be thirsty or have to come here to draw water. And you'd think, This is going fairly well, Jesus. Keep it going like this. Let's look at the future story. Let's look at the bright side of a story. What does Jesus do? Boy, he goes into a dark chapter of her life. Not to condemn, but to simply say, I see you, I hear you, I know you. This becomes powerful. Jesus says to her, Go call your husband and come here. And now the woman has a choice to make. She could deflect, she could be defensive, she could ignore, she could run away, all these different things, right? And this is a critical moment, I think, for us. Sometimes conviction strikes. It might be in a sermon, it might be when you're reading scripture, it might be in a conversation, it might be when you're hearing a song. And that's the moment where we have to make a decision. Will we allow Jesus to speak to us? And will we allow him to transform us so that our story will have a different ending? This woman responds and says, I have no husband. And Jesus tells her, You are right in saying, I have no husband. For you have had five husbands, and the one you now are cohabitating with is not your husband. But you have said, is true. And the woman says, Sir, I perceive that you are a prophet. Our fathers worshiped on this mountain, and now she goes back to theology. Have you ever done this before? When it gets personal, you're like, Well, let's talk about politics, let's talk about news, let's talk about theology, let's not talk about me. Jesus, not this personal. Come on. And Jesus, however, he speaks to her because he's not just after a drink, he wants to reach her heart. He wants to reach the woman's heart. He wants to reach your heart, he wants to reach my heart. And he's going to great lengths to do so. So the conversation continues. You read it in the text. She asks, where should worship happen? Mount Gerizim or Jerusalem? And Jesus answers, true worship is not about where, it's about how. True worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth. Notice, by the way, he's saying some worshipers are ignorant. They don't even know who they worship. There are people like that today, and perhaps you are one of them. You're saying, I really don't know that much about the Bible. I don't really know. I'm an ignorant worshiper. And then Jesus says there's a contrast to the Jews who believe that they're very intelligent worshipers. Have you met people like that? Well, we know who we worship. We can give you the Bible study. We know. But notice what Jesus says: it's neither the ignorant worshiper nor the intelligent worshiper, it's the spiritual worshipper. He says, the true worshiper is the one that worships in spirit and in truth. Somebody say amen. And there are people today in churches today, they're saying, Well, we have the spirit in this church. And they might be lacking in truth. And boy, you have churches that we're really committed to the truth. And they're lacking the spirit. Jesus is saying it's not one or the other, it's two sides of the same coin that are fused by the Holy Spirit in spirit and in truth. And check this out. Often we say that we are seeking God, but here actually it tells us that in God's search engine, He is actually looking for people that worship Him this way in spirit and in truth. God is spirit. Here's what I find fascinating. You think of Jesus who encountered kings in his life, and they really want him to speak to them. And God is silent. Jesus does not speak. You think of the religious leaders to whom he might be speaking in parables and might have a dialogue, and they're wondering, what was he saying? Even the disciples themselves. And yet, here is a woman at a well, different race, different culture, different reputation, and he speaks to her plainly. How many times would he ask people, what do people say about me? And they would give their responses. Or they would say, Are you the Messiah? And he would tell them, Do not tell anybody, but not with this woman. He realizes that this woman is owning her story. And God is saying, I will reveal myself to you. She's saying, I know that the Messiah is coming. And when he comes, he will tell us all things. And now Jesus tells her plainly, Ego Ami, Holalon soy, I am the one speaking to you. Is that powerful or what? And what's the impact? The woman leaves her water jar, she runs back to the city, begins telling everyone, come and see a man who told me everything I ever did. It's a great commentary here as well that uh Ellen White writes about in the Desire of Ages. As soon as she had found the Savior, the Samaritan woman brought others to him. Through the woman whom they despised, a whole city was brought to her here, the Savior. The disciples saw Samaria as a hopeless place, but Jesus saw a harvest. Because every true disciple is born into the kingdom of God as a missionary. So notice this powerful thing. She's at a well, and Jesus is offering to enter her story, and she's willing to allow that to happen. This person then becomes a true worshiper in spirit and in truth, and in turn, he turns this worshiper into a powerful witness. Jesus still rewrites stories today. 1 Peter 2 9, he has called you out of darkness into his marvelous light. Colossians 1 13, he has delivered us from the domain of darkness. 2 Corinthians 5 17. If anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. Ezekiel 36, 26, I will give you a new heart. Joel 2, 25, I will restore the years the locusts have eaten. Isaiah 61, 3, to give them beauty for ashes. Hebrews 13, 5, I will never leave you nor forsake you. Joshua 1.9, the Lord your God is with you wherever you go. Philippians 1.6, he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion. You might have heard this story, and I might have shared this before, but it reminded me of this incident where there was a church organist and he was struggling through his postlute by Felix Mendelssohn. And as he was playing this postlute, the people said, Well, time to live, time to go, time to leave. He's still working on it. People are leaving the parish. And uh meanwhile, a stranger outside takes note of the music that is. Being played in the church and comes into the church right next to the organist and requests, May I play this organ? No one plays this organ except me. Continues playing. The stranger asks him again kindly, May I play this organ? He struggled through the piece and finished it. Went into his office. And the stranger somehow managed to start playing the organ himself now. The very same piece. Beautiful and melodious. People start coming back to the parish. They have never heard this organ played like that either. The organist comes out and says, Sir, who are you? I am Felix Mendelssohn. The composer himself. How strange is it that we insist on playing the music of our lives ourselves when the composer of the universe is standing right beside us? How strange is it that we insist on writing our own stories when the best-selling author of all times, Jesus Christ, is right beside us if we simply handed him the pen. As you look at your past, perhaps you are a commandment-breaking child of God, idolatrous, adulteress, murderer, thief, liar. Just like Paul said, such were some of you, such were some of us. And you're saying, Well, if I want God to rewrite anything, I really want him to rewrite my past. If he could just take care of my past, I'm good right now. But you can't move past it because your past is always catching up. You're trying to be at places and at times that nobody is going to see who you really are, like the woman at the well. If they only found out about it, my past, it would be over. For some of you, you might be in a situation just like the woman at the well. It's like, yeah, there were the five husbands, but I am with somebody right now. I I know that this situation is not working out for me. You are stuck. You are hoping for a solution. You see the problem and say, Can someone help me? And today you're realizing Jesus wants to enter your story. He can help you here and now. Perhaps there's somebody else who's saying, Well, I just I just want the story to end well. Can Jesus help me with that? So that my ending is well written. Here's my appeal. If you want your name to be written in the book of life, God has a book, you know. And he likes to write our names in there. If you want your name to be written in the book of life, why don't you take a pen and just jot down these words on your paper? Jesus, please write my name in your book of life. He is the author and the finisher of our faith, after all. He actually is the author that wants to finish the stories that are written. Perhaps you want to say, Lord, take my pen. You started my story, you finish it. Perhaps today you want to make the decision saying, Lord, can you please write my story? If there are parts that need to be overwritten, rewritten, can you do that for me? Would you raise your hand if that is you? You want to say, Lord, just take the pen and please write my story. I'm making another appeal. Perhaps you have already believed this. You have believed that you want your name to be in the book of life. You have believed that he should be the one that has the pen and writes it. But today you realize something different. Your relationship has mostly been tied to a place, a building, maybe a weekly service. But you long to become a witness like this woman at the well. You want Jesus to transform your worship so that you can become such a witness and tell other people about what he has done. Now, if that is you, then I'm asking you to take a stand. I'm not saying that you have it all figured out. I'm just saying, are you willing to say, Lord, make me a true worshiper that worships you in spirit and in truth? And whatever that might mean, make me a witness for you. If that's in my neighborhood, if that's on the bus, on the train, on the plane, just transform me like you have been able to do with the woman at the well. If you can do it for her, could you do it for me? To transform my worship into witness? If that is you, stand on your feet and say, Lord, please make me such a witness that wherever I might go, my worship will be transformative to others that I come in touch with as well. Jesus is the story transformer. He wants to author and finish our faith. He wants us to have a story well written, well read for all eternity. Oh Lord, you say in your word, there is therefore no condemnation now for those who are in Christ Jesus. For the law of the spirit of life has set you free in Christ Jesus from the law of sin and death. Lord, we want to be freed from sin. We want to be freed from the shackles that might hold us. Might be the past, it might be the present, it might be our anxiety for the future, but you know our story. You want to reach our hearts, you want us to be saved in the kingdom. You want us to worship you in spirit and in truth. That's who you're looking for. You want us to be a witness. Lord, thank you for meeting us wherever we are. Thank you that you accept us. But thank you also that you don't leave us the way we have been. You transform us. That we have a story that is worth telling because you are part of it. I want to pray for everyone that has made notes today, that has been reflecting on their lives, that has made a decision to say, Lord, we want you to be the author and finisher of our faith. Thank you for our church. Thank you for this body of believers, the encouragement we can draw from each other's stories. And we thank you that you will listen to this prayer and that we can see how you will use us to make an impact just the way that you have made an impact in our lives. Please bless us today, bless us this week, go before us, go beside us, protect us from the evil one, and bless us so we can be a blessing, so that those we come in contact with are not just looking for broken cisterns, but they're looking for a well, and that they will realize that you are the blessed found of every blessing that will never run dry. We thank you, and we come in Jesus' name. Amen.