Skip to content The God Who Crosses the Lines to Bring Us Life - You Belong Here, Part 7 Mar 5 · 52 min ...more
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Empowering multimedia ministry for bold Christian living: Weekend Messages, Deep End Podcast, Deep Dive Bible Study. Tim Hatch, Lead Pastor, Waters Church, 26 years of pastoral ministry, book author.
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0:00 Verse 7 of John chapter 4. We've been walking slowly through this book, this incredible book of the revelation of Jesus in John's gospel. In verse 7, it says, a woman from Samaria.0:11 Somebody just say a woman from Samaria. A woman from Samaria. It says she came to draw water, and Jesus said to her, give me a drink. For his disciples had gone away into the, city to buy food. And the Samaritan woman0:23 said to him, how is it that you, a Jew, would ask me, a Samaritan woman, for a drink? For Jews have no dealings with Samaritans. Jesus answered her, if you knew the gift0:35 of God and who it is that is saying to you, give me a drink. You would have asked him, and he would have given you living water. We're going discuss the rest of this moment as we go through this message.0:47 But I feel like the Lord wants to say to somebody today that you're dry, you're weary, you're running out, and it's because you've just worked so hard to put your life together on your terms and in your power. But today,0:59 the Lord wants to give you something that you can't give yourself. He wants to give you himself. He wants to give you the Holy Spirit today. But you need to be open to it. So this is God's word. Let's ask God to1:11 open our hearts at every location. Father, I pray that our hearts will be open to you today, that our minds will be open to the word, the1:23 living word that renews us and transforms us and makes us like Jesus. For every weary soul, I pray the waters1:35 from heaven flow freely into their deepest parts of their lives. I pray that we experience you, God. We don't just hear about you, Lord. We1:46 experience you. I pray for the depressed person to find joy in the Lord. I pray for the anxious person to find peace in the Lord. I pray for the addicted person to find freedom1:58 in the Lord. I pray for the apathetic person to find the fire of the Lord. Oh, I pray God for the strong Christian to find the mercy of the Lord and the heart2:10 of the Lord for those who are weak. God, that you would draw us together as 1 church, maybe all over this country, maybe scattered 16 plus hundred miles apart, but, God, 1 church,2:23 part of your church, drawn together through the name of Jesus. Help us to see him, him and him only in his mighty name we pray. And everybody said Amen. God bless you. Have a seat in2:35 the presence of the Lord this morning. Oh, I am ready to preach. Are you ready to hear? Amen. It is good to be with you. It is good to be with you. I a couple of weeks ago,2:47 3 weeks ago.3:03 I hope you were blessed by that time. We're gonna do that 4 times a year, not a breakfast. Hope I'm thinking about going to the woods in 3 months with all the men.3:17 And you can only bring 1 supply 1 survival item. And, we'll bring a bunch of GoPros, and then we'll put it on YouTube. How does that sound? Ladies, have a breakfast3:29 next Saturday here, and I think down in there is Apollo Beach as well. No. We're not gonna leave you out. 4 times a year, both men and women will be doing something together to minister to 13:40 another. So this is gonna be good. And the and the the desire, the thirst in the men's hearts was so so powerful yesterday. And I challenged the men. So, ladies, if your man came3:52 home with a new attitude yesterday, blame me. Amen. Because men need to be men. Amen? Amen. Even the word amen has got men in it. Amen. Amen. We don't say a4:04 woman. Well, the Lutherans do, but we don't. Amen, somebody. Alright. Anyway, I also, 3 weeks ago, said from this stage, and I don't know if you remember this,4:16 I don't play cornhole. I dominate cornhole. And some of you doubted me. And I wanna show you4:28 my championship trophy from the Cornhole Tournament of 20 23. Yes. Myself and elder Doug White took4:40 on every competition that we faced and defeated them. So I have a 50 dollar Lowe's gift card from that from that tournament. And I just needed to brag about that because sometimes you doubt4:52 what I say from this stage. You know what the Bible says? If the prophet's words come true, you know that he's a prophet. Hallelujah. Oh, that is good to know. Good for you,5:04 really. Yes. I gotta stop. I gotta stop. I just couldn't wait to do that. Okay. Anyway, we got 2 things in your hands today at all locations. Fast Monday, this is what we're doing before first Tuesday5:16 every month for the year 20 23. We're gonna fast all day Monday. You don't have to fast after, at any time today unless you want to, But but you might want to. Anyway,5:28 this is the devotional based on my study of, the study of the last deep dive study of First Kings chapter 18. So you might wanna watch the last deep dive and then get yourself prepared5:40 for this so that we pray and ask God to do something in our churches that we've never seen before. I am praying specifically for revival.5:53 I feel it. I feel like our country is primed for revival. You know, the worse it gets in the culture, the more desperate God's people get for the spirit. I6:05 feel a desperation. I felt it in the men's meeting yesterday. I feel it, like, almost every Sunday. And then on first Wednesday of last month, we just had just a powerful time as we had fasted 3 days.6:16 God showed up an amazing way and spoke to me while we were praying. How many know the Holy Spirit speaks while this while the church prays? So he spoke as I was praying with you folks here in the North Attleboro location6:28 for that hour of prayer on first Wednesday. And I just felt like he said, I want you to do this every month. So we're gonna fast 3 meals, Monday, breakfast, lunch, and dinner. We have a devotional for you. We want you to6:39 follow along. And then we want you to show up for prayer on first Tuesday. So it's just a 1 day fast. Then first Tuesday, eat breakfast Tuesday if you want to, lunch Tuesday. And then come and pray with us 6 to 76:51 at both here in North Attleboro and in Apollo Beach, 6 to 7 prayer, 7 pm worship, 7 30 word. And we take communion at both locations. It's a powerful time. God does amazing7:03 things. Lives are changed in tremendous ways. But I am hungry for this in 20 23. And I said to you first Wednesday that if we're gonna see God do things he's never done, we've gotta do things7:15 we've never done. I believe that God responds to the cries of his people when we seek him with all of our heart. Jeremiah said, if you seek him with all your heart, he will be found by you. Some of you7:26 need healing in your body. I'm believing God for healings and signs and wonders in our churches. I know some churches don't get that. They don't want I don't know why, but they don't want that. I want that. I want God to7:38 heal cancer in this house. I want God to hear heal diabetes in this house. I want God to heal spinal issues, back issues, anything he wants to do. And we need to call7:50 on God for a mighty move of the Holy Spirit in our churches so that when people are so desperate in our lives, they'll see it. They'll see the radiance of God's glory in his church. They'll take note,8:02 and they'll come, they'll find the living water, which is Jesus. So I hope I pumped you up for tomorrow, because I know it's going be tough to fast. Nobody likes to fast. I don't like to fast. But that's why we do it,8:12 because our flesh needs to be shut down, and our spirit needs to be opened up. We're gonna do this 9 more times in 20 23, and I believe we're gonna see something we've never seen before in 20 23. Amen. Amen. Amen. Take8:23 out your notes. It looks like this for the message. I wanna talk to you about the god who crosses the lines to bring us life. You belong here. Part 7 and final part of this message8:35 series. Today, we come to 1 of the most beautiful and meaningful meetings in all of scripture, And it's beautiful because it is the meeting of 2 polar opposites in the world.8:47 Jesus, the word made flesh, holy, sinless, spotless son of God, 1 of the persons involved. On the other end of the spectrum, and I'm talking about the other8:59 end of the spectrum, past the tax collectors of Israel, past the prostitutes of Israel, past the Pharisees, Nicodemus, past all those people. Go all9:11 if there's a human spectrum of righteous and unrighteous, acceptable and unacceptable, imagine a long spectrum. On the far side over here is Christ9:22 Jesus, the holy son of God. And on the other end of the spectrum is this woman in John chapter 4. The scripture identifies her as the Samaritan woman. You cannot9:34 get any more distant than these 2 characters. And it's a good illustration for where our world is because the most heart wrenching reality of our9:46 current culture is the rise and the expansion of our divisions. We are more divided than ever before. Our culture is divided. Our world is divided.9:58 Hey, the church is divided. That's not good. I don't like when the divisions of our world get into the division get into the church. I expect the world to divide. So our10:10 world's got how many divisions? We can't even count them anymore. Black, white, rich, poor. We've got blue states and red states. Blue states are becoming bluer. Red states10:22 are becoming red redder. I love this church because we're in a blue state and a red state. That's a good thing. Blue states and red states both need Jesus. Can I get a good amen right there? Amen. We've got the divisions10:33 of age, old people, young people, boomers, zoomers. Got the division of men, women. We've got the division of the wealthy10:45 and the poor. Already said that 1. The division of the business owner and the worker. And many are wondering what happened to the United States of America. And the reason why we are so divided10:57 is because we have left, in many respects, in our cultural institutions the truth of scripture. There was a day and I know, I know that there was problems in11:09 the past in America, yes. But there was a day when they taught the Bible in our schools. There was a day when they asked kids to pray. There was a day when they actually disciplined students in schools. There was a day11:21 when our politicians really honored and venerated pastors and leaders, when society venerated and honored pastoral leaders. I've heard reports11:33 that pastors and communities used to get free memberships to the country clubs in their towns. If that's what make America great again is about, I want in on that.11:47 But it's more divided, and people are divided, and houses are divided because of stupid things. Political things, ideological ideologies, things that divide us are11:58 abounding. Why? Because Satan is the author of division. Yep. When you leave God, understand this, you do not walk12:10 into some kind of unspiritual nebula. Do you understand what I'm saying? There's no such thing as a spiritual demilitarized zone.12:22 You are either with the Lord, walking with Him, experiencing His grace, His mercy, His kindness. And this speaks to you individually and culturally. Or12:34 you are walking straight into the domain of Satan, the divisive 1. And you know what's something about Satan we don't give him enough credit for, but we need to, is that he is very talented at12:46 dividing people. Yes. That's his gift. That's his spiritual gift. You know you're good at dividing people when you could take 1 third of heaven's angels and bring them to hell with you. When you12:58 can give up the glories and the blessings and the beauty of heaven and convince a third of the angels to come down and dwell on this on this earth and then know that your future13:10 is damnation. My goodness, he's good at dividing. And that's why it didn't take much time for our country to become so divided the further and further we got away from honoring13:22 and venerating the word of God in our culture. Okay. That is a fact. That is a sociological fact. Now now in the divisions that we face, there's going13:34 there's gotta be something that answers that, whether it be in our families, in our hearts, in our lives, in God, in our marriages, in our relationship to our children. And and what we13:46 get is we have to understand is that God is the 1 who makes the first move after the devil divides us. Adam and Eve ran from13:58 God. God chased them down in the garden. His first question to mankind after sin was what? Where are you? I'm looking for you. I don't know who needs to hear this today. Maybe you're here at Waters Church14:10 for the first time. God is saying to you, where are you? I'm coming for you. I'm crossing the lines. These 2 people in this passage are as divided as14:21 it can get. I don't know if anybody remembers the old song from 19 9 from the 19 nineties. It was actually 19 eighties song written by a woman named Julie Gold, but made famous by another woman named Bette14:33 Midler. It was called From a Distance. And she made this a a international hit, but she talks about how from a distance, the world looks green and white. We're all 1. We're all together. Everything's good.14:45 Nobody hates 1 another. Everybody's got plenty. The world is at peace. And then there's the refrain in the song. The chorus says this, and God is watching us. God is watching us. God is watching14:57 us from a distance. I'd sing it, but my throat is not good. Okay? I know that disappoints many of you. But anyway, it's a it's a noble thought. It's poetic and wrong.15:10 God is not watching us from a distance. God has crossed the distance. God has come to us in the person of Jesus. And he has been doing this since the Garden15:22 of Eden since sin entered the world. He has been coming after people who will hear his voice. That's their question of your life today. You will hear endless15:34 voices. You will hear endless conversations. You will hear noise until the day you die. But the ultimate voice you need to hear is the voice of your Father in15:46 heaven who is asking you, where are you in relationship to me? And if you're far from me, come home to me. I've made the way possible for you to be reconciled with15:57 your heavenly father so that you do not walk this earth alone, but that you walk in the comfort of His love, in the mercy of His grace, and in the power of His Holy Spirit. That is16:09 what He wants for you. That is what He wants for me. And this is beautifully illustrated in John's gospel, the fourth chapter, to declare to the world you belong here. The scripture says in verse 4, he had to pass16:21 through Samaria. If you back up a few verses, it says that John's, sorry. It says the Pharisees noticed that Jesus was attracting more disciples than John. So16:33 John so Jesus decides to leave, and he's gotta go through he if you got your notes out, just circle had because that is an intentional phrase. He had to pass16:45 through Samaria. I I want you to understand that this is not something that Jews did. The reason why is because in Samaria, they were considered half breed16:56 Jews, half breed Jews. Now the tension between Jews and Samaritans at this point in John chapter 4 is 700 years old.17:08 700 years. I mean, you want to think about the black white division in this country, it's got nothing on the Jews and Samaritans division. 700 years in the making. And the reason why is because in 70017:19 BC well, actually, we had to back up to 900 BC. There's a guy on the throne named Solomon. How many know Solomon? Wrote 3 books of the Bible. I got a book coming about 1 of his books coming out about 1 of his books,17:31 Ecclesiastes, pretty soon. Solomon is the son of David. But Solomon's son, Rehoboam, was a proud, arrogant young man. And he refused to listen to the wisdom of the elders in his day. And he kind of divided the country17:43 by stupid leadership. How many know stupid leaders? Right? Let's not throw out names, but we know. And in his stupidity, he divided the nation because he did not respect the people.17:56 He enslaved the people. And so a guy named Jeroboam from the northern tribes of Israel takes 10 of the tribes and segregates. They secede from the union, if you will. And18:07 there a national split, the southern kingdom of Judah, the northern kingdom of Israel. And the kings in the north are bad dudes. Every single 1 is a bad dude. There's a few good kings18:19 in the south, all bad in the north. It culminates in a guy named Omri. We just talked about this guy in the deep dive. Omri has a son whose name is synonymous with pagan18:31 revelry and idolatry. His son's name is Ahab. Ahab is married to a woman whose name is even more synonymous with pagan revelry and idolatry. Her name is? Jezebel. Oh,18:43 you know this 1. Yes. Jezebel. No 1 names their daughters Jezebel, except for the few Satanists that are around, the weirdos. Okay? But no 1 does that because18:55 she's so pagan. She's so evil. She's a Sidonian. She's a pagan witch. She just brings the nation into even more idolatry. And and Ahab is a weak willed man who follows his wife.19:07 And this divide just becomes more and more apparent as the ages go on. Well, Assyria comes in, and God uses the pagan nation of Assyria to judge the northern tribes of Israel, to bring them19:18 under his wrath. That's how God works, by the way. Did you know that God is in charge of all the nations? He's not in charge just of America. He's in charge of Russia. He's in charge of Ukraine. He's in charge of Israel.19:30 He's in charge of Lebanon. He's in charge of all of them. He's sovereign over all of them. Okay. And so he uses Assyria. He actually calls Assyria in Isaiah 13 his sanctified ones. It's19:41 an amazing statement. But Assyria is his tool to judge the northern tribes of Israel. And they bring them captive into their nation. And then they repopulate the northern area of Israel. The capital19:53 was Samaria. The capital of the northern tribes was Samaria. They repopulate them. This is how they would breed nations away with pagan nations and some Jews. And the Jews would intermarry with the pagans. And then they20:04 produced a half breed version of Jews called Samaritans. And the Samaritans hated the Jews, the people in the South. And they hated them. And so for 700 years, it20:16 went on like this. The Samaritans would attack the Jews. The Jews would attack the Samaritans. When Alexander the Great decides to conquer the known world, the Samaritans helped Alexander the20:27 Great destroy the temple in Jerusalem. And when Antioch I'm sorry. That was backwards. Alexander the Great destroyed the temple in Samaria, and the Jews helped him. When Antiochus Epiphanes20:40 decides to invade Jerusalem, the Samaritans help him out. So these formerly united tribes are so at odds with each other, they're actually glad that foreign nations are coming20:52 in and attacking their former brothers. That's how bad this divide is. They hate each other. They would pray. The Jews would pray and give thanks to God that they weren't21:03 Samaritans. They would actually rather talk to Gentiles than to their half breed former brothers and sisters. Isn't it amazing how much, once division21:15 starts getting cracked into our lives, it can widen? So these people should not be talking to each other. There was even a method of traveling from the northern part of21:27 Israel and the southern part of Israel. I want to put a map up on the screen. Can we put that up on the screen, guys? I want to show you this. The Samaritan Samaria was up to the right in the middle of Galilee in the21:36 north where Jesus is from. There's Nazareth, the Sea of Galilee, Judea down to the south. Okay. So Samaria is right there in the middle. Notice this line on the right. That is what the Jews would do to avoid traveling21:48 through Samaria. That's how much they hated them. They wouldn't even walk in their territory. So they would cross the Jordan River down there by Jericho, go up the northern region of of Perea, and then recross the Jordan21:58 River, and then go back to the Galilean region. They would go out of their way 4 or 5 days. They did not have cars. They did not have trains. They did not have any kind of modern transportation. They22:10 would go 4 to 5 days out of their way to avoid talking or touching touching these people's territory. That is nuts. And the and the Lord said,22:22 I am going through. And not only am I going through, I have to go through. Why? Because He is the God who crosses the lines. Write this down if you're taking noise. Point number22:33 1, Jesus crosses the lines we draw between ourselves and God. He also draw crosses the lines that we draw between ourselves and others.22:47 This is the heart of God for you and for me and for the people that are different than us. God loves the people you don't love. God loves22:58 the people you don't like. God loves the people you hate. We're always gonna live in this dichotomy as Christians. And I live with it all the time because I'm a23:10 pastor. And sometimes you might think, man, he says 1 thing on the deep end, but he says another thing on Sunday. And if you hear anything about the deep end, you know that on the deep end, I'm warning you about the23:22 cultural deterioration. Warning. Warning. Warning. And I want you to be aware of what's happening so that you are well versed and discerning for you and your children. But on Sunday, I show up, and I'm like, God loves23:33 everybody. Both are true. Both are true. We can get mad and angered. We can get bothered and alarmed.23:45 I wouldn't say mad and angered. I would say more alarmed by what we see in our country and what our what we see in our world. And at the same time, know that those very people who are propagating23:57 that nonsense are the mission field. The very people who hate what we believe, who hate our standards, who call us all the names. You know what I'm talking24:09 about? All the names? Those very people are also the people God loves and wants to see saved. He wills that none should24:20 perish. Not my worst enemy. And I I I think somebody needs to hear this today because hell is that terrible. You don't want your worst enemy going there.24:33 Or more positively, heaven is that wonderful. Do you understand that heaven is going to solve all the human all the24:45 human divisive nasty grossness about us when we finally put this body of flesh into the ground, and we're finally, once and for all, free of all this nasty anybody got24:57 nasty in them? Anybody got some nasty in here? Anybody ever ask themselves, why did I think that? Why did I dream that? Why did I say that? Why did I do that? Because you25:09 got nasty. Just turn to your neighbor and say, you got nasty. Just turn to them and say, don't make me call your mother. No. Just kidding.25:20 1 day, that nasty part of you will go into the ground, and you will be in heaven perfect in righteousness before God. It'll be that glorious. It doesn't matter how bad they are.25:32 When the nasty is gone, they'll be in heaven with God through Jesus Christ, and it'll be beautiful. But this is what Jesus does in our text, and it's what we've got to learn to do as Christians. You're either this25:42 Samaritan woman in this story, and that you are disconnected from God and you need to know that God has come come to find you, or you are part of the movement of Jesus now, and you need to start crossing the lines in25:51 your culture and in your society to go and find others. Okay? So look at it says here in verse 5. He came to a town called Samaria, a town of Samaria called Sychar, near the field that Jacob had given to his26:03 son Joseph. Jacob's well was there. Jesus wearied. How many want to understand? How many need to understand this? Jesus was human. He got tired. He got worn out. He he26:15 does that to associate with us. By the end of this conversation, he's not wearied. He's filled. Do you know why he'll tell the disciples? He'll say, my food is to do the will of him who sent me. When you do and when you26:26 serve God's purposes, he fills you up. This is why you never run out of money when you tithe and give God your first. This is why you never run out of energy when you serve at Water Church or serve in your26:38 life in the name of Christ. He pours back in whatever you pour out. He has unlimited resources. But he is weary at this point. He will get filled by the end of this moment. It says he was weary from his journey. He sat26:49 beside the well. It was about the what? Sixth hour. Just circle sixth hour, just right next to it, 12 noon. That's what that means. The Jews would count the hours by the sunrise. So the sunrise is hour 0, then 1 hour, 227:00 hour, 3 hour. 6 AM sunrise leads us to 12 noon. Why is that important? Because of what happens next. Verse 7, a woman from Samaria came to draw water. When did she come to draw water? Noon.27:12 Noon. This is important. The reason why is because women in the ancient world did not come to draw water at noon. Why? Now New England, we're not gonna understand this, but27:24 Florida understands this. At noon, the sun is as hot as it can be. And if you're carrying water, and in this case, 5 gallons of water on your shoulder,27:35 Okay? And you're a woman. All right? No matter what Harvard tells us, women, we understand you're a little bit weaker than men. Okay? It's hard work. And so you did not do this in the heat of the day. You did27:47 this in the morning. And not only that, but women traditionally would do this in groups. They would go to the well. This was their job. Men would go get food and fish and hunt, and women would go get water. They would27:58 come back together again, have families and homes. Right? Well, women would go in the morning together to go grab water. It's the same today. It's just women together today go to the bathroom together. It's the same28:10 thing. It's amazing. Thousands of years of history, we're still doing the same thing. No dude says, hey. I'm going to the bathroom. You wanna come?28:21 It's like, we go to the bathroom, there's too many dudes, we leave. Amen? But anyway so they they they would go in the morning. They would chitchat. They would gossip. They would watch The View, and they would28:33 leave. And then so this woman is coming at noon alone. Why? Because she wants to hide. We're going to find from her story she's got plenty to hide.28:45 And Jesus takes the initiative. Verse, Verse 7 says, give me a drink. His disciples had gone to buy food. Verse 9. The Samaritan woman said to him, how is it that you28:57 and she's asked the obvious question. You're a Jew. I'm a Samaritan. How did she know that he was a Jew? Probably because of the way he wore his clothes. There were certain clothing for Jews. So you're a Jew. I'm a29:05 Samaritan. How do you ask me, a woman of Samaritan, for a drink? And then the the word no dealings, Jews have no dealings, the word literally in the Greek is they don't share utensils. That's how much they hated each29:17 other. They wouldn't even touch the same utensils. Jesus is crossing every single line. Look at the lines. 800 years of divisive history crossed in Jesus' name.29:28 Male, female crossed in Jesus' name. Righteous son of God, wicked, 5 time divorcee, shacked up with another dude, half breed Jew crossed in Jesus' name. This is29:40 what God does. This is what God somebody told you that you weren't welcome at church. I don't know who that is, but that's not true. That's never29:52 been true. The church is not a museum of God's good people. The church is a hospital for wrecked people. That's what the church30:04 is for. And I don't know where you're from, and I don't know what your story is, but your story is not so gross that God can't love you out of it and change30:16 you and transform you and bring you close to himself. Let us never become a church for only the good people because there's no such thing.30:26 There's lines that we still draw. There's lines that this woman draw drew, and I wanna underline them for you, outline them for you. Letter a in your notes, the social line.30:39 Some some might be there right now with our church. I'm not familiar with this. I'm not familiar with this faith tradition. Well, I was raised in a different faith tradition. It's okay. And that's actually gonna come30:50 back, but I'm not familiar with this moment. I'm not familiar with you. I don't know you, and that's okay. You're still welcome here. The then letter b, the emotional line. I'm not ready for this. I've got anxiety. I've31:00 got depression. I've got some issues. Yes. Welcome. Welcome to the issue laden group. We're all issued. We all got issues. No. No. No. Our issues are really the fruit of sin. That's what we have to31:12 get translated here, transmitted here. Our issues are really the root the fruit of a root that is sin. This woman is 5 times divorced, shacked31:24 up with a guy she's not married to. Some people say this when they come to church. I've through too much. I've hurt by the church. I've been outcast by the church. I already covered that, but we'll31:36 we just wanna underline outline these these lines that we draw. The mental line, I have many questions. This is what this woman will do very, very fantastically in the story, but it happens31:46 when we start having a conversation with somebody about Jesus, doesn't it, all the time? Then the rational arguments start popping up. Well, what about the dinosaurs? Well, you're expecting me to tell me that that that31:58 Noah built a boat and carried all the animals. You're expecting me to believe that. You're expecting me to believe that there's no such thing as evolution. You're expecting me to believe the 6 days that God created. And32:07 and and can I just ask you, whenever you're having that kind of moment with somebody who doesn't believe in Jesus, I got a 2 word admonition to you? Are you ready for it? 2 words. Very simple. Don't argue.32:18 Don't argue. There's no point. Paul tells Titus, avoid silly arguments. They are unproductive. I used to work in the32:29 secular world. I used to be a waiter. And I remember that there was this guy that used to gun for me. His name was Jeff. I could still see Jeff's face in my mind. He would argue with me. And I was a young boy young man.32:41 I was a college I think I was junior. And I was young and young in the faith and just thought if I just argued with Jeff enough, he would eventually bow the knee to Jesus. And so I'd argue. I would get into all the32:52 arguments. Every argument I said, you've had the argument. I guarantee you, me and Jeff had the argument. And it never worked. And finally, the Lord corrected me. He said to stop arguing with that man.33:04 And so he came up to me 1 day in the in the restaurant, and he started started it on me with the with the argument. You know, 1 of the arguments. I don't know. Dinosaurs, evolution, something. I don't know. And so33:16 I said, Jeff, this is what I said. Jeff, I don't know that answer. But here's what I know. Jesus Christ is the way, the truth, and the life. And if you believe in him, you have life everlasting. And if you don't, you33:27 have nothing. That was the last time Jeff ever talked to me. Can I tell you sometimes that's a blessing? Because if you get into the endless argument with the debater, you'll never33:39 see the Samaritan woman in your life that God has primed and prepared for you to tell about Jesus. The mental line. The letter letter b d, the religious line. And this is what I referred to33:50 earlier. The Samaritans and the Jews had different versions of the Bible. This is gonna sound very familiar. They had different church buildings. They had different holy34:01 mountains. They had different faith traditions. Okay? Some of you, this has been what you've done to come to Waters Church. You were raised Catholic, and you've come to our church, and your34:13 mom is now currently having an anxiety attack that you are in this church instead of her church. And I want to give you some balm. I want to give you some peace about this34:25 for a second. If you were raised Catholic and you were sprinkled as a child, christened, and you want to get baptized and by the way, you should get baptized. We believe in confessional baptism. Here's why.34:37 Because there is 0 evidence of any baby getting baptized in this book. Not 1 baby is baptized in the book.34:51 Not 1. We do things by this book. If this book says it, we'll do it. We believe in confession of baptism. You make the confession of faith, you get baptized. Now I know some Catholics will say, well,35:03 that's confirmation. Well, get it. But see, even a 12 year old could fake confirmation. If you get back sprinkle as a kid, here's what you tell here's what you tell mom and dad who are freaking out about the fact that35:14 you wanna get baptized at Waters Church. Here's what you do. You say, mom and dad, the faith tradition that you raised me in, I'm so thankful for it. It taught me about Jesus. It told me about a God. But now I know him35:25 personally. And what you did in that moment for me as a baby, I want you to know, has come true for me personally. And now I want to validate what you did for me as an infant, as an35:36 adult, who has confessed Jesus as my Savior and Lord. That's how you do it. That's how you do it. Don't get it again, don't argue. Don't argue. Don't get into the35:48 fights. Don't worry about that. It does nothing. So you go we gotta cross the lines is what I'm trying to say. And some of you need to know that God is crossing the line for you. Point number 2, g this is why he can35:59 cross the lines in our lives, because he already knows us, and he meets us where we are. That Jesus is not surprised by you is so important for you to36:11 hear. Oh, I could never go to that church. Oh, I could never do that. Oh, I'm too no. God, he doesn't want anything to do with me. He does want something to do with you. And36:23 he already knows everything there is to know about you. He's not shocked. There's never been a time in heaven where God has looked at somebody coming to him and said, woah.36:35 No. He already knows you. He meets you where you are. That's what happens in this story. Letter a in your notes. Jesus knows all about this woman. He knows that she is a letter A, biblically ignorant.36:47 Well, I don't know the Bible. That's fine. That's why I'm here. That's why I do all that I do on on my YouTube channel as well. Bible, Bible, Bible. I am here to help you.36:59 Elders are here to help you. Small group leaders are here to help you. Know the Bible. And you know 1 of the best ways to get to know the Bible is to seek the Bible at work in somebody else's life. That's what37:11 LifeGroup is about. So you hear somebody else talking about God's working on them or their marriage or their parenting or their life, and you say, wow, I didn't know the Bible could apply in that way. Yet that's how you37:21 learn the Bible. It's not a Sunday school lesson. It's not informational transmission. It's experiential testimony. What did the blind man say in37:32 John 9 when the Pharisees were pecking at him and just begging him to say something blasphemous? And he doesn't take the bait. He doesn't argue. He says, I don't know about what you think about37:44 him, Jesus, but I know this. I once was blind, but now I see. And so the experiential transmission is far more important than the scholarly transmission. There37:56 are seminary graduates around this country who are today confessional atheists. Because just learning about these facts don't change the heart. You38:08 need to have an experience with the living Christ. Biblically, she's a big believer in hearing. Look what it says in verse 10. If you knew the gift of God what does he talk about when he says gift? Underlined gift. The38:19 gift of God is the Holy Spirit. Every time John in John's gospel, Jesus talks about the gift of God, he's talking about the Holy Spirit. And he says, I could give you that gift, and you and and you would have gotten38:30 living water. The reason why now this is important. Remember I said the Samaritans had a different Bible than the Jews? The Samaritans only believed the first 5 books of the Bible were the Bible. The the books of Moses,38:41 the Pentateuch. 5 means pent 5 is penta Pentateuch. First 5 books. Moses' books. And they and then they eliminated all the other books after that. And so here's the reason why she was biblically38:52 illiterate. Because the Lord does not talk about the Holy Spirit as living water or himself as living water until you get to Jeremiah and Isaiah later on in the Old Testament.Show more
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