God Shows Up When We Gather

What an honor it is to be in this room. The scriptures tell us that when there are two or three gathered in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, that he's right here in their midst. And I'm not that good at math, but I know there's two and three and four and tens and hundreds of people in this room. So God has made us a promise that if we gather in his name, and if we gather to seek him wholeheartedly, that he promises to show up. Amen. Anybody in this room? All three of you. Anybody love the word of God in this room? We are in a series that we just started last week, and it's called God Looks. I believe that this series is going to be very transformational for our church because we need to be reminded that God is the one that looks for us. That we need to be reminded that it is God who found us, found us in our brokenness, and as He finds us, so we should go and do the same. That as you have been found in your mess, as you have been found in your brokenness, as you have been found when you weren't even looking for God, He was looking for you. I believe that we should do the same, and that we should go ahead and leave the 99 and go look for the person that is lost and go look for the person that is broken and go look for the person that is confused and go look for the person that couldn't even spell God if you gave them two letters. As you have been found, there is a charge for you to go and do the same. And we're gonna be coming from the Gospel of John today, and I want you to open your Bibles if you have one with you, your physical Bible, if you have one on your phone. I want you to turn your Bibles to the book of John, chapter four. And there are four eyewitness accounts of the life, the death, and the resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ. We have Matthew's gospel, we have Mark's Gospel, we have Luke's Gospel, and we have the Gospel of John. The Gospel of John is a gospel that is the most intimate of the four gospels. Now, Jesus had 12 disciples, but it was John that was in the inner circle of the Lord Jesus Christ. Now, John was a first-century Palestinian Jew who was converted to be a disciple by the Lord Himself. Now, John was a fisherman alongside of his brother James and Peter. And when Jesus, watch, found them, he said, No longer will you simply be fishermen, but now you will be fishers of men. So John is converted into discipleship, and not only is he one of the twelve, and not only does he get the privilege and the honor of walking below alongside of Jesus, watching him heal, watching him do miracles, but he had a very intimate relationship. It was John, church family. Pay attention. It was John who would be one of the three disciples alongside of his brother James and Peter who would walk into the Garden of Gethsemane with Jesus, and John would be one of three disciples that would hear the Lord Jesus say in the Garden of Gethsemane that my soul is sorrowful even unto death. And so John had the maturity to have an eyewitness of the Lord Jesus at his lowest moment. But it was also that same disciple John who followed Jesus to watch the mountain of transfiguration, and he witnessed the Lord Jesus Christ, the Lord Jesus Christ transformed before him into his resurrection form, standing in between Moses and Elijah, which shows us in the scripture that Jesus is the fulfillment of both the law and the prophets. And so John gets a glimpse into Jesus at his worst and Jesus at his best. I think this is important for us to know because if you're gonna have anybody in your inner circle, you must have people that have the maturity that can handle you at your worst and your best. That it's not enough for someone to be in your inner circle and handle you at your worst, but some people don't have the maturity to handle you at your best. So Jesus shows John intimate moments on the Mountain of Transfiguration and intimate moments in rooms where he's doing miracles, intimate moments in the garden where his soul is sorrowful unto death. And John often refers to himself in the gospel as the one that Jesus loves. John refers to himself as the disciple that Jesus is enamored by, and that is not a statement of arrogance, but I believe that John was enamored by the fact that of all the disciples and of all the people that God could have chosen, that God found me and God looks for me because he loves me. Church family, let me remind you in this room that you did not do anything to deserve to be looked for. That God looks for you, that God found you simply because he loves you. And it is a love that you cannot earn, it is a love that you will never be able to deserve. Your church attendance does not make God love you anymore, any less. That he already loves you, and because he loves you, watch he goes and he looks for you. Because he loves you, he will lead the 99 and he will look for you. And in the Gospel of John chapter 4, we are getting an insight into a conversation between Jesus, who is a Jewish rabbi, and a Samaritan woman at a well. Now, this conversation takes place at a town in Samaria called Sakar, and it was in this town where Jacob's well was established and it was built. It was this very same area where Jacob, all the way back in the book of Genesis, built an altar to the Lord Jesus Christ that was called El Elohi Israel, which means God, the God of Israel. It was this same location where the bones of Joseph, if you go all the way back to the book of Genesis, and where Joseph was betrayed by his brothers into the land of Egypt and and he stayed there with his family. But when Moses was sent to Egypt to free the Israelites, they brought the bones of Joseph and they buried them in this area. So this place has a lot of history. And if we look at verse 4, we see the Lord Jesus Christ passing through Samaria. Now the text says something very interesting. The text says that Jesus had to pass through Samaria, not because it wasn't optional, but because Jesus Christ was looking for someone. I'm glad that Jesus Christ will ignore cultural barriers because he was looking for the one, he was looking for a woman, he was looking for a Samaritan. We see Jesus here in this text ignoring cultural barriers and ignoring cultural oppositions. And church family, I think that we should be doing the same because Jesus wasn't so much concerned about the barriers between Jews and Samaritans, he was more concerned with building a bridge for this woman to receive exactly who he was. And we should do the same, church family, that we should be in the business of doing two things tearing down barriers, but building bridges for those who are lost and those who are hurting, and those who are thirsty, and those who are confused to have an encounter with the Lord Jesus Christ. Now pay attention, the one who provides rest is now at a well, he is weary himself. The one who said in Matthew chapter 11, come to me, all you are weary, and all who are heavy laden, come to me, and I will give you rest. This same Jesus who is fully God, we see his full humanity on display because he is stopping at the well, tired from the journey. And he asked this Samaritan woman for a drink at the well, and this Samaritan woman is so shocked because she knows that, according to culture, that Jewish people have no dealings with Samaritans. And Jesus uses the language of physical water to resemble a spiritual and living water, and that living water, church family, watch it is the Holy Spirit. And he begins to have this conversation with the woman and tells her that you are looking for physical water, but I can provide living water, and if you partake of this living water, you will never be thirsty again. Stop right there. This is so important for us to know because what Jesus is painting a picture of, he says that if you do not have the Holy Spirit, you will always find yourself thirsty in this life. So that you can run to every relationship, you can run from bed to bed, you can run from job to job, you can run from country to country and city to city. But if you do not have the living water of the Holy Spirit, you will never be satisfied in this life. Now watch this, and then Jesus continues the conversation. He says that you have had five husbands, and the one that you are currently with is not your husband. Stop right here. I want us to pay attention to how Jesus is setting this conversation up. He says, You have had five husbands. Now we don't know why she's had five husbands. Some theologians believe that some of them divorced her, some theologians believe that these husbands may have passed away. But what I love about Jesus is that he loves us enough to find us, and Jesus loves us enough to confront our sin. Let us not be confused, church family, that love is not the absence of conviction. The Bible says in Romans chapter 8, verse 1, that there is no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, but there is conviction for those who are in Christ Jesus. And so he says, You've had five husbands. Now watch this. And he says, The one you are with now is not your husband. Now I love this right here. Because Jesus Christ is letting this woman know that even though you live with that man, that man is not your husband. Now pay attention, watch. He is reforming or correcting her theology on what marriage truly is. He is telling her what marriage is not. He is telling this woman that just because you are enjoying the benefits of marriage, that does not mean you are in the covenant of marriage. Okay, now watch. Watch. Just because this woman called this a marriage, it doesn't mean that Jesus called it a marriage. And I just want to help somebody. This is not my assignment this morning, but I want to help somebody and let you know that just because you might enjoy the benefits of marriage, there needs to be the covenant of marriage. That there is a way to do marriage according to the Bible and according to the ways of Jesus Christ. And we do this all the time in America where we call relationships marriage that are not marriage. And so Jesus confronts her sin in love. He says, The man you're living with, that's not your husband. I know he's cute, I know he's fine, tall, dark, and handsome, but that is not your husband. Let me just help my sisters out in the room. Until that man puts a ring on your finger, and until he says, I do to you at the altar, that man is not your husband. That woman is not your wife. So there are boundaries that have been crossed, and Jesus lovingly confronts her. And this is where we're gonna find ourselves. We pick up right here in verse 20. Watch the woman's response. She goes, Our fathers worshiped on this mountain. But you say, in Jerusalem is the place where people ought to worship. And Jesus said to her, Woman, believe me, watch, 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. Watch this, but the hour is coming and is now here when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and in truth. For the Father, watch, is seeking what? Looking for such people to worship him. God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth. Now stop right here. The woman's response to the Lord Jesus Christ finding her, confronting her in her sin, is to try to bring this conversation to a legalistic conversation of spiritual superiority. Well, Jesus, our fathers, worshiped on this mountain, and the mountain that she is referring to is Mount Garerism. It was established all the way back in Deuteronomy chapter 27, where the ancestors of the Samaritans began to worship on that mountain, and they tried to make that mountain the place of worship for God's people. So they would literally tell Jewish people, hey, don't go to Jerusalem and worship, but come to this mountain and worship. And when you are not following the Lord Jesus Christ, watch when there is an opposition against the word of God, when there's an opposition against the church, people will try to watch, distort what worship truly is. And so they used to worship on this mountain, and she's trying to bring it into a conversation of superiority, but Jesus does not take the bait because Jesus is not interested in winning an argument, he is interested in winning this woman's heart. And if we are going to seek those, if we are going to look for people, church, family, we cannot be so concerned with winning every single theological debate. We cannot be so concerned with winning every single conspiracy debate. We must be in the business of not winning arguments but winning over hearts. Now that word seek in the Greek, it means zeteo, and it means to crave, it means to demand something from someone, it means to desperately and urgently seek after. Now this is revelation in the text because God is looking for a certain kind of people. God is looking for worshipers and worshipers who will worship him in spirit and in truth. Stop right there. That means that tells us right here in the text that worship is a spiritual experience. Pay attention, watch. Now that means that worship is your spirit acknowledging his spirit, which is greater than your flesh. So that means that you can come in here and the worship team might not sing your song, but you'll still lift your hands. No matter how I feel, I'll come into this room and I'll lift both of my hands because you are worthy of my worship. Worship is a spiritual experience. Sometimes I don't understand how you can have a testimony of how God found you and how God restored you, how God saved your mind, how God saved your marriage. And sometimes I'll look out into the crowd and I'll see arms folded as if God owes you something, as if you are entitled to his grace, as if you are entitled to his mercy, as if you're just here to check off a box, forgetting that you have a testimony. So they may not have sung your song. Is he still worthy of your worship? I know it's been a long week, I know you're tired, but is he not worthy of your worship? I know it may not be your preference, but is he not worthy of your worship? In spirit, watch and in truth, which means, according to the whole counsel of God's word, that it is hard to worship a God that you do not know. And if you do not know God, it's because maybe we have not been in the scriptures that we must bury ourselves in this word. And when we know the character of God, when we know the goodness of God, when we know the faithfulness of God, when we know the conviction of the Holy Spirit, it makes it easier for us to worship because no matter what is going on around me, I know the truth of God's character in his word. And this woman tries to localize God and say, Well, it's about worshiping on this mountain, and I want you to know that God is spirit, which means that God is omnipresent, that means that God is everywhere all the time, all at once. Now, this is so comforting for me because it reminds me that I do not have to be here in this physical building to have an encounter with my Lord and Savior. That I can be in a car and worship, I could be at work stressed out and worship, I could be at home and worship, I could be in my kitchen and worship, I could be in the gym and worship, I can worship anywhere. Because God, watch, is not defined by space, he is not defined by time, and too often we have a difficult time worshiping God because we have put limitations on a God who is omnipresent. Doesn't matter what mountain, it doesn't matter if it's here or there, God is spirit, and they that worship the Lord must worship him in spirit and in truth. Verse 25 the woman said to him, I know that Messiah is coming, he 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. Stop right here. After Jesus has called out her sin, after Jesus has reminded her that you need living water, that you need the Holy Spirit, that you need me to satisfy every longing. What I love about this woman is that this woman is not offended by Jesus Christ. She's not offended by him, and she sticks around long enough to hear the Lord Jesus Christ reveal himself to her. Which I love that because when Jesus comes and he finds us and he seeks us, Jesus is reminding us in this text that he is in the business of revealing himself to sinners, that he will find you in your mess and reveal himself to you. I'm so thankful that God didn't wait for you to get it all together to reveal himself to you. I'm so thankful that he found me in my mess, he found me in my addiction, he found me when I was lost and found me when I was broken. And sometimes if we can move past offense, and if we can move past our preference, then we can stay around long enough to have a revelation of who Jesus is. And if there's anything, hear me, church family, listen to me, listen to me. If there's anything that we should be asking for in this hour, I know sometimes you come to God in prayer, and I know you have a long laundry list of what you want. I know you want a new car, I know you, I know you want marriage, I know you want money, I know you want security, I know you want your little boothing, I know you want your girlfriend, and I know you want this, that, and the third. But what we should be asking for in this hour, we are in the final hours of human history. Listen to what I'm saying that we should be asking the Father for a revelation of Jesus Christ. No, no, I'm I'm I'm serious, listen to me. We cannot just keep singing worship songs with no revelation of Jesus Christ. We cannot keep gathering with no revelation of Jesus Christ. We cannot keep doing small groups without a revelation of Jesus Christ. You cannot be a faithful husband without a revelation of Jesus Christ. We cannot build healthy marriages without a revelation of Jesus Christ. If there's anything, let me help you here. When you go into your secret place, so you pray to God, I dare you, Lord, reveal to me who Jesus Christ is. And if you get a revelation of who Jesus Christ is, watch your soul will be watch satisfied. Every longing that you have, every thirst that you have, when God finds you, when he looks for you, he has every intention of watch, having an encounter with you. That Jesus Christ loves you too much to leave you as you are. His goal is to encounter you and watch, his goal is to change you. We cannot keep coming into church with demons and leaving with demons. We cannot keep coming into church and not being transformed. Keep coming into small group gatherings and not leaving transformed. I want this church, I want this generation to become so desperate for nothing other than a revelation of the Lord Jesus Christ. Because you can have money and no revelation. You can have a marriage and have no revelation. Watch. You can have a big church and no revelation. You can have a large small group and no revelation. You can have nice clothes and no revelation. You can have a big house, security, comfort, everything you want on this earth, and yet no revelation of Jesus Christ. What we need in this hour is a revelation. And this woman only perceived him to be a prophet, but no, he is more than a prophet. Church family, I don't care what any other religion says, Jesus Christ is more than a prophet, he is God. Sir, I perceive that you are a prophet. Yes, God is a prophet, but he is also the king of kings, and he is also the Lord of Lords, and he's also Alpha and Omega, and he's also the beginning and the end, and he's also the Son of Man, and He's also the Ancient of Days, He is also the wonderful counselor, He is also the everlasting Father, He is also the mighty God, the Lord, the Lord Jesus Christ is and always will be God. Amen. Anybody in this room? Look at me like I'm crazy. No, he's not just a prophet, he's not just a nice God. The Lord Jesus Christ is, was, and always will be God. Don't care what social media says, don't care what these false prophets say, no, he is God. And I said that. Don't care what no Muslim says. No, he's not just a prophet, he is God and God Almighty. Can't shut me up. We stand on the word of God. He is the image of the invisible God, He is the resurrected one. You can't tell me to be quiet. I know who my God is, do you? Don't bow down to nobody. You don't bow down to no false religion, ain't afraid no false teacher. Jesus Christ is and always will be God. Verse 25 or verse 27. I'm landing the plane right here. Just then his disciples came back and they marveled that he was talking with a woman, but no one said, What do you seek? Or why are you talking to her? You want to know why? Because they had reverence for the Lord Jesus Christ. They had reverence. And so the woman left her water jar and went away into town and said to the people, verse 29, 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. And I love this that the woman's response, watch the woman's response. She has now been sought out by Jesus. She's been sought out. This one woman, and watch her response. The response to the revelation that Jesus is the Christ is that she drops everything that she came in with. She came to the well with a jar to fill with physical water and left that jar behind to go tell everybody, come see a man that told me all that I ever did. And that should be our response, church, when Jesus finds us, when he reveals himself to us, that we should drop the things that we came in with. No, no, no, listen, no. Because sometimes we get a revelation of Christ and we still leave his presence with that same relationship that's making us more thirsty. And you leave with those same habits and you leave with those same addictions, and every time Jesus encounters you, he has given you an opportunity to do this. Surrender to him. That our response to the revelation of Jesus Christ should be to surrender everything in this life that's making you more thirsty. And what is that thing for you this morning? Is it a relationship? Maybe. Is it your job? Maybe. Maybe it's you. Maybe maybe you love yourself too much. Maybe you are your own idol. Whatever is making you thirsty, clearly it's not working, or else you'd be satisfied. Clearly, something's off, or you would be satisfied. So this woman drops the jar, and our compelling response should be to drop everything that we come in with. Everything that's not of you, Lord, prune me, Lord, refine me, Lord, change me. You and I are responsible. Watch, you and I are responsible for what we do with the revelations that we get from the Lord Jesus Christ. You are in charge of your response, and this woman who came to the well thirsty, who came to the well overlooked, who came to the well lonely, sought out by the great shepherd. Watch, this woman has now been turned from a thirsty woman into a fiery evangelist with a testimony to tell. Now I'm about to land the plane, but I just want you to know how gangster this is by our Lord and Savior. Because a woman's testimony, watch, a woman's testimony at the time was not respected in the first century AD. A woman's voice was not put in high regard. So Jesus continues to push cultural barriers by sending a woman, watch, into a gentile region, watch, with a testimony on her lips. Come see a man that told me everything I've ever done. When Jesus finds you, when he reveals himself to you, his goal is to put a testimony on your lips and to go share it with everyone that you know. And I just wonder in this room who will go on the behalf of the Lord Jesus Christ and boldly proclaim the testimony that you have. Who will go in Isaiah chapter six, verse moment where Isaiah tells the Lord, Lord, here I am, send me. If you're gonna choose anybody, if you're gonna use anybody, you can send me. And this woman goes into Samaria. Watch, and the first evangelist to ever touch the Gentile region of Samaria was not Peter, not Matthew, not Bartholomew, not even John himself. It was a thirsty woman who now has a testimony on her lips. For some of you guys, you have a testimony and you've been too quiet. We'll end right here. And then I want to pray. Verse 39. This isn't on the notes, but it says, and many Samaritans from the earth believed in Jesus believed in testimony. Declaration of your testimony. It is when you share your testimony. Save me from an addiction. Come see a man that saved me. Come see a man that saved me from loneliness. Come see a man that saved me from sexual struggles. Come see a man that saved my marriage. Come see a man that saved my children. Come see a man. So when the Samaritans came, they asked him, they asked Jesus to stay with them, and he stayed there for two whole days. You want to know why? Because Jesus Christ will always stay where he is wanted. Do you really want a revelation of the Lord Jesus Christ? Now the simple answer might be yes, but if we were being honest with ourselves, I think some of us may not, because when Jesus reveals himself, he makes you confront yourself. And if we're being honest, some of us don't want to change. We like a God that keeps us comfortable in our sin. We we we want to encounter Jesus yet be who we've always been. And you can't follow Jesus and look like you at the same time. You must make a choice, and that is the tension that we are facing. Watch in the American church today, because we overpreach love and we overpreach grace, and so we are taking God's grace for granted, and we claim to follow Jesus on social media. The Bible verses in our bio, but our lives do not preach discipleship. And so you claim to follow Jesus, but you look like you, and you talk like you, and you sound like you, and you think like you, and you date like you, and you marry like you, and you build finances like you, and nowhere on the foundation is the word of God or the Lord Jesus Christ. So we stayed there with them two days, and many more believed because of his word. And they said to the woman, It is no longer because of what you said that we believe, for we have heard for ourselves, and we know that this is indeed the savior of the world. Everybody stand up on your feet as we close. I want to pray for somebody in this room that you represent this Samaritan woman. You were once thirsty, now you've been found. I want to give you an opportunity to give your life to the Lord Jesus Christ, and then what I want to do is after you make that prayer, there is uh technology on the back of your seat where you can tap. Okay, after we pray, I want you to take your phone out, and there's a technology on the back of your seat, and we want you to answer just some very quick questions that will tell us where you are at, and we want to follow up with you, and we want to help you walk in discipleship, and we want to help you walk in your gift because our vision here at this church is to know God, find freedom, discover purpose, and make a difference. This woman had an encounter with God, and she went and made a difference with her testimony. And so, if that's you in this room and you say, Lord, send me, I'll share my testimony. Lord, send me. I'm not afraid anymore, I'm not ashamed of my testimony, Lord. I want you to send me. Or if you're in this room and you want to know this Christ, you want to know the God that can satisfy every longing that you have, you want to know this God that can quench every thirst and every longing. If that's you in this room, I want you to put your hands out in front of you like this. I want you to lift your hands up, I want you to lift it up high, both your hands high. Lift your hands high. I want to pray for you. I want to pray the anointing and the power of the Holy Spirit, and I want to lead you through a prayer of salvation. Repeat after me, dear Jesus, everyone together, dear Jesus. I come to you today. I ask you to come into my life as my Lord and my Savior. Today is my new beginning. I will drop everything and I will follow you all the days of my life. Lord, thank you for finding me, for seeking me, for changing me. Lord, I pray that every single person in this room, those who are saved and those who just gave their life to Jesus, that you would give them the boldness to go share their testimony, a boldness to go make a difference, a boldness to serve on the dream team, a boldness to find themselves in a small group and declare, come see a man who told me all that I ever did. Father, I pray that your fire would sweep over this room. That God, you have not given us a spirit of fear, but of power, love, and a sound mind. Father, pour out your power in this room, pour out your love in this room, and give us a sound mind. Give us a testimony on our lips so that we can declare how good you are, that you are the Christ. We honor you and we love you in the name of our matchless Lord, Savior, and soon coming King Jesus Christ. And everybody said all over this room. Amen and amen.