WEBVTT 00:00:00.479 --> 00:00:05.200 Well, you guys know how much I love the bears up in Alaska at Brooks Falls. 00:00:05.280 --> 00:00:07.360 About this time of year, I start talking about the bears. 00:00:07.440 --> 00:00:11.359 I force these stories and illustrations upon you and thank you. 00:00:11.439 --> 00:00:12.080 I appreciate it. 00:00:12.240 --> 00:00:16.239 Well, quite the drama, quite the drama always at Brooks Falls. 00:00:16.320 --> 00:00:18.559 Quite the drama has developed since the spring. 00:00:19.359 --> 00:00:22.160 Here's a picture of two bears up at Brooks Falls. 00:00:22.399 --> 00:00:23.600 These bears are actually sisters. 00:00:23.760 --> 00:00:26.399 This is bear 909 and 910. 00:00:26.480 --> 00:00:29.039 If you're in the community, in the bear community, you know about this stuff. 00:00:29.120 --> 00:00:30.879 And so that's 909 and 910. 00:00:31.039 --> 00:00:35.039 In the last couple of years, 910 and 909, they've been raising their families together. 00:00:35.200 --> 00:00:39.039 They've been raising their cubs just as just family together, extended family. 00:00:39.280 --> 00:00:49.520 And then this spring, the drama developed because 909 separated from her little cub, little two and a half-year-old cub, which was about the normal time to do that. 00:00:49.679 --> 00:00:53.119 But little 909 wasn't ready yet. 00:00:54.079 --> 00:00:54.719 Yeah. 00:00:54.960 --> 00:00:57.039 And so quite the drama developed. 00:00:57.280 --> 00:01:03.200 But 910, an aunt, adopted her, took her in. 00:01:03.359 --> 00:01:03.840 I know. 00:01:04.000 --> 00:01:05.840 I mean, the internet went crazy. 00:01:06.480 --> 00:01:09.439 Tens of us were just involved in this. 00:01:10.480 --> 00:01:13.040 And we were just overwhelmed. 00:01:13.200 --> 00:01:14.719 I mean, so adoring, right? 00:01:14.799 --> 00:01:17.280 I mean, no, there's actually a lot more nerds out there than you think. 00:01:17.359 --> 00:01:19.280 There's like tens of thousands of people for all this. 00:01:19.359 --> 00:01:20.000 It's crazy. 00:01:20.159 --> 00:01:22.079 Alright, so 909 Jr. 00:01:22.239 --> 00:01:23.519 gets a home. 00:01:24.400 --> 00:01:26.000 Internet went crazy. 00:01:26.239 --> 00:01:28.000 We couldn't get enough of this, right? 00:01:28.159 --> 00:01:37.439 Because you see little 909 Jr., you thought she was gonna be all on her own, and then 910, Aunt 910 takes her in, and you get to see 909 Jr. 00:01:37.599 --> 00:01:40.319 basking in this safety and acceptance, right? 00:01:40.480 --> 00:01:42.079 All this bear grace, right? 00:01:42.159 --> 00:01:43.040 It's so good. 00:01:43.200 --> 00:01:45.040 She's been adopted into a family, right? 00:01:45.200 --> 00:01:46.159 Now, why am I telling you this? 00:01:46.319 --> 00:01:47.519 Well, do you remember last week? 00:01:50.000 --> 00:01:58.159 We don't have to live as orphans in the world when we are actually the beloved children of the Abba Father. 00:01:59.040 --> 00:02:05.439 And so the point that I hammered last week was where we rest our hearts changes everything else. 00:02:05.599 --> 00:02:10.000 Everything else changes when we rest our hearts in the place we actually belong. 00:02:10.240 --> 00:02:12.319 Titus chapter 1, we're studying the book of Titus. 00:02:12.560 --> 00:02:19.039 Titus chapter 1, Paul challenges us to avoid the traps of legalism, but also to avoid the trap of license. 00:02:19.520 --> 00:02:23.280 And then Paul gives us this third way, this gospel way. 00:02:23.680 --> 00:02:31.599 See, when we know that the Abba already loves us, when we have our identity secured, we don't have to pretend anymore. 00:02:32.560 --> 00:02:37.599 Jesus plus nothing actually does mean everything and is everything for us. 00:02:37.759 --> 00:02:45.520 You're not loved as you should be, you're loved as you are because Christ was for you as you should be. 00:02:45.840 --> 00:02:53.759 And Titus chapter 2, it helps us see God's lavish grace that's given to us, and it takes us on a journey. 00:02:54.080 --> 00:03:01.919 Chapter 2 takes us on a journey of what does it mean to be in a healing process and a growing process. 00:03:02.639 --> 00:03:06.080 So at the beginning of Titus chapter 2, we'll chop it up and make some comments. 00:03:06.240 --> 00:03:08.879 Paul says what Christians should be like. 00:03:09.199 --> 00:03:11.360 Titus 2, 1 through 10. 00:03:12.240 --> 00:03:14.639 But as for you, teach what accords with sound doctrine. 00:03:14.800 --> 00:03:17.520 That word sound means healthy, healthy doctrine. 00:03:18.319 --> 00:03:25.840 Older men are to be sober-minded, dignified, self-controlled, sound in faith and love and steadfastness. 00:03:26.080 --> 00:03:31.360 Older women likewise are to be reverent behavior, not slanderers or slaves to much wine. 00:03:31.599 --> 00:03:33.439 They are to teach what is good. 00:03:33.759 --> 00:03:42.719 And so train the young women to love their husbands and children, to be self-controlled, pure, working at home, kind and submissive to their own husbands, that the word of God may not be reviled. 00:03:42.879 --> 00:03:43.759 Now, quick pause. 00:03:43.919 --> 00:03:47.840 Working at home does not mean you can't work outside the home. 00:03:47.919 --> 00:03:48.879 That's not what it means. 00:03:49.039 --> 00:03:50.080 Theologian J.B. 00:03:50.159 --> 00:04:00.080 Phillips says it this way: he says, She is a home lover, meaning that your love and care for your home is a core priority of your life. 00:04:00.479 --> 00:04:05.199 And submissive to a husband does not mean less than, and it does not mean subjugated. 00:04:05.439 --> 00:04:08.159 It means to be humble, respectful. 00:04:08.639 --> 00:04:11.759 Now, who are these women to be respectful toward? 00:04:12.080 --> 00:04:13.039 Verse 6. 00:04:13.199 --> 00:04:16.160 Likewise, urge the younger men to be self-controlled. 00:04:16.399 --> 00:04:28.720 Show yourself in all respects to be a model of good works, and in your teaching show integrity, dignity, and sound speech that cannot be condemned, so that an opponent may put to shame, having nothing evil to say about us. 00:04:28.959 --> 00:04:32.319 Bond servants are to be submissive to their own masters in everything. 00:04:32.399 --> 00:04:40.879 They are to be well pleasing, not argumentative, not pilfering, but showing all good faith, so that in everything they may adorn the doctrine of God or Savior. 00:04:41.279 --> 00:04:43.920 So, by the way, just a little context here, this is an ancient text. 00:04:44.160 --> 00:04:47.839 Paul would have been writing to a people, some of which were enslaved. 00:04:47.920 --> 00:04:57.519 Now, Paul is not affirming slavery, but Paul is saying, if you are enslaved, even if you're enslaved, be of good character. 00:04:58.160 --> 00:05:00.240 Now, all that's quite a list for any of us. 00:05:00.399 --> 00:05:02.319 You probably found yourself somewhere in that list. 00:05:02.560 --> 00:05:04.480 Quite a list of who we should be. 00:05:04.720 --> 00:05:08.639 It's easy to come away from a list like that and just feel like you're not quite enough. 00:05:08.879 --> 00:05:12.879 Like, why am I not any better at age 44? 00:05:13.040 --> 00:05:15.040 Why don't I have it all together yet? 00:05:15.279 --> 00:05:17.040 Surely I've had enough time. 00:05:17.759 --> 00:05:26.399 And the reality is that while we may be becoming better in some area or one area, suddenly we realize we don't have our acts together in some other area. 00:05:26.639 --> 00:05:30.079 And in this way, the law guides us, this truth of who we should be. 00:05:30.160 --> 00:05:32.480 It guides us, but also crushes us. 00:05:33.759 --> 00:05:37.360 Which is what makes grace actually mean something. 00:05:37.680 --> 00:05:40.240 Grace doesn't mean anything without truth. 00:05:41.199 --> 00:05:47.920 Seeing what is true and right only increases our astonishment of God's lavish love for us. 00:05:48.800 --> 00:05:58.000 So how do we live a life of transformation, the Christian life, without being beaten down, condemned, crushed, worn out? 00:05:58.959 --> 00:06:00.720 Well, Paul has something to say about it. 00:06:00.879 --> 00:06:06.560 Verse 11, for the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation for all people. 00:06:06.879 --> 00:06:09.040 And then the same sentence continues into verse 12. 00:06:09.120 --> 00:06:32.800 So this is still about the grace of God training us, the grace of God training us to renounce ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright, and godly lives in the present age, waiting for our blessed hope, the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ, who gave himself for us to redeem us from all lawlessness and to purify for himself a people for his own possession who are zealous for good works. 00:06:32.879 --> 00:06:33.759 So a few points here. 00:06:33.839 --> 00:06:36.800 Point number one salvation is by God's grace. 00:06:36.959 --> 00:06:46.240 So you being a child of God, welcomed into the family, being a Christian, salvation is by God's grace, not a spirituality of merit. 00:06:46.319 --> 00:06:48.319 That's what verse 11 says for us. 00:06:49.120 --> 00:06:50.879 Here's a definition of salvation. 00:06:51.040 --> 00:07:05.759 Salvation is God's work on our behalf, in the person of Jesus, to rescue us from the judgment of our sin, to bring us into freedom, fellowship with God Himself, restoring us into a kingdom of life and love that is both now and forever. 00:07:05.920 --> 00:07:11.120 So we could say this we are His by His work, not by our work, which is incredibly freeing. 00:07:11.279 --> 00:07:19.680 Because we're all just putting ourselves to death, working ourselves, trying to justify ourselves before God and in the world in front of other people. 00:07:20.000 --> 00:07:22.240 And where do we find secure identity? 00:07:23.040 --> 00:07:27.199 Well, in the place that you belong, as God's child. 00:07:27.839 --> 00:07:30.160 Which brings us to what actually happens. 00:07:30.319 --> 00:07:35.519 What happens when you set your heart at rest in God's love for you? 00:07:35.680 --> 00:07:44.720 Point number two, godliness, a God-centeredness, is empowered by God's grace, not a performance-oriented faith. 00:07:44.959 --> 00:07:48.879 We don't have to move on from God's grace to work harder for God. 00:07:49.439 --> 00:07:53.120 We're justified by grace alone through faith alone and Christ alone. 00:07:53.279 --> 00:07:59.040 And that one-way gift of justification actually fuels the Christian life. 00:07:59.279 --> 00:08:01.120 I love this quote by Philip Carey. 00:08:01.439 --> 00:08:04.000 It's in Good News for Anxious Christians. 00:08:05.360 --> 00:08:13.040 The idea that we are supposed to have some superior blessing beyond Christ crucified for us is profoundly perverse. 00:08:13.279 --> 00:08:19.839 As if Christ were not the fount of every blessing, the one in whom we find all holiness and goodness and wisdom for our lives. 00:08:20.079 --> 00:08:25.120 It's an idea that makes our experience, which is to say ourselves, into the focus of our lives. 00:08:25.360 --> 00:08:27.519 And it isn't just timeout, isn't that exhausting? 00:08:27.680 --> 00:08:33.120 Just to make yourself the focus of your life, to have no outside source of love and validation? 00:08:33.440 --> 00:08:34.399 Carrie goes on. 00:08:34.480 --> 00:08:38.879 And that's why transformative experiences get so shallow. 00:08:39.200 --> 00:08:44.240 We remain the same ever-changing consumeristic self, all the transformations. 00:08:44.559 --> 00:08:51.759 Whereas what we have, if we are nothing but ordinary Christians, is greater than all the experiences in the world we have Christ Himself. 00:08:51.919 --> 00:08:57.519 God in person, the bridegroom, the beloved who gave his life for us and who promised to give his own spirit to be with us. 00:08:57.679 --> 00:08:59.840 Everything else is in essential. 00:09:00.000 --> 00:09:06.000 So Carrie's saying we're more than consumerists, just needing the next religious high. 00:09:07.039 --> 00:09:15.919 We're actually receivers of God Himself, and it is incredibly, eternally secure in Christ for us. 00:09:16.480 --> 00:09:23.440 And so maybe you go high and maybe you go low in terms of your Christian life, but your security as God's child is secure. 00:09:23.840 --> 00:09:26.000 Because it's Christ's work for you. 00:09:26.639 --> 00:09:31.759 Point number three: God's love is not a result of our transformed lives. 00:09:33.200 --> 00:09:36.799 God's love is the source of our transforming lives. 00:09:37.519 --> 00:09:39.679 You're not loved after you get your act together. 00:09:39.759 --> 00:09:42.799 You're not loved more after you become a better Christian. 00:09:43.200 --> 00:09:51.840 God's love for you that finds you in your weakness and your failure and your mess and your dysfunction is actually the source of transformation. 00:09:52.080 --> 00:09:53.600 Do you remember my sage from last week? 00:09:53.679 --> 00:09:54.720 I showed you the sage. 00:09:54.879 --> 00:09:57.279 Remember, I planted it last year, I planted it at the wrong place. 00:09:57.360 --> 00:09:59.519 I showed you this picture of this struggling sage. 00:09:59.600 --> 00:10:03.360 I planted it, remember, I planted it in the shade of my trampoline. 00:10:03.519 --> 00:10:04.399 It was the wrong spot. 00:10:04.480 --> 00:10:05.120 It didn't belong there. 00:10:05.279 --> 00:10:06.080 Sage loves the sun. 00:10:06.240 --> 00:10:08.480 And so back in May, I realized my mistake. 00:10:08.639 --> 00:10:09.679 Oh my God, you know, look what I did. 00:10:09.759 --> 00:10:10.639 It's a struggling sage. 00:10:10.720 --> 00:10:17.919 And so I moved it over to the other side of the trampoline, and within six weeks, did six weeks, flourishing. 00:10:18.320 --> 00:10:19.360 Same sage. 00:10:20.000 --> 00:10:23.440 It just needed to rest in the place that it belongs. 00:10:25.279 --> 00:10:28.080 Now, what does this sage need to do to flourish? 00:10:29.120 --> 00:10:31.600 Only rest in the place that it belongs. 00:10:31.919 --> 00:10:36.000 See, we don't move on from God's grace, we grow deeper into it. 00:10:36.240 --> 00:10:38.399 It's actually the way that we grow. 00:10:38.720 --> 00:10:44.559 Here's how our church redeemer words are core value of growth for the Christian. 00:10:44.720 --> 00:10:46.480 What does the Christian life look like? 00:10:47.039 --> 00:10:57.039 We grow in the grace of God by living more deeply in the great wealth of our beloved identity in Jesus Christ, as we know it through Jesus' life, death, and resurrection. 00:10:57.200 --> 00:11:00.960 The Holy Spirit uses this deepening to heal and transform us. 00:11:01.200 --> 00:11:10.000 This is a rest from our self-reliant striving as to know a spiritual growth that only occurs by God's work in our lives. 00:11:10.320 --> 00:11:17.840 This growth in grace is a lifelong process filled with imperfection and grace, confession, and peace. 00:11:19.120 --> 00:11:25.200 Years ago, I had a friend, he had dated this girl for a while, and they dated kind of on and off, and then they broke up. 00:11:25.360 --> 00:11:27.039 This was like right toward the end of college. 00:11:27.200 --> 00:11:29.440 It might have been a year out of college, been a while. 00:11:31.039 --> 00:11:32.639 They hadn't talked in a year. 00:11:33.440 --> 00:11:38.399 And he suddenly realizes that he loves this girl. 00:11:39.279 --> 00:11:40.399 Hadn't talked in a year. 00:11:42.080 --> 00:11:45.679 He gets in his car, he drives 10 hours to the beach. 00:11:47.120 --> 00:11:50.240 He has to tell her this revelation of love. 00:11:50.799 --> 00:11:54.399 He finds her, he tells her this revelation he has. 00:11:54.559 --> 00:11:56.559 He actually loves this woman. 00:11:56.879 --> 00:11:57.440 I love you. 00:11:57.519 --> 00:11:59.600 I'm gonna spend the rest of my life with you. 00:12:00.720 --> 00:12:02.240 I want to marry you. 00:12:03.360 --> 00:12:06.159 Took some convincing, but she eventually said yes. 00:12:06.639 --> 00:12:08.240 They're still married. 00:12:08.960 --> 00:12:09.759 Love does that. 00:12:09.919 --> 00:12:11.360 We do we do stuff like that. 00:12:11.840 --> 00:12:13.679 Love changes everything. 00:12:14.320 --> 00:12:18.399 You'll work three jobs to provide for your children. 00:12:18.960 --> 00:12:19.840 And you'll do it. 00:12:20.000 --> 00:12:21.120 And you'll keep doing it. 00:12:21.440 --> 00:12:24.159 You'll sleep in those horrible hospital chairs. 00:12:24.799 --> 00:12:25.519 Horrible. 00:12:26.320 --> 00:12:29.360 And you'll sleep there because she might wake up. 00:12:31.200 --> 00:12:32.639 And you'll do it because of love. 00:12:32.799 --> 00:12:34.000 And that's just human love. 00:12:34.320 --> 00:12:35.120 Isn't that amazing? 00:12:35.200 --> 00:12:35.919 That's just human love. 00:12:36.000 --> 00:12:37.039 That's just a taste. 00:12:37.360 --> 00:12:38.159 That's a taste. 00:12:38.320 --> 00:12:41.919 Now imagine a love that's so perfect. 00:12:43.120 --> 00:12:48.320 Never failing, regardless of anything you do or don't do, say, don't say, think, don't say. 00:12:50.159 --> 00:12:58.320 The Spirit of God uses this limitless welcome we have with the Abba because of Christ's work for us. 00:12:58.960 --> 00:13:05.360 This creates an enormous amount of healing in our hearts for all the justification that we're doing in the world to try to find worth. 00:13:05.600 --> 00:13:10.639 Or the justification we're doing in our religious life to try to be forgiven or righteous. 00:13:11.039 --> 00:13:20.240 And now when we're free and we're secure within the being a child of God, begins this nourishment and this flourishing. 00:13:20.480 --> 00:13:21.519 We can get theological. 00:13:21.600 --> 00:13:22.960 I know some of you want to get theological. 00:13:23.039 --> 00:13:24.080 Bible nerds, raise your hand. 00:13:24.320 --> 00:13:24.960 Bible nerds. 00:13:25.039 --> 00:13:26.879 A few of you, Bible nerds, here we go. 00:13:27.200 --> 00:13:36.159 Our sanctification is worked out in us as we ongoingly rest in our justification through Christ alone. 00:13:36.399 --> 00:13:37.600 Isn't that good, Bible nerds? 00:13:37.679 --> 00:13:39.039 Amen, Bible nerds. 00:13:40.480 --> 00:13:44.399 This week I kept thinking about that needy woman in John chapter 4. 00:13:44.720 --> 00:13:45.440 You remember the story? 00:13:45.600 --> 00:13:53.279 Jesus was headed to Galilee, he has to go through that town Samaria, which was odd because the Jews despised and avoided the Samaritans, but he's there. 00:13:53.360 --> 00:13:58.399 Remember, he's there at the well, and he's speaking to this woman, the Samaritan woman, middle of the day. 00:13:58.559 --> 00:14:00.159 So he's in a place he shouldn't be. 00:14:00.240 --> 00:14:02.559 He's talking to a person he shouldn't talk to. 00:14:02.720 --> 00:14:08.559 And it's a beautiful image for us of how God pursues us in our need. 00:14:10.159 --> 00:14:12.720 He actually finds us in our mess. 00:14:13.840 --> 00:14:19.120 Even as we feel beat down or worn out, failure, an outsider. 00:14:19.919 --> 00:14:23.200 John 4, verse 7, a woman from Samaria came to draw water. 00:14:23.360 --> 00:14:25.039 Jesus said to her, Give me a drink. 00:14:25.200 --> 00:14:27.840 For his disciples had gone away into the city to buy food. 00:14:28.000 --> 00:14:33.759 The Samaritan woman said to him, How is it that you, a Jew, ask, ask for a drink from me? 00:14:33.919 --> 00:14:37.279 A woman from Samaria, for the Jews had no dealings with Samaritans. 00:14:37.440 --> 00:14:39.279 So it's the middle of the day, really hot. 00:14:39.519 --> 00:14:40.879 It's like the Middle East, right? 00:14:41.120 --> 00:14:42.320 A hundred and something degrees. 00:14:42.720 --> 00:14:43.679 And she's getting water. 00:14:43.759 --> 00:14:46.000 So she's clearly trying to avoid some people. 00:14:46.080 --> 00:14:47.919 You wouldn't draw water at this time of day. 00:14:48.000 --> 00:14:49.279 So she's trying to avoid people. 00:14:49.440 --> 00:14:50.320 She's an outsider. 00:14:50.399 --> 00:14:51.200 There's some shame. 00:14:51.360 --> 00:14:52.639 Something's going on here. 00:14:52.960 --> 00:14:53.600 Verse 10. 00:14:53.759 --> 00:14:59.200 Jesus answered her, If you knew the gift of God and who it is saying to you, give me a drink, you would have asked him. 00:14:59.679 --> 00:15:01.919 And he would have given you living water. 00:15:02.159 --> 00:15:06.159 The woman said to him, Sir, you have nothing to draw water with, and the well is deep. 00:15:06.240 --> 00:15:07.440 Where do you get that living water? 00:15:07.600 --> 00:15:09.360 So she's not quite picking up on it quite yet. 00:15:09.519 --> 00:15:10.240 Verse 12. 00:15:10.480 --> 00:15:12.399 Are you greater than our father Jacob? 00:15:12.559 --> 00:15:17.200 He gave us the well and drank it for himself, as did his sons and his livestock. 00:15:17.360 --> 00:15:22.240 Jesus said to her, Everyone who drinks of this water will be thirsty again. 00:15:23.120 --> 00:15:27.360 But whoever drinks of the water that I will give him will never be thirsty again. 00:15:27.600 --> 00:15:33.679 The water that I will give him will become in him a spring of water, welling up to eternal life. 00:15:33.919 --> 00:15:41.440 So Jesus is speaking about our primary needs, massive needs, that drive so much of our life. 00:15:41.679 --> 00:15:45.759 Love, acceptance, validation, forgiveness, righteousness, worth. 00:15:46.080 --> 00:15:47.519 Where do you get these things? 00:15:47.759 --> 00:15:49.679 Do you have to earn them? 00:15:50.320 --> 00:15:52.639 Or is it possible we could receive these? 00:15:53.200 --> 00:15:58.879 Verse 15, the woman said to him, Sir, give me this water so that I will not be thirsty, or I have to come to draw water. 00:15:58.960 --> 00:16:01.919 And Jesus said to her, Go call your husband and come here. 00:16:03.039 --> 00:16:04.480 Strange in the story. 00:16:07.600 --> 00:16:10.399 She's not totally picking up on it quite yet. 00:16:10.960 --> 00:16:13.039 And Jesus replies, Go get your husband. 00:16:13.120 --> 00:16:15.120 And she says, I don't have one. 00:16:15.200 --> 00:16:18.080 And he says, I know you've had five. 00:16:18.399 --> 00:16:21.440 You're living with another guy. 00:16:22.000 --> 00:16:26.559 And Jesus isn't shaming her, but the law is at work here, meaning the truth is at work. 00:16:26.639 --> 00:16:28.480 This is the truth about her life. 00:16:28.720 --> 00:16:32.000 And this is not what we would say is a healthy or godly life. 00:16:32.399 --> 00:16:34.799 Creates a lot of mess and dysfunction. 00:16:35.039 --> 00:16:42.399 And Jesus puts his finger right on it because we need the law to guide us, and then the law will crush us into our need of Him. 00:16:43.919 --> 00:16:46.879 And so Jesus is not shaming her, he's welcoming. 00:16:47.279 --> 00:16:58.080 It's a disruptive grace to shepherd her to a provision of love that she's looking for, and it can actually quiet her heart. 00:16:59.440 --> 00:17:10.559 Now the story goes on that this woman picks up on what's going on here and receives this Jesus to be her Messiah, righteousness, validation, worth. 00:17:11.599 --> 00:17:14.480 That he knows her and he loves her. 00:17:14.640 --> 00:17:17.839 He fully knows her and fully loves her, which is the question we're all asking. 00:17:18.000 --> 00:17:20.319 Could somebody possibly fully know me? 00:17:20.720 --> 00:17:22.160 And fully love me? 00:17:23.279 --> 00:17:27.359 Well, she realizes that God incarnate actually does. 00:17:27.440 --> 00:17:37.119 And so she runs back into the village, starts telling other people, which is interesting because aren't these the people that she was probably trying to avoid by drawing water in the middle of the day? 00:17:37.920 --> 00:17:39.920 See, something happened to her. 00:17:42.160 --> 00:17:42.720 Grace. 00:17:43.119 --> 00:17:47.359 One-way love disrupted her dysfunctional, messy life. 00:17:48.000 --> 00:17:50.400 And then something happens in her. 00:17:51.759 --> 00:17:52.960 It flows out of her. 00:17:53.039 --> 00:17:54.799 There's a flourishing that happens here. 00:17:54.960 --> 00:17:56.960 It doesn't fix the complexities of her life. 00:17:57.039 --> 00:17:59.039 It doesn't make her perfect. 00:17:59.759 --> 00:18:02.319 But there's a nourishment in a flourishing. 00:18:02.640 --> 00:18:03.920 And do you remember our prayer? 00:18:04.000 --> 00:18:06.640 I said it last week for the book of Titus. 00:18:07.119 --> 00:18:13.599 Jesus, astonish, nourish, and flourish our hearts with your love. 00:18:15.119 --> 00:18:22.400 And to end the sermon, I want us to pause before we go to the communion table and to pray that for ourselves. 00:18:22.480 --> 00:18:23.759 Let's pray together. 00:18:25.599 --> 00:18:29.440 God, we are more like this woman than we want to admit. 00:18:29.920 --> 00:18:34.559 More like that little bear cub needing a family than we would like to admit. 00:18:34.799 --> 00:18:43.119 We are in search of acceptance and worth and validation and forgiveness and righteousness. 00:18:44.640 --> 00:18:47.039 Thank you that you pursue us in our need. 00:18:47.759 --> 00:18:51.119 You love us where we're at, not as we should be. 00:18:52.319 --> 00:18:57.359 Help us to be more astonished by your lavish love for us. 00:18:58.960 --> 00:19:02.480 That is one way and it is coming at us and it is finding us. 00:19:02.720 --> 00:19:04.559 May it nourish our hearts. 00:19:04.799 --> 00:19:11.440 May it set a security and a worth, a freedom in our forgiveness, a freedom in our righteousness. 00:19:12.240 --> 00:19:14.240 And then would there be a flourishing God? 00:19:14.480 --> 00:19:17.440 Would our would our life our hearts and our lives flourish? 00:19:17.680 --> 00:19:21.680 Would we grow in this great identity we have as your children? 00:19:22.000 --> 00:19:28.000 And may we know you in greater ways, in deeper ways, as our Abba Father. 00:19:28.240 --> 00:19:29.759 In Christ's name we pray. 00:19:30.079 --> 00:19:30.720 Amen.