1 00:00:03,760 --> 00:00:12,000 Morning 3CI. Some of you have said to me that 2 00:00:12,000 --> 00:00:15,800 when I preach, it's difficult for you to keep up and that you 3 00:00:15,800 --> 00:00:18,080 don't have enough time to make notes and you have to go back 4 00:00:18,080 --> 00:00:20,040 and look at the recordings to do so. 5 00:00:20,040 --> 00:00:22,000 And I just want to let you know that this morning is going to be 6 00:00:22,000 --> 00:00:23,600 no different, so please pay attention. 7 00:00:26,040 --> 00:00:30,520 Good one. We're continuing our series in 8 00:00:30,520 --> 00:00:34,440 John and looking at encounters with Jesus where we see these 9 00:00:34,440 --> 00:00:37,360 special moments that change everything. 10 00:00:38,320 --> 00:00:41,160 And we have these moments in our lives, and sometimes these 11 00:00:41,160 --> 00:00:45,640 moments can change our lives, but they don't look important at 12 00:00:45,640 --> 00:00:48,600 the time. Maybe it's just a simple 13 00:00:48,600 --> 00:00:52,200 conversation in a car, or maybe it's a moment that just landed 14 00:00:52,200 --> 00:00:55,120 sideways and it's just stuck with you for years. 15 00:00:55,120 --> 00:00:58,320 Or maybe it was a teacher that believed in you and nobody else 16 00:00:58,320 --> 00:01:00,960 does. And in the moment, it didn't 17 00:01:00,960 --> 00:01:03,960 feel very dramatic. So there were no fireworks going 18 00:01:03,960 --> 00:01:05,519 off. There wasn't a Céline Dion 19 00:01:05,519 --> 00:01:10,240 soundtrack in the background. It was just something simple. 20 00:01:10,240 --> 00:01:14,600 But at that moment, even years later, you realize that in that 21 00:01:14,600 --> 00:01:16,160 moment, something shifted in you. 22 00:01:17,480 --> 00:01:20,920 And I want to ask you if you've ever had a moment that has 23 00:01:20,920 --> 00:01:23,840 changed you without announcing that it was important. 24 00:01:24,720 --> 00:01:27,320 I'm not talking about a conference or a retreat or one 25 00:01:27,320 --> 00:01:30,880 of those life changing weekends with a lanyard and a coffee that 26 00:01:30,880 --> 00:01:34,320 tastes like regret, but just something ordinary. 27 00:01:34,520 --> 00:01:39,280 You know, Because some moments don't shout at us, they just 28 00:01:39,440 --> 00:01:42,400 quietly rearrange the furniture of our soul. 29 00:01:43,800 --> 00:01:48,120 One moment or one sentence or one encounter. 30 00:01:51,440 --> 00:01:54,680 The Bible tells us something similar about Jesus because when 31 00:01:54,680 --> 00:01:57,200 people encounter him, everything changes. 32 00:01:57,560 --> 00:02:00,560 And when we read through the Gospel of John, if you pay 33 00:02:00,560 --> 00:02:03,400 attention, you'll begin to notice something that John 34 00:02:03,400 --> 00:02:08,160 doesn't just put down and record teachings, and he's not just 35 00:02:08,160 --> 00:02:12,160 giving us a timeline of what Jesus did, and he's not writing 36 00:02:12,160 --> 00:02:14,960 a biography the way that we would write a biography. 37 00:02:15,400 --> 00:02:20,360 John writes like a witness. He writes like a man who saw 38 00:02:20,440 --> 00:02:22,560 something that he can never Unsee. 39 00:02:23,280 --> 00:02:27,760 And he's saying to us, let me show you what happens when 40 00:02:27,760 --> 00:02:32,160 people meet him. And if we read John carefully, 41 00:02:32,160 --> 00:02:35,600 you'll notice that Jesus is extremely patient with sinners 42 00:02:36,000 --> 00:02:39,000 and is extremely confrontational with religious people. 43 00:02:40,120 --> 00:02:44,160 Why is that? That's because sinners know that 44 00:02:44,160 --> 00:02:48,200 they are thirsty, and religious people think that they are 45 00:02:48,200 --> 00:02:51,280 hydrated. And the whole gospel of John 46 00:02:51,280 --> 00:02:54,760 revolves around one question. What actually happens when 47 00:02:54,760 --> 00:02:59,200 people meet Jesus? John tells us why he writes this 48 00:02:59,200 --> 00:03:02,880 gospel in John 2031. It says these are written that 49 00:03:02,880 --> 00:03:07,080 you may believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, and 50 00:03:07,080 --> 00:03:10,320 that by believing you may have life in his name. 51 00:03:10,800 --> 00:03:15,720 Not information to know stuff, but life to receive. 52 00:03:17,280 --> 00:03:19,800 And today I want to show you that every true encounter with 53 00:03:19,800 --> 00:03:22,280 Jesus reveals the same three things. 54 00:03:23,080 --> 00:03:28,240 First we encounter him, then he exposes our thirst, and then he 55 00:03:28,240 --> 00:03:33,680 offers us living water or life because we live in this world 56 00:03:33,680 --> 00:03:35,720 that believes that transformation comes from 57 00:03:35,720 --> 00:03:38,680 information. If I just read more, if I watch 58 00:03:38,680 --> 00:03:42,280 more, if I learn more, if I listen to another sermon or I 59 00:03:42,280 --> 00:03:45,560 download another podcast, or I just learn a little bit more 60 00:03:45,560 --> 00:03:51,360 theology, then then I'll change. But Scripture reveals something 61 00:03:51,360 --> 00:03:53,200 deeper. It says transformation doesn't 62 00:03:53,200 --> 00:03:58,400 come from information alone. It comes from encounter because 63 00:03:58,400 --> 00:04:02,040 you can know all the facts about God and never actually meet him. 64 00:04:04,280 --> 00:04:08,120 In James 2 verse 19 it says you believe that there is one God 65 00:04:08,280 --> 00:04:11,800 good. Even the demons believe that and 66 00:04:11,800 --> 00:04:15,960 shudder, which tells us that mere mental agreement is not the 67 00:04:15,960 --> 00:04:20,040 same as living faith. Because you can grow up in the 68 00:04:20,040 --> 00:04:22,720 church, you can know all the songs and the verses, you can 69 00:04:22,720 --> 00:04:26,600 know when to stand up and sit down, and you can know how a 70 00:04:26,600 --> 00:04:31,320 good Christian should sound. But you can still keep Jesus at 71 00:04:31,320 --> 00:04:33,080 an arm's length when you do that. 72 00:04:34,080 --> 00:04:37,600 And that's why the book of John feels different, because he 73 00:04:37,600 --> 00:04:40,800 doesn't write like a historian. He writes like a witness. 74 00:04:43,080 --> 00:04:47,440 He says, let me show you what happens when people actually 75 00:04:47,480 --> 00:04:52,400 meet Jesus And John records encounter after encounter after 76 00:04:52,400 --> 00:04:54,400 encounter. Different backgrounds, different 77 00:04:54,400 --> 00:04:57,600 wounds, different needs, but the same Jesus. 78 00:04:58,400 --> 00:05:01,320 And every encounter reveals something about the human 79 00:05:01,320 --> 00:05:03,920 condition. And really quick, I just want to 80 00:05:03,920 --> 00:05:08,280 recap everything we've covered from John one up until now and 81 00:05:08,280 --> 00:05:11,120 just highlight some of these encounters that we've seen. 82 00:05:11,120 --> 00:05:14,800 And John 1, we see that seekers encounter Jesus. 83 00:05:15,040 --> 00:05:18,080 So we have two men that follow Jesus around. 84 00:05:18,080 --> 00:05:20,600 They are curious, they're hovering and they're interested. 85 00:05:21,000 --> 00:05:25,280 And then Jesus turns to them and asks in John 138, what do you 86 00:05:25,280 --> 00:05:28,520 want? That's a dangerous question. 87 00:05:28,960 --> 00:05:31,480 What do you want? Because everybody in this room 88 00:05:31,480 --> 00:05:37,040 wants something, whether it's peace or healing or purpose, or 89 00:05:37,040 --> 00:05:39,960 you just want a second chance, or you just don't want to fall 90 00:05:39,960 --> 00:05:42,880 apart in public. What do you want? 91 00:05:43,160 --> 00:05:46,840 And these men are on these men answer him by saying, Rabbi, 92 00:05:46,840 --> 00:05:50,360 where are you staying? And that's not a question about 93 00:05:50,360 --> 00:05:52,120 geography. That's a question about 94 00:05:52,120 --> 00:05:55,080 nearness, saying, can we be with you? 95 00:05:55,080 --> 00:05:58,560 Can we spend time with you? Can we stay where you are 96 00:05:58,560 --> 00:06:02,080 staying? And Jesus answers them in John 97 00:06:02,080 --> 00:06:08,080 139. He says come and see, not come 98 00:06:08,080 --> 00:06:10,320 and debate, not come when you've sorted out your lives. 99 00:06:10,320 --> 00:06:15,800 Just simply come and see. Because encounters with Jesus 100 00:06:15,800 --> 00:06:18,000 cannot be explained from a distance. 101 00:06:18,440 --> 00:06:23,480 They have to be encountered. And so we see Andrew meets Jesus 102 00:06:23,480 --> 00:06:26,520 and he brings Peter and Philip meets Jesus and he goes to find 103 00:06:26,520 --> 00:06:30,200 Nathaniel. And this is because real 104 00:06:30,200 --> 00:06:34,160 encounters start to spread. And when people truly meet 105 00:06:34,160 --> 00:06:38,080 Jesus, they don't go silent. Something in them says you have 106 00:06:38,080 --> 00:06:43,520 to come and see this. So in John 2, that was seekers 107 00:06:43,720 --> 00:06:45,960 encountering Jesus. John 2 we see religion 108 00:06:45,960 --> 00:06:48,920 encounters Jesus. Jesus walks into the temple and 109 00:06:48,920 --> 00:06:51,400 he starts flipping tables. Imagine that. 110 00:06:52,480 --> 00:06:56,480 Don't know about you, but I've tried this once because it looks 111 00:06:56,480 --> 00:06:59,400 so cool in the movies, right? And I don't know if my mom 112 00:06:59,400 --> 00:07:02,760 remembers this, but I was about 11 or 12 years old sitting in 113 00:07:02,760 --> 00:07:05,280 our living room having a a heated argument with them, 114 00:07:05,280 --> 00:07:07,480 probably not getting getting my way about something. 115 00:07:07,960 --> 00:07:10,760 And right at the apex of this argument, I thought, this is my 116 00:07:10,760 --> 00:07:14,320 moment to make a statement. And I threw everything off the 117 00:07:14,320 --> 00:07:17,120 table and I tried to flip it. I tried, it was too heavy, but I 118 00:07:17,120 --> 00:07:19,400 tried to flip it. And then I just ran off into my 119 00:07:19,400 --> 00:07:21,320 room. And I thought, statement made. 120 00:07:21,920 --> 00:07:26,720 And then what followed was one of the the best hidings I've 121 00:07:26,720 --> 00:07:29,840 ever got, right? That's the only time in my life 122 00:07:29,840 --> 00:07:31,440 that I try to be more like Jesus. 123 00:07:31,440 --> 00:07:38,920 And it didn't pay off. So I imagine Jesus walks into 124 00:07:38,920 --> 00:07:41,480 this religious system and he just starts wrecking the 125 00:07:41,480 --> 00:07:45,440 furniture. And that's because religion had 126 00:07:45,440 --> 00:07:50,360 become a market and a system, and people were using the House 127 00:07:50,360 --> 00:07:53,320 of God without seeing the heart of God. 128 00:07:54,680 --> 00:07:57,920 And Jesus then says in John 2 verse 16, stop turning my 129 00:07:57,920 --> 00:08:02,080 father's house into a market. And then in John 2 verse 19, he 130 00:08:02,080 --> 00:08:05,120 says, destroy this temple and I will raise it again in three 131 00:08:05,120 --> 00:08:08,000 days. And John tells us that Jesus was 132 00:08:08,000 --> 00:08:14,960 talking about his body because the meaning is that the place 133 00:08:14,960 --> 00:08:20,320 where people meet God is not primarily a building, but it's 134 00:08:20,640 --> 00:08:22,240 Jesus. It's a person. 135 00:08:22,920 --> 00:08:26,240 And Jesus is saying, you think the temple is where heaven and 136 00:08:26,240 --> 00:08:29,720 earth meet. I am the temple where heaven and 137 00:08:29,720 --> 00:08:33,039 earth meet. And so religion encounters Jesus 138 00:08:33,039 --> 00:08:36,360 and it gets disrupted because Jesus will never allow himself 139 00:08:36,760 --> 00:08:40,600 to be reduced to a ritual. Then in John 3, knowledge 140 00:08:40,600 --> 00:08:43,280 encounters Jesus. Nicodemus comes at night. 141 00:08:43,280 --> 00:08:45,840 He's a very respected and educated man with a lot of 142 00:08:45,840 --> 00:08:49,440 status and understanding. But Jesus says to him in John 3 143 00:08:49,440 --> 00:08:53,480 verse 3, very truly, I tell you, no one can see the Kingdom of 144 00:08:53,480 --> 00:08:58,160 God unless they are born again. So Nicodemus thinks that what he 145 00:08:58,160 --> 00:09:01,760 needed was more knowledge. But God says to him, you need a 146 00:09:01,760 --> 00:09:07,400 new life, you need a new birth. And that's deeply offensive in 147 00:09:07,400 --> 00:09:10,640 religious pride because it means you cannot think your way into 148 00:09:10,640 --> 00:09:14,040 the Kingdom. You cannot behave or pedigree 149 00:09:14,040 --> 00:09:16,960 yourself into the Kingdom. You have to receive life from 150 00:09:16,960 --> 00:09:21,480 above. John 4 brokenness encounters 151 00:09:21,480 --> 00:09:23,600 Jesus. We'll come back to this in a 152 00:09:23,600 --> 00:09:26,240 second because you're more clearly than almost anywhere 153 00:09:26,240 --> 00:09:28,200 else. God exposes thirst. 154 00:09:29,280 --> 00:09:32,760 John 5 weakness encounters Jesus and Rory preached on this. 155 00:09:32,840 --> 00:09:37,520 A man has been disabled for 38 years, almost 4 decades of 156 00:09:37,520 --> 00:09:41,560 limitation. And in John 5 or 6, God says to 157 00:09:41,560 --> 00:09:45,840 him, do you want to get well? It's a strange question because 158 00:09:45,840 --> 00:09:50,440 of course he wants to get well. But Jesus asks that because he 159 00:09:50,440 --> 00:09:54,880 knows something. He knows that sometimes people 160 00:09:54,880 --> 00:09:58,960 can get so attached to their pattern, or so shaped by their 161 00:09:58,960 --> 00:10:03,400 limitation, or so stuck and used to their survival that they 162 00:10:03,400 --> 00:10:08,000 don't know any longer how to answer that question honestly. 163 00:10:09,720 --> 00:10:11,640 So the man starts explaining the system. 164 00:10:11,640 --> 00:10:14,720 He talks about the water and the pool and he how he can't get 165 00:10:14,720 --> 00:10:19,600 there on time because when you've lived stuck long enough, 166 00:10:19,600 --> 00:10:23,160 you start believing your hope is trapped in the same old system. 167 00:10:23,680 --> 00:10:27,800 And then Jesus says in John 5 verse 8, get up, pick up your 168 00:10:27,800 --> 00:10:31,480 mat and walk because the healing wasn't in the water, it was in 169 00:10:31,480 --> 00:10:36,600 the presence of Jesus. John 6 provision encounters 170 00:10:36,600 --> 00:10:38,680 Jesus. Wendy had an amazing preach on 171 00:10:38,680 --> 00:10:40,520 this. The crowd start following Jesus 172 00:10:40,680 --> 00:10:44,120 because he fed them. They wanted bread and miracles 173 00:10:44,120 --> 00:10:47,560 and provisions. And in John 635 he says I am the 174 00:10:47,560 --> 00:10:50,320 bread of life. And that's such a powerful 175 00:10:50,320 --> 00:10:55,680 moment because they wanted food and he offered himself and the 176 00:10:55,680 --> 00:10:59,160 people were looking for a gift, but he offered the giver. 177 00:10:59,880 --> 00:11:02,760 And then what we see is some people start walking away from 178 00:11:02,760 --> 00:11:07,520 that because that's what happens when we want what Jesus can do, 179 00:11:07,640 --> 00:11:13,000 but we don't want Jesus himself. Then Fast forward to John 8. 180 00:11:13,000 --> 00:11:14,720 We see judgment encounters Jesus. 181 00:11:14,720 --> 00:11:17,520 A woman is caught in adultery and she's thrown in front of him 182 00:11:18,080 --> 00:11:21,600 and she's used as an object in a religious trap because the 183 00:11:21,600 --> 00:11:24,080 religious leaders wanted condemnation. 184 00:11:24,640 --> 00:11:26,720 They want to use her sin as a weapon. 185 00:11:26,840 --> 00:11:30,560 And Jesus says in John 8 verse 7, let any one of you who is 186 00:11:30,560 --> 00:11:33,560 without sin be the first to throw a stone at her, and one by 187 00:11:33,560 --> 00:11:36,960 one they leave. And then Jesus says to her in 188 00:11:36,960 --> 00:11:41,800 John 811, neither do I condemn you, Go now and leave your life 189 00:11:41,800 --> 00:11:43,800 of sin. So here we see an amazing 190 00:11:43,800 --> 00:11:47,920 encounter of truth and grace. Not truth without grace, not 191 00:11:47,920 --> 00:11:50,800 grace without truth, but truth and grace. 192 00:11:51,960 --> 00:11:56,560 And over and over in John, every encounter reveals the same 193 00:11:56,560 --> 00:12:00,880 reality, that life is not found in something, but it's found in 194 00:12:00,880 --> 00:12:05,400 someone. And no one ever encounters Jesus 195 00:12:05,600 --> 00:12:09,920 and remains neutral, right? Some of them started following, 196 00:12:09,920 --> 00:12:13,240 Some of them wanted to kill him, but all of them had to make a 197 00:12:13,240 --> 00:12:15,280 decision. And all of us have to make a 198 00:12:15,280 --> 00:12:18,000 decision. And beneath all of these 199 00:12:18,000 --> 00:12:20,680 different stories sets the same condition. 200 00:12:21,880 --> 00:12:26,800 We are thirsty. The seekers are thirsty, the 201 00:12:26,800 --> 00:12:31,080 religious are thirsty, the educated are thirsty, the broken 202 00:12:31,080 --> 00:12:35,000 are thirsty, the weak the hungry, the condemned are 203 00:12:35,000 --> 00:12:38,360 thirsty. Different faces, but same 204 00:12:38,360 --> 00:12:43,000 thirst. So we see all of these 205 00:12:43,000 --> 00:12:47,080 encounters in the Gospel of John and every encounter reveals 206 00:12:47,080 --> 00:12:53,720 something deeper, our thirst, which brings us back to the well 207 00:12:54,640 --> 00:12:57,520 in Samaria. And yeah, the whole human 208 00:12:57,520 --> 00:12:59,560 condition is laid bare. We know the story. 209 00:12:59,880 --> 00:13:04,080 John says in John 4 verse 4. Now he had to go through 210 00:13:04,080 --> 00:13:09,120 Samaria, not wanted to. He had to, not because geography 211 00:13:09,120 --> 00:13:11,320 forced him, but divine purpose did. 212 00:13:12,240 --> 00:13:14,640 Someone was waiting. There was a meeting that had 213 00:13:14,640 --> 00:13:18,520 already been arranged in heaven. And so this woman shows up to 214 00:13:18,520 --> 00:13:23,400 the well in Samaria, and she shows up at noon in the middle 215 00:13:23,400 --> 00:13:25,000 of the day. And that detail is extremely 216 00:13:25,000 --> 00:13:28,360 important because women in that time, they didn't normally come 217 00:13:28,560 --> 00:13:30,560 at noon. They came early in the morning 218 00:13:30,640 --> 00:13:34,560 when it was cool, when they came together, talking to each other, 219 00:13:34,560 --> 00:13:39,360 laughing in their active way and their Plato coffees, sharing 220 00:13:39,360 --> 00:13:43,240 some time. But she came at noon in the heat 221 00:13:43,240 --> 00:13:47,000 of the day. Why do we think that is? 222 00:13:49,200 --> 00:13:52,920 It's because shame changes your schedule. 223 00:13:55,080 --> 00:13:59,440 When you get tired of the looks and get tired of the whispers 224 00:13:59,440 --> 00:14:04,440 and you get tired of the the side eyes and the stories, you 225 00:14:04,440 --> 00:14:08,960 stop going to where people gather and you start choosing 226 00:14:08,960 --> 00:14:11,880 isolation and you start managing your exposure. 227 00:14:13,120 --> 00:14:16,400 So she comes at noon, which means she wasn't only physically 228 00:14:16,400 --> 00:14:19,360 thirsty, but she was socially and spiritually thirsty. 229 00:14:19,920 --> 00:14:24,640 And that's exactly where Jesus meets her, at the place of 230 00:14:24,640 --> 00:14:28,800 shame, at the place of hiding and loneliness. 231 00:14:29,120 --> 00:14:34,600 Because that's what Jesus does. He meets people in the marriage 232 00:14:34,760 --> 00:14:39,280 that is breaking in the addiction that you are hiding in 233 00:14:39,280 --> 00:14:42,640 the grief and the anxiety and the bitterness that you are 234 00:14:42,840 --> 00:14:44,800 dressing yourselves in every single day. 235 00:14:45,120 --> 00:14:49,040 He meets people in the secret shame and the private thirst. 236 00:14:50,360 --> 00:14:53,400 And Jesus says to her in John 4, verse 7, will you give me a 237 00:14:53,400 --> 00:14:56,520 drink? And she's surprised because at 238 00:14:56,520 --> 00:14:59,360 that moment when Jesus does that, he oversteps a lot of 239 00:14:59,360 --> 00:15:04,080 boundaries and crosses lines, social lines, ethnic lines, 240 00:15:04,080 --> 00:15:08,960 gender lines, religious lines. Because in that time, Jews 241 00:15:08,960 --> 00:15:12,960 didn't deal with Samaritans. They very much disliked each 242 00:15:12,960 --> 00:15:16,520 other, even hated, kind of like you Bulls and Stormers fans. 243 00:15:16,960 --> 00:15:21,840 Same, same men didn't initiate public conversations with women 244 00:15:21,840 --> 00:15:26,080 and rabbis didn't normally move toward the morally complicated. 245 00:15:26,080 --> 00:15:30,320 But Jesus does because Jesus is not controlled by human 246 00:15:30,320 --> 00:15:34,880 categories. Then he says in John 4 verse 10, 247 00:15:35,160 --> 00:15:39,440 if you knew the gift of God and who it is that asks you for a 248 00:15:39,440 --> 00:15:42,400 drink, you would have asked him and he would have given you 249 00:15:42,400 --> 00:15:45,640 living water. And she thinks Jesus is talking 250 00:15:45,640 --> 00:15:49,800 about literal water. And honestly, that's us most of 251 00:15:49,800 --> 00:15:52,880 the time because Jesus is talking spiritually and 252 00:15:52,880 --> 00:15:56,480 eternally, and we are thinking materially and temporarily. 253 00:15:57,760 --> 00:16:00,040 And then he says the line that exposes the whole human 254 00:16:00,040 --> 00:16:03,720 condition in John 4/13, he says everyone who drinks this water 255 00:16:03,720 --> 00:16:07,480 will be thirsty. Again referencing worldly water, 256 00:16:07,480 --> 00:16:12,400 the well and CS Lewis once wrote, he said creatures are not 257 00:16:12,400 --> 00:16:15,640 born with desire unless satisfaction for those desires 258 00:16:15,640 --> 00:16:18,200 exists. A baby feels hunger? 259 00:16:18,680 --> 00:16:20,520 Well, there's such a thing as food. 260 00:16:21,120 --> 00:16:24,800 A duckling wants to swim? Well, there's such a thing as 261 00:16:24,800 --> 00:16:27,880 water. If I find in myself a desire 262 00:16:27,880 --> 00:16:31,120 which no experience in this world can satisfy, the most 263 00:16:31,120 --> 00:16:34,440 probable explanation is that I was made for another world. 264 00:16:35,280 --> 00:16:38,120 And this is what Jesus is exposing at the well. 265 00:16:38,720 --> 00:16:44,200 Our desire, our thirst, and our thirst is not the problem. 266 00:16:44,280 --> 00:16:49,600 Our thirst is the clue because it's pointing us in a direction 267 00:16:51,040 --> 00:16:54,960 because the human soul was never satisfied, meant to be satisfied 268 00:16:54,960 --> 00:17:00,160 by success or relationship or pleasure or approval. 269 00:17:00,320 --> 00:17:05,520 It was designed to be satisfied by God himself and that's why 270 00:17:05,520 --> 00:17:08,800 Jesus says whoever drinks the water I give them will never 271 00:17:08,800 --> 00:17:11,520 thirst. And Jeremiah said the centuries 272 00:17:11,520 --> 00:17:16,040 ago in two verse 13, he says my people have committed 2 sins. 273 00:17:16,359 --> 00:17:19,480 They have forsaken me, the spring of living water, and have 274 00:17:19,480 --> 00:17:23,599 dug their own systems, broken systems that cannot hold water. 275 00:17:25,520 --> 00:17:29,160 And that's what we do. We forsake the spring and we 276 00:17:29,160 --> 00:17:33,280 start digging wells. And we think this relationship 277 00:17:34,080 --> 00:17:39,320 will satisfy me or this career or this amount of money or that 278 00:17:39,320 --> 00:17:44,040 amount of approval. And for a little while it feels 279 00:17:44,040 --> 00:17:47,320 like it works, until that thirst comes back again. 280 00:17:49,120 --> 00:17:52,360 Because wells can never become springs. 281 00:17:53,320 --> 00:17:58,920 We spend our lives digging wells, and Jesus came to give us 282 00:17:58,920 --> 00:18:02,680 a spring. And This is why people that 283 00:18:02,680 --> 00:18:05,840 often have everything, or seem like they have everything, are 284 00:18:05,840 --> 00:18:09,240 still empty on the inside. Because the thirst of the soul 285 00:18:09,240 --> 00:18:12,640 cannot be satisfied by anything less than God Himself. 286 00:18:14,640 --> 00:18:18,120 So Jesus says in John 414. But whoever drinks the water I 287 00:18:18,120 --> 00:18:21,200 give them will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give them 288 00:18:21,200 --> 00:18:25,200 will become in them a spring of water welling up to eternal 289 00:18:25,200 --> 00:18:28,080 life. Not just a drink, but a spring. 290 00:18:29,200 --> 00:18:32,720 Jesus doesn't come to fill your bucket, He comes to change your 291 00:18:32,720 --> 00:18:35,120 source. And that's the difference 292 00:18:35,120 --> 00:18:40,040 between religion and Jesus, because religion says, try 293 00:18:40,040 --> 00:18:43,120 harder, draw more water, come back tomorrow. 294 00:18:43,440 --> 00:18:47,280 And Jesus says receive from me a life that flows from within. 295 00:18:49,240 --> 00:18:51,280 And this is where the conversation gets a little bit 296 00:18:51,280 --> 00:18:55,240 uncomfortable because the woman at the well starts to. 297 00:18:55,560 --> 00:18:58,240 She tries to change the topic of the discussion. 298 00:18:58,840 --> 00:19:02,240 She says, in John 420, our ancestors worshiped on this 299 00:19:02,240 --> 00:19:05,080 mountain, but you Jews claim that the place where we must 300 00:19:05,080 --> 00:19:08,560 worship is in Jerusalem. So in other words, she's saying, 301 00:19:08,560 --> 00:19:12,120 hey, let's not dive into your question, but let's talk 302 00:19:12,120 --> 00:19:15,560 theology. Let's, you know, debate religion 303 00:19:15,560 --> 00:19:18,040 or argue systems. Where then should we actually 304 00:19:18,040 --> 00:19:20,320 worship? And this is exactly what we do, 305 00:19:20,320 --> 00:19:22,320 right? Jesus starts touching on the 306 00:19:22,320 --> 00:19:25,880 real things in our life and we switch. 307 00:19:25,880 --> 00:19:28,600 We want a more comfortable topic to discuss. 308 00:19:29,360 --> 00:19:32,480 We want to discuss doctrines without surrendering our hearts. 309 00:19:34,080 --> 00:19:37,440 We want to discuss and talk about worship styles and 310 00:19:37,440 --> 00:19:41,080 denominations and political views and end time charts and 311 00:19:41,400 --> 00:19:45,400 church preferences and the Greek word for this and the Hebrew 312 00:19:45,400 --> 00:19:47,880 nuance for that, and who was wrong and who was right and 313 00:19:47,880 --> 00:19:50,000 where should we worship and how should we worship? 314 00:19:50,760 --> 00:19:54,880 And all along Jesus is just saying, I'm trying to get to 315 00:19:54,880 --> 00:19:59,960 your heart. And encounters with Jesus do 316 00:19:59,960 --> 00:20:02,040 that. They bypass the topics that we 317 00:20:02,040 --> 00:20:04,640 want to discuss, and they go straight to the places that we 318 00:20:04,640 --> 00:20:09,960 avoid. Tom Keller once said, if your 319 00:20:09,960 --> 00:20:13,440 God never disagrees with you, you might just be worshipping an 320 00:20:13,440 --> 00:20:20,120 idealized version of yourself. Because encounters with Jesus 321 00:20:20,120 --> 00:20:22,960 don't comfort us, They confront us. 322 00:20:24,360 --> 00:20:26,600 They offend us. They offend the parts of us that 323 00:20:26,600 --> 00:20:28,720 want control and want to stay in charge. 324 00:20:28,720 --> 00:20:32,280 And they offend the parts of us that want Jesus to fit into our 325 00:20:32,280 --> 00:20:36,760 categories, the part of us that wants a Savior but doesn't want 326 00:20:36,760 --> 00:20:40,480 a Lord. And I want to say this to you 327 00:20:40,480 --> 00:20:42,080 today. I want to challenge you. 328 00:20:42,080 --> 00:20:45,320 If your faith has never unsettled you, or it's never 329 00:20:45,320 --> 00:20:49,680 exposed you, or it's never challenged you, or it's it's 330 00:20:49,680 --> 00:20:54,200 never disrupted your plans and it's never confronted your sin 331 00:20:54,280 --> 00:20:58,720 or demanded surrender from you, then it's possible that you 332 00:20:58,720 --> 00:21:02,320 haven't encountered Jesus. You may have simply just 333 00:21:02,320 --> 00:21:07,440 inherited tradition. And tradition can look very 334 00:21:07,440 --> 00:21:09,600 convincing. It can dress nicely and it can 335 00:21:09,600 --> 00:21:12,640 speak nicely and it can post nicely on social media and it 336 00:21:12,640 --> 00:21:15,080 can come to Sunday services nicely. 337 00:21:15,320 --> 00:21:20,040 But it will never bow. And this is where I think we 338 00:21:20,040 --> 00:21:29,640 have to be very honest for all of Afrikaans amana osbura mana 339 00:21:29,640 --> 00:21:34,040 was almost finance tratisi osbrod Moy faniera marani 340 00:21:34,040 --> 00:21:37,560 reisfeni Titus alcatuera wurt the flue wurt and it was lua 341 00:21:37,560 --> 00:21:39,560 pronto nosbahir from and sermon set. 342 00:21:39,560 --> 00:21:43,560 The Bible opens bed casi and then the aunts en semi toff a 343 00:21:43,560 --> 00:21:47,280 bed for Aunty ETA Maran Dono Lupi Branova in Seseni odor and 344 00:21:48,080 --> 00:21:52,720 ansono settles via eni carc. And although I could mark most 345 00:21:53,200 --> 00:21:58,920 that's that's what the manas, the sneaker, Luafnida Stradisi, 346 00:22:03,520 --> 00:22:06,880 every person in John's gospel who encounters Jesus gets 347 00:22:06,880 --> 00:22:10,800 disrupted because encounters with Jesus change everything. 348 00:22:12,680 --> 00:22:17,000 And strangely, that's good news. We sang that that's good news 349 00:22:17,480 --> 00:22:21,080 because the boxes we bowled for God are too small. 350 00:22:21,680 --> 00:22:25,000 Jesus did not come to fit our systems, He came to give us 351 00:22:25,000 --> 00:22:28,800 life. He says later in John 10 verse 352 00:22:28,800 --> 00:22:31,280 10. I have come that they may have 353 00:22:31,280 --> 00:22:36,520 life and have it to the full. Jesus doesn't just expose our 354 00:22:36,520 --> 00:22:38,680 thirst, He gives us living water. 355 00:22:38,880 --> 00:22:42,560 Because if all He ever did was expose our thirst, that would 356 00:22:42,560 --> 00:22:45,240 crush us, right? If all he ever just did was 357 00:22:45,240 --> 00:22:48,400 reveal our broken wells, it would leave us hopeless. 358 00:22:49,520 --> 00:22:53,000 But Jesus never exposes thirst without offering life. 359 00:22:53,800 --> 00:22:55,880 And that's why this is good news. 360 00:22:57,920 --> 00:23:02,200 In John 7 verse 38, Jesus says whoever believes in me, as 361 00:23:02,200 --> 00:23:05,520 Scripture has said, rivers of living water will flow from 362 00:23:05,520 --> 00:23:08,960 within them. Not a cup, not a sip of water, 363 00:23:08,960 --> 00:23:11,200 but rivers. And if we go back to the 364 00:23:11,200 --> 00:23:15,880 Samaritan woman and watch what happens, she goes from there and 365 00:23:15,880 --> 00:23:20,480 she leaves her water jar. And that's such a a beautiful 366 00:23:21,040 --> 00:23:25,600 small piece of information. Why mention the jar? 367 00:23:25,920 --> 00:23:28,640 Because that was the reason why she went to the well. 368 00:23:29,800 --> 00:23:32,800 And John says she leaves it. Why? 369 00:23:33,800 --> 00:23:38,960 Because once you experience or find the source, the bucket 370 00:23:38,960 --> 00:23:43,680 stops becoming the point. She came to draw water, but she 371 00:23:43,680 --> 00:23:48,520 left as a witness and she left there not hiding but proclaiming 372 00:23:48,520 --> 00:23:51,640 and carrying news. She didn't first attend the 373 00:23:51,640 --> 00:23:53,880 course before she went to go and speak to the village. 374 00:23:53,880 --> 00:23:57,080 She didn't sign up for how to be more like Jesus one O 1. 375 00:23:57,560 --> 00:23:59,600 She didn't clean up her act first. 376 00:23:59,600 --> 00:24:03,720 She just runs back and she says in John 4 verse 29, come see a 377 00:24:03,720 --> 00:24:06,280 man who told me everything I ever did. 378 00:24:06,520 --> 00:24:12,440 Could this be the Messiah? Just come see a man that's 379 00:24:12,440 --> 00:24:16,120 witness and it's real. I was thirsty. 380 00:24:16,640 --> 00:24:22,040 I met someone. He saw me and he knew me, and 381 00:24:22,040 --> 00:24:23,920 now I need you to come and see him. 382 00:24:26,200 --> 00:24:30,040 And John 439 says many of the Samaritans from that town 383 00:24:30,040 --> 00:24:34,080 believed in him because of the woman's testimony, Many because 384 00:24:34,080 --> 00:24:37,440 God used the most unlikely person in the village to reach 385 00:24:37,440 --> 00:24:40,080 the village. And if we look at this, we see 386 00:24:40,080 --> 00:24:43,640 that encounters with Jesus produce witnesses. 387 00:24:44,400 --> 00:24:47,680 And you don't have to be perfect to tell people about what Jesus 388 00:24:47,680 --> 00:24:51,200 has done for you. You don't need to have a perfect 389 00:24:51,200 --> 00:24:53,040 theology. You don't need to be perfect. 390 00:24:53,040 --> 00:24:54,760 You don't have to have a flawless history. 391 00:24:55,000 --> 00:24:59,480 You don't have to be an expert to become or to give testimony. 392 00:24:59,640 --> 00:25:04,680 All you need is honesty. I was thirsty and I met someone 393 00:25:04,680 --> 00:25:11,600 who knew. Stop disqualifying yourself by 394 00:25:11,600 --> 00:25:16,240 being used by God because you didn't have a perfect past or 395 00:25:16,240 --> 00:25:18,160 you're not qualified or you don't know enough. 396 00:25:18,160 --> 00:25:21,800 The Samaritan woman blows all of that apart because God likes 397 00:25:21,840 --> 00:25:26,320 using unlikely people. So like the Samaritan woman 398 00:25:26,320 --> 00:25:29,760 going to the well. Where are you drinking these 399 00:25:29,760 --> 00:25:33,720 days? What well are you returning to 400 00:25:33,720 --> 00:25:38,520 trying to draw life from? Maybe it's success. 401 00:25:38,520 --> 00:25:41,480 If I just get that promotion or this contract I'll be OK. 402 00:25:42,000 --> 00:25:44,720 Or maybe it's relationship. If this person just loves me a 403 00:25:44,720 --> 00:25:47,640 little bit more or if they see me then I'll be OK. 404 00:25:48,400 --> 00:25:50,800 Or it's approval. If people recognize me or I 405 00:25:50,800 --> 00:25:54,040 found my find my validation then I'll be OK. 406 00:25:54,760 --> 00:25:59,840 It could even be distraction, scrolling, watching, numbness, 407 00:25:59,840 --> 00:26:04,080 drinking, busyness, never being still enough to notice how 408 00:26:04,080 --> 00:26:09,040 thirsty you really are. And This is why the Gospel of 409 00:26:09,040 --> 00:26:12,640 John matters so much to us. Because Jesus is not just 410 00:26:12,640 --> 00:26:16,240 addressing obvious sinners. He's addressing everybody. 411 00:26:16,960 --> 00:26:21,760 The thirsty immoral, the thirsty respectable, thirsty broken, the 412 00:26:21,760 --> 00:26:26,040 thirsty religious, thirsty, successful and thirsty ashamed. 413 00:26:27,160 --> 00:26:30,760 All of us. And all he says is come and see. 414 00:26:32,040 --> 00:26:37,840 Just come and see. Come to me is what Jesus says to 415 00:26:37,840 --> 00:26:40,440 us. And when someone receives living 416 00:26:40,440 --> 00:26:44,760 water, something else happens. Just like we said, we become 417 00:26:44,760 --> 00:26:48,520 witness because living water is not meant to be bottled up. 418 00:26:48,720 --> 00:26:52,160 It flows and Jesus says come to me. 419 00:26:52,800 --> 00:26:57,360 So what happens is we encounter Jesus, He exposes our thirst, He 420 00:26:57,360 --> 00:27:01,960 gives us living water, and then we go out to other people as 421 00:27:01,960 --> 00:27:04,320 Clint mentioned, and we say come and see. 422 00:27:04,520 --> 00:27:08,560 So Jesus says to us, come to me and we go out and we say come 423 00:27:08,560 --> 00:27:11,440 and see. And maybe that's what God is 424 00:27:11,520 --> 00:27:13,800 asking of us today. One of two things. 425 00:27:14,720 --> 00:27:16,640 For some it's time to encounter him. 426 00:27:17,280 --> 00:27:20,480 For others, it's time to tell someone else to come and see 427 00:27:21,400 --> 00:27:25,520 because right now, some way, someone in your life is thirsty 428 00:27:25,760 --> 00:27:28,240 and they might not say it out loud, but you can see it on 429 00:27:28,240 --> 00:27:30,800 their faces and that you can hear it in their voices. 430 00:27:31,320 --> 00:27:34,920 And the truth is that most people are not rejecting Jesus 431 00:27:34,920 --> 00:27:38,400 as much as we think they do. They just simply haven't 432 00:27:38,400 --> 00:27:42,520 encountered him yet. Reaches researchers did a study 433 00:27:42,560 --> 00:27:45,280 on thousands of people, non church going people, and they 434 00:27:45,280 --> 00:27:48,400 said if somebody that you knew invited you to church, would you 435 00:27:48,400 --> 00:27:55,800 go? And 82% of them said yes, 82% 436 00:27:56,000 --> 00:27:58,440 said yes. Just if someone invited them, 437 00:27:58,440 --> 00:28:02,360 not argued or cornered them or pressured them, pressured, 438 00:28:02,760 --> 00:28:06,080 pressured them, just a simple invitation, right? 439 00:28:09,400 --> 00:28:12,360 And I think of next weekend, Easter weekend, I think we have 440 00:28:12,360 --> 00:28:16,840 this amazing opportunity where the whole world stands still, to 441 00:28:16,840 --> 00:28:22,000 remember that death did not have the final word, where living 442 00:28:22,000 --> 00:28:27,040 water is not found in an idea or a place, but in a risen person. 443 00:28:27,360 --> 00:28:31,480 And imagine what could happen if every person who has encountered 444 00:28:31,480 --> 00:28:35,520 Jesus simply invites one person to come to next week's service. 445 00:28:37,320 --> 00:28:40,520 The Samaritan woman didn't come back to town with a theological 446 00:28:40,520 --> 00:28:42,480 lecture. She just came back with the 447 00:28:42,480 --> 00:28:43,640 sentence. Come and see. 448 00:28:45,760 --> 00:28:47,800 Come see the one who knew me and didn't run. 449 00:28:48,040 --> 00:28:51,160 Come see the one who saw through me and still spoke to me. 450 00:28:51,640 --> 00:28:56,240 Come see the one who exposed my thirst and gave me living water. 451 00:28:58,720 --> 00:29:02,400 And maybe that's just, that's just all some of us need this 452 00:29:02,400 --> 00:29:04,560 week. Don't try and fix someone. 453 00:29:04,560 --> 00:29:07,920 Don't try and save someone. Just invite them. 454 00:29:08,040 --> 00:29:10,880 Ask God to put one name on your heart this week and then just 455 00:29:10,880 --> 00:29:12,680 have the courage to say come and see. 456 00:29:13,840 --> 00:29:17,880 Because 1 encounter with Jesus can quietly rearrange the 457 00:29:17,880 --> 00:29:21,360 furniture of your soul. And you never know. 458 00:29:21,360 --> 00:29:24,920 Just imagine that your invitation quietly rearranges 459 00:29:24,920 --> 00:29:27,400 the furniture of that person's soul forever. 460 00:29:31,120 --> 00:29:34,480 Maybe today you realize that you've been around Jesus without 461 00:29:34,480 --> 00:29:38,360 truly encountering Him, and maybe you've had tradition 462 00:29:38,360 --> 00:29:42,320 without surrender, or maybe knowledge without life, or even 463 00:29:42,320 --> 00:29:48,080 religion without intimacy. Jesus is still saying the same 464 00:29:48,080 --> 00:29:51,120 thing today that he said in John 139. 465 00:29:51,680 --> 00:29:55,160 Come and see. And he's still saying the same 466 00:29:55,160 --> 00:29:59,400 thing he said in John 7. Let anyone who is thirsty come 467 00:29:59,400 --> 00:30:03,560 to me and drink. Most of us spend our lives 468 00:30:03,560 --> 00:30:07,840 digging wells, but Jesus came offering a spring. 469 00:30:09,160 --> 00:30:14,520 So my invitation to you today, come and see, because 1 470 00:30:14,520 --> 00:30:18,080 encounter with Jesus can change the entire direction of your 471 00:30:18,080 --> 00:30:19,760 life. Amen.