Good morning church Going through praise and worship morning There praise and worship music in the mornings. You know, it's kind of like it brings back the old sporting days I'm like put me in coach. I'm ready, you know, I'm ready to play so, you know, I'm excited this morning Miss you all last week I am excited to share and to get into these lessons that we're going to be getting into that for the next few weeks We are going to be in the gospel of John as we continue on and we're going to be in chapter 4 There's going to be a lot of scripture to read here this morning to get the fullness of the story But we're going to talk about Jesus and the Samaritan woman the no-name Samaritan woman because there's so many lessons inside of this this story there's so many things to to open up there's so many peels of the onion to peel back there's so many truths that are that are just so profound and and throughout the week this week we had a had a lot of conversations about grace and about forgiveness and and you know leading into this story we found a the central. We found that gut-wrenching truth about God's grace. We find in this story the solid, firm foundation of God's mercy. And we see it in a manner coming out of this woman of where There's a moment of unworthiness, right? Church, can anybody relate to me? This morning, have you ever felt unworthy, right? Have you ever felt so depressed and so to the point to where you really didn't know what direction to turn, right? You felt disconnected from the society, right? We live in a culture who desires the next big thing, right? The next big purchase, the next house, the next car. We're trying to fill our lives and the voids in our hearts with things, right? That we thirst these things and when we get these things it gives us no sense of accomplishment, right? We are so disconnected from the society because we don't understand that which we are searching for, right? This story captivates that. Where God takes those truths and he twists and he turns and he says, listen, here's what you've been searching for. Here is what can fill that void in your heart. Right? And that is Jesus Christ. Alright, we're gonna see that in this story and today's message is about everything is found in Jesus. Alright, that's the title for today. Alright, is everything is found in Jesus. Everything you've searched for, all of your heart's desires, your goals, every sense of accomplishment is fulfilled in Jesus Christ amen so if you have your Bibles turn I'm not gonna have you stand because we're gonna read 42 verses all right all right 42 verses so I'm gonna let you just hang tight So turn to your Bibles with me. We're not gonna get through all 42 verses this week. Like I said, we're gonna scratch the surface of this story because it is so deep. I mean, it has so many truths. We're gonna touch base on some of those this morning. But this is a story that's only told in this gospel. This is the only place that you find this. I want to reiterate the fact that Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, they were written to expose the life of our Savior. John says later on in his gospel, and I want to go back to this verse, he says, these things are written so that we may what? Believe. Believe, amen. What does belief do? It gives us what? Eternal life, amen? Amen, this life and this whole thing that we're going through right now is temporary, right? This world is not our home, amen? This is all temporary. So listen to what the Bible says in the Gospel of John chapter four. Listen to what he says. All right, to set this up, we've just seen Jesus have an interaction with one of the religious leaders of the Jews, which was Nicodemus, right? Jesus told him that, you know, you had to be born again, right? And then he says, listen, if you want eternal life, what do you got to do? Believe, right? Your life is condemned if you don't do what? Believe, right? For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have everlasting life. Right? So condemnation comes from unbelief. Right? So after that, he says, therefore, when the Lord knew that the Pharisees had heard that Jesus made and baptized more disciples than John, though Jesus himself did not baptize but his disciples, he left Judea and departed again unto Galilee. All right, so many a times throughout the gospels, you're gonna see where Jesus, knowing the intent, Departs and the reason being is because the hour and the time had not come yet, right? There were still things that needed to be ministered to in his earthly ministry All right, but he needed to go through Samaria. All right. I love this. God said you need to go through Samaria So he came to the city of Samaria, which is called Sychar, near the plot of ground that Jacob gave to his son Joseph. Now Jacob's well was there. Jesus, therefore, being wearied from his journey, set thus by the well. It was about the sixth hour. The sixth hour at this time was noon. A woman of Samaria came to draw water. Jesus said to her, give me a drink. For his disciples had gone away into the city to buy food. Then the woman of Samaria said to him, How is it that you, being a Jew, ask a drink from me, a Samaritan woman? For the Jews have no dealings with the Samaritans. Jesus answered and said to her, If you knew the gift of God and who it is who says to you, Give me drink, you would ask of him, and he would have given you living water. The woman said, sir, you have nothing to draw with, and the well is deep. Where then do you get that living water? Are you greater than our father Jacob, who gave us the well and drank from it himself, as well as his sons and his livestock? Jesus answered and said to her, whoever drinks of this water will thirst again, but whoever drinks of the water that I shall give him will never thirst. But the water that I shall give him will become in him, in him, a fountain of water springing up into everlasting life. Amen? The woman said to him, Sir, give me this water that I may not thirst nor come here to draw. Jesus said to her, Go call your husband and come here. I love this. The woman answered and said, I have no husband. Jesus said to her, You have well said, I have no husbands, for you have and have had five husbands, and the one whom you now have is not your husband, in that you spoke truly. The woman said to him, Sir, I perceive that you are a prophet. Our fathers worshiped on this mountain, and you Jews say that in Jerusalem is the place where the one ought to worship. Jesus said to her, Woman, believe me, the hour is coming when you will neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem worship the Father. You worship what you do not know. We know that we worship for salvation is of the Jews. But the hour is coming, and now is, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth. For the Father is seeking such worship Him. or such to worship Him. God is spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth. The woman said to Him, I know that the Messiah is coming who is called Christ. When He comes, He will tell us all things. Jesus said to her, I who speak to you am He. And at this point his disciples came and they marveled that he was talking or that he talked with a woman, yet no one said, what do you seek or why are you talking with her? The woman then left her water pot when he went or went her way into the city and said to the men, come and see a man who told me all things that I never that I ever did. Could this be the Christ? Then they went into the city and came to him. In the meantime, his disciples urged him, saying, Rabbi, eat. But he said to them, I have food to eat, of which you do not know. Therefore the disciples said to one another, Has anyone brought him anything to eat? Jesus said to him, My food is to do the will of him who sent me and to finish his work. Do you not say there are still four months and then comes the harvest? Behold, I say to you, lift your eyes up and look into the fields, for they are already white for harvest. And he who reaps receives wages and gathers fruit for eternal life. that they are that both he who sows and he who reaps may rejoice together for in this the saying is true one sows and another one reaps i sent you to reap that for which you have not labored others have labored and you have entered into their labors And many of the Samaritans of the city believed in Him because of the word of the woman who testified, He told me all that I ever did. So when the Samaritans had come to Him, they urged Him to stay with them, and He stayed there two days. And many more believed because of His own word. Then they said to the woman, Now we believe not because of what you said, for we ourselves have heard Him, and we know this indeed, the Christ, the Savior, The world and right there church. Let us pray Lord God, we are so thankful of your holiness, Father. We're so thankful of your holy word, Father. We're so thankful of the freedom that we found in your Son, Jesus Christ. We're so thankful for this opportunity, for the breath, Father, for the words that you've given us, Father, that we may know you, Father, that we may know the power of your resurrection, that we may know mercy and goodness and kindness, Father, that we may know joy and peace, Lord, God, we just love you. We praise you, Father. With a grateful heart, we come to you this morning, Lord. We ask you this morning, Father, that you are glorified, Father, by all that is said and done, that your Son is magnified. Help us, O Lord, to love you more. For it's in Jesus' most precious holy name we pray. Amen. So there's so many truths in these 42 verses. So many lessons to be learned. So many things that we're going to go through this morning and subsequent mornings, if God wills us to be back here next Sunday. This is such an extraordinary story of a lady, of a Samaritan lady, because this woman being a Samaritan, they were half Jewish and half Greek. They were utterly despised by both the Jews and the Greek. The Jews said that they had no claim to their God. This is very evident that this woman knew that she was despised by the fact that she came to this well at the 6th hour. At noon, nobody would be there. She would not have to put up with a mockery. She would not have to put up with the remarks and the rudeness, right? Because the fact is that women flocked to this well during this time in the mornings. This was like a social, like a coffee shop, modern day coffee shop, right? They come to gossip. They come to talk. They come, it was a social hour, right? There were status being, Being established here. There was a social status being established, right? They came and they chatted But with her being labeled immoral and of course that she was unmarried and and living openly With the sixth man as far as the series of her of her husband's had had came She was an outcast Right. She was looked down upon and Right? So this story has so much truth to it. And I think that we need to rip the peeling back off that onion to know that this story, the heart of this story, God is coming to a person where God loves them in spite of their bankrupt lives. God is coming to them where God values us enough to seek us and welcome us and change us to where we can worship Him in truth. So being an outcast, she completely understood that. She completely understood the fact that God was coming to her even though her life was unworthy. There was nothing she could offer God to earn His respect or earn His love or grant herself mercy and grace. But God came and freely did that. Church, I don't know about you, but no matter how high you place yourself on that pedestal, no matter how much you put emphasis on your accolades or your achievements or your value of wealth and prestige and honor and social status, God comes to all. All. For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have everlasting life. And it does not matter how great of a life that you think you have or how high on the social platform that you climb or how clean cut you are. God will come to those who are at the lowest, at the deepest pits of despair and grab them and drag them up out of that. and change their lives. So many times we place emphasis on the way people look, right? The way that they dress, right? So many times we place emphasis on the fact that whether people have tattoos or long hair or whatever it may be, right? But Jesus calls them too and loves them too. Right? And He changes their life. Right? You know, in having these conversations this week about forgiveness and grace, we talked about rapists and murderers. People who have done the unfathomable and the unthinkable and the unspeakable. There's forgiveness. to them too, church. I know how much that even though I can't fathom and I can't understand it, but if they come to God with that broken heart and God seeks them and pulls them and draws them and heals them, church, God can change them too. This story unfolds that. This woman was looked down upon, outcasted, despised. I'm sure depressed as she felt that weight, but God pulls her out. Jesus reveals himself to her three times, and I think that we need to grasp those three times that Jesus reveals himself. The first time he reveals himself to him, he reveals himself to her as living water. Verse 10, it says, Jesus answered and said to her, if you knew the gift of God and who it says to you, give me drink, you would have asked him and he would have given you living water. The well who springs you to life, church. Jesus is the well that springs you from death to life. Drinking of the water that God gives, gives you an eternity. Church, it gives you hope. You go from death to life. You go from death, you go from depression, you go from despair, you go from being an outcast to being loved, church. The only love that you need is the love that God has given you through His Son, church. The love of God. The love of God springs you from death to life. Then he reveals himself to her as a prophet. In verses 16 through 19, Jesus says, go and call your husbands to come here. The woman answered and said, I have no husbands. What does Jesus do? Opens her eyes to who she truly is, right? Who has had that experience, church. Jesus said to her, you have well said, I have no husbands, for you have had five husbands. Jesus knew who she truly was. You can run, but you cannot hide, church. You can run, but you cannot hide. And the one whom you now is not your husband is that you truly spoke, or is that you spoke truly. The woman said to him, sir, I perceive that you are a prophet. Right? God knows all. Right? God knows all. Right? She's so shocked by his knowledge of what he knows about her life. Right? So God here is starting to open up her eyes to truth. Right? This Samaritan woman did not know that she was going to encounter God on this trip to that well, church. And I don't know where you was when you found Jesus, but I guarantee you, you did not know that you were getting ready to experience God. Right? You did not know that you were going to start to scratch the surface of joy and peace. Church, she didn't either. She didn't know that she was going to experience the truth and the knowledge of God, right? As God opens up that heart, as God opens up that eyes, right? All these things that you've been working for, all these things that you've been searching, all these things that you've been looking for is found right at the foot of the cross, church. Everything, every ounce of fulfillment Every ounce of importance, every ounce of dignity and honor is found at the foot of the cross. And she starts to receive this. She starts to know this. She starts to see it as God opens up her eyes to this fact she was blinded, right? Here he shows her in this statement that his words are true. Right? When you experience Jesus Christ for the first time, you know that it is true. There's an undeniability about God's Word. There's an undeniability about God's calling spirit. Where God starts to open up your eyes, you know that it is true. And then in the third time that he reveals himself to her, he reveals himself as the Messiah. the Savior who has come to seek and save that which was lost, church. Guess what? Shocker, you were not found before Jesus came in. You were lost, church. I was lost, church. You were in the same place to all those sinners that you shun for sinning. You were in the same place to those murderers and those rapists. You were lost, church. You were in the same spot before Jesus called you. In the same spot, the drug addict. Right? You were in the same spot. You were lost before Jesus opened up your eyes. He came. to seek and to save that which was lost. He came to heal the brokenhearted. Amen. He came to break the chains of sin. Amen. He come to heal, church. It isn't the healthy that needs a doctor, church. It's the sick. It is the sixth, so He reveals to her that He is the Messiah. Look at verse 24 through 26. God is a spirit and those who worship in Him must worship in spirit and in truth. The woman said to Him, I know that the Messiah is coming who is the Christ. When He comes, He will tell us these things. And Jesus says, I am He. I am He. Could you imagine, church? Could you imagine? Now I know how God opened up my eyes to truth. And I know the experience that I had when God set my heart free and He healed my brokenness. But could you imagine seeing that face to face? One day we will. We learned in 1 John this morning, we are going to one day see Him for who He truly is. Amen? Face to face, we're gonna meet that Messiah. Face to face, we're gonna meet the one that dragged you out of that pit of depression, that drug you out of that pit of addiction, that drug you out of that pit of despair, that drug you out of that pit of selfishness, of non-compassion, One day we're gonna meet that King. Amen? One day we're gonna meet that Anointed One. Amen? Well, this lady, this no-name lady, this no-name person, this one that was regarded as despicable, that was outcast, met her Savior that day, church. Met her Savior. Things that we're gonna learn out of this story is one that we can only through Jesus can we obtain and receive eternal life, church. There is no other place where you can find hope. Right? The whole world seeks the next big thing, right? The next purchase. You're pursuing happiness in things that will rot away. Look at verses 13 and 14. Whoever drinks of this water will thirst again, but whoever drinks of the water that I give them will never thirst. We'll become in Him a fountain of water springing up into everlasting life. Only through the Son of God, the Son of Man, Through Jesus Christ can we obtain and receive eternal life. Church, there is no other way, no other way but through Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ is that Messiah. And Jesus Christ is ministering to the outcast. It reveals to us that all people are valuable, church. All people are valuable. Shouldn't we demonstrate this same type of love, church? It is so heartbreaking. The black eye that the Christian faith gets because they want to outcast people. Church, who are you? Who am I to outcast people? Well, they're not deserving. What you need to do is just come to church. Need to hear the gospel. Show them love. Wrap them up into your arms, church. Give them love. Right? The Bible says to shower them with love and kindness and you'll reap holes on their head. Maybe they don't want to receive it. That's not your point, church. Not your place. but you share with them life. You don't go with them with an aspect of saying, this is what I do, and this is how I go about it. You say, this is what Jesus did, and this is what Jesus has done, and this is what Jesus can give. Church, it ain't about you. It ain't about your lifestyle. It's about Jesus and His lifestyle. You show them by who you are. You don't need to tell them what type of person you are. Tell them what type of person Jesus is. We are to worship God in spirit and in truth. How do we do that? How do we do that church? By our actions. Not by our words. by our actions. You know, the Bible says that there's coming a day where people want to hear the sound doctrine, right? People don't want to come to church because they don't want to be told how to live. Well, church, I'm not here today to tell you how to live. This ain't a self-help doctrine, right? This is a doctrine where God comes in, it changes the hearts, it gives you a new desire and a new mindset, and you want to be holy for God is holy. You don't want to sin you want to turn away from sin you hate sin because God hates sin But you know that you're still a sinner, but the only way to overpower sin is come into deeper relationship with God So, how do you get into a deeper relationship with God you study and Right? You study. You learn about Him. You read about Him. You seek Him. You search Him. You pray to Him. You love Him. Because He first loved you. Because He first loved you. And by doing so, church, I do not want you to downgrade. And I don't want you to look down upon your testimony because your testimony is important. Church, look at what happens to this Samaritan lady. This Samaritan lady meets the Messiah. He meets the Son of God. The Son of God changes her heart, tells her all about herself, right? Nobody wants to hear the sound teaching. They don't want to hear about who they truly are. They don't want to hear about their sin in their life. Right? Nobody wants to combat who they truly are in here. Because it's ugly. It is ugly, church. That's where Jesus comes in and He fixes it. And He fills it. And He breaks that chain of sin. Right? Testimony becomes so powerful because there's no longer points about testifying to people and you say, well this is how I deal with it and this is what I do. No, you start saying Jesus. You start saying this is what Jesus says. This is what Jesus does. This is how Jesus came in. This is what I was doing and this is what Jesus is now doing. And this is exactly what the Samaritan lady does. And verses 28 through 30, look at what it says. Verses 28 through 30, the woman left her water pot, right? She said, Oh my gosh, forget this water. I got to go tell the world. went her way into the city and said to men, come and see a man who told me all things that I ever did. Could this be the Christ? They went out to the city and came to him. So she went out and said, listen, listen, this guy told me everything about myself. Go see him. Go see him. She didn't come and say, this is how I'm doing things now and this is me and I'm really good and God is really doing this. He said, no, go see God. Go see God. Church, we should be pointing people towards the cross, not ourselves. Towards the cross. Because if you are turning them towards yourself, you are setting them up for failure because you will fail them, church. You've heard me say it time and time again. Please do not follow me. I will fail you. I don't want to. I don't want to, church, and it breaks my heart when I do, but I will fail you. But I know one who won't. I know the one who won't. Never will. He never will leave you nor forsake you. And when you're going through those times of just despair and loneliness and you're going through moments to where nothing can happen good, He will be right there with you and He will comfort your soul, church. He will be right there with you and He will comfort your soul. And by that testimony, by that testimony where you can say, come and look and see what God has done. Church, it is so powerful. People will seek Him. And guess what happens in verse 39? It says, many of the Samaritans in that city believed in Him because of the word of the woman who testified. Church, this is so good. The goodness of God is so good. You should want to run out these doors and tell everybody, Church, Come and see what God has done. You never know who is needing to hear about hope. You never know who is needing to hear about mercy and grace. That is the love that God is talking about when He says that we are to love one another and love your enemies and bless them and do not curse them. That is the love. The love is telling them about it. Tell them about Jesus. Relating with them, saying, listen, I know I was there. I was there. But I know the one who can get you out. I know the road looks dim. I know the light is getting dark and it looks like there's no light at the end of the tunnel. But I'm telling you, Jesus is the answer. I know that you feel like you have no hope. I know that you feel like the weight of the world is coming down upon your shoulders and you're looking for a way out. Well, guess what? A new house, a new car, money, wealth, prestige, fame and fortune will not grant you the serenity that Jesus Christ can give you, church. Jesus is the answer. You see what happens in our faith, church? What happens in our growth and why it's stunning is people want to be like pure coffee. When Jesus comes in, you've got a coffee bean. You pour that water through that pot and it percolates and that coffee bean makes a black coffee. But then you take milk, you take flavored creamers, you take whipped cream, you place it into that coffee, that coffee gets to a point to where it no longer tastes like coffee. And you feel disconnected from the one who made you coffee. And if anybody's ever drank my coffee, it definitely tastes like coffee. Because if you set your mug down, it will run from you. It's a little strong. But church, our relationship with Jesus Christ should be strong. It should taste and look like coffee. It shouldn't be so watered down by the weight of the world and creamers and sugars. And as you add more, it no longer tastes like coffee and the world cannot even tell you apart. You don't even know that it's coffee. Now they're calling it coffee. I'm a Christian, right? They're calling it coffee, but all it tastes like is, is hazelnut. Or all it tastes like is sugar. Or all it tastes like is whipped cream. Right? You can't taste the coffee because it's watered down by the world. And you feel disconnected because of it. You feel like you don't know where the coffee is anymore. Church. The answer. is right here. You're struggling with your relationship. You're struggling with your disconnect. You're struggling with your direction. You're struggling with your testimony. You're struggling with your witness. Jesus gives you everything that you ever need in His Word. It's time to get back to coffee being coffee. It's time to get back to Christians doing what Christians should be doing and loving their neighbor and loving their enemy and praying for them and wrapping everybody up in their arms and saying, it's going to be okay. And if it's not okay, here's a guy that can fix it. Church, it can fix all your brokenness. can take that broken home and put it all back together again, church. He can take that broken heart and mend it. It's time to get back to the foundation that God has called us out to be a people. A people that testifies that God loves them. A people that testifies the fact that God loves them so much that He will not leave them in the sinfulness that they are in, but pull them out from a life of sin to a life of holiness. Not me can do that, not you can do that, but that's a God's job. So as we have a song this morning, We are gonna get into this in great depths in the next few weeks because there's so many lessons about this lady. There's so much things that we touched upon this morning. We're gonna break them down one by one. But maybe, just maybe today, you're sitting here today and struggling with your relationship, struggling with understanding forgiveness and mercy and love. The altar is always open. You come laid at the foot of the cross. You look to the Helper, the One that is the true Helper, which is Jesus Christ. Through His Spirit, He will guide you. The Bible says that He will light your pathway. Christ is the answer. Maybe this morning you sit here and your witness and your testimony, you feel like it's not being heard. How are you going about it? Are you trying to put the spotlight on your back or on your face? Or are you pointing it to the truth, which is Jesus Christ? How is your relationship this morning, church? Is it growing or is it stymie? Is it going backwards or is it going forward? Or is it neutral? Christ, through His Spirit, is the answer, church. the altars open, come lay it at the foot of the cross. Whatever the need is, church, God is attentive to the needs of His children. God is attentive to the needs of His children. There's things that God has done for you, I guarantee it, that you didn't even know you needed. Because God is so intimate with His children. So the altar is open. Whatever the need is, the altar's open, church. In retrospect, God also removes things that you thought you needed in order to see what you truly needed. Amen? For that, He is worthy of praise. So the altar's open. As we sing this morning, let the Spirit move upon you, church. Whatever you need to come pray about, please come pray.