WEBVTT 00:00:01.679 --> 00:00:02.319 All right. 00:00:03.520 --> 00:00:08.720 So this is my first time preaching solo, and I'm a little terrified, so bear with me. 00:00:10.800 --> 00:00:16.000 But I have the privilege of delivering the final sermon in our old school remix series. 00:00:16.399 --> 00:00:28.800 I was supposed to do this last week, but again, we had to pivot, which I think God did on purpose, because I went to a women's conference on Friday night, and I sat there as they preached my sermon to me. 00:00:29.600 --> 00:00:31.359 So here we go. 00:00:31.519 --> 00:00:34.320 But today we're going to be looking at identity. 00:00:34.479 --> 00:00:45.679 We have looked at identity before, but we're going to look at it on how it's given, how labels we've given to ourselves or we have been assigned. 00:00:45.920 --> 00:00:51.600 We often associate our identity with our job, our title, what others say. 00:00:51.920 --> 00:01:02.000 But today I want to talk about identity a little different by sharing a part of my story and a label that I took on, which is a little scary. 00:01:02.719 --> 00:01:08.319 But I also want to talk about how God is redeeming my identity and how He wants to redeem yours too. 00:01:09.120 --> 00:01:11.760 I want to start by asking you a question. 00:01:12.000 --> 00:01:16.640 Is there something about yourself that you hope other people never find out? 00:01:17.599 --> 00:01:26.400 Maybe it's something you've done, maybe it's something that was done to you, or maybe it's a weakness you've spent a lot of time trying to hide. 00:01:26.959 --> 00:01:29.120 I think most of us have done it. 00:01:31.439 --> 00:01:36.480 And if we're not careful, those things can start to become more than part of our story. 00:01:36.640 --> 00:01:40.319 They can start to become the way we define ourselves. 00:01:41.120 --> 00:01:43.200 I know because I've done it. 00:01:43.599 --> 00:01:45.840 My life hasn't always been easy. 00:01:46.079 --> 00:01:50.000 I was diagnosed with fetal alcohol syndrome at a young age. 00:01:50.239 --> 00:01:54.319 What that means is my birth mother drank alcohol while she was pregnant with me. 00:01:54.400 --> 00:02:00.079 And it affected the development of my brain and the way that I think and learn. 00:02:00.719 --> 00:02:05.040 That diagnosis had a significant impact on me as I was growing up. 00:02:05.280 --> 00:02:12.639 At the time, the clinical language used around intellectual disabilities included the term mental retardation. 00:02:13.280 --> 00:02:18.639 And somewhere along the way, the clinical language became a label on me. 00:02:18.960 --> 00:02:20.960 I was called retarded. 00:02:22.319 --> 00:02:30.400 And when you hear a label like that enough, especially when you're young, it can start becoming more than something people say about you. 00:02:31.120 --> 00:02:34.240 It can be something you believe about yourself. 00:02:35.599 --> 00:02:37.759 I started believing I wasn't good enough. 00:02:37.919 --> 00:02:41.039 I started believing there were things I simply couldn't do. 00:02:41.360 --> 00:02:44.159 But underneath all of that was an even deeper lie. 00:02:44.400 --> 00:02:46.400 I believed that I didn't matter. 00:02:47.520 --> 00:02:51.599 And if I didn't matter, then what I had to say didn't matter either. 00:02:53.199 --> 00:02:56.479 For a long time, that lie affected how I lived. 00:02:56.639 --> 00:02:58.960 I learned to question my own abilities. 00:02:59.120 --> 00:03:03.199 I learned to rely on other people's voices before trusting my own. 00:03:04.000 --> 00:03:07.919 I was even encouraged at times to fake it till you make it. 00:03:11.599 --> 00:03:15.360 Instead of being honest about how I learned or what I needed. 00:03:15.680 --> 00:03:18.560 But God was teaching me something very different. 00:03:18.879 --> 00:03:20.800 God says I do matter. 00:03:21.120 --> 00:03:23.280 God says my voice matters. 00:03:23.439 --> 00:03:29.280 And God has been calling me to obey Him by actually using the voice he gave me. 00:03:29.520 --> 00:03:32.719 Which is part of the reason I'm standing in front of you today. 00:03:33.360 --> 00:03:39.599 The power isn't my voice, it's his power activated by my obedience. 00:03:43.439 --> 00:03:45.039 I'm still learning this. 00:03:45.360 --> 00:03:48.639 I still have moments when the old lie shows back up. 00:03:48.800 --> 00:03:54.879 There are still moments when I wonder if I'm gonna say something wrong, sound stupid, or be misunderstood. 00:03:56.159 --> 00:03:59.439 But the enemy is an accuser and a liar. 00:04:00.080 --> 00:04:05.280 And I am learning that the presence of a lie doesn't mean I have to obey it. 00:04:07.120 --> 00:04:11.360 So today I want to ask you to think about your own life. 00:04:11.680 --> 00:04:14.639 What is the lie that has been defining you? 00:04:15.120 --> 00:04:21.839 And maybe an even harder question is this What has the lie been keeping you from doing? 00:04:23.040 --> 00:04:26.480 Because the lies we believe about ourselves have a cost. 00:04:28.560 --> 00:04:31.120 They can cost us our freedom. 00:04:32.639 --> 00:04:38.160 Not just freedom from something, but freedom for something. 00:04:40.000 --> 00:04:42.160 They keep us from obeying God. 00:04:43.439 --> 00:04:51.600 And they can keep us from recognizing that God may want to use our story to bring dignity and hope into somebody else's. 00:04:59.360 --> 00:05:02.240 Other people do not define you. 00:05:02.560 --> 00:05:05.120 The world does not define you. 00:05:05.600 --> 00:05:06.560 God does. 00:05:07.279 --> 00:05:16.480 What you've done, what's been done to you, and what people have said about you may be part of your story, but it is not who you are. 00:05:17.839 --> 00:05:25.040 And if we're going to learn to let God define us, I think there are three truths we need to understand about who we are in Christ. 00:05:26.160 --> 00:05:32.319 We are accepted, we are chosen, and we have a purpose. 00:05:34.000 --> 00:05:39.199 Before we get into these three truths, I want us to hear the story that is going to guide us today. 00:05:39.360 --> 00:05:41.680 It is found in John chapter 4. 00:05:42.240 --> 00:05:46.240 Jesus has been in Judea and he is traveling north toward Galilee. 00:05:46.800 --> 00:05:49.680 John tells us that Jesus had to go through Samaria. 00:05:50.879 --> 00:05:53.120 Most Jews didn't want to go through Samaria. 00:05:54.399 --> 00:05:56.480 And we'll get into why in just a second. 00:05:56.720 --> 00:05:59.839 Geographically, Samaria was the most direct route. 00:06:00.000 --> 00:06:06.000 But Jews and Samaritans had generations of religious and cultural hostilities between them. 00:06:06.160 --> 00:06:09.759 So traveling through the region carried real tension. 00:06:10.480 --> 00:06:12.480 The history matters. 00:06:12.800 --> 00:06:19.759 Samaritan and Jews disagreed about where God should be worshipped, and each group viewed the other with suspicion. 00:06:21.279 --> 00:06:25.680 Then Jesus arrives at Jacob's well near the Samaritan town of Sakar. 00:06:26.240 --> 00:06:27.839 It was about noon. 00:06:28.240 --> 00:06:33.519 His disciples have gone into town for food, and a Samaritan woman comes to draw water. 00:06:35.279 --> 00:06:39.360 Jesus is a Jewish man, and she is a Jewish woman. 00:06:39.680 --> 00:06:41.439 He's also a rabbi. 00:06:41.920 --> 00:06:44.720 So, first of all, he's a man, so he shouldn't be talking to a woman. 00:06:44.879 --> 00:06:45.759 He's a rabbi. 00:06:46.000 --> 00:06:47.920 Rabbis definitely didn't talk to the women. 00:06:48.079 --> 00:06:51.680 And he's he's a Jew, and Samaritans and Jews don't get along. 00:06:54.000 --> 00:07:01.199 And the expectations of their world, and several reasons this conversation should never have happened. 00:07:01.519 --> 00:07:04.000 But Jesus spoke to her anyway. 00:07:04.879 --> 00:07:15.920 I want to read the whole conversation before we break it down, because I want you to hear what Jesus says, what she says, and how this encounter unfolds before we start pulling truths out of it. 00:07:16.959 --> 00:07:21.199 So John 4, verse 4 through 26. 00:07:21.759 --> 00:07:30.399 Now he had gone through Samaria, so he came to a town in Samaria called Sakar, near the plot of ground Jacob had given to his son Joseph. 00:07:30.560 --> 00:07:36.560 Jacob's well was there, and Jesus, tired as he was from the journey, sat down by the well. 00:07:36.720 --> 00:07:38.319 It was about noon. 00:07:40.560 --> 00:07:42.560 So this is important that it's noon. 00:07:42.720 --> 00:07:47.519 When a Samaritan woman came to draw water, Jesus said to her, Will you give me a drink? 00:07:47.680 --> 00:07:50.800 His disciples had gone into town to buy food. 00:07:51.360 --> 00:07:55.279 So most of the women came in the cool of the day, but she's coming at noon. 00:07:57.040 --> 00:07:58.879 Jesus answered her. 00:07:59.279 --> 00:08:08.240 Oh no, the Samaritan woman said to him, You are a Jew, and I am a Samaritan woman. 00:08:08.399 --> 00:08:10.160 How can you ask me for a drink? 00:08:10.399 --> 00:08:13.759 For Jews do not associate with Samaritans. 00:08:14.000 --> 00:08:22.879 Jesus answered her, If you knew the gift of God and who it is that asks you for a drink, you would have asked him, and he would have given you living water. 00:08:23.680 --> 00:08:27.839 Sir, the woman said, You have nothing to draw with, and the well is deep. 00:08:28.079 --> 00:08:30.079 Where can you get this living water? 00:08:30.319 --> 00:08:37.759 Are you greater than our father Jacob, who gave us this well and drank from it himself, and did also his sons and livestock? 00:08:39.039 --> 00:08:46.159 Jesus answered, Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again, but whoever drinks the water I give them will never thirst. 00:08:46.320 --> 00:08:51.279 Indeed, the water I give them will become in them a spring of water welling up to eternal life. 00:08:52.399 --> 00:08:59.120 The woman said to him, Sir, give me this water so that I won't get thirsty and have to keep coming here to draw water. 00:09:00.159 --> 00:09:03.519 He told her, Go call your husband and come back. 00:09:03.840 --> 00:09:06.320 I have no husband, she replied. 00:09:06.639 --> 00:09:10.159 Jesus said to her, You are right when you say you have no husband. 00:09:10.320 --> 00:09:16.000 The fact is you have had five husbands, and the man you now have is not your husband. 00:09:16.240 --> 00:09:18.720 What you have said is quite true. 00:09:19.919 --> 00:09:22.960 Sir, the woman said, I can see that you're a prophet. 00:09:23.120 --> 00:09:29.519 Our ancestors worshiped on this mountain, but you Jews claim that the place where we must worship is in Jerusalem. 00:09:30.480 --> 00:09:37.759 Woman, Jesus replied, Believe me, a time is coming when you will worship the Father, neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem. 00:09:37.919 --> 00:09:41.039 You Samaritans worship what you do not know. 00:09:41.200 --> 00:09:44.799 We worship what we do know, for salvation is from the Jews. 00:09:44.960 --> 00:09:51.519 Yet a time is coming, as it has now come, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth. 00:09:51.759 --> 00:09:55.039 For they are the kind of worshipers the Father seeks. 00:09:55.519 --> 00:10:00.639 God is spirit, and his worshipers must worship in spirit and truth. 00:10:00.960 --> 00:10:04.639 The woman said, I know that Messiah called Christ is coming. 00:10:04.799 --> 00:10:07.679 When he comes, he will explain everything to us. 00:10:07.919 --> 00:10:11.840 Then Jesus declared, I, the one speaking to you, am He. 00:10:13.360 --> 00:10:17.039 We'll get a little further in the story in just a little bit. 00:10:17.360 --> 00:10:20.000 But that is the story I want us to stay in today. 00:10:20.159 --> 00:10:27.759 And now I want us to go back through it because in this one encounter, I think we can see the three truths I mentioned a moment ago. 00:10:28.000 --> 00:10:33.679 In Christ I am accepted, in Christ I am chosen, and in Christ I have a purpose. 00:10:34.639 --> 00:10:35.759 Let's start with this. 00:10:36.000 --> 00:10:38.000 In Christ, I am accepted. 00:10:38.879 --> 00:10:46.720 Before Jesus ever addresses the complicated parts of this woman's story, notice what he has already done. 00:10:47.120 --> 00:10:56.799 He has entered Samaria, he has stopped at the well, he has started a conversation that most people would have been like, we don't do that. 00:10:57.039 --> 00:10:58.879 He has asked her for a drink. 00:10:59.120 --> 00:11:01.279 He has offered her living water. 00:11:01.600 --> 00:11:04.720 He treats her as someone worth speaking to. 00:11:05.519 --> 00:11:10.960 Someone capable of talking about God, worship, and eternal life. 00:11:11.120 --> 00:11:14.080 He does not treat her like a problem to solve. 00:11:14.399 --> 00:11:16.320 He sees her as a person. 00:11:18.080 --> 00:11:20.799 The conversation gets painfully personal. 00:11:21.039 --> 00:11:24.080 Jesus tells her, Go call your husband and come back. 00:11:24.879 --> 00:11:27.200 She answered, I have no husband. 00:11:28.240 --> 00:11:29.840 Then Jesus tells her her story. 00:11:30.000 --> 00:11:34.399 Yeah, you've had five husbands, and the man you're with now is not your husband. 00:11:34.879 --> 00:11:37.039 Now, I want to be careful. 00:11:37.279 --> 00:11:41.600 Because the Bible does not tell us what happened in every one of those relationships. 00:11:42.159 --> 00:11:49.279 We do not know what choices she made, what was done to her, or all of the circumstances that brought her to that well. 00:11:49.759 --> 00:11:51.600 But Jesus does. 00:11:52.320 --> 00:11:55.039 Jesus knows the whole story. 00:11:55.840 --> 00:11:58.720 He knows the parts she would have regretted. 00:11:58.960 --> 00:12:01.840 He knows the parts that have caused her pain. 00:12:02.080 --> 00:12:05.679 He knows the parts other people might have used to define her. 00:12:06.320 --> 00:12:07.600 And he stays. 00:12:08.799 --> 00:12:09.600 Say that again. 00:12:09.759 --> 00:12:10.720 He stays. 00:12:11.039 --> 00:12:13.120 He keeps talking to her. 00:12:14.799 --> 00:12:17.440 Now, this woman would have been judged. 00:12:17.600 --> 00:12:20.000 People would have whispered about her, people would have talked to her. 00:12:20.159 --> 00:12:22.080 This is why I said it was important she came at noon. 00:12:22.159 --> 00:12:24.240 She didn't come with the other woman, women. 00:12:25.039 --> 00:12:30.240 Because her story was, people most likely judged her for it. 00:12:31.120 --> 00:12:34.799 But Jesus doesn't reduce her to the worst things in her story. 00:12:35.039 --> 00:12:39.039 He doesn't say, you're the woman with five failed marriages. 00:12:39.279 --> 00:12:41.840 He doesn't say, you're too broken for me. 00:12:42.480 --> 00:12:46.320 He doesn't say, come back when you get yourself together. 00:12:46.879 --> 00:12:48.799 He tells her the truth. 00:12:49.279 --> 00:12:52.960 But he tells her the truth while remaining present with her. 00:12:54.559 --> 00:13:01.200 And I think some of us need to understand that about Jesus. 00:13:01.519 --> 00:13:03.679 Jesus already knows. 00:13:04.720 --> 00:13:06.879 You're not hiding anything from him. 00:13:07.679 --> 00:13:09.440 He knows your story top to bottom. 00:13:09.519 --> 00:13:10.559 He made you. 00:13:20.080 --> 00:13:22.559 He knows where you're struggling right now. 00:13:22.720 --> 00:13:26.639 And he still invites you into relationship with him. 00:13:28.480 --> 00:13:32.080 That's what I mean when I say we're accepted in Christ. 00:13:32.559 --> 00:13:36.720 Acceptance doesn't mean everything on our lives is okay. 00:13:37.519 --> 00:13:40.639 It doesn't mean sin doesn't matter. 00:13:40.960 --> 00:13:45.919 It doesn't mean we never need to repent, learn, heal, or change. 00:13:46.320 --> 00:13:51.440 Actually, I think Jesus loves us too much to leave us exactly where he found us. 00:13:52.720 --> 00:14:02.720 There's a difference between Jesus saying, I love you, come follow me and let me transform you, and shame saying, You are so messed up that Jesus could never want you. 00:14:03.039 --> 00:14:05.200 Those are not the same voice. 00:14:06.639 --> 00:14:09.440 Conviction draws you back to Jesus. 00:14:09.759 --> 00:14:11.840 Shame pushes you away. 00:14:12.480 --> 00:14:15.039 Conviction says, this needs to change. 00:14:15.200 --> 00:14:16.399 Come back to me. 00:14:17.679 --> 00:14:21.039 Shame says, you're the problem, hide. 00:14:23.279 --> 00:14:29.360 And some of us have spent years hiding because we confused shame with God's voice. 00:14:31.840 --> 00:14:36.080 We think because we failed, God must be disgusted with us. 00:14:36.320 --> 00:14:41.039 We think because we have problems, God must be disappointed in us. 00:14:41.279 --> 00:14:45.919 We think because healing isn't finished, we must not be good enough yet. 00:14:46.480 --> 00:14:49.039 But look again at Jesus at the well. 00:14:49.360 --> 00:14:52.080 He knows her and he stays. 00:14:53.440 --> 00:15:02.240 Not after she explains everything, not after she fixes her life, not after she proves she deserves the conversation. 00:15:02.480 --> 00:15:04.879 Jesus meets her right there. 00:15:06.240 --> 00:15:07.679 That's grace. 00:15:09.039 --> 00:15:11.759 And I've had to learn what that means for me too. 00:15:12.000 --> 00:15:14.799 For much of my life, I felt like an outsider. 00:15:14.960 --> 00:15:17.600 I often felt like nothing I did was quite right. 00:15:17.840 --> 00:15:25.120 Because of my diagnosis and some of the ways I learned differently, I came to believe that maybe other people were more capable than I was. 00:15:25.360 --> 00:15:28.240 Maybe other people's judgment was safer than mine. 00:15:28.559 --> 00:15:32.320 And then, God blessed me with my husband. 00:15:33.279 --> 00:15:37.679 One of the things my husband began telling me was, I want your voice. 00:15:37.919 --> 00:15:39.840 I want you to participate. 00:15:40.080 --> 00:15:42.879 I don't want you to be a shadow behind me. 00:15:44.799 --> 00:15:48.159 I believed him, but I was also afraid. 00:15:48.879 --> 00:15:51.360 Because what happens if I make the wrong decision? 00:15:51.600 --> 00:15:53.840 What happens if I mess up? 00:15:54.159 --> 00:15:56.399 And underneath that was an even deeper fear. 00:15:56.559 --> 00:16:00.159 What happens if I mess up enough that he made the wrong decision? 00:16:00.399 --> 00:16:03.440 He realizes he made the wrong decision in marrying me. 00:16:04.000 --> 00:16:05.440 That was a hard one. 00:16:05.759 --> 00:16:17.600 But over and over again, even when we go around the mountain a few times, because we have a joke with a grain of truth in it, his brain thinks XYZ, I think Z Y X. 00:16:19.279 --> 00:16:24.799 So sometimes we go around the mountain and we get right back where we started because I finally understood it. 00:16:25.600 --> 00:16:29.840 But he has continued to tell me I'm not going anywhere. 00:16:30.799 --> 00:16:33.919 That safety gave me room to take risks. 00:16:35.039 --> 00:16:40.879 And I've been learning that my relationship with Jesus has an even deeper security. 00:16:41.440 --> 00:16:44.159 I can get something wrong and come back. 00:16:45.039 --> 00:16:46.320 I can repent. 00:16:46.639 --> 00:16:47.600 I can learn. 00:16:47.759 --> 00:16:49.039 I can grow. 00:16:49.360 --> 00:16:54.240 I don't have to live as if one wrong decision is going to erase my value. 00:16:54.639 --> 00:16:58.559 Because my acceptance isn't based on getting everything right. 00:16:58.960 --> 00:17:01.120 It's based on Jesus. 00:17:02.480 --> 00:17:05.839 That's why I like one of our values here at Salt and White as well. 00:17:05.920 --> 00:17:08.960 It says, what happens on a Sunday can be fixed on a Monday. 00:17:09.119 --> 00:17:10.799 So take the risk. 00:17:11.279 --> 00:17:16.559 Just like with Jesus, it's not based on me, things can be fixed, it's based on Jesus. 00:17:20.240 --> 00:17:22.720 That brings us to the second truth. 00:17:23.039 --> 00:17:25.279 In Christ, I am chosen. 00:17:26.720 --> 00:17:29.759 John 4 shows us something powerful here, too. 00:17:30.079 --> 00:17:37.279 Jesus doesn't merely tolerate this woman long enough to point out what is wrong in her life. 00:17:38.960 --> 00:17:41.279 He continues the conversation. 00:17:41.920 --> 00:17:47.680 She asks him a serious theological question about worship, and he answers her. 00:17:48.240 --> 00:17:51.200 Then she says, I know that Messiah is coming. 00:17:51.359 --> 00:17:55.680 And Jesus tells her, I, the one speaking to you, I am He. 00:17:55.839 --> 00:17:56.960 I'm the Messiah. 00:17:58.720 --> 00:18:01.440 Think about who's standing there with Jesus. 00:18:02.240 --> 00:18:05.440 This makes it make, gives us a revelation. 00:18:06.000 --> 00:18:17.680 She's a Samaritan, she's a woman, someone whose story could have made religious people decide she was the wrong person for a serious conversation about God. 00:18:18.400 --> 00:18:27.680 But Jesus has already chosen to see her, to speak with her, tell her the truth, and reveal himself to her. 00:18:28.240 --> 00:18:33.440 He treats her as someone capable of receiving what he has to give. 00:18:34.559 --> 00:18:41.759 I don't mean that she is chosen because she is better than everybody else, or that Jesus only came for her. 00:18:42.400 --> 00:18:50.240 I mean that all the reasons people might have used to exclude her did not exclude her from Jesus. 00:18:51.519 --> 00:18:53.920 She is not invisible to him. 00:18:55.440 --> 00:18:58.720 She is not disqualified from encountering him. 00:19:00.400 --> 00:19:06.720 And for those of us who are in Christ, the rest of Scripture gives that belonging a name. 00:19:07.039 --> 00:19:08.079 Chosen. 00:19:08.559 --> 00:19:14.400 God chooses us in Christ and adopted us into his family through Jesus. 00:19:16.000 --> 00:19:17.599 Think about that word for a moment. 00:19:17.920 --> 00:19:18.720 Chosen. 00:19:19.839 --> 00:19:22.079 For some of us, that's a difficult word. 00:19:23.279 --> 00:19:25.200 We understand tolerated. 00:19:25.519 --> 00:19:27.519 We understand overlooked. 00:19:28.559 --> 00:19:30.799 We might even understand forgiven. 00:19:31.119 --> 00:19:32.319 But chosen? 00:19:32.960 --> 00:19:34.400 That's a little harder. 00:19:35.839 --> 00:19:39.759 Maybe you've spent your life feeling like the person standing on the outside. 00:19:39.920 --> 00:19:42.400 Maybe other people were chosen first. 00:19:43.039 --> 00:19:47.359 Maybe you've wondered whether there was something about you that made you harder to love. 00:19:48.799 --> 00:19:53.359 But scripture gives followers of Jesus a different identity. 00:19:54.160 --> 00:19:55.680 You belong to him. 00:19:56.559 --> 00:19:57.839 You are his. 00:19:59.359 --> 00:20:05.279 That means my belonging to Jesus isn't as fragile as my emotions sometimes make it feel. 00:20:07.119 --> 00:20:08.720 Life can change. 00:20:09.200 --> 00:20:11.680 People's opinions can change. 00:20:12.240 --> 00:20:20.960 I can have a good day or a terrible day, but God's love isn't changing every five minutes based on my performance. 00:20:24.000 --> 00:20:30.799 I need that truth because when someone questions my capability, I still have a reaction. 00:20:31.359 --> 00:20:33.200 Sometimes I get angry. 00:20:34.400 --> 00:20:37.599 Sometimes I shrink back and start guessing myself. 00:20:38.240 --> 00:20:41.200 And then eventually I get angry again. 00:20:43.759 --> 00:20:45.759 Maybe you've done that too. 00:20:46.160 --> 00:20:52.319 Someone says something about you, and immediately you either shrink under their opinion or you decide, I'll show you. 00:20:52.480 --> 00:20:53.359 I'm going to do this. 00:20:53.440 --> 00:20:55.039 I'm going to show you I can. 00:20:55.759 --> 00:20:58.160 But I've started realizing something. 00:20:58.400 --> 00:21:02.880 Both responses are still giving that person too much authority. 00:21:03.759 --> 00:21:09.200 If I shrink back because of what you said, your voice is defining me. 00:21:09.519 --> 00:21:14.960 If I spend my life trying to prove you wrong, your voice is still defining me. 00:21:16.079 --> 00:21:18.480 Freedom looks different. 00:21:18.880 --> 00:21:24.319 Freedom sounds like this isn't what Christ told me about who I am. 00:21:24.559 --> 00:21:25.680 I belong to him. 00:21:26.079 --> 00:21:29.279 I'm going to listen to him, and I'm going to obey him. 00:21:31.599 --> 00:21:35.519 Now that doesn't mean that other people don't have wisdom for us. 00:21:36.480 --> 00:21:38.000 Please hear me clearly. 00:21:38.240 --> 00:21:39.759 We need community. 00:21:40.559 --> 00:21:42.160 We need correction. 00:21:42.640 --> 00:21:48.960 We need mentors, counselors, pastors, friends, and people who love us enough to tell us the truth. 00:21:49.599 --> 00:21:51.039 I have a counselor. 00:21:51.839 --> 00:21:52.960 I have mentors. 00:21:53.200 --> 00:21:56.480 I have trusted people who are incredibly important. 00:21:56.799 --> 00:21:59.759 But there's a difference between receiving wisdom. 00:22:00.720 --> 00:22:02.720 And surrendering your identity. 00:22:04.160 --> 00:22:06.720 Other people can speak into your life. 00:22:07.359 --> 00:22:10.160 They do not get to define your life. 00:22:11.119 --> 00:22:11.920 God does. 00:22:14.400 --> 00:22:18.160 And sometimes we take something real and attach a lie to it. 00:22:19.119 --> 00:22:20.240 I messed up. 00:22:20.480 --> 00:22:22.079 Therefore, God can't use me. 00:22:22.720 --> 00:22:23.920 I have problems. 00:22:24.079 --> 00:22:25.759 Therefore, God doesn't love me. 00:22:26.640 --> 00:22:30.319 People have said I can't, therefore it must be true. 00:22:30.559 --> 00:22:35.039 But the conclusion doesn't automatically follow from the circumstance. 00:22:36.400 --> 00:22:40.480 There are things I struggle with because of fetal alcohol syndrome. 00:22:40.640 --> 00:22:41.440 That's real. 00:22:42.000 --> 00:22:44.160 There are ways I learn differently. 00:22:44.400 --> 00:22:45.440 That's real. 00:22:45.759 --> 00:22:51.200 There are times when I need something explained differently or need support in a particular way. 00:22:51.440 --> 00:22:52.400 That's real. 00:22:52.880 --> 00:22:55.119 But I've learned an important distinction. 00:22:55.759 --> 00:23:00.720 Having a limitation does not mean I'm incapable. 00:23:01.680 --> 00:23:05.759 Sometimes it means I have to do something differently. 00:23:07.119 --> 00:23:12.160 I remember being encouraged at one of my jobs to actually tell people how I learned best. 00:23:14.319 --> 00:23:18.559 For someone who had been taught to fake it till you make it, that was scary. 00:23:18.880 --> 00:23:23.359 But I explained how I learned and what would help me succeed. 00:23:23.680 --> 00:23:25.039 And you know what happened? 00:23:25.759 --> 00:23:26.960 It helped. 00:23:28.240 --> 00:23:33.200 Being honest didn't make me less capable, it helped me become more successful. 00:23:33.440 --> 00:23:36.880 And that was another place where God began challenging the lie. 00:23:39.279 --> 00:23:43.599 My diagnosis is part of my story, but it is not who I am. 00:23:44.319 --> 00:23:48.240 And maybe there's something in your life you need to say that about today. 00:23:48.559 --> 00:23:52.079 This happened to me, but it's not who I am. 00:23:53.599 --> 00:23:56.880 I did this, but it's not who I am. 00:23:58.240 --> 00:24:02.319 I struggle with this, but it is not who I am. 00:24:02.799 --> 00:24:07.200 Because if you are in Christ, your deepest identity is rooted in him. 00:24:07.599 --> 00:24:10.000 You are accepted, you are chosen. 00:24:10.799 --> 00:24:12.880 And then we get to the third point. 00:24:14.160 --> 00:24:17.039 In Christ, I have a purpose. 00:24:18.400 --> 00:24:23.680 The passage we read ends in verse 26, with Jesus doing something remarkable. 00:24:23.920 --> 00:24:29.680 He tells this Samaritan woman plainly that he is the Messiah. 00:24:30.480 --> 00:24:32.400 He has crossed the barriers. 00:24:32.640 --> 00:24:35.279 He has told her the truth about her life. 00:24:35.440 --> 00:24:37.279 He has spoken with her about worship. 00:24:37.440 --> 00:24:41.200 And now he entrusts her with the truth of who he is. 00:24:41.759 --> 00:24:44.079 But John does not leave her story at the well. 00:24:44.240 --> 00:24:50.720 If you keep reading, you immediately see what this encounter produces in her. 00:24:52.400 --> 00:24:57.920 She leaves her water jar, goes back to the town, and tells the people to come and see Jesus. 00:24:59.119 --> 00:25:01.599 She does not suddenly have all the answers. 00:25:01.759 --> 00:25:06.799 She does not go back with a theological theology degree or a polished testimony. 00:25:07.279 --> 00:25:09.920 She simply knows what she has encountered. 00:25:10.160 --> 00:25:14.480 Someone who knew her story and still spoke life to her. 00:25:14.720 --> 00:25:19.119 And she uses her voice to point other people toward him. 00:25:21.200 --> 00:25:22.480 And people came. 00:25:24.079 --> 00:25:26.799 A few verses after the passage we read in John. 00:25:28.480 --> 00:25:34.799 John tells us that many Samaritans from the town believed in Jesus because of the woman's testimony. 00:25:37.279 --> 00:25:39.359 Our testimonies are important. 00:25:41.359 --> 00:25:44.880 We are not spectators in the kingdom of God. 00:25:45.680 --> 00:25:48.480 He wants to use us for something. 00:25:50.799 --> 00:25:59.519 Then they came to Jesus themselves, asked him to stay with him, and many more believed because they heard him for themselves. 00:25:59.920 --> 00:26:03.680 Her testimony was not the destination. 00:26:04.079 --> 00:26:05.200 Jesus was. 00:26:05.680 --> 00:26:10.000 But God used her voice to bring people to him. 00:26:11.759 --> 00:26:15.359 The woman could have reduced her history. 00:26:18.319 --> 00:26:19.039 Excuse me. 00:26:19.200 --> 00:26:23.599 The woman could have been reduced to her history, but she becomes a witness. 00:26:24.160 --> 00:26:29.920 The story Jesus already knew becomes part of the story she is willing to tell. 00:26:30.640 --> 00:26:33.359 She was accepted in his presence. 00:26:33.759 --> 00:26:36.799 She was chosen to receive his truth. 00:26:37.119 --> 00:26:43.359 And then her life immediately has a purpose, and she carried that truth back to other people. 00:26:49.759 --> 00:26:53.759 Because purpose doesn't begin with me proving how impressive I am. 00:26:55.119 --> 00:26:56.960 Purpose begins with God. 00:26:58.160 --> 00:27:06.720 He made us, he saves us, he forms us, and then he invites us to participate in what he's doing. 00:27:08.960 --> 00:27:15.599 I think sometimes as Christians we hear the word purpose and we make it too big. 00:27:15.839 --> 00:27:18.880 We think purpose must mean a platform. 00:27:19.200 --> 00:27:21.519 Purpose must mean becoming a pastor. 00:27:21.839 --> 00:27:26.240 Purpose must mean God is going to send me across the world to do something dynamic. 00:27:26.880 --> 00:27:28.000 Maybe he will. 00:27:28.960 --> 00:27:31.839 But purpose can also look very ordinary. 00:27:32.559 --> 00:27:35.200 It can look like being faithful at work. 00:27:37.359 --> 00:27:40.960 It can look like investing in one person who needs you. 00:27:41.279 --> 00:27:44.400 It can look like noticing the person in front of you. 00:27:55.519 --> 00:27:58.319 And it can look like responding when God prompts you. 00:27:58.559 --> 00:28:02.240 What makes something significant isn't always its size. 00:28:02.559 --> 00:28:05.599 Sometimes it's simply obedience. 00:28:07.279 --> 00:28:10.000 I remember training someone at a job once. 00:28:10.799 --> 00:28:13.279 They weren't very there very long. 00:28:13.680 --> 00:28:16.720 I didn't think much of our interaction after they left. 00:28:17.039 --> 00:28:23.200 But later I happened to be visiting someone somewhere else, and I bumped into that person. 00:28:24.240 --> 00:28:30.000 They told me that I was one of the nicest people they had met and that I had made a significant impact on them. 00:28:30.720 --> 00:28:32.240 I had no idea. 00:28:32.480 --> 00:28:34.720 I didn't think I was doing something important. 00:28:35.039 --> 00:28:38.720 I was just doing my job and treating somebody kindly. 00:28:39.839 --> 00:28:46.720 But that movement moment gave me hope because one of the biggest lies I had believed was you don't matter. 00:28:48.000 --> 00:28:55.039 And here was someone telling me without even knowing the battle happening inside me, you mattered to me. 00:28:56.640 --> 00:29:02.480 It made me realize that God can use us even when we don't know He's doing it. 00:29:04.799 --> 00:29:08.160 Some of you may already have had an impact that you don't see. 00:29:09.519 --> 00:29:11.599 You may never know about the conversation. 00:29:11.839 --> 00:29:13.200 Somebody remembered. 00:29:13.440 --> 00:29:16.640 You may never know how much your kindness mattered. 00:29:17.200 --> 00:29:23.359 You may never know what happened because you chose to obey God in a moment that felt completely ordinary. 00:29:25.759 --> 00:29:30.640 That's why I don't want you to hear God has a purpose for you and become afraid. 00:29:31.680 --> 00:29:34.000 I want you to become excited. 00:29:34.640 --> 00:29:38.000 God can use you right where you are. 00:29:38.880 --> 00:29:42.559 And that's why the Samaritan woman's story hits me so deeply. 00:29:43.440 --> 00:29:45.839 Jesus knew her story. 00:29:46.640 --> 00:29:54.960 And somehow, instead of his knowledge causing her to hide, her encounter with him gave her courage to speak. 00:29:56.640 --> 00:30:01.599 The very story that could have silenced her became part of her testimony. 00:30:02.960 --> 00:30:06.400 Her voice didn't save the town, Jesus did. 00:30:06.799 --> 00:30:09.680 But her voice helped point people toward him. 00:30:10.079 --> 00:30:12.000 Her voice mattered. 00:30:13.680 --> 00:30:18.640 And I think about that because my biggest lie has been, your voice doesn't matter. 00:30:20.160 --> 00:30:22.559 And what would have happened if she believed that? 00:30:23.759 --> 00:30:27.279 What if she thought they know my story, who I am? 00:30:28.400 --> 00:30:30.559 How can I tell them anything about God? 00:30:30.960 --> 00:30:33.599 What if she had gone home and stayed silent? 00:30:34.400 --> 00:30:39.839 She would have missed the opportunity to participate in what Jesus was doing. 00:30:41.599 --> 00:30:47.440