WEBVTT 00:00:00.080 --> 00:00:07.519 My name is Sam Rapp, and again I am the student pastor here, which normally means that yeah, I'm the JV preacher, so y'all are getting that this morning. 00:00:07.599 --> 00:00:10.800 But I always wear my best jacket to try to keep up, so that's what y'all get. 00:00:10.880 --> 00:00:13.519 Um again, happy uh yeah, Master Sunday. 00:00:13.599 --> 00:00:21.679 And if you're like me, you've probably been praying for Jordan Speith not to make another 12 on whole 12 again, uh praying for him to recover a little bit better this year. 00:00:21.839 --> 00:00:27.359 But uh if you do have your Bibles, we'll be in the book of John, uh, chapter 4 this morning. 00:00:27.600 --> 00:00:31.920 But here's what I want to do for us today uh on this week after Easter, right? 00:00:32.000 --> 00:00:34.799 We got eight months until there's another fun Sunday service again, right? 00:00:34.880 --> 00:00:38.240 Like we got a bunch of just eight months of you know normal church services. 00:00:38.320 --> 00:00:40.159 So this morning, here's what I want to do. 00:00:40.399 --> 00:00:43.520 I just want to extend an invitation to you. 00:00:43.759 --> 00:00:56.079 And this is the invitation that you would take a step towards being more known, more honest, and ultimately experience greater life in the presence of Jesus Christ. 00:00:56.320 --> 00:00:57.359 So that's the invitation. 00:00:57.520 --> 00:01:02.159 You can you can take that, you can receive it, but but that's what's on the table for us this morning. 00:01:02.399 --> 00:01:08.319 And if you have been following the news, uh I'm sure that you've probably heard about what went down in the Suez Canal, right? 00:01:08.480 --> 00:01:17.120 There was this gigantic boat that was passing through the canal, planning on going all the way to Thailand, I'm pretty sure, and was bringing a bunch of goods. 00:01:17.280 --> 00:01:20.079 But what happened is this gigantic boat got stuck, right? 00:01:20.159 --> 00:01:23.280 So if we want to pull this picture up, this is the ship right here, right? 00:01:23.359 --> 00:01:24.640 And this is it getting stuck. 00:01:24.719 --> 00:01:32.879 So the ship is about 400 meters long, weighs 200,000 tons, and is about a quarter mile in length, right? 00:01:33.519 --> 00:01:34.879 So why does this matter, right? 00:01:34.959 --> 00:01:39.680 Why does it matter that this ship got stuck, that it got turned sideways, right? 00:01:40.239 --> 00:01:45.519 So about 12% of global trade goes through the Suez Canal each and every day. 00:01:45.680 --> 00:01:52.000 12%, more than a tenth of the world's economy passes through this route, right? 00:01:52.159 --> 00:02:01.920 In other words, about nine billion dollars a day fly through that thing, whether it's with goods or containers or services, whatever. 00:02:02.239 --> 00:02:06.159 Billions and billions of dollars pass through that canal every single day, right? 00:02:06.400 --> 00:02:15.280 And so, because of that, when that ship got stuck, right, hundreds of thousands, if not even millions, of lives were affected by it, right? 00:02:15.439 --> 00:02:25.280 Business was lost, business was delayed, Amazon had to do a whole big reboot that day because, I mean, you know, Amazon, they they ship everywhere, and so their stuff was lost, right, and delayed. 00:02:25.439 --> 00:02:28.560 And it all comes down to this blockage, right? 00:02:28.719 --> 00:02:37.280 There was this pathway that was blocked, and because of that, the fullness of the flow of that canal was stopped, right? 00:02:37.759 --> 00:02:49.759 So what we see in our text this morning is that contrary to every expectation we have of Jesus Christ, we are both perfectly known by him and perfectly loved by him. 00:02:50.159 --> 00:02:53.759 And that's not in just our cleanest spots of our life, right? 00:02:54.000 --> 00:03:02.479 But we are known and loved perfectly in our brokenness, in our darkness, and in the places that we try to hide, right? 00:03:02.960 --> 00:03:14.879 But the reason I even mention this story is because, man, if you're anything like me, if you're anything like me, I believe that we so often just allow lies and shame to block this flow of love, right? 00:03:15.039 --> 00:03:20.080 To say that, man, if if Jesus knew about this part of my life, he wouldn't love me like I think he should, right? 00:03:20.319 --> 00:03:22.159 We let these lies in. 00:03:22.639 --> 00:03:31.280 And the result is a life that's not as satisfying, that's not as joy-filled, and ultimately not as free as Jesus has called us to. 00:03:31.520 --> 00:03:33.039 So that's what's on the table. 00:03:33.280 --> 00:03:36.000 That being said, let's let's jump into the book of John. 00:03:36.159 --> 00:03:40.400 So we'll be in John, again, chapter 4, verses 3 through 15. 00:03:40.960 --> 00:03:43.120 So, Word of God says this. 00:03:43.439 --> 00:03:47.280 He, Jesus, left Judea and departed again for Galilee. 00:03:47.439 --> 00:03:49.120 And he had to pass through Samaria. 00:03:49.360 --> 00:03:55.599 So he came to a town of Samaria called Sikar, near the field that Jacob had given to his son Joseph. 00:03:55.840 --> 00:04:01.919 Jacob's well was there, so Jesus, wearied as he was from his journey, was sitting beside the well. 00:04:02.240 --> 00:04:03.759 It was about the sixth hour. 00:04:04.000 --> 00:04:06.719 A woman from Samaria came to draw water. 00:04:06.960 --> 00:04:09.280 Jesus said to her, Give me a drink. 00:04:09.520 --> 00:04:12.800 For his disciples had gone away into the city to buy food. 00:04:12.960 --> 00:04:19.360 The Samaritan woman said to him, How is it that you, a Jew, ask for a drink from me, a woman of Samaria? 00:04:19.759 --> 00:04:22.319 For Jews have no dealings with Samaritans. 00:04:22.560 --> 00:04:32.480 And Jesus answered her, If you knew the gift of God, and who it is that is asking you, give me a drink, you would have asked him, and he would have given you living water. 00:04:32.720 --> 00:04:37.120 The woman said to him, Sir, you have nothing to draw water with, and the well is deep. 00:04:37.360 --> 00:04:39.279 Where do you get that living water? 00:04:39.439 --> 00:04:41.439 Are you greater than our father Jacob? 00:04:41.680 --> 00:04:46.079 He gave us the well and drank from it himself, as did his sons and his livestock. 00:04:46.399 --> 00:04:50.639 Jesus said to her, Everyone who drinks of this water will be thirsty again. 00:04:50.800 --> 00:04:55.439 But whoever drinks of the water that I will give him will never be thirsty again. 00:04:55.680 --> 00:05:01.279 The water that I will give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life. 00:05:01.519 --> 00:05:08.560 The woman said to him, Sir, give me this water so that I may not be thirsty or have to come here to draw water. 00:05:08.800 --> 00:05:12.240 Let's pray together, and then let's let's keep jumping in. 00:05:12.720 --> 00:05:13.920 Father, thank you for your word. 00:05:14.160 --> 00:05:46.879 I pray, uh Lord, that as we sit under it this morning, Lord, that you, man, would just come in and speak to us, that you would invade every corner of our hearts, especially the more broken sides of us, the more hurting sides of us, the more shameful sides of us, Lord, that you would just, man, by your word and by your spirit, that you would come in and show us a deeper life, a deeper sense of your presence, and ultimately, Lord, that we would have more freedom and joy in the gospel, the good news of Jesus Christ. 00:05:47.199 --> 00:05:47.839 Amen. 00:05:48.560 --> 00:05:52.879 I don't know if you've ever looked much at Renaissance art paintings. 00:05:52.959 --> 00:06:01.120 Uh, but one thing they love to do in this era of time was paint these beautiful, kind of angelic, ethereal pictures of Jesus Christ. 00:06:01.279 --> 00:06:06.639 So here's one example of a painting that was done during the Renaissance era, right, of Jesus. 00:06:06.720 --> 00:06:13.279 So one thing that I think is a little bit funny personally is that that guy's very white for a Middle Eastern Jewish guy, first of all. 00:06:13.439 --> 00:06:23.040 But also, uh, one thing that I also notice is that, man, in the words of Matt Chandler, right, this Jesus does not look very helpful, does he? 00:06:23.279 --> 00:06:24.720 He looks kind of far off, right? 00:06:24.800 --> 00:06:31.199 Kind of angelic, kind of ethereal, not really up in the grime, not on the field playing with us, right? 00:06:31.680 --> 00:06:39.040 And man, like if you're like me and when life throws these curveballs at you, when you go through these hard seasons, when suffering happens, right? 00:06:39.360 --> 00:06:45.519 That kind of angelic, ethereal Jesus is not the one that you are going to look to for comfort, right? 00:06:46.000 --> 00:06:52.879 For me, what I like to have is the Jesus that's down on the field, right, in the dirt with me, in the grime and in the pain with me. 00:06:53.920 --> 00:06:56.879 The one that physically feels the pain with us, right? 00:06:57.040 --> 00:07:01.680 The one whose heart aches alongside us in our aching. 00:07:02.319 --> 00:07:05.839 And this is what we see in this text, right? 00:07:06.240 --> 00:07:12.560 And if you're anything like me, when you think of Jesus, this is probably not the Jesus that you think of, right, in these passages. 00:07:12.720 --> 00:07:16.720 The one that's, you know, exhausted from walking all day. 00:07:16.800 --> 00:07:19.519 I mean, getting to the well, just dragging, right? 00:07:19.759 --> 00:07:21.279 Thirsty, weary. 00:07:21.439 --> 00:07:23.360 Probably didn't smell very good, right? 00:07:23.600 --> 00:07:25.519 Probably had some B.O., right? 00:07:25.600 --> 00:07:30.720 Like this is the Jesus that's in this text, and this is the Jesus that the Samaritan woman meets, right? 00:07:31.120 --> 00:07:34.959 And this is especially interesting in light of the whole Gospel of John, right? 00:07:35.040 --> 00:07:37.600 The Gospel of John is different than the other three. 00:07:37.839 --> 00:07:43.920 This gospel focuses heavily on the divinity, the godness of Jesus Christ, right? 00:07:44.000 --> 00:07:47.040 I mean, John 1, in the beginning was the Word, and the Word was God. 00:07:47.199 --> 00:07:50.399 I mean, these high and lifted up images of Jesus Christ, right? 00:07:50.480 --> 00:07:55.680 And what we get in this text, again, is the really human side of Jesus, right? 00:07:55.920 --> 00:07:58.399 And I love these kind of passages. 00:07:58.560 --> 00:08:01.040 So Jesus asked for a drink of water, right? 00:08:01.199 --> 00:08:06.639 He gets to this well, he's thirsty, he wants to drink of water, so he says, give me a drink. 00:08:06.879 --> 00:08:12.079 And not unexpectedly, this Samaritan woman is like, You're a Jew. 00:08:12.160 --> 00:08:13.040 I'm a Samaritan. 00:08:13.279 --> 00:08:16.160 Why are you asking me for a drink of water, right? 00:08:17.360 --> 00:08:23.120 Thing is that Jewish people in this day viewed Samaritans as like half-breeds, essentially. 00:08:23.199 --> 00:08:27.519 They were less than, because Samaritans were half Jewish and half Gentile. 00:08:27.920 --> 00:08:37.679 They were a mixed race, and so the Jewish people thought that they were unclean, thought that they were less than, and had this intense racism that they felt towards the Samaritan people group. 00:08:37.840 --> 00:08:43.840 So when he goes up to her and asks her for this water, she is just blown away just at that, right? 00:08:44.080 --> 00:08:45.679 She doesn't know he's the son of God yet. 00:08:45.759 --> 00:08:48.080 She doesn't know he is the word made flesh yet. 00:08:48.240 --> 00:08:51.919 All she knows is that this Jewish guy is asking her for water, right? 00:08:52.559 --> 00:08:54.000 So he goes on. 00:08:54.480 --> 00:09:02.559 If you knew, Samaritan woman, who it was who was asking you for water, you would have actually asked him for water and he'd give you living water. 00:09:03.200 --> 00:09:04.960 So here's the stage, right? 00:09:05.360 --> 00:09:09.120 This woman, the Samaritan woman, is here in the middle of the day, right? 00:09:09.279 --> 00:09:11.120 When the sun was at its peak. 00:09:11.279 --> 00:09:14.399 I mean, this is Samaria, right? 00:09:14.559 --> 00:09:17.600 This is the Middle East where it's hot at noon, right? 00:09:17.679 --> 00:09:19.919 I'm talking 95 degrees at noon, right? 00:09:20.159 --> 00:09:22.399 Nobody went to the well at noon. 00:09:22.559 --> 00:09:28.320 In these communities, especially for the woman of Samaria, going to the well was like their social hour, right? 00:09:28.399 --> 00:09:30.399 It was the Lewis Park of Samaria, right? 00:09:30.480 --> 00:09:34.720 Like that's where they went to have an afternoon or a morning with their girls, right? 00:09:34.879 --> 00:09:38.559 So these women would go there in the morning or in the afternoon to hang out. 00:09:38.720 --> 00:09:44.639 And so for this woman to come at noon shows that she is an outcast, right? 00:09:44.879 --> 00:09:48.639 And not only that, she's an outcast among the outcast people group. 00:09:48.720 --> 00:09:51.919 So she is as outcast as you can be, right? 00:09:53.519 --> 00:09:57.919 She went to the well at noon because she was lonely. 00:09:58.720 --> 00:10:00.559 She was shameful, right? 00:10:01.120 --> 00:10:02.559 She was messy. 00:10:02.960 --> 00:10:08.879 But what we see here is that Jesus didn't turn away from her mess, right? 00:10:09.279 --> 00:10:14.960 But Jesus actually comes in and invades her deepest, most messy parts of her life, right? 00:10:15.039 --> 00:10:18.320 So that brings us to point number one, which says this. 00:10:27.440 --> 00:10:29.279 So in this in this passage, right? 00:10:29.600 --> 00:10:32.639 Jesus just nails the gospel presentation, right? 00:10:32.960 --> 00:10:34.240 Like he nails it. 00:10:34.320 --> 00:10:36.559 In verse 15, the Samaritan woman was ready. 00:10:36.639 --> 00:10:40.000 She's like, Yes, I want this living water, Jesus. 00:10:40.159 --> 00:10:41.759 Give it to me, right? 00:10:42.000 --> 00:10:46.720 And in sharing the gospel class, when you get there, like that's a home run, right? 00:10:46.799 --> 00:10:50.399 Like that, you just slam dunk that thing in the gospel presentation. 00:10:50.480 --> 00:10:52.639 And so it's like, man, like Jesus, you got her, dude. 00:10:52.720 --> 00:10:54.960 Like, you don't need to go further in verse 16 here. 00:10:55.039 --> 00:10:58.399 Like, I know you're the son of God, I know that you're, you know, the word made flesh. 00:10:58.480 --> 00:11:04.080 You've always been, always will be, and all things you hold them together, but like, dude, like you had her, right? 00:11:04.159 --> 00:11:05.360 Like, leave it, right? 00:11:05.840 --> 00:11:07.200 But Jesus makes it awkward. 00:11:07.279 --> 00:11:08.799 Let's look at verse 16. 00:11:09.360 --> 00:11:13.600 Jesus said to her, Go, call your husband and come here. 00:11:13.840 --> 00:11:16.320 The woman answered him, I have no husband. 00:11:16.559 --> 00:11:21.759 Jesus said to her, You are right in saying, I have no husband, for you have had five husbands. 00:11:21.919 --> 00:11:24.080 And the one you now have is not your husband. 00:11:24.240 --> 00:11:26.240 What you have said is true. 00:11:26.559 --> 00:11:29.840 The woman said to him, Sir, I perceive that you are a prophet. 00:11:30.080 --> 00:11:36.240 Our fathers worshiped on this mountain, but you say that in Jerusalem is the place where people ought to worship. 00:11:36.960 --> 00:11:39.919 So, do you ever go down rabbit trails on YouTube? 00:11:40.159 --> 00:11:40.639 I don't know. 00:11:41.279 --> 00:11:45.440 That might have dated me to some of you guys in here, but let me tell you what my morning routine looks like. 00:11:45.600 --> 00:11:54.799 Okay, so uh Grace and I wake up, I make my coffee, uh, I get dressed, I brush my teeth, whatever, and then Grace and I sit in our living room and we read together. 00:11:54.879 --> 00:11:57.759 We're normally really groggy, a little grumpy. 00:11:57.840 --> 00:12:00.000 Uh we read some chapter of the Bible together. 00:12:00.080 --> 00:12:02.159 It's normally like, yeah, kind of rushed. 00:12:02.320 --> 00:12:04.559 And then I end up trying to pray a little bit. 00:12:04.799 --> 00:12:06.000 Not very good at it, I'm trying. 00:12:06.080 --> 00:12:11.600 We pray a little bit, and then she leaves, and then I have a few minutes before I head over here to do some work. 00:12:11.679 --> 00:12:14.559 And during that time, I almost always end up on YouTube. 00:12:14.639 --> 00:12:18.559 I don't know how I get there, but YouTube just calls my name and I end there for 10 minutes, okay? 00:12:18.639 --> 00:12:27.600 So I'm on YouTube, and typically these things are like, you know, Georgia football recruiting videos or like master's highlights or you know, just yeah, sports stuff, right? 00:12:27.759 --> 00:12:32.639 But sometimes I go down these weird trails, and recently I've been in this part of YouTube. 00:12:32.720 --> 00:12:33.840 It's a kind of a community, right? 00:12:34.000 --> 00:12:36.399 Russ is all about community, so this is my community, okay? 00:12:36.480 --> 00:12:40.559 It's the Gordon Ramsay Kitchen Nightmares community, okay? 00:12:40.720 --> 00:12:44.159 So that's where I ended up for the past like three, four weeks, okay? 00:12:44.240 --> 00:12:47.679 So I'm sure you've heard who he is, but this is Gordon Ramsay, right? 00:12:48.080 --> 00:12:49.440 Sweet guy, right? 00:12:50.559 --> 00:12:58.960 So in Kitchen Nightmares, Gordon Ramsay goes into these failing restaurants, he orders food, sits at a table, acts like a guest, right? 00:12:59.120 --> 00:13:01.840 And then he goes and inspects the kitchen, right? 00:13:02.159 --> 00:13:12.000 And one thing that I've noticed, which is hilarious, is that he almost always like finds a chef or a manager that's lying about something, right? 00:13:12.159 --> 00:13:19.600 Like the funny thing is the manager calls him in to help, and then he comes in and they still lie about what's actually going on, right? 00:13:19.679 --> 00:13:22.720 So he's trying to help the problem, they're not letting him help them, right? 00:13:22.879 --> 00:13:24.159 So there's this one episode. 00:13:24.320 --> 00:13:25.279 This is one of the funniest things. 00:13:25.519 --> 00:13:28.159 I've la I was laughing out loud in my living room alone, okay? 00:13:28.240 --> 00:13:29.519 So it's so funny. 00:13:29.679 --> 00:13:36.159 This is the head chef had four baking sheets of potatoes, right, that supposedly had been roasted in the oven. 00:13:36.320 --> 00:13:36.559 Okay? 00:13:37.120 --> 00:13:40.399 So Gordon Ramsay came over, he's pretty good at eating, right? 00:13:40.480 --> 00:13:41.440 I mean, he knows his stuff. 00:13:41.519 --> 00:13:44.480 So he gets there, he tries one, he's like, that's kind of bitter. 00:13:44.559 --> 00:13:46.720 It kind of feels like it was deep fried. 00:13:47.120 --> 00:13:49.679 And so he's like to the head chef, Did you deep fry these? 00:13:49.840 --> 00:13:59.120 And then the head chef, for the next like five minutes straight, is convincing everybody in the kitchen and Gordon Ramsay that he did not deep fry these potatoes, right? 00:13:59.200 --> 00:14:00.879 And you're like, Sam, this is a stupid story. 00:14:00.960 --> 00:14:02.720 Just bear with me, we'll get there. 00:14:03.440 --> 00:14:10.480 So Gordon goes over to the sous chef, right, the assistant chef, and he's the one that actually cooked the potatoes. 00:14:10.559 --> 00:14:14.000 And he says, Hey man, did you deep fry these? 00:14:14.240 --> 00:14:19.440 And the sous chef's like, uh, yes, all four of them, right? 00:14:19.759 --> 00:14:20.559 All four of these. 00:14:20.639 --> 00:14:23.360 And then he's like, Okay, so who told you to deep fry these? 00:14:23.519 --> 00:14:27.039 He looks over at the head chef who just said they were roasted and says, Yeah, he did. 00:14:27.120 --> 00:14:28.159 He told me to deep fry them. 00:14:28.320 --> 00:14:28.480 Right? 00:14:28.559 --> 00:14:30.240 And then the camera, it's the best part. 00:14:30.320 --> 00:14:32.960 I was trying to find a screenshot of this for y'all, but I couldn't find it. 00:14:33.120 --> 00:14:39.840 The camera pans over to the head chef, right, who just lied, bold faced to everybody in the kitchen, and he just had the best look on his face. 00:14:39.919 --> 00:14:42.399 I mean, just like, oh shoot, right? 00:14:42.559 --> 00:14:45.279 They just caught me red-handed, lying, right? 00:14:45.360 --> 00:14:53.279 Because everything he was hiding in that moment, everything he just tried to convince the kitchen of, was exposed and put on the table, right? 00:14:53.840 --> 00:15:03.120 In these verses we just read, Jesus takes this woman's deepest, darkest, most shameful secrets about her and just lays them out, right? 00:15:03.279 --> 00:15:07.200 He just, I mean, he reads her mail in these verses, right? 00:15:07.519 --> 00:15:08.480 He had her, right? 00:15:08.559 --> 00:15:10.000 Just before this in verse 15. 00:15:10.080 --> 00:15:12.480 She's like, man, I want this living water, I'm thirsty. 00:15:12.639 --> 00:15:13.120 Give it to me. 00:15:13.200 --> 00:15:15.279 And he's like, okay, yeah, go get your husband. 00:15:15.519 --> 00:15:16.159 Right? 00:15:17.919 --> 00:15:22.480 And he goes right at the part where she feels the most shame about. 00:15:22.879 --> 00:15:30.879 He goes right at the part of her heart that she's trying to hide, that she's hurting the most about, that she's lying to try to cover up about. 00:15:31.440 --> 00:15:34.240 And he's not doing this to make her feel shameful, right? 00:15:34.559 --> 00:15:42.879 He's not doing this to try to make her feel even worse than she already does, but he's going in there because this is the scar that needs to heal, right? 00:15:43.440 --> 00:15:48.639 This is the wound that she's been putting a band-aid on when it needs some stitches, right? 00:15:50.559 --> 00:15:57.759 And he does that because he knows that there is life abundant for her when that wound heals, right? 00:15:58.080 --> 00:15:59.840 And that brings us to point number two. 00:16:00.320 --> 00:16:10.879 Point number two true joy and fee and freedom are experienced fully when we allow Jesus Christ into the midst of our mess and brokenness. 00:16:11.200 --> 00:16:18.320 True joy and freedom are experienced fully when we allow Jesus into the midst of our mess and brokenness. 00:16:18.720 --> 00:16:21.519 So Jesus says, hey, go get your husband. 00:16:21.759 --> 00:16:25.200 He's like, Yes, I'll give you this living water, but like go get your husband first. 00:16:25.440 --> 00:16:27.519 She says, I don't have a husband. 00:16:27.840 --> 00:16:31.759 And you know, she doesn't know that Jesus knows what he knows yet, right? 00:16:32.000 --> 00:16:34.879 Like he she doesn't know that he knows that she's had five. 00:16:35.039 --> 00:16:37.360 So she's like, I don't have a husband, trying to deflect it. 00:16:37.440 --> 00:16:40.639 She's trying to move him aside and say, no, Jesus, I want you at arm's length. 00:16:40.799 --> 00:16:44.799 I like you here where I can get the living water, but you can't get all up in my grill, right? 00:16:46.720 --> 00:16:49.840 I mean, imagine the shame she was feeling just with me for a second. 00:16:50.240 --> 00:16:53.600 Going to the well to get water at midday by herself, right? 00:16:54.000 --> 00:16:57.200 Keeping secrets all the time from everyone. 00:16:58.480 --> 00:16:59.919 No one really knew her. 00:17:00.240 --> 00:17:02.639 She was not known really by anyone, right? 00:17:02.960 --> 00:17:06.160 And then she's sleeping with the guy she's with now, and they're not married. 00:17:06.640 --> 00:17:14.880 Walking around this town, man, just feeling condemnation and looks of disgust at her as she goes through this town of Sakhar, right? 00:17:15.119 --> 00:17:23.119 And then this random Jewish dude named Jesus, right, walks up and man, it just gets all of her secrets out on the table. 00:17:23.200 --> 00:17:26.559 This guy she's never met before, maybe even never heard of before. 00:17:26.720 --> 00:17:28.960 And you see what she did in verse 19? 00:17:29.440 --> 00:17:31.599 She deflected again, right? 00:17:31.759 --> 00:17:33.920 She says, Sir, I perceive that you are a prophet. 00:17:34.079 --> 00:17:36.000 Yeah, you're right. 00:17:37.279 --> 00:17:39.599 She doesn't believe that she can be loved. 00:17:40.079 --> 00:17:41.359 That's the problem here. 00:17:41.680 --> 00:17:49.039 She doesn't believe that if anyone knew this unlovable stuff in her heart, she doesn't believe that she could still be loved, right? 00:17:49.519 --> 00:17:51.759 I don't know if you've ever felt like this. 00:17:52.240 --> 00:17:56.880 Like keeping kind of like your your kind of bad sins, right, hidden, right? 00:17:56.960 --> 00:18:00.400 Like you'll talk about, oh yeah, man, like I've just I'm not giving myself enough sleep, right? 00:18:00.559 --> 00:18:01.440 Not enough self-help, right? 00:18:01.519 --> 00:18:04.880 Like that's like that's kind of the confessions that we can like easily say, right? 00:18:04.960 --> 00:18:08.400 But then we got like the dark stuff that's down here that we don't want anybody to know about, right? 00:18:08.480 --> 00:18:10.640 Because we're not gonna be loved if they know about it. 00:18:11.119 --> 00:18:12.640 It kind of feels like this to me. 00:18:12.720 --> 00:18:14.799 There's this this meme that I really like. 00:18:15.039 --> 00:18:22.720 Um this dog, right, eating or drinking his coffee, and the house is on fire, and he says, This is fine, right? 00:18:23.200 --> 00:18:32.960 Um this woman in this story, that's kind of silly, but this woman in this story does not want Jesus into her mess, right? 00:18:33.680 --> 00:18:36.319 Her life is just going up in flames, right? 00:18:36.480 --> 00:18:39.200 Her heart is just a mess and is broken. 00:18:39.680 --> 00:18:41.680 But she doesn't want to let Jesus in. 00:18:42.960 --> 00:18:47.119 She didn't believe in the deepest parts of her that she could be loved. 00:18:47.599 --> 00:18:49.359 She felt like she was unlovable, right? 00:18:49.440 --> 00:18:53.279 She felt like she genuinely was the person that is unlovable, right? 00:18:53.599 --> 00:19:03.440 And because of that, right, because she deflects and deflects and deflects Jesus' questions, she's missing out on true living water, right? 00:19:04.319 --> 00:19:06.400 And that's point number three. 00:19:07.279 --> 00:19:16.079 Full life, abundant life is found in the hearts of those who are secure in the restorative grace of Jesus Christ. 00:19:17.519 --> 00:19:19.759 Remember what happens next in this story? 00:19:20.799 --> 00:19:23.680 The Samaritan woman deflects again, right? 00:19:24.000 --> 00:19:26.319 And then finally she gets it, right? 00:19:26.720 --> 00:19:32.559 Finally, like Paul of Tarsus, her eyes are opened and she gets it, right? 00:19:33.119 --> 00:19:35.680 Because finally she's like, okay, he is who he says he is. 00:19:35.759 --> 00:19:38.720 He's not just a prophet, he's not just rabbi, right? 00:19:39.200 --> 00:19:43.519 He is who he says he is, and then man, she is just in the face. 00:19:43.839 --> 00:19:50.319 So much new joy, so much life, so much grace has filled her heart so that she is not the same person anymore. 00:19:50.559 --> 00:19:57.119 She is running through this town of Sakar and telling everybody that she can about Jesus of Nazareth, right? 00:19:57.279 --> 00:20:01.440 She's like, this guy just told me everything about who I she didn't know how to share the gospel yet, right? 00:20:01.519 --> 00:20:02.480 But she's sharing it. 00:20:02.640 --> 00:20:11.279 She's like, she never went to evangelism class, but she's running through the streets, telling every living person about this Jesus guy, because that's all she can do at this point, right? 00:20:11.519 --> 00:20:17.359 She got exposed, he got all up in her business, and then she's like, world, listen to this, right? 00:20:18.480 --> 00:20:20.799 And then people start to believe. 00:20:21.920 --> 00:20:23.599 Why would she do this, right? 00:20:23.839 --> 00:20:29.200 Potentially at the cost of being embarrassed, being ridiculed, maybe even being killed in this day, right? 00:20:29.920 --> 00:20:33.119 Because of the security she now has. 00:20:33.359 --> 00:20:34.480 That she's never had before. 00:20:34.559 --> 00:20:37.759 She never tasted this security before, right? 00:20:38.000 --> 00:20:44.960 She was the shameful, quiet woman who everybody looked at, thinking, oh, there goes, you know, five five-man Mindy over there, right? 00:20:45.039 --> 00:20:46.000 Like that was the name I just caught out. 00:20:46.079 --> 00:20:47.359 If your name's Mindy, forgive me. 00:20:47.440 --> 00:20:49.599 But that's just it, like, I just grabbed that from the air. 00:20:49.680 --> 00:20:52.559 But she she's walking through the town, everybody's shaming her, right? 00:20:52.640 --> 00:20:54.319 Like, this is that woman. 00:20:54.559 --> 00:20:56.720 She's trying to coast through every day, right? 00:20:56.880 --> 00:20:58.720 Just making it to bedtime, right? 00:20:59.599 --> 00:21:03.920 Without really being noticed, without anybody really knowing her heart, right? 00:21:04.079 --> 00:21:05.599 Knowing her darkness. 00:21:07.039 --> 00:21:08.960 So, what does this mean for us? 00:21:09.519 --> 00:21:11.119 Right, we just celebrated Easter. 00:21:11.279 --> 00:21:17.519 When I was doing my reading online, everybody said that the Sunday after Easter is like youth pastor or associate pastor Sunday, right? 00:21:17.759 --> 00:21:19.039 Sunday after Easter. 00:21:19.359 --> 00:21:21.279 So that's what we're at here today, right? 00:21:21.519 --> 00:21:22.720 April 11th. 00:21:23.440 --> 00:21:28.640 So, what do we do for the next eight months until Christmas, right? 00:21:29.279 --> 00:21:35.359 This last week was like the big, big number one, and then Christmas is big number two, but what do we do for the next eight months, right? 00:21:36.160 --> 00:21:47.759 So, what I'm hoping for, and this brings us back to the invitation, what I'm hoping for is that as we receive communion here in a few minutes, we sing some songs together, and then we go home. 00:21:47.839 --> 00:21:59.119 That I mean, we would grow in our confidence, not not in our own abilities, but we grow in our confidence and security in knowing that in our darkest places that we are loved and known, right? 00:22:00.240 --> 00:22:05.839 Not in our religious abilities, not in how good we are at reading our Bibles or studying or praying, right? 00:22:05.920 --> 00:22:14.319 But that we would grow in confidence and have a richer, fuller experience of the grace of Jesus as we are known and loved in our broken places, right? 00:22:14.480 --> 00:22:16.960 So let's just talk for two more minutes. 00:22:17.599 --> 00:22:20.720 Maybe you've been struggling in some ways, right? 00:22:21.279 --> 00:22:24.480 Maybe there's a part of your life that you're trying to hide. 00:22:24.720 --> 00:22:32.799 If you're anything like me, maybe you're believing that, man, like, if anyone knew about this part of me, like I would not be loved here at Christ the Redeemer, right? 00:22:32.880 --> 00:22:35.759 If anybody knew about this corner of my heart, I would not be loved. 00:22:36.160 --> 00:22:39.599 Maybe that's a lie that we're believing this morning. 00:22:39.839 --> 00:22:40.799 You know, yes. 00:22:40.960 --> 00:22:46.960 Like, yeah, Sam, like I hear that what you're saying is true from this book, but man, you don't know about my story, Sam. 00:22:47.039 --> 00:22:49.200 Like, you don't know about my past, right? 00:22:49.359 --> 00:22:52.720 You don't know about this pornography addiction that I've been struggling with, right? 00:22:52.799 --> 00:22:57.279 You don't know about, man, how often I try to numb my life by drinking a little bit too much, right? 00:22:57.359 --> 00:22:58.960 Like you don't know about these things. 00:22:59.200 --> 00:23:04.240 You don't know about how sad and hurting I've been trying to hide it from everybody, right? 00:23:04.400 --> 00:23:09.599 You don't know about the exhaustion I've been feeling because of how hard I've been trying to be good enough, right? 00:23:09.759 --> 00:23:11.920 Like you don't know these things about me, Sam. 00:23:12.240 --> 00:23:15.359 That might be something that you're thinking. 00:23:15.599 --> 00:23:20.880 And Jesus is saying, brother, sister, I died for that, right? 00:23:21.200 --> 00:23:24.160 He didn't just die to make you a little bit better, right? 00:23:24.559 --> 00:23:36.880 He died on the cross so that you could be brought to life, so that the darkest parts of you could be brought to light, and then therefore you experience greater joy, greater life, and greater peace in his presence, right? 00:23:36.960 --> 00:23:39.599 That's the fullness of life that's on the table. 00:23:40.160 --> 00:23:42.480 So here's the invitation one more time. 00:23:43.119 --> 00:23:46.000 Come deeper into the grace of Jesus this morning. 00:23:46.319 --> 00:23:57.119 I don't know what that looks like for you, but I just encourage you and I'm pleading with you to open yourself up to be more known by this Jesus guy, right? 00:23:57.359 --> 00:24:01.440 To let him into the parts of you that you've never let him into before, right? 00:24:01.759 --> 00:24:07.519 To let him bring to light and therefore bring you to life in these new places, right? 00:24:08.480 --> 00:24:13.920 He died on the cross for the ugliest parts of you, not just the pretty nice parts, right? 00:24:14.640 --> 00:24:20.319 He died for the ugliest, the most dark, the most painful wounds in your life. 00:24:20.880 --> 00:24:24.799 And so he loves to save those places, right? 00:24:25.440 --> 00:24:26.000 Amen. 00:24:26.240 --> 00:24:27.759 Let's pray together. 00:24:28.799 --> 00:24:45.440 Father, thank you so much for sending Jesus to be for us, Lord, what we could never be for ourselves, uh, to be, Lord, our peace, to be our justification before a holy God, Lord. 00:24:45.599 --> 00:24:54.079 Thank you that you are the living and active God who is in our life, in our business, who loves us through our brokenness. 00:24:54.400 --> 00:24:58.559 Lord, that thank you that we can have the confidence to not have to hide anymore. 00:24:58.799 --> 00:25:05.440 That we don't have to try to be this person that we're not, especially here in the Bible Belt when everybody's just living the dream. 00:25:05.759 --> 00:25:16.000 Lord, I just pray that you would show us what it looks like to be open, that you would let us in to deeper parts of ourselves. 00:25:16.079 --> 00:25:19.519 And Lord, we know that this can't happen, we can't muster this up in ourselves. 00:25:19.680 --> 00:25:24.319 So, Lord, we need your Holy Spirit to come in and invade our hearts. 00:25:24.559 --> 00:25:38.400 And Lord, we love you and we trust that you only want a greater life, a greater, Lord, sense of your presence, and ultimately that we be more satisfied walking in communion with you, Lord. 00:25:38.640 --> 00:25:39.759 God, thank you for Jesus. 00:25:39.839 --> 00:25:40.960 Thank you for the cross. 00:25:41.119 --> 00:25:44.160 Thank you for our resurrection that we can look forward to. 00:25:44.400 --> 00:25:45.039 We love you. 00:25:45.200 --> 00:25:47.359 We ask all this in the name of Jesus. 00:25:47.599 --> 00:25:48.240 Amen.