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Hey, good people, this is Torre Roberts. Blessings to you and welcome to the ONE Podcast. I'm excited that you're here. ONE is a community of dynamic and vibrant thought leaders, preachers, teachers, and just a community of wonderful people all together. And we're excited to bring you this weekly podcast from our Services from ONE in la. If you haven't been the One, I encourage you to check it out. You can go to one the Word one O N E online and find out all about the service times and all about the teachers and all the philanthropic things that we have going. I believe you're going to be blessed to be a part of it. And speaking of being blessed, we're getting ready to get into a teaching right now that I believe is going to bless you. So tune in, enjoy, and I'll be back with you at the end.
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We're going to start in John, chapter four. I'm going to read a couple verses and I'll let you sit down. I'll keep reading. John, chapter 4, verse 1. 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 to Galilee, but he needed to go through Samaria. In other words, Jesus was making the Pharisees mad, as usual. So he left town to go to Galilee, but he needed to go through Samaria. So he came to a city of Samaria, which is called Sicar, 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, sat thus by the well. It was about the sixth hour, and a woman of Samaria came to draw water. Jesus said to her, give me a drink, Father, give us a drink. For his disciples had gone away into the city to buy food. Verse 9. Then the woman of Samaria said to him, how is it you that you being a Jew, ask a drink from me, a Samaritan woman? For Jews have no dealings with Samaritans. Verse 10. Jesus answered and said to her, if you knew the gift of God and who it is who said, says to you, give me a drink? You would have asked him, and he would have given you living water. Praise God. Sit down, I'mma keep reading. I'mma keep reading. Living water man, I speak divine encounters over you this week in the name of Jesus. Such a special anointing in the room. I hope I get to teach this message. I speak divine encounters over you as you pray each Morning say, God, direct me, focus my attention so that I ask the right questions of the right people. Amen. Verse 11. Then the woman said to him, sir, you have nothing to draw with, and the well is deep. This is not a well like we see in the fairy tales. There's like a big well with a bucket and a, you know, and a thing to pull up the water. These wells are a hole in the ground, so you have to have something to go down in there and get the water. She said, 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 livestock? We're going to talk more about Jacob later, but Jacob was kind of a big deal. And then Jesus answered and said to her, whoever drinks of the water that I shall give him, I will never thirst. But the water that I shall give him will become in him a fountain of water springing up into everlasting life. The woman said to him, sir, give me this water. Oh, okay, I'm here for it. Give me this water and that I may not thirst nor come here to draw. And Jesus said to her, go call your husband and come here. Oops. The woman answered and said, I have no husband. Jesus said to her, you have well, said you not lying. You ain't never lied. I have no husband. For you have had five husbands. Jesus. I think she beat Elizabeth Taylor. You have had five husbands. Whoo. That's a lot. And the one whom you now have is not your husband. In this you spoke truly. Verse 19. The woman said to him, sir, I perceive that you are a prophet. You right, you right, you right. I need to do a whole translation reading. I do. Our fathers worshiped on this mountain. And you Jews say that in Jerusalem is the place where one ought to worship. Jesus said to her, woman, believe me, the hour is coming when? When you will neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem worship the Father. You worship what you do not know. We know what we worship, for salvation is of the Jews. But the hour is coming. And now is when the true worshipers, I want to be a true worshiper, will worship the Father in spirit and in truth. For the Father is seeking such to worship him. Let it be me. God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth. Verse 25. The woman said to him, I know that the Messiah is coming, who is called Christ. And when he comes, he will tell us all things. And Jesus said, To her, I who speak to you am he. This is huge what happened here. This is a monumental story in so many ways because Jesus has gone out of his way to go to Samaria. Now, Samaria is kind of like modern day Palestine. You got a people who have descended from the same forefathers. Abraham, remember Abraham had. Isaac had Ishmael. So they descended from the same forefathers. But something happened with the Samaritans that split up their perspective. I'm not going to dig all into it. So that they began to develop a different religious perspective. So different that the Jews in them became enemies, even though they had a common starting point. And so for Jesus to go to Samaria and then be talking to a Samaritan, I'm a. It's all right then to be talking to a Samaritan. There's your first issue. Because we got a not. It's not even a love hate relationship. It's a hate hate relationship. Now, to us, from the outside, the Samaritans would look pretty similar to the Jews. If you're not Jewish, they're talking about their father, Jacob. They got the same bloodline history, but they had diverged in some of their belief systems. But they're still standing on the fact that the Christ is coming. So he's talking to a Samaritan whom the Jews don't like. He's talking to a woman, which a rabbi shouldn't be doing. And Jesus was a rabbi wouldn't do. And she done had five husbands and she's living with a man who's not her husband. This woman could not be more of a problem. She's a three dimensional problem. She is a member of an ethnic group. An ethnic group. The Samaritans were an ethnic group who were enemies with the Jews. And it's a woman, and she got a high body count. She got a little whole history. So it makes no surprise that Jesus waited till all his disciples had left him to start this conversation, because they were still in their transition from being very good Jews to learning what it would mean to be followers of Jesus. And so their own religiosity would have been a problem for this conversation. And I'm gonna just extrapolate and believe that Jesus wasn't interested in arguing with them and taking care of what he came to take care of with her. And so he had to let them leave because the religious people will sometimes disrupt a conversation between an unworthy appearing person and Jesus. You couldn't be talking to Jesus. You didn't hear from Jesus. You are not one of us. I see you as unworthy. You might not use that word, but you've had the energy. Maybe not all of you, but some of you. Because, again, as I've been speaking week after week after week, and I promise you, it is not my personal vendetta every time Jesus has led me to where I needed to speak to you from the Word, when I expand the context of the Scripture, Jesus is kicking the law in the back and dealing with religiosity. So I'm gonna keep preaching it because he keeps bringing me here. And I know it's necessary for us as a movement because of the incredible call we have to spread the gospel of Jesus in this city and in this world, and we cannot do it with the shackles of religion on us. And so I don't want to be a person that Jesus has to send away for him to get to somebody, because my perspective. So he's talking to this woman, and she's had five husbands. I. I want to start with the five husbands. Let's. Let's start there, because you may have not had five husbands or wives. Has anybody? Okay, good. So you just, you know, and so stand up. I just want to applaud your faith and love. Anyway, if you haven't, it's out there for me. Maybe you haven't had five husbands, but I wanted to propose this morning that this woman was married to five different men, But I believe she was actually only married to one idea. She had an idea about how to solve a problem, and I imagine she had a problem. We don't know if she was widowed. Hopefully not widowed five times, because then, you know, some questions there for my Special Victims Unit watchers. But it doesn't seem that she killed them all. I feel like that would have been here. So maybe one died. Maybe she married another one. Whatever it was, somehow this woman managed to have five husbands. Now, we know a woman in that cultural space would have struggled to live well without a man attached to her financially, socially. She would have been left out of many things, vulnerable in many ways, maybe homeless, maybe destitute. And so she had issues that needed to be solved. I believe she had one idea that she was married to about how she could solve her problem, and that was by getting a husband. And so maybe you haven't had five husbands, but I'm wondering if you've been married to a single idea for so long that at least five times or more, you have tried to solve the same problem the same way, because you're actually Married to an idea. We've seen the church do this and get it completely wrong, because we can get married to an idea in such a way that we don't recognize Jesus. She didn't immediately recognize who she was talking to. She didn't recognize that the solution to her problem was standing right in front of her because she was already married to an idea. And I believe the church has done this. And. And the church has had about five of these, maybe more. Particularly the Western church. They once were married to the idea that slavery was biblical, that it was okay to steal humans, own them, sell them. People actually believed. They weren't just saying they believed it was biblical. They really did believe it. They had convinced themselves that it was biblical. There was a time when the church labeled mental illness as a demonic oppression. Some of you are still struggling with that idea right now, even though we have all the information to understand that a mental illness is Mental health awareness month. So can I veer off for a second? That. Of course. You know, I wonder if for Mental health awareness month, it would be great to go to a church where the pastor was also a therapist and you can just. It's mental health awareness month every month here. I mean, we gonna put up an extra post, but it's always Mental health awareness month here. Because one of the greatest gifts that I feel like I can give you is an emotionally and mentally healthy concept of who God is. Because having an unhealthy concept of God is what's undermining your walk and his reputation. So mental illness. And some of you are still struggling with this. Some of you get into emotional pain and you go straight to God, I'm so sorry, and please don't sing. And the devil is attacking me. Some of you are walking past an unhoused person on the street and they're talking to themselves, or they're yell. And you start rebuking the devil like he's about to attack you. And that person simply has an untreated mental illness. A large percentage of the unhoused population has untreated mental illness. Some studies show as high as 80%. And so maybe love and not oil is okay. Okay, just gonna point that out. There was a time, though, when the church completely believed that. And there's still places on the globe where people who have mental illnesses are being locked in rooms and prayers are being prayed over them. And they're being beaten with Bibles. Jesus. Oh, it's a fact. But they're believing this. They're believing this married to an idea. The Subjugation and silencing of women. The Western church especially is still wrestling with this, even though Scripture shows time and time again God using women to lead. And when you see that in Scripture, I believe we can look at other vulnerable populations. That the church says is not accepted, not welcome. But the Bible constantly shows that it is human beings who are coming up with this idea. We have to be very careful not to take the commandments of men as the doctrines of God. And sometimes we have twisted the two. The silencing of women, colonialism overall, and this idea of manifest destiny that when Psalm 2. 8 said, Ask of me and I will give you the nations, that that meant you could just go out here and. And kill people and take their land. That is not what it meant. But they were married to an idea. Prosperity gospel. I ain't saying God doesn't want us to prosper, but we did get a little out of hand with it in the 80s. We felt like we could just speak a word. It was the Word of Faith Movement, it was called. And we could just say it and it would be. And then people got very distressed when stuff didn't be because we took it a little too far. Do your words have power? Yes, but so does the soil. So does the sun and the rain. There's a whole lot of things that got to come together for a word to take root and produce fruit. Other than you just talking and talking and talking and talking. So if your heart has been broken because somebody told you, just confess it, just confess it, Just confess and it didn't happen. It's. I'm sorry. But those are five examples of how the church has been wedded to one idea. The idea was control. How do I control things? How do I control you? How do I control what happens to me? How do I control the environment around me? And how do I control things? Because we've wanted control instead of the power of God. Control and power, not the same thing. But we've been wedded to the idea that control would solve our problems. And it has shown up in five other husbands. But we're going to be free in this church. We're going to be free. Amen. But I know none of you had those issues, but how about your finances? Let's use your finances for an example. Five husbands. In your financial area, you need to change the way you deal with your money. And so here are five ways that people often try to be married to the same idea. You figure you're gonna hustle harder if I just hustle harder. I can have my financial plans taken care of. But you don't actually have a plan. So you make more money than you spend more money. Well, you gotta spend money to make money. But first, make a little more first. We want to hustle harder without a plan. And if that husband doesn't work, some of you are relying on credit cards and payday loans. You always know what neighborhood you in. If I see a liquor store and a payday loan place right next to each other is guaranteed to be in an area where people have less resources. Why? Because they understand. Understand the allure of desperation and sometimes us wanting to fix something quickly. A third one. That manifesting or speaking that prosperity. I'mma manifest this finances. I'm manifesting it. I'm speaking riches. I'm speaking riches. I'm speaking riches. Can you speak not a 27% interest rate credit card. Can you speak that? Okay, we're speaking it. We want to do that. Other ones of us just ignore the problem out of shame. Ain't filed the taxes in a few years. Ain't. Well, they haven't written me a letter. I ain't heard nothing from them. They coming. As sure as Jesus is coming. They are coming. But we try to ignore it. It's embarrassing. We need help, but we don't want to talk about it. So we just ignore the problem because of shame. That's another way that we try to avoid our finances. Or we just are waiting for this big break. I'm just gonna keep going because when I hit that one big thing, that one big payout, then we're gonna solve every problem I've been holding on till now. I can just make it further. And so those are five ways that we've been married to the same idea. The idea is to avoid process. I feel like if I can avoid the process and just get there quicker. And these are five ways for me to avoid process. I'm married to the idea of process avoidance. And these are the five husbands that I've had. Oh, my goodness. But all of y' all are wealthy, and you're sowing and you're paying your tithe, and so you have nothing to fear. But let's talk about relationships. I think that many of us are also wedded to a single idea that manifests in multiple ways when it comes to our relationships. And that idea is the avoidance of pain. I must not be in pain. So I'm wedded to the idea of not being in pain. And husband number one sounds like I'm gonna use a relationship to fill a void instead of healing a wound. Anybody ever marry that one? Oh, it's quiet. They looking at me like, really? Really? I thought you loved us. Pda. I do. I do. Filling a void instead of healing the wound. Relationship can't do that for you. There's work you have to do yourself. Do relationships help heal us? Yes. That's like next level healing. But if we don't do our own individual work on that childhood wound, that inner child, that abandonment wound, that fear, what's left from that addicted parent? All the different ways that we've been shaped to show up in relationship anxiously or avoidantly. If we don't do that work on our own, then the relationship just becomes a shield rather than a healing agent. And we hold onto it because if it's gone, then the wound will be open again. Sometimes we're in relationship because we're trying to prove our worth. If this person likes me, I did something. I'm a 6, but I'm going after this 10. Some of y' all need to tone down your app settings. You are out of control. You're out of control, child. He needs some abs. Do you have any? Can I tell you one of the most humbling things that I did when I found myself single again and ready to date? I figured I'm just gonna go on this app and just see who likes me. Wow. Wow. That's what we're working with. Okay, okay, okay. Thank you for a little humility. I appreciate. I appreciate it. Appreciate it. We can pursue this thing to prove our worth, and we hide it in our religious language. I know God has this for me, and I'm not settling for less than what God has for me. Okay. Trying to prove our worth. And the longer you're waiting for this miraculous relationship, the higher you stand. Okay, I told the women I'm going to do a dating thing. I got y' all singles. I got y'. All. I got y'. All. Somebody said, praise them. I got y'. All. Another thing we do. Let me hurry up. Relationships to escape ourselves, avoid pain by distraction. Another way we do it is to try to control things or give somebody else control. Please, somebody else tell me what to do, where to go. Make it work for me. Please, please, please. Especially those with those deep childhood wounds where your parenting trauma is not around what they did to you, but what they didn't do for you. And so you were never covered. You were never protected. You weren't provided for emotionally. And so that child is saying, please, somebody else. And so somebody comes in strong. And it seems like they're just. Oh. They're like, oh, but that's my love language. Acts of service. You're, like, explaining it away. But what's really happening is you are a parentified child, and you're so happy to have somebo show up and take control of a situation. And that's how you end up with the narcissist. And then you want. Okay, it's a different topic we're on here. This woman at the well. And then there's the fifth husband. The repetition of a familiar pattern. I'm just going to date the same person again. Here we go again. All in an effort to work with the devil I do know versus the devil I don't know because I get confused when I date the nice person because then I don't know what they up to. So I'm gonna go back to the crazy because at least I know what that looks like. Yes, Return the crazy person to the streets. I need you to take them back. Whose music video was that? When they walked out and put the man on the street, they were, like, taking them back to the streets. I need some of y' all to do that. I'm watching too much social media. Take my phone. Take my phone. And so here you are, wedded to the idea that I must avoid pain. And so you've married the same thing over and over and over and over and over. But guess what? Jesus is here. Jesus is here. You are here with Jesus today. Jesus shows up at this well, and he identifies the fact that this woman is thirsty for control, thirsty for process avoidance, thirsty for pain avoidance. Maybe I should call this message thirsty one, but I'm not going to. He recognized what was going on, and I love the way he spoke to her. I always point this out that she doesn't fall back in embarrassment. She's not like, dang. She continues to talk to him like, oh, okay, we talking. We talking. She's talking to someone who has spiritual knowledge, and she's leaning in on her spiritual knowledge. And so she's just like, okay, okay, I got you. Are you Jacob? Who are you? Because you must be somebody. He must have spoken to her in a way that was not condemning, in a way that made her feel welcome to continue to use her voice. Because we don't see her becoming apologetic or shameful or dropping her head or stuttering. She just said, you right. You right. You have spoken the truth. What's up? I need you to be curious. When someone confronts you with the truth, when the Truth comes to you like it's coming now. God must be present. And so Jesus is offering her this living water. But I believe that it was so loving because he's ready to offer her something different. But I want to prove to you how loving it was, because it's easy to say it was loving, but he didn't say, I love you, but I want to prove to you how loving it was and why this moment is so huge and a turning point for her, and it is a turning point for you. She mentions that this is Jacob's well. Some of you may not know who Jacob is. And so I want us to go backwards and find out. Genesis, chapter 29. I'm going to read some more verses to you. If you have heard of Isaac and Rebecca, you know Abraham had the kid, Isaac, y' all know he messed up. First the wife, Sarah, made him sleep with the. Y' all know that part of the story, Maid, right? And then he had Ishmael. Then he had Isaac. Isaac grows up. He marries a woman named Rebecca. They have a son named Jacob. They also have a son named Esau. They were twins. And then my mom, Rebecca, convinces Jacob to play the dad by pretending to be Esau. And then Esau gets mad. Now he's ready to kill Jacob. So Jacob has to run away. That's the backstory pick up in Genesis 29. So Jacob went on his journey. That's the journey he's on, running for his life from his brother. He went on his journey and came to the land of the people of the east. What journey are you on? Are you on a healing journey, really? Or are you on the run? So Jacob went on his journey and came to the land of the people of the east, east coast. And he looked and saw a well in the field. I know west coast is the best coast, but east coast we still pretty good out there. And beheld that there were three flocks of sheep lying by this well. For out of that well, they watered the flocks. But a large stone was on the well's mouth. So the well is a hole in the ground, and there was a massive stone on top of it. Now, all the flocks would be gathered there and they would roll the stone from the well's mouth, water the sheep, and put the stone back in place on the well's mouth. So this well was. So this stone was so big that all the different shepherds would come at the same time. And when they got there, they would roll the stone together because it was too heavy. So Jacob said To them, my brethren, where are you from? And they said, we are from Haran, which is where Jacob was on his way to. Then he said to them, do you know Laban, the son of Nahor? They said, we know him. They said, is he well? And they said, he is well. And look, his daughter Rachel is coming with the sheep. Then he said, look, it is high day. It is not time for the cattle to be gathered together. Water the sheep and go feed them. But they said, we cannot until all the flocks are gathered together and they have rolled the stone from the well's mouth. Then we will water the sheep. So Rachel is coming with sheep and to be watered at a time of day when the other shepherds are not there yet. The woman at the well came to the well by herself in the middle of the day when nobody else was there yet. Stay with me. Verse 9. Now, while he was still speaking with them, Rachel came with her father's sheep, for she was a shepherdess. Did y' all know that there were women shepherds? So in all of the arguing that we're doing in the Western church, especially about whether women can lead or not, and when my entire Bible talks about the sheep as pastoring, as leading sheep, and there were shepherdesses. And, okay, so there was a shepherdess. And it came to pass when Jacob saw Rachel, the daughter of Laban, his mother's brother, and the sheep of Laban, his mother's brother, that Jacob went near and rolled the stone away all by himself. Jacob rolls away a stone. That sound familiar? And the stone was rolled away from the well's mouth, and the water watered the flock of Laban, his mother's brother. Then Jacob kissed Rachel and lifted up his voice and wept. He fell in love with her, love at first sight. And Jacob told Rachel that he was her father's relative and that he was Rebecca's son. That's how it went back then. So she ran and told her father. Then it came to pass when Laban heard the report about Jacob, his sister's son, that he ran to meet him and embraced him and kissed him and brought him to his house. So he told Laban, this is Rachel's father, all these things. And Laban said to him, surely you are my bone in my flesh. And he stayed with him for a month. And then Laban said to Jacob, because you are my relative, should you therefore serve me for nothing? Tell me what your wages should be. Now, Laban had two daughters. We know the name of the elder was Leah, and the name of the younger Was Rachel the one he was just saw who was so fine? Leah's eyes were delicate. This is a nice way of saying, you know when you see a baby and you be like, you're so. That baby is precious. This is like saying that the baby's precious because you're not gonna tell nobody a baby is ugly. So you say, it's precious. So Leah's eyes were delicate. This meant literally she had a lazy eye. And then she was not seen as beautiful. If you are in here, and that is you, you are beautiful. But she was not seen as beautiful. Delicate. That's what it says. I'm telling y' all the truth. But Rachel was so beautiful. And so he asked for her. He said, now it says, neliy's eyes were delicate, but Rachel was beautiful of form and appearance. Now, Jacob loved Rachel. Ooh. He was like my girl. He loved Rachel. So he said, I will serve you seven years for your younger daughter. This man was so in love, he said, I will sacrifice seven years of my life to marry her. And Laban said, well, it's better I give her to you than I should give her to another man. So stay with me. So Jacob served seven years for Rachel. And they seemed only a few days to him because of the love that he had for her. And then I'm gonna Skip to Genesis 29, verse 27. Here's what happens. He serves for seven years, and then there's a wedding. But in their tradition at the time, there would be a veil over the bride's faces. And not a sheer one, like an opaque one, so you couldn't see the woman's face until later on when they were done, and by their self. And so he marries who he thinks is Rachel. But he wakes up the next morning when the sun comes out. Cause they know lamps, right? So when the sun comes out and he sees who he spent the night with, it's Leah. Uh huh. See, some of y' all didn't know this story. Cause I was. It was like the T. So then it's Leah. And he snuck her in, saying because he knew he probably couldn't get anybody else to marry Leah. So he snuck her in on him and said, well, the oldest has to get married first. And so then he's like, but I really love Rachel. And so he agrees to work seven more years to marry Rachel. So I want you to look at the level of sacrifice that Jacob is willing to do for this woman that he loves to become his bride. He rolled a stone away from a well, so that water could burst forth. And then he, because he was willing to give his life, because he was so enlightened, so at a well that was. Are you with me? And so now let's come back to the woman at the well, because what you haven't realized is that this is actually a wedding. See, Jesus walks up to a well and sees a woman who had five husbands. And now she has a man who's not her husband, but he's about to be number six. And Jesus says, I'm the one, he's number seven. And so the perfect man is standing in front of her. Did you know we were witnessing the bride of Christ for the very first time in the story of the woman at the well? Isn't that mind blowing? We have read this story so many times and never realized that we were witnessing a wedding. She had been married to an idea and she had done it again and again and again. And now as John chapter one, verse one says in a translation that I read to you on Easter Sunday, she is standing in front of the living idea and he allows her to see him as her groom. It is the first time in the entire walk of Jesus's ministry that he reveals who he really is. Nobody else has gotten him to confirm who he really is. People ask who he is. He say, who do you say that I am? But he chooses to take this ethnically marginalized female who has had all these husbands and is bad in society, the second class citizen, because she's a woman and she's in an ethnic group that's hated. And he goes to that place to say, I am He. He reveals himself to this person first. I want you to know that it was not unintentional that Jesus gave as an example who the bride of Christ would be. The most unworthy person that he could find to let them know that you are not unworthy. Baby, you're a worthy one. I want you to know this morning that everything about you that makes you unworthy, everything about you that makes other people say, you don't have the education, you're not from the right place. You don't have the money, you don't have the pedigree. You have a lifestyle that we can't stand. But Jesus is coming to you to get you to change your mind. Give up the idea to which you've been married and allow him to be your bridegroom. It's a wedding. He solved her problem. She recognizes a messiah is coming when he tells her he's. He's the one she Believes it. This is the longest recorded theological conversation that Jesus has with anyone. He doesn't rebuke her like he does the Pharisees. He doesn't have to fuss at her like he sometimes does the disciples. Theological depth, longest conversation. And she believes him. And what happens? Oh, my God. Are you ready to really be married to Jesus this week? Are you ready? I mean, because he is literally standing here challenging you to give up the idea to which you have been wedded and become the bride of Christ. Male, female. That's not the point. The bride of Christ is all of us. When we marry, it changes our identity, it changes our name, it gives us another resource set. Everything changes when we come into this kind of covenant relationship. And so he's offering her this living water. But it is more than that. This is a wedding. So he tells her, I'm going to go back to John chapter four. Now we're back in that verse 27. His disciples come back and they marveled that he was talking with a woman, yet no one said they knew better. What do you seek? Or why are you talking with her? Verse 28. The woman left her water pot. She left. What she was trying to do, she abandoned. How she was trying to solve a problem that day for her thirst. She left her water pot, went her way into the city and said to the men, come see a man who told me all the things I ever did. Come see a man who told me all the things I ever did. But go back to verse 28. The woman left her water pot, went her way into the city and said to the the men, why didn't she go to the women's meeting? Why didn't she go? I mean, I was joking earlier about I can't come to breaking bread, but I'm coming by. Maybe not this week, but I'm coming by. Why? Because there is no line drawn. Do we want to spend time together as communities with people who have some things in common with us so we can talk about our unique experiences? Yes. Do we need to believe that men can't teach women something or women can't teach men something? No. We have to stop that. She went to the men. Do you know what a big deal this is? She went with boldness to the people who she had gotten in messiness with and shared the gospel with them. This is the first person in scripture to recognize Jesus, believe on Jesus, and then go talk about Jesus. She is the first person to spread the gospel, this unworthy woman. So she goes to the men and she says, come See, a man who told me all the things I ever did. No shame. Oh, my God. Do you want to be this woman? Do you want to be the bride of Christ? Do you want to spread his message? You will not be able to do it trying to hide and cover yourself. That's why I stood here last week and told you things about my story. Because I want you to know what shamelessness looks like. Because I serve a God who has covered everything that I ever did. But you don't want to tell your story. You will not achieve what he's called you to do. You don't need to go out one movement and tell the world how sinful they are. You don't need to go and break their hearts about that. Tell them what he did for you. That changes people. I got in my Uber this morning, and I didn't usually. Like, I study when I'm on my way here again, didn't get to study. The man turns around, he was like, who are you? I said, what do you mean? He said, your energy. There's just energy that's just, like, coming off of you. What is it? Oh, you asked the wrong question. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Oh, I'll talk to you about your energy. That ain't no problem. I had everybody messed up. I arrived at the church without texting my arrival. I was. Everybody was like. Because I was talking about Jesus all the way here, because he said, I feel something about you. That's what we want. I was able to say, this man has changed everything about my life. You gotta be willing to tell your story and to the people who will know what the problem was. She could have went and told it to the grandmothers, but it wouldn't have been as effective. She went to the men, and you know how bold she had to be to do that. And they believed her. And it says in verse 30, they went out of the city and came to him. Jump down to verse 39. And many of the Samaritans of that city believed in him because of the word of the woman who testified. Not argued, not condemned. Testified. Do you have a testimony? I have a testimony because 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 in Samaria for two more days. Jesus went to the place that the Jews hated and spent two days with people they hated because they felt like their religious was. Religious life was the right life and nobody should be anywhere else. And I. Yeah, you know, I. I'm getting in trouble. The kingdom of heaven is a spiritual one. Jesus was rejected partially because they were waiting for a Messiah who would set up a political kingdom, and because he didn't. That was one of the reasons they didn't believe it was him. And so I do feel they need to challenge the church to some extent. Okay. About getting away from a spiritual kingdom. Instead of fighting, fighting, fighting to set up a political kingdom, Jesus did everything opposite of what was expected at the time in order to establish the kingdom of heaven. That doesn't mean that we don't participate, but let us not equate the kingdom of heaven to the kingdoms of this world. Then they said to the woman, verse 42, now we believe not because what you said, for we ourselves have heard him, and we know that this is indeed the Christ, the Savior of the world. She brought them to Christ. That's how we talk about it when we share Jesus. Did you bring someone to Jesus? My story may have made you interested in Jesus, but I'm trying to bring you to Jesus, not to me. But I get the opportunity to testify what he's done of me because I recognize how much he deeply loves me. So much. He fell in love with this woman at the well, like Jacob fell in love with Rachel, and he was willing to lay down life for her. Earlier. In John chapter four, it says that at the sixth hour of the day, he sat down by the well. Jesus hung on the cross for six hours. From the time they put him on the cross to the time he died was six hours. So when he says he sat down by the well, tired at the sixth hour, a foreshadowing of his death. And then this woman comes, and he gets up and says, there she is. That's how Jesus sees you when you approach him. There you are. There you are. I've been waiting for you. There you are. A stone was rolled away. Living water came out. You can be in this relationship, this idea of being the bride of Christ. It is our ultimate goal that when Jesus returns that we are in that relationship with him, that it is a wedding day for us. We have not seen her as a bride before because we focus on how unworthy she was. But I'm here to tell you today, you're a worthy one. You're a worthy one. You're a worthy one. Some of you have been serving Jesus already, still not believing you were a worthy one. You've been serving them almost apologetically. I'm here, thank you for dying for me, because I didn't deserve it. Thank you for loving me. I don't deserve it. Thank you. Because your self hatred, your self degradation, you're still projecting that onto Jesus. But he has fallen deeply in love with you. So much so that he wants to be married to you not as a favor, but because he actually loves you. To him you are a worthy one. Man that. Remember that song by Anthony Brown in group therapy? You thought I was worth saving. That one. I don't remember the rest of the words. You sacrificed your life. Send me that. You thought I was too worthy one. I want you to know that you're worthy. And all you need to do to step into your next with Jesus is abandon your ideas about how to solve your problems and embrace the living idea that is Jesus. Repentance means to change your mind and your way of seeing seeing things. It doesn't mean to say sorry. It means to change your mind and your way of seeing things. And so my. My prayer for you today and what I believe is the hope of the Holy Spirit is that seeing this woman through this lens is changing how you see the worst parts of you. Because this woman was all bad parts. And he chose her. Not the disciples, not the Pharisees. He chose this woman to reveal himself to as the Christ and for her to be the first person to share her testimony with the world. I want you to leave inspired to bring people to Jesus like she did. Because once he changes your ideas about how to solve your problems. Jesus doesn't want you thirsting for control. He doesn't want you thirsting to avoid process. He doesn't want you thirsting to avoid pain. He wants to meet your needs. He wants to supply for you. He wants to hold things together for you. That word husband actually means house band holding a house together. He wants to hold you together. You feel like you're falling apart. We can approach the Father in one way, we approach the Holy Spirit in one way. But today I want you to focus on Jesus as the lover of your soul. He wants to be in the most painful places, the scariest places, the tearful places. This is the husband you've been waiting for. Stand to your feet. Hallelujah. Isn't this Bible phenomenal? How could this Bible. It's the Bible. I was absolutely floored when I realized that the Samaritan women and him were in a wedding space. This Bible is so much truth in it. Just keep reading it. Keep reading it. It is my deep heart. I think one of the things that blesses me the most, there's A few things, but one of the things that blesses me the most is when I hear from someone. Listening to you makes me more curious about the Bible. We good? Because that means I got you to Jesus. You gonna be all right? Because his word is alive. It's got so much in it. If you're in here today, you don't know Jesus personally. You haven't gone into this covenant relationship with him. Oh, man. Worship team. Come on back up here for me. I'm excited. Is it really only 10:30? Yes. I'm like, is my thing wrong? Oh, we got it. We got a few minutes here. Hold on. If you have never met Jesus for yourself, if you've heard about him, maybe you grew up in church, but you wasn't really there. If you don't feel like, yes, I am in a deep, personal relationship with Jesus. I want to invite you today to embrace the idea that is Jesus. If you haven't known him, he absolutely loves you so much. He laid down his life for you, and then a stone was rolled away and he rose for you. This is the relationship you've been waiting for. I promise. He has changed every aspect of my life. He has broken addiction and helped me heal abandonment wounds. He has transformed me from being afraid all the time to feeling loved most of the time. Only time I don't feel loved is when I'm letting my fears get in the way. But he always brings me right back. I don't know what I would do without Jesus. If you don't have a relationship with Jesus that sounds like this. I want you to. Can you just slip your hand up? Hey, you. Hi. Hi. Who else? Where else? Anybody else? Come here. Would you mind coming down here? I want to pray with you. You don't have to come. You will still know him if you don't come. But I just got a thing for people who are meeting Jesus. If you want to come, just come and meet me right here. Hey, he's been looking for you. Jesus has been looking for you. He was already sitting by that well. Hey. He was already sitting by that well, waiting for you to show up and change your idea about how you've been living. There's not one of us that haven't tried everything and still found ourselves, like, at zero. But here is a Jesus who loves you so deeply, he laid down everything for you. And I promise you, this will make it different. It's the beginning of an incredible journey. Give Jesus a year. Your life will not look the same. It won't look the same. Hang out with us. Come on in. Be a part of our family. One let them know how excited we are that you came down here to meet Jesus today. Because when you give your life to Jesus, it's actually the last individual decision you make. Because immediately you become part of a family called the body. So you're on your own and then you're not. So we got your back. But I want you to know how much he loves you. My Bible says in the book of First John that anyone who believes that Jesus is the son of God is in relationship with God. So that's the first question I want to ask you. Do you believe that Jesus was the son of God? Do you believe he died and then like literally rose from the dead and that he did it because he loved you? If we believe that, we're with Jesus and he's with you. He paid for your pain and your sin and your ball drops and your failures and mine on the cross. So we receive him and ask him to change our lives. If you believe that, just pray after me, Jesus. Rescue me. Save me from the ideas that I've been married to that are not working at all. Change my mind, change the way I see things. Let me see myself, other people, the world, and your father God through your eyes. From this moment forward, I want to be your bride. Thank you, Jesus. Amen. And that's it. Everything starts fresh. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. Surrente any of my people. Pastor Ev, would you just come and take this wonderful group of people? Maybe if you guys will just follow them like right over there. I want them to get your information. Information. Find out who you are so we can stay in touch with you. I love you. I can't wait to see you again. I'm so excited people came to Jesus. Yes. Now I got a few more minutes. Who just wants me to pray for them? I gotta open the altar because the altar matters. There's something about the altar. So just come, come on down. Maybe you're already in relationship with Jesus. I'm assuming you are. But man, you didn't realize you were already his bride. You didn't realize how much he loved you, how much he gave up for you. Really. That he is in this love relationship with you and that he is here to replace the ideas that you've been wrestling with that are not working and that he's a better idea. I want to pray a vow renewal over you today. You and Jesus. You and Jesus. Oh, everything's gonna change. That thing that's been scaring you, that Thing that you've been trying to solve that you've been doing over and over again and it's not working. I want you to lay it at the altar today. Get that frustration, that disappointment, that fear, that will it ever work out thing and just put it right in your hand and lift it to Jesus. Father, we're bringing you all our stuff today and we're placing it in your hand because your overwhelming love for us, we know you have already provided for what we need, our deep need for connection, for relationship, for love, for safety, to feel valued, to have purpose. And we have all these ideas about how to meet those needs. But we give you our idea today and we embrace you instead. Thank you. You are already a God who knows everything we've ever tried. But you're here to offer us something new and we receive it today. Let us have a few fresh revelation of how you have looked at every quote, unquote unworthy thing about us and called us worthy one. Let our embrace of the revelation of our worth, our worthiness take over our hearts today. That we'll notice that we're standing up straighter, that we're smiling a little bit wider, that our eyes are sparkling a little bit more. Let it be an energy that attracts people. What's going on with you? It's my worthiness. I found out I'm a worthy one and that everything that felt like it was an unworthy thing, that it becomes testimony in their lives. Father God, give them the boldness to tell their stories to the people who need to hear it most. Let them go out like that Samaritan woman and say, I gotta tell you about somebody who changed their mind. Everything. And that as they make that kingdom seeking their focus, you will add everything else to them that they desire. That the desires of their heart will be met with ideas that are beyond what they could ever fathom. In Jesus name. Now as they go forth, those on the altar and those in the room, I plead the blood of Jesus over every one of them. That they are safe, that they are well, that they are covered, that they are surrounded by goodness. I speak the Lord. Be blessing to them and keep them and make his face shine upon them, that he will be gracious to them, to lift his countenance upon them and grant them shalom. Shalom. Amen. I love you. I love you. I'll see you soon.
- [53:27]
B
Hey, family. Well, I pray that you were just as blessed by this teaching as I was. I'm just so grateful again to be a part of a dynamic community full of love, full of revelation and wisdom. One has been a movement that's been blessing people for over two decades, and I'm so glad that you got an opportunity to experience it. I also have a podcast called called the called. It's right here on wherever you're listening to this Spotify or Apple or wherever you're listening to this podcast, you can just look up the call T H E C A L L E D with myself, T Roberts. This is designed for entrepreneurs, leaders, and business people. It's a weekly podcast and it will bless you. But hey, I enjoyed having you here. Meet us here next week. Check out the call. Much, much blessings to you. We'll catch you next time.