Part 4: Getting the Gospel Out

[0:00] Good morning again. I trust everyone's doing well. Kind of have a packed house today, so just for the sake of seeing like how many seats there are still available, if we could kind of like scoot to the center of where you're at and see what opens up on the edges for some people that don't have a seat yet, they can find one. And as you're doing that, I'm sure at the same time you could be listening to the announcements, right? My name is Jesse, by the way, one of the pastors here. So appreciate having you guys with us. On your way in, you might have gotten one of these welcome cards. Man, it is just a simple little introduction to who we are. You can read up on it a little bit. And at the bottom, if you want to, you could fill out what we call the connection card. You're able to rip that off and put it in any one of the giving buckets around the room. And we'll get up with you later on this week. Okay, just some announcements, stuff that's coming up. If you are a partner of One Harbor Church, it is our partnership, our annual partnership celebration coming up this Friday.

[1:02] This is a reminder of that. Friday, February 7th from 6 p.m. to 8.30 p.m. That's going to be at our Moorhead City location. For those of you who are new and like, wait, what's going on? We are one church that meet in different locations. We have one in Moorhead City. We have one in Beaufort, Swansboro, and then also here in Havelock. So we are going to all converge, all those sites together, all the partners from all those sites on Moorhead City all together. And what we're going to do is we're going to have fun. And it's one thing we know how to do well at One Harbor is eat good food.

[1:33] And so we're going to have some good food and there's going to be games and stuff to do from one years old to 90 years old, 90 years old. And we'll have some fun. And then it's a time to get together, worship God, celebrate. Look back over 2019 and let's like celebrate and look back and consider what he's done through us. And then we also get to hear from Donnie as he envisions us for 2020 of where, man, let's have this big dream and this hope of what God's going to do it again and again and more and more. And so it's a great time if you're a partner, would love to see you there.

[2:10] And if you're not a partner and you're wondering what that is, we have partnership videos online. And so if you're interested in learning and understanding what it means to be all in at your local church here at One Harbor, that's a great place to start. That is the place to go to.

[2:25] And so those videos are available online. You can go and request that by emailing info at oneharborchurch.com and simply say, man, I would love to start watching those partnership videos.

[2:36] And you will be given a link of when to do that. Okay. Packed house, right? Really cool. Except for the people who have to stand up. But good news is two weeks from now, we're going to be in a bigger location. And over there, February 16th, we're going to be moving to the Tourist and Events Center. So February 16th, if you show up here, man, you'll be all by yourself. All right.

[3:01] So make sure you remember that. Jot it down. And we're really looking forward to that. Just remember that the service time is going to be 10 a.m. So yeah, so it'll be, you know, more of a regular service time. Cool. All right, man. I'm so excited this morning. And because we have not just friends, but family. And with us, Donnie and Jill, would you guys come up on stage, please? That's awesome.

[3:25] Um, and, and when I say family, I mean family. Um, we are, yeah, we love you guys and you guys have been family to us. So Donnie and Jill, they moved over here. I was like Friday was, or Thursday, wasn't it? Something like that. This past Thursday, 11 years ago, you guys made the move. And then February 1st, 11 years ago, it was their first service in a living room for One Harbor Church. And so it was like 10 people or 12 people in a living room. And then God's just felt super weird. Yeah.

[4:02] Yeah. God's just done something amazing over those 11 years. Um, me and Hales had the privilege of just being able to come alongside these guys, 10 and a half years of that. And, uh, man, just, yeah, so thankful for all that God has done. It's been, it's been an amazing journey, uh, just doing this thing shoulder to shoulder. I want to say to you, man, these guys, um, they have a great marriage. Uh, so a lot of ministry success can cause like just family problems and you know, all kinds of things, but man, they are examples of what a great marriage looks like. And, um, and so, yeah, great parents. They have the two most amazing kids. We got to have them overnight just recently, um, cause that's what family does. And, um, just amazing boys, man, just amazing boys. And so anyways, guys, just want to, um, commend you for all of that Jill, uh, all the ways that you were so generous with your man's time. Donnie also in the, he's the Moorhead city, um, fire, uh, fire department chaplain. You got that right. Right. And so he, that means he gets called out at nighttime to like crazy stuff, um, all the time. And yeah, Jill has just been very generous with all the ways that she has. Yeah. She's just released, um, you Donnie, her husband to, to do that, which is an amazing thing. And we thank you for that. And, and, um, yeah, the other, the other thing is Donnie is like, so he's one guy that a lot of information about, sorry, man. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Sorry. I'm,

[5:24] I'm bragging on a bro here, just bragging on a bro, bragging on a sister. Just want to honor you guys. Thanks man. And, um, Wayne in. Yeah. So anyways, Donnie is like, he has this gift of evangelism.

[5:36] Like I I've never been around anything like it before. I mean, when he sneezes, people want to know about Jesus. I don't, it's just, it is pretty incredible just, just to see that happen and to learn from him. I mean, he is just like, then it's a huge blessing to be around as a guy who's led this thing. I have learned so much of what it means to be a pastor and a leader. And it's been, it's prepared me for him. Just thank you for just asking, risking us and releasing us to do this thing in Havelock. That's been a huge blessing as well. And so I'm going to shut up now, but before me and Jill get down, Jill, is there anything you want to share with us or say anything to us?

[6:10] I just want to say it's, it really is a joy and privilege to be with you guys in Havelock. Um, I know we don't get to, we don't come over even though we're just down the road in Moorhead, um, as much as sometimes we wish we could be. Um, but we really do. You guys are our family as well.

[6:27] So we, like Jesse said earlier, um, we're, we're one church, even though we meet in different, different locations where one church. And so we celebrate the, uh, times that we all get to be together, but we're also, even though the cost of kind of being spread out, but it's actually an amazing opportunity. And, um, we never imagined 11 years ago that, um, yeah, that one harbor would be one church with four locations. Um, but it's been amazing to just see how God had a plan and he had a purpose that, um, to reach more people so that more people could hear and know about, um, Jesus.

[7:03] So anyway, it's a joy to be here with you guys this morning. Donna, go for it, bro. All right. Awesome. Yeah. So if you're new to one harbor, I mean, that is a little bit different, you know, it's one church kind of spread out. Um, and the way Havelock started really was just, uh, you know, there were folks who were driving in from New Bern and James city and Havelock and, um, the West end of Newport and they were coming to one harbor Moorhead and they were, just, you know, this dream got in their heart about doing church here and, and, um, in a way that would, would maybe impact more folks, more of their friends, more of their neighbors, more of their coworkers. Um, and so it's just awesome to see what's happened, um, over the last couple of years. And, um, man, I'm excited about your next step. Um, Jesse mentioned, uh, moving into that newer building, that bigger space, um, here in a couple of weeks. Um, we've done this a bunch.

[7:52] Um, so this is new for you. It's not new for us. Uh, this I think is like our 13th building or so, um, in 11 years. And we've met in all kinds of stuff. Um, living rooms, gas stations, hookah lounges, um, nightclubs, uh, one, one stage we had to have, uh, uh, our security or our hospitality had to guard a, the bar because people in our church were walking out with bottles of stuff and, and this working nightclub that we met in, and we've, we've been through a lot. And, um, um, this is one of the most normal things we've ever met in actually is this place right here. Um, but, um, in all those, all those places, what we've seen is that you can, you can really have church anywhere. Um, if you get up and just make much of Jesus, you can do it in all kinds of different spaces. And, um, we've been in the load in and set up and tear down phases and, you know, um, it's hard work. It's a lot, but it, you know, sometimes it's what you got to do. And, um, and so it will be, there'll be some tough, um, work for a little bit, but it'll be worth it. Um, if you guys can create some more space for, for people to, to hear about how great Jesus is. So if you're here, just checking out Christianity, um, I'm really glad you're here. I just want to say, I think it takes a lot of courage, um, to come to church. Um, especially if you don't really believe all this or not sure you believe any of this. Um, even if you're a guest and you're already a Christian, but just come into a, a new church that is like, that's kind of a daunting thing. And so it's not lost on us. Um, that courage it took for you this morning to be here. And I hope that, um, this morning can really help you. Um, I want to talk a little bit, um, this morning, we're going to kind of work through a passage of scripture. Um, but really what I'm hoping happens is, well, if you don't know Jesus yet, um, I hope that you'll see how incredible he is. Um, but for those of us who are already

[9:38] Christians, um, as you guys consider this, this transition to a bigger space, you know, and what that means, I mean, you don't just get a bigger building and then like, voila, you know, like now you're making a bigger impact. Um, really it's on us to be, uh, people who, who share about how good Jesus is to those around us. Um, and so I want to talk a little bit about that because I think a lot of times, um, I've been a Christian a long time. We can tend to think that's the kind of thing, you know, that kind of, of way of, of, you know, talking about Jesus and sharing about Jesus. And, and, um, you know, maybe we call it sometimes being on mission for Jesus. Uh, a lot of times we can even subconsciously think, well, that's what pastors do, or that's what church staff members do, or maybe that's what our community group leader does, or maybe that's what missionaries do. And that's all those people should be doing all of that. But, um, man, I hope to demystify a lot of that and to help us really see how for any of us who are already a Christian, this should be the most natural response, um, to, to being a Christian. Uh, it's just to go and tell people about Jesus. Um, Charles Spurgeon, um, who's been dead a long time, but he's a super smart guy. He said, you know, he said,

[10:45] I will not believe you've tasted of the honey of the gospel if you're content to eat it all by yourself. Um, it's, and, and, and that's not meant to like, you know, crack anyone across the head. It's meant to say, man, like when you realize how incredibly sweet this thing is that we've received, you just want to tell it. It's like when you eat somewhere, like a new restaurant that's really good, the most normal thing is to go tell everybody you ought to eat there, you know? Um, and so let's, let's just jump into the, into the scriptures. We're going to look at one woman's story of meeting Jesus. It's, uh, it's probably more verses than you normally read on a Sunday, but it's, um, it's got a lot to it. I think, I don't think we're going to lose anyone on this one. So, uh, John chapter four, verses four through 42. So Jesus, um, he, uh, says he had to pass through Samaria.

[11:29] Samaria is this region where, uh, typically Jews would not be going through Samaria. They'd be trying to get around it, not interacting with, um, Samaritans as much as possible. But now we've got Jesus kind of in this place. It's like a bad part of town, you know, not really where you imagine Jesus. If you don't really know who Jesus is. So he came to a town of Samaria called Sukkar near the field that Jacob had given his son, Joseph. And Joseph's well was there. So Jesus, wearied as he was from his journey, was sitting beside the well. We're going to hit time out again. Um, because again, if you're new to, you know, who Jesus is, sometimes you can imagine him kind of floating around in a cloud, playing a harp, teaching the children or something. Really the humanity of Jesus comes out here. Fully God, fully man.

[12:14] Here he is. He's exhausted. He's thirsty. Uh, it says it was about the sixth hour. That's noons. It's hot. It's, he's thirsty. There's this humanity of Jesus coming out. And a woman from Samaria came out to draw water. Jesus said to her, give me a drink for his disciples had gone away into the city to buy food.

[12:34] The Samaritan woman said to him, how is it that you, a Jew, ask for a drink from me, a woman of Samaria? For Jews have no dealings with Samaritans. And Jesus answered her, if you knew the gift 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. The woman said to him, uh, sir, you have nothing to draw water with. Like that's, that's a nice idea you've got there, but practically, and this well is deep. So, you know, do the math. Where do you get that living water? Are you greater than our father, Jacob? He gave us the well and drank from himself as did his sons and his livestock. She's really proud of this well. Jesus said to her, everyone who drinks of this water is going to be thirsty again, but whoever drinks of the water that I will give him will never be thirsty again. And the water that I will give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life. And the woman said to him, sir, give me this water so that I will not be thirsty or have to come here and draw this water. And Jesus said to her, go call your husband and come here.

[13:44] The woman answered him, I have no husband. And Jesus said to her, yeah, you're right. And saying, you, you have no husband for you have had five husbands and the one you, you are, you now have is not your husband.

[14:01] So what you've said is true. This is like, now the plot has really thickened. And the woman said to him, sir, I perceive that you're a prophet. Our fathers worshiped on this mountain, but you say that it is in Jerusalem.

[14:14] It's a place where people ought to worship. And Jesus said to her, woman, believe me, the hour is coming where neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem will you worship the father. You worship what you do not know. We worship what we know for salvation is from the Jews, but, but the hour is coming and is now here when the true worshipers will worship the father in spirit and truth for the father is seeking such people to worship him. This, this, he's talking about this moment they're having.

[14:39] God is spirit and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth. So the woman said to him, I know the Messiah is coming. He was called the Christ. This is like God's savior King. I know he's coming. And when he comes, he'll tell us all things. This is like the best thing to me right here. And Jesus said to her, I who speak to you am he. Just then his disciples came back.

[15:02] They marveled at how amazing this ministry moment was. And they thought, how can we help? No, they marveled that he was talking with a woman, but no one said, what do you seek? Or why were you talking with her? So the Samaritan, so the woman left her water jar and she went into town and she said to the people, come see a man who told me all that I ever did. Can this be the Christ? And they went out of the town and they were coming to him. So this town's migrating down towards this well.

[15:29] Meanwhile, the disciples were urging him saying, rabbi, which means teacher, eat. And he said to them, I have food to eat that you do not know about. Check this next line out. So the disciples said to one another, has anyone brought him something to eat? These guys. So Jesus said to them, my food is to do the will of him who sent me and to accomplish his work. Do you not say, there are yet four months and then comes the harvest. He's like, you guys know how to go by a cornfield and go, oh, about four months left. Look, I tell you, lift up your eyes, like open your eyes and see the fields are white for harvest. Already the one who reaps is receiving wages and gathering fruit for eternal life. So the sower and the reaper may rejoice together for here the saying holds true. One sows and other reaps.

[16:14] I sent you to reap for that which you did not labor. Others have labored and you have entered into their labor. Many Samaritans from that town believed in him because of the woman's testimony. He told me all that I ever did. So when the Samaritans came to him, they asked him to stay with them and he stayed for two days and many more believed because of his word. They said to the woman, I love this, it is no longer because of what you said that we believe, for we've heard it ourselves and we know this is indeed the savior of the world. What a phenomenal story. This is one of my favorite stories of someone meeting Jesus and I think it's super helpful for us as we consider as Christians what it looks like to take the gospel, this good news of who Jesus is and what he's done out to our communities. But before we do that, because we love doing that, like we love approaching the Bible and going give me 10 tips on something and we forget that there's stories in the Bible and that we're meant to lean in and consider those stories and here we have a story, a story of someone's life. And rather than just kind of like, oh, you know, moving on, where's the practical tips that I can find helpful? No, let's think about this person who mattered enough that we have her recorded here in Scripture. So let's lean in on her story a little bit and see how it can help us. I think what we recognize right away is she had a sad and shameful story. She had a sad and shameful story. You know, five husbands and the one she's with now is not her husband. And, you know, what human nature is, is pretty cruel. And, you know, I grew up in and around Christianity and I heard a lot of talks. I heard a lot of sermons. I read the Bible a lot and still I found myself being the kind of person who would criticize someone like that without even considering what her story was. And so when you hear, you know, this story, I'm sure people, not people like you or me, but other people, when they hear this story, they might, you know, be, you know, be inclined to think things like, oh, she sounds like drama. Five husbands, oh, she sounds, she sounds broken. Yeah, high maintenance. I don't know, damaged goods. That can be the kind of way that we think about people. Instead of actually considering her as a person. And so let's do that for a few minutes.

[18:42] Let's think about the toll it would have had on her emotions to be married and divorced five times. The personal toll it would have had on her emotions. You can almost bet that her family had quit coming around wedding three.

[19:02] Probably just over it. Don't want to be associated with her anymore. I bet she was having a hard time finding bridesmaids around wedding number five.

[19:14] Probably not having a whole lot of friends who were quick to want to stand up there and, you know, have her back. By now, I mean, she's not even bothering getting married anymore. She's with someone that's not even her husband.

[19:29] She's just seemingly given up on marriage. I bet she thought something's wrong with me. Either one or the other or a combination of, I'm so screwed up that no one can stand to be with me. Maybe she thought that.

[19:45] Or, I can't pick a good man to save my life. Or, some combination. It's a sad story. It is, we can be guaranteed of this, it's not the kind of life she dreamed of as a little girl.

[20:03] It's not the kind of life that anyone dreams of. Full of shame, full of pain, full of regrets. Now, it is a unique story in the fact that that's not the story for a lot of people.

[20:15] But, it's not unique in a lot of other ways. And, that's what, I want to just help us see this. We are inclined to hear stories like that, to read things like that, and think, oh, people like her, not, oh, people like us.

[20:30] Like, yeah, that story is unique, maybe. But, but the, the shame, and the pain, and the regrets, that piece of the story, is not unique at all.

[20:42] Actually, that's us. All of us are like that. All of us, maybe, maybe our story doesn't look like hers, but all of us have a story full of shame, and pain, and regrets. So, right now, I walk with a little bit of a limp, because I had knee surgery, because I hurt my knee, and a whole bunch of other stuff.

[20:58] And, and I, I walk, I've been walking with a limp now for a little while. You know, I'm doing physical therapy, and all the rest. But that limp makes people ask me, how's your knee?

[21:10] Like, a billion times a day, I get asked, how's your knee? And that's only been going on for, oh, I don't know, years. Like, all the time, people are like, how's your knee? How's your knee?

[21:20] How's your knee? And when they heard I got surgery, oh, how's your knee? How's your knee? How's your knee? How's your knee? Like, it's all the time. It's basically all I talk about anymore, is, how's my knee? And so, what is the natural human response?

[21:36] Fake it. Fake it. Just, just try to walk normal, so that no one asks you about it anymore. Now, that's just a, I'm, I'm so glad people care about me as a person, and they care about my knee.

[21:50] That's great. The illustration is there, because I think it's helpful. All of us are limping on the inside, all of us have been injured, all of us have pain, things we've done, things done to us, and, I think, most of us are trying to hide it, trying to push through, trying to act like it doesn't hurt.

[22:15] And I think, that's probably what she was doing. She's going through the motions, getting water, going home, getting water, just going through the motions. So, she has this sad story, but actually all of us have that.

[22:25] So, the other thing we learned about her, as we kind of lean in, is that she kind of knows about, like, good advice, and, and rule keeping, and morality, and she's got some kind of religion in there somewhere, right?

[22:38] So, she knew about good advice, and, and she had some, some kind of religion. In fact, she even, she corrects Jesus. You know, she says, hang on, time out, Jesus, you and me are not supposed to be talking, because you're a man, and I'm a woman, and you're a Jew, and I'm a Samaritan.

[22:55] She's trying to keep the rules. You know, in fact, with her kind of story, it might have been for her, man, so important to keep these kinds of rules.

[23:08] She, she, she might surprise you to be the kind of woman who was going, time out, this feels inappropriate. Her story, it might have been that she was at a place in her life where she was like, man, I am just not going to go through this again.

[23:22] I'm with this one guy, I want this thing to work out, and here's this guy at this well, and we're not supposed to be talking. I'm going to be the one who draws the line here. She's got some sense of like, you know, morality, and rule keeping, and then she's got some like, some like Bible verses, and some, you know, Bible concepts, but she doesn't understand, she like knows just enough to be really confused.

[23:45] She doesn't know enough to actually help her. What she knows is kind of like speculative, and it's, she, she, she can't recognize this, this Messiah that she has heard about when she's seen him face to face.

[24:00] So, I think, I think in that way, we're a lot like her too. I think that a lot of us are trying really hard to be better, to do better.

[24:11] 2020 is going to be our year. Oh, too late. It's going to have to be 2021. You know, already blown it. We're trying to be better. We're trying harder. We're going to do better. We're trying harder. We're going to do better.

[24:23] And, and, and, and maybe for even some of us in the room, it's like, we don't really clearly know about this Jesus very, but we've got some concepts and, you know, we're just holding on to some, you know, just vague sort of spiritual hope like, like she was.

[24:38] But then something happened and she met Jesus. And, um, when she met Jesus, he was, he was just more than she could have, imagined. So it starts off. We'll just kind of just run through this story again.

[24:49] I know some of you've heard it a lot. So you're going to have to like, try to hear it fresh. Cause when we hear it a lot, we, we miss stuff that's there. So it starts off. Jesus asked for some water. Maybe that's all he cares about.

[25:00] But then he actually goes into this. Well, if you knew the gift of God, he was speaking to you a whole bit. And he opens this can of worms. So she is totally confused. Rightfully, she probably thinks he's had some kind of heat stroke.

[25:11] You know, he's extremely delusional. You know, he doesn't even have a bucket. This well is deep. He's not from here. Now he's going to give some magical H2O. That's going to solve all my problems. Um, and so she says, sir, you have nothing to draw water with.

[25:24] You know, this well is deep. Where are you going to get the water? Also, are you greater than our father, Jacob? Cause he, his cows drank here. His kids drank here. And he drank here. I mean, I think when you, when you listen to her say this, sir, you don't have a bucket.

[25:39] Sir, this well is deep. In fact, you're not, you're, you're, there's no way you're greater than Jacob. I think she sounds a little offended, a little put off. Like, Hey, I'm the one with the bucket. I'm the one with the well.

[25:52] You're the one with nothing. Why don't you just keep your little opinions about this water to yourself? Cause I'm the one who can actually do something about the situation. She sounds offended.

[26:03] Are you greater than our father, Jacob? If this was like a movie or something, it would be like where the narrator jumps in and says, he was in fact much greater than her father, Jacob, but she did not know that yet.

[26:16] So I'll tell you this. If you're here and you're just checking out Christianity, this is a good, good lesson that a lot of times we don't, we don't communicate very well, which is when you first meet the real Jesus, he is going to be offensive.

[26:28] You are going to be offended by him. Like this woman, this is a natural response. When we first meet Jesus, we start to like her defend what we have.

[26:38] Well, I have a bucket and I have this well, and we start to point at Jesus and say, what makes you so special? What makes you think you can tell me how to live my life? This, this response of offense is pretty, pretty normal.

[26:53] When you first meet Jesus, people were often very offended by him at first. So does Jesus say, well, I didn't mean to offend you. I'm a little cranky.

[27:03] It's noon. I'm thirsty. Just, I'll be happy. Give me some water. No, he doubles down and says, everyone who drinks from this well will be thirsty again. You're like, rude.

[27:14] Jesus, just take some water, man. Just be happy. But of course, Jesus is not talking about water here. He's not critiquing her well.

[27:25] He is talking about the thirst behind the thirst. He knows that what she's been trying is not working. He knows that she's run, in her case, to a relationship after relationship after relationship.

[27:42] Here she is going through the motions, but thirsty and dying on the inside. And so Jesus says, I know about that, and I want to do something about that. So the woman says, okay, well, give me that water.

[27:56] And then she says, so I don't have to come to this well anymore. She still thinks he's talking about actual, like, water. Like, I don't know if you've seen the movie, The Water Boy. But I think, this is what I think of when I hear, like, she still thinks, he's talking about, like, literal water.

[28:11] Oh, I don't have to come to the well anymore. This is great. So Jesus says, go get your husband. Now, if I was this lady, I would be feeling in that moment, a ton of shame.

[28:25] Like, here's this Jew, who's, who's culturally disgusted by someone like me, a Samaritan. He's been willing to talk to me. He's been kind to me. And there was this talk of some magical water that I might get my hands on.

[28:39] But when he hears that I am, that I'm broken, that I'm messed up, like, when he hears that, man, he is just going to be done with me.

[28:53] So, she answered this, I have no husband. Now, we're not, you know, when you read the Bible, it's not, you're not told, like, pause, five minutes later, she's, you're not told, like, kind of how the thing goes.

[29:08] And so you can be inclined to just read it and think, like, it just went like this, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom. But I just, again, imagine being her. I don't know how long it took her, but I know I would have taken a minute.

[29:22] I know me, and I know human beings, and I know that we spin things so that we don't sound as bad as we really are. That's what we do. And if I was her, I would have taken a minute and gone, how do I say this in a way where I get him off the scent?

[29:39] In fact, if I say I have no husband, he'll probably even pity me, then I'll definitely get that water he's talking about. So she gives this, hey, I have no husband.

[29:50] You guys heard what I read earlier. Jesus jumps in and says, hey, you're right. Yeah, you're right, but you've had five, and the one you're with now is not your husband. But yeah, what you said is true.

[30:01] That's a fact. It's true what you said, but the way you said that, what you did was you missed the point. You told the truth in such a way that it didn't really expose how broken you really are and what's really going on inside of you.

[30:19] And gosh, don't we all do that? Don't we all try to tell the truth in such a way that people don't see how hurting we really are, how broken we really are?

[30:31] See how like when you lean in on these stories, you start going, oh my gosh, I'm her. I'm just like her. Jesus says, I know what's going on in your life. I see behind you.

[30:42] And so her response then is just amazing. Jesus lets her in on how he knows everything about her. And she says, so which mountain should we worship on?

[30:53] I've always really been struck by like, that is a weird response. I mean, this is your most pressing question. This is what feels natural to say after someone says, yep, you've had five husbands.

[31:07] I mean, this is weird. And I don't know that this is right, but I'll tell you again, being a human being, knowing other human beings, I think she's going, let me get the spotlight off of me and my mess.

[31:22] And let's just talk about some vague religious question that has no actual like meaning for me in my life. And Jesus answers the question, but she's trying to defer and get it away from her.

[31:34] And then she says, oh, I got another fact. There's a Messiah coming. And you know, he's going to tell us a bunch of stuff. And so she knows these things, but she doesn't really know these things. She'd heard of this Messiah, but like never in her mind would this Messiah have come to her town.

[31:51] And if he'd come to her town, the last person that would have gotten to talk to him would be her. In fact, if he was coming to her town, probably the only way that he would want to interact with her is to bring her up on stage and go, listen for you ladies out there, don't be like this, or you can have a seat.

[32:07] Like, why would he want to interact with her? So Jesus says, I speak to you and me. And man, like when I like hear that, my heart like wants to explode.

[32:19] Just thinking about like, what it must've been like for her to hear that. So this epic moment here, what's she going to do?

[32:31] And like a movie, verse 27, the next verse, just then the disciples came back. I mean, these guys know how to really mess up a moment. They marvel that he's talking with a woman and, and she goes into town.

[32:45] They, they, they kind of break up this whole moment. And, and we see what she does. She leaves her water jar. The whole reason she was there in the first place. I don't know if it's because she forgot it. I would have been a little out of sorts.

[32:57] I don't know if it's because she thought she could go faster without it, but she leaves it behind. And she goes into town and she says, come see a man who told me all that I ever did. Can this be the Christ? Christ. So what does she do?

[33:10] She instantly ran to tell her friends about Jesus right away. She's not hiding this thing anymore. This thing that she hid when she was with Jesus, she's not hiding anymore.

[33:22] She is screaming, come meet a man who told me all that I ever did. Now, again, sometimes we hear these stories so much we don't think about it. Okay. If you met somebody today in town, right, you were at a restaurant and you met someone and they said, hey, come really quick.

[33:38] And like, they just unloaded on you every dark secret you've ever had. Like everything you've ever done. Stuff you'd forgotten about, stuff you went to counseling to forget about, whatever. They just laid it on you. I don't know that your natural response or my natural response would be, you know what I need to do?

[33:53] I'm going to come to church next week and say, hey, heads up, this guy knows all my dirty secrets. Let's all go down there together and let's all hear them. Like, I don't know that that, you know, I don't know that a lot of us would go, you know what?

[34:06] That is the kind of guy we want to meet. In fact, we don't want to just meet him. We want everyone. Why don't we get him here? Let's get him up on stage. You can go row by row or alphabetical order, you know, on age, start with ages.

[34:19] I mean, I just, just let it all, we want to all hear everyone's junk. Like, I don't know that like, this doesn't make any sense. He told me everything I ever did. Everyone's like, that's great. We want to hear it.

[34:30] We want in. We want to, let him tell our mess. Like, that just doesn't feel logical. So, there's more to it than just, he told me everything I did. She said, can this be the Christ? There's something about her encounter with him, had left her like changed.

[34:46] She sounded different. She looked different. Something was different. And so, all these people now go to meet Jesus. It's not because they don't have stories. They got different stories.

[34:57] Maybe they don't all have that kind of story, you know, but they have stories. Maybe some of them have only been married once, or some of them have never been married, but all of us have stories. And so, they go with all their stories, and they go to meet Jesus. They wanted whatever she had found.

[35:13] They had, I mean, normally these are small villages, you know, where, where these people lived, and, you know, they probably knew of her, you know, probably said things, you know, if they were kind, like, she's a little different, you know, she's an interesting one, she's troubled, whatever they would have said.

[35:30] But man, this was very unexpected behavior. Come meet a man. Oh, another man. You know, maybe started off like you would have thought with her, but, this is like, it's like maybe the first time she'd met a man that knew she was vulnerable, and didn't want to take advantage of her, or abuse her, but like loved her, and wanted to heal her.

[35:54] So, what I, what I want to do for us, just in the last couple of minutes, is, I want all of us who are, already are followers of Jesus, to consider her, and just think, why is it that this story is so, like, like between her and the disciples?

[36:10] Why is the way she responded, so different to the way the disciples, who already need Jesus, like acted? why is it that she is the example, that we should be following, not them?

[36:25] I mean, it almost seems like the longer you follow Jesus, the more clueless you can become, the more you can take Jesus for granted. You know, disciples are just, we're just often clueless about this mission of Jesus.

[36:37] We often miss it. Story starts off with them going into town, to buy groceries, right? That's what they do. They go to buy groceries. Then they come back, they, they miss this whole amazing moment that's happening.

[36:50] Then they start telling Jesus to eat their groceries. Then they wonder who beat them to the punch. And if you follow the disciples, they're always doing this. They're always trying to get one, you know, get a leg up on each other. They're always trying to, you know, get into Jesus's favor a little bit better.

[37:02] And so, no doubt, they're looking around going, like, who did this? We were sent to buy groceries, and one of you guys snuck Jesus a sandwich, and, you know, they're all put off by this whole thing. And, or perturbed Jesus, you sent us into town to get lunch, and you already had lunch.

[37:16] Like, you know, like, they just, they just, they just missed it. And then they missed it, and then they missed it, and then they got offended about the wrong things. And gosh, that sounds like Christians.

[37:28] We just miss it, miss it, miss it, and we all get offended about a bunch of the wrong things. So, what were they missing? And by that, what were, what I mean, what are we always missing? How can we learn from this story?

[37:39] Just a few quick tips. I think the first thing is, they were missing the mission is all around us, all the time. We get this word mission from a Latin phrase, missio dei. It means the mission of God, or the sending of God.

[37:54] And I think as Christians, you know, a lot of times, if you're new to Christianity, a lot of times what we do is we go on mission trips. And on a mission trip, you know what we, what we go to do? We're going to act like Christians.

[38:06] We're going to go and be kind, and we're going to be nice, and we're not going to say a bunch of hurtful things, and we're going to be bold, and we're going to pray for people, and we're going to tell people about Jesus. We're describing just a normal day in the life of a Christian, but this is like a special trip for us.

[38:22] And I'm not saying that mission trips are wrong, I'm just saying that it's weird to me that that's what we do on a trip, and that feels different to normal life. Like if, you can imagine disciples almost going, well, Jesus, if you would have told us it was one of those kinds of trips, when we went to town, we would have not just got groceries, we would have been kind, and we would have talked to people about you, but I didn't know it was that kind of trip, you know?

[38:48] Like we're good at this if we're told to do this, or if we think that we're supposed to do this, it's just that most of the time, we don't think that we're supposed to do this. But like, it's not just in the planned moments.

[39:02] I mean, when Jesus has this moment where he sends them out, and they go, and it's great, because they like got it, oh, this is my moment. Actually, it's always our moment.

[39:13] Actually, everywhere around us, it's our moment. Jesus said, open your eyes, it's all around you. Look, it's not going to happen in four months.

[39:24] He's like, it's happening right now. Right now it's happening. So we miss that. We miss that mission's all around us all the time. We also, we miss that what we need most is to be on God's mission.

[39:39] This is what we need most. Now, think about this. Jesus said, this is my food to accomplish his work. It's my food to do the will of the Father, the will of him who sent me to accomplish his work.

[39:50] Think about how much of our lives revolve around food and work. If you're here and you're a kid, you're going to school so you can learn some things so one day you can work.

[40:01] Right? Food, work, food, work, food, work. This is like what we think about all the time. And so Jesus said, this is my food. I have food you don't know about.

[40:12] My food is to do the will of him who sent me. Now, here's the thing about food. I'm going to just be personal with you guys for a minute, just be vulnerable. I actually am planning on eating later today.

[40:25] I've already thought about it. I've made some plans. I'm going to do that. I'm going to eat. And this is tough to admit, but it's going to happen again tomorrow.

[40:37] I'm already thinking about it right now, actually. And Tuesday, Wednesday, in fact, it's one of my resolutions this year, try to eat a lot.

[40:48] Every day. I'm planning on it. I have thought about it. I know what I'm going to eat. I'm going to do it. Because I like food. And because I think food is necessary.

[41:01] Right? So Jesus says, yeah, that's what it's like for me to do this. I love it. And I think it's necessary. It's like food to me. I'm nourished by this.

[41:12] So my question is, because I think we're all like this. I think, especially, it's the Super Bowl. I mean, I don't even like football, but I mean, I'm going to eat like I like football. Right? Wings are going down.

[41:23] You know? So, all of us love food and know we need food. So let me ask you this. what if you and I planned to go and make much of Jesus to go and, what if we planned to do that like we plan to eat?

[41:44] What if it was that normal for us? What if we thought that was like normal? Like, food, work, food, what if we thought this is like food to me? I need it. I love it.

[41:54] I love doing this. What if it was more normal to us than a lot of times we make it? And then just the last little thing we learned from them is, I think we should, what they were missing is we should be quick to tell our own stories of meeting Jesus.

[42:06] This lady did not need a degree from a Bible college on missions. She didn't need a bunch of like convincing Bible verses.

[42:17] She didn't need sad photos and just troubling statistics about her village and the problem and the epidemic and the blah, blah, blah. And I'll just tell you, there was a part of my life where I traveled around long before we started One Harbor and I'd speak around the country and I'm trying to get people to go on mission trips and I would use compelling Bible verses.

[42:35] I would use sad photos. I would use staggering statistics. I would use all these things to try to talk you or somebody into going on a mission trip somewhere. And I could probably get you to go once but I don't think I could really get your heart.

[42:50] And I think we need less of that kind of stuff sometimes, the sad photos and the stats. There's a lot of stuff that we could tell you about this community. Stuff that a lot of you even know.

[43:02] I've been involved in multiple young people dying over the last week. Deaths that should not have happened. Like we can tell you sad stories and statistics and all that but at the end of the day you know what we need is what she had and she didn't have that.

[43:16] What she had was she met Jesus. She was like, oh wait, Jesus is incredible. Oh my gosh, I want everybody to know about him. And so that's what we need more than sad stories and statistics is, oh my gosh, Jesus is incredible.

[43:29] Oh my gosh, I want everybody to know about him. It's that simple. It's that simple. She didn't treat meeting Jesus as embarrassing as her story was.

[43:39] She didn't treat it like some visit to an embarrassing clinic that she didn't want anybody to find out about. She didn't treat it like it was private. She wanted it to go viral.

[43:53] And so many Samaritans from that town believed in him because of the woman's testimony. And then they met Jesus for themselves and they were like, hey, yeah, you're great, but man, he is amazing. He's the savior of the world.

[44:05] And that's the last thing, just quickly, is that the goal is that people are impressed by Jesus, not us. The goal is that people are impressed by Jesus, not us. I have to ask myself this.

[44:17] I'd encourage you to ask yourself this. When people are left spending time with us, are they impressed by us or are they drawn to Jesus? They walk away going, wow, that is a really good person there and I could never be as good as that person or they walk away going, man, their life is kind of screwed up.

[44:37] Their story is kind of sad, but Jesus sounds amazing. Which one of those? Our heart as a church is to fill this region with the gospel, the good news of what Jesus has done.

[44:52] We don't want everybody thinking that we're great and everybody thinking Jesus is great. And, you know, this new facility that you guys are going to move into is just an opportunity to make more about Jesus, but we don't put our hopes in new buildings.

[45:06] We don't let, that's not really where the hope rides. Actually, the way that the, the best way that the gospel gets out is through word of mouth. You know, it's through word of mouth.

[45:17] It's good news that just needs to be talked about in the same way that when you hear good news, you can't shut up about it. A new product, a new iPhone, a new restaurant, a new, we know how to do this.

[45:28] We just don't typically do this with the best news ever. And so I would encourage you to just be the kinds of people on Harbor Havelock who are all the time doing what this woman did.

[45:41] Come, come meet a man who knew everything about me and yet he loved me. As the band comes up, if you're here, you're not yet a Christian. And man, you probably, you might resemble this lady.

[45:55] You know, you've got stuff you're ashamed of, stuff that makes you sad when you think about it. You've probably got some, like, I'm gonna do better. Maybe you're here today because you're like, this is part of mine. I'm gonna try better. I'm gonna do harder. I'm gonna try better.

[46:06] I'm gonna do harder. 2020 is my year. I got this. I'm gonna change. I'm gonna be different. I'm not gonna do that anymore or this anymore or whatever it is. And you probably got some confused religious thoughts, but you're, you know, fingers crossed something good's gonna happen one day.

[46:24] Maybe you're initially a little offended by Jesus and I would invite you to behold him, to see him. He didn't just come, he knew she was coming to that well.

[46:37] It's no accident. I mean, you gotta know if Jesus knew how many husbands she'd had, he knew she was coming to that well. And Jesus sat there and waited for her. He sought her out.

[46:49] He didn't just come to her, he's coming to you right now. He knows all your mess, all your sadness and stuff you're ashamed of.

[47:00] He knows all that, your confused religious ideas, all that. And he wants to be with you. He wants a relationship with you. He wants you to see him for who he is. He wants to satisfy stuff inside of you that you've thrown everything at.

[47:13] And maybe it was relationships like her, maybe it was success or money or whatever, but he sees it. He knows it's not working and he wants to heal you.

[47:26] So if that's you, we would love a chance to talk to you more about that in a few minutes. If you're here and you're already a Christian, you know, what would it look like for us to to be like this woman?

[47:36] Man, just to behold Jesus, just to see him for who he is, just to remember how amazing he is. And one of the best ways that we remember Jesus is by doing this thing that we do every Sunday where we take communion.

[47:53] And again, that thing can just be a go through the motions. Oh, I can't wait to check Facebook. I wish, I wonder what's happened. What are we going to get for the groceries? Oh my gosh, we got to get out of here. Like that can be that, but it's not, that's not what that is.

[48:06] That's definitely not what that should be. So just as we consider communion, I want to just reflect on that question she asked. Are you greater than our father Jacob? You know, Jesus didn't really directly answer the question in the moment.

[48:17] He said, well, this well he gave you, yeah, I'm better than that. But eventually he would answer that question. It would be the night he was going to be betrayed.

[48:29] He broke bread and took this cup and he passed it around and he said, you're hungry and you're thirsty and I'm going to satisfy you. I'm going to, I'm going to, this is going to be food for you.

[48:40] This is going to be drink for you. This is going to heal you. Do this in remembrance of me. Are you better than our father Jacob? Yeah, I'm better than him and Abraham and Moses and David and whoever else you want to bring up.

[48:55] I'm better than all of them. I mean, he gave you a well, but I'm going to give you my life. I'm not just better than that well, I'm better than that bucket, our own little ways of trying to quench our own thirst, all the little things we put our hope in, cling to.

[49:13] He's better than all of that. And so when we come and take communion, we come and remember that, that we're hungry and we're thirsty and that Jesus alone satisfies what he has done for us. And then, and then we leave and it's just this beautiful picture of like remembering and receiving just, man, Jesus, thank you for satisfying me.

[49:32] But then you leave and you, you got in this world surrounded by people just like me, just like you, just like her. People who on the inside are dying, on the outside are going through the motions who need Jesus.

[49:45] And we say, Jesus, use us. Give us eyes to see the harvest all around us. Help us to make much of you. We pray for us. Lord, thank you for her story.

[49:56] I know for at least some of us in the room, we hear that story and think, gosh, thank God I'm not like her. And we lean in on the story and go, my God, I am just like her.

[50:09] Shame and pain and regret trying to do better, confused about religious things and not really sure of who you are sometimes.

[50:22] Man, Jesus, thank you that you came to her and thank you that you are coming to us and that you alone satisfy. Thank you that you see what's going on in our lives and yet you still love us.

[50:36] You knew her mess and yet you still cared about her and you still engaged with her and you still called her to come to you. So, Lord, I pray that you would, we would have the experience with you now that she had.

[50:50] We would behold you again and be reminded of how amazing you are. For some of us in the room, maybe it's our first time going, oh my gosh, you are the savior of the world. So, Lord, be with us now as we respond and be with us when we leave.

[51:09] I pray that Havelock and James City and New Bern and the surrounding areas would be filled with people coming to hear how great you are and hear our stories and they'd want to run right past us to you.

[51:21] In Jesus' name, Amen.