Ministry to Women at Wells (John 4:1-26)

we're going to uh continue the the subject of like commissioning and and equipping and all the things because I don't know if y'all realize uh but the world is a mess it's a mess demons everywhere and God has his church here to be the salt of the earth but salt that ain't seasoning things ain't doing nothing like the spaghetti I mentioned yesterday it's like we I have to bring it back around like we God has saved us and kept us here on purpose because he wants to use us to show forth his glory to to

give uh instruction to the world about his character and his nature even you the only reason you are a Christian because someone told you about Jesus because Somebody Prayed you towards Jesus Jesus because somebody showed you Jesus and so now God has given us the the opportunity to do the same thing for other people the the thing is is that when it comes to Grace Grace is so amazing because God saw us in our sin being raggedy and He sent Jesus to redeem us so that we can be at peace with the father God removed

our Heart of Stone and gave us a heart of Flesh he made and and cre created us as new creatures he changed our minds and he changed our motives God showed out when he saved his enemies but the grace the Grace isn't just in the Salvation there's there's another miracle attached to that one which is that when God saved you he also set you apart for the work of ministry you understand how crazy that is that that you were according tot scripture an enemy of God but because of Grace you are now called his Ambassador

the awkward part is that for me I I would have preferred if God just saved me and sent me straight on the glory just took me right up on out as soon as I said Lord I give my life to you he like all right like treated me why I can't be Enoch I'm chasing that after you make me disappear my life would have been easier because nobody nobody really wants to deal with the cost of ministry the loneliness The Angst the irritation the extreme degree of integrity that's required simply by virtue of professing Christ

the devil you got to fight in your home in your marriage with your children the fact that you are working for the Kingdom of Light even the kingdom of darkness will come against your children like don't nobody wants to to do that nobody wants to deal with the jealousy from peers that you thought loved you but want your position nobody wants to deal with the constant awareness and insecurities that rise up in you when God calls you to do something nobody wants to deal with that most of us just we just want to be saved

we don't want to be sinned but what a privilege it is that God has given us the opportunity to suffer with Christ out of commitment to his gospel when God saved you he was also sending you with that said I want us to look at John for today with Jesus's Ministry to the woman at the well because I want us to learn from Jesus on how to do ministry W with anything whether it's tying your shoes whether it's potty training whether it's riding a bike whether it's writing with a pencil we we have to be

taught we have to be taught how to do ministry like Jesus because we have a lot of models of ministry whether that's pastors whether that's Elders whether that's deacons whether that's people in our homes but we don't ultimately want to learn how to do ministry like Pastor so and so we we don't even want to be deceived by the ministry of prophet warlock or evangelist witch we we don't want to not have a grid for what real Ministry looks like because we're looking at them more than we look at Jesus we we want to learn

how to do ministry in the way that Jesus does Ministry his his ways and his wisdom and his love has to be the grid we use to define Christian CHR Min Ministry so as we go back into our churches so as we go back into our homes so we go back into our workplaces into our universities and our schools that I I don't want us to be Christians that are content with sitting on the sidelines God is requiring of us to be a generation of people who will lace up their shoes and get in the

game let's pray Lord we need you we always need you in this moment we need you to speak we need you to communicate To Us by your spirit by Your Word through your son God we we help our minds to understand your scriptures help us our hearts to to resonate with the the truth of it God give us the wisdom to know how to apply it to the particular seasons that we have the different giftings that you've graced us with and the the the context that you've placed Us in give us give us Direction and

vision for how you want us to do ministry God we need your help we need your power and we also need your courage we pray this in your name amen I want to put before you six observations of Jesus's Ministry to the woman at the well that we can and should apply to our own Ministry efforts amen um the first observation is to lead with your Humanity lead with your Humanity how many of you have heard the name Jim Jones not dipet not the rapper some of them were like Oh I thought you was gonna

say cameraon in them no no no no no no no cult leader Jim Johns she like oh yeah yeah yeah him too um Jim Jones was the leader of a cult church called The People's Temple during the mid to late 70s Jim Jones came to National prominence when he led his flock from California to a community that he constructed in the country of Guyana that he called and named after himself called Jonestown while he was there most of us are aware on some level of Jim Jones and the infamy that he left because eventually LED

his followers to commit a mass suicide by drinking poison koola I watched a documentary about Jim Jones and the Jonestown Massacre because I have a thing for watching documentaries about murderers don't don't ask me why it's just very interesting to me to to see The Human Condition play out anyway um one of the things that was interesting is that what was compelling for many people for the reason that they followed Jim Jones is that he presented presented himself as God to them in his in his sermons if you want to call him that and his

teachings and his communication and and his interactions even in some of the behaviors that he would mimic he he would present himself as God but the thing is that was in San Francisco when they saw him in the pool pit they actually believed he was God they trusted he was God they followed him as God when they that it was easier for them to believe what he was saying about himself when there was some degree of distance between the preacher and the pre and the people but when they moved to Guyana when they moved into

jonest toown and their God became their neighbor they saw him up close and personal they saw his addictions they saw his mental state they saw his instability and one of the followers in the documentary said that the closer he got to Jim Jones the more human he became I say all that to say is that in your ministry to anybody you need to embrace the fact that you are not God that you are a whole human being and a part of being a human being means that you have limitations and you have weaknesses but in

your Humanity your weaknesses are not hindrances hindrances to God's glory if you understand them as opportunities to experience God's power before you do anything that God has called you to do you usually feel a bit insecure about it God has called you to disciple this person or God has called you to lead a Bible study or God has called you to have a hard conversation you you start to to shame yourself for the experience of the insecurity so much so that you try your best to get over it instead of looking to your insec like

looking past your insecurities to to point you towards the nature of God because all your insecurities prove is that you come face to face with a challenge that you don't have the human resources to overcome I'll say it again all your insecurities mean is that you have come face to face with a challenge that you don't have the human resources to overcome your insecurities remind you that you're human and if you're human that means you need you need a power outside of yourself to do everything that God has called you to do but if God's

grace really is sufficient my human weaknesses are always setting me up to experience God's power the mindset of Jim Jones is very much present in Christian Ministry we all have to fight a God complex that tempts us to believe that we have to be more than what we are to be useful that that you can't be weak and Lead well that you can't have a stuttering problem and speak authoritatively that you can't lead a Bible study if you have a learning disability that your marriage has to be perfect for you to disciple somebody that's engaged

that you need to know all six 6 books of the Bible to have one conversation on your campus about Jesus there's a sense in which we think godlikeness perfection in our body perfection in our personality perfection in our gifts that that will make our ministry better when in fact Perfection would only lead you to do ministry independent of God's help if if if you were good at everything you wouldn't need God for anything no one God gives you calls that you cannot show up for unless you need him one thing one thing pride is good

at Pride shows up in a lot of ways one thing is good at is it makes us discontent with ourselves it makes us discontent with what we are and who we are namely it makes us discontent with our position as people made of Flesh and Blood Pride wants you to despise your limitations that's why we don't pray without ceasing we think that prayerlessness is a Time problem prayerlessness is always a humility problem you feel like you are sufficient within yourself therefore you don't want you're not as needy therefore you don't pray so you could you

could be busy or you could be lazy but at the end of the day to pray more you need to humble yourself and recognize that if I am a human being I always need God here's the good news here's the good news Jesus in this text is going to show us that your humanity is not a Hance to your ministry your humanity is the vehicle of your ministry look at verse two now when Jesus learned I didn't even read the text I'm sorry now when now when Jesus learned that the Pharisees had heard that Jesus

was making and baptizing more disciples than John although Jesus himself did not baptize but only his disciples he left Judea and departed again for Galilee and he had to pass through Samaria so he came to a town of Samaria called sakar near the field that Jacob had given to his son Joseph Jacob's Well was there so Jesus wearied as he was from his journey was sitting beside the well it was about the sixth hour a woman from Samaria came to draw water Jesus said to her give me a drink Jesus has left one town and

he's on his way to another he sits down in a well because he's tired from all the walking he'd done did the woman comes along and what is the first thing that Jesus says first let's establish what he doesn't say he doesn't say hey I am the way the truth and the life the Alpha and the Omega the beginning and the end the one who was and who is and who is to come nice to meet you ma'am Jesus doesn't begin his ministry to the woman at the well by revealing his divinity he begins his

ministry by displaying his human weakness this this is God In the Flesh not hiding the fact or being ashamed of the fact that he's tired this is this is God In the Flesh very much open to the the fact that he is thirsty mind you this is the same person that made water this is the same person who was the source of all energy but he is willing to submit himself to be what he doesn't have to be so that you could be all he's called you to be everything that God has called you to

do you need his help for you to do it why because you're human D Moody an evangelist in the 1800s was preaching all over the place in the earliest stages of his ministry he said that he was trying to compete with the busyness of Spurgeon which is a random theological fact that's stupid but anyway he's preaching at his church on Sundays preaching at everybody else's Church during the week and his his teaching was considered helpful but it lacked something I'm sure it had the theological depth and and insight that was necessary but there was just

something about his teaching that people said needed help one night DL preached at a Sabbath school and some folks got up and asked for prayer which made DL excited it made him feel like what he did was good enough was effective was was was powerful so he left feeling all excited and and you know how sometimes older Saints can discern better than you an older man that Moody had never met DL Moody and had never saw again he followed Moody out the door of the church while he was on his way home and he grabbed

Moody by the hand and he looked him in the face and he said young man when you speak again make sure you honor the Holy Ghost I say that because doing Ministry in your Humanity requires power what did Jesus Jesus Jesus said he said when the Holy Ghost comes upon you you will receive power you need power to preach effectively in your Humanity you need power to be courageous in your Humanity you need power to to to to tell the truth and to shame the devil in your Humanity you can't do nothing God has called

you to do without the Holy Ghost help to be effective and Ministry it is not actually your Humanity that you need to lay aside but your sin because it's your sin that tells you that you can do God's work without God's hand on it sin is the enemy of your ministry but your humanity is the vehicle of your ministry therefore what you need most is not to be less of yourself but to have more of the holy spirit's power observation number two be curious about cultural context be curious if you don't take away nothing be

C curious ask questions look at verse seven a woman from Samaria came to draw water Jesus said to her give me a drink for his disciples had gone away into the city to buy food 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 when I use the word context what I mean is it's it's anything that helps explain something so if someone said uh that's Jackie the context the discernible context of Jackie right now is

that she's short she's black she has a gap with amazing hair that's the and eyebrows that's the context I know what the lord gave me that's good that's tattoos that's context too and so that that those those little details and specifics explain me right right so In this passage what is the context that helps us understand the person that Jesus is getting a drink from it says that she is a woman from Samaria knowing that she's a woman gives you a sense of what she's probably been through how she might think and what she might

need knowing that she's a Samaritan gives you context for what she might believe what some of her religious affiliations are some of the traditions and Heritage heritages that she's inherited and how it might influence the way she's even engaging with Jesus as a Samaritan woman as a Samaritan in her world she was looked at as a half breed Samaritans were the product of a time when the Israelites uh were in uh foreign Nations and the people of Israel and the foreign Nations started having babies and they came out as Samaritans so they were considered an

impure group of people they weren't as pure as Abraham's folk does that make sense now when you add woman to Samaritan it takes on a whole another thing it takes on a whole another context because I read even a Jewish text when I was studying this that said that samarit Samaritan woman had their periods from the cradle if you understand anything about levitical law what they're implying is is that Samaritan women are ritually unclean since the day that they are born that's important that context helps you to understand why she is so surprised that Jesus

asked her for a drink because it meant that as a Jewish man he was willing to touch what she touched he's willing to drink from what she drank from he was even willing to deal with the perception of him becoming unclean to make her clean context context so her cultural context shapes how she views Jesus in real life when you meet somebody a few things might be contextually obvious which is age maybe social status maybe relationship depending on if they got a ring on their finger and even then things get weird but for the most

part for the most part you can only discover the context of a person's family a person's uh belief systems a person's uh thought processes by asking questions by being curious and I've come to believe that a lack of curiosity in Ministry can actually hinder your ability to reach people where they are because when you're not curious all you bring to the table is your assumptions and your judgments when that happens is you start preaching to a need that doesn't even actually exist because you thought that you knew what the need was it's like it's like

when a person preaches at a girl considering abortion without actually wondering what brought her there in the first place so so they end up preaching to her mind and missing her heart as if her heart and not just her theological understanding is the reason that brought her to the clinic does that make sense so a practical example of how being curious about cultural context serves Us in Ministry is this let's say you're part of a church in Texas shout out to anybody from Texas four of you three of you um according to statistics there are

27,000 congregations in Texas as compared to a place like Louisiana that has 500 5,800 uh congregations that is an immense amount of churches if you are in a state with that many congregations and churches it means that most of the women you evangelize to or disciple will be familiar with Jesus the Bible and church church that is cultural context but in a state like Texas the mistake that people make out of a lack of curiosity out of a lack of laziness and not wanting to ask questions is that they will assume that just because people

grew up in church just because people grew up around Jesus that that means that they know Jesus so they end up discipling people that need evangelism they end up placing women in Ministry who are nice but not Sanctified they end up serving under pastors that went to Seminary and vote Republican as if that's the moral standard for God's people so what happens is you end up having a church full of unbelieving Believers and this is why the church laughs at us because we're not asking the right questions and our witness is suffering for it such

as when is the last time you repented do you know the gospel when is the last time you cried in response to the gospel being preached are you even ConEd icted of sin does it grieve you or are you only grieved because you got exposed do you pray does God speak to you can you discern his guidance in your life if I asked your family if you reminded them of Jesus what would the answer be we we are not omniscient we don't know as much as we think we do so being curious gives us a

measure of information that helps you apply your ministry efforts in a way that is wise and effective I hope this is helpful observation number three address their spiritual condition address the spiritual condition verse 10 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 sir you have nothing to draw water with and the well is deep where do you get that living water are you greater

than our father Jacob plot twist he is he gave the well and drank from it himself as did his sons in his livestock Jesus said to her everyone who drinks of this water will be thirsty again but whoever drinks of the water that I will give him will never be thirsty again refresher reminder Jesus is coming from a town and he's tired he sits down at a well with another woman from Samaria and she arrives to draw some water he asks her for a drink and the m is is completely befuddled by the request and

not because of the question per se but because Jewish men don't ask women like her for it Jesus then responds and says if you knew if you knew the gift of God and who it is that is asking you for a drink you would have asked him for living water and he would have given it to you Jesus began this whole interaction with her with his Humanity at the Forefront but now he's shifting he he's no longer concerned with her response to his question now he's bringing her attention to the fact that she's asked him

a question but just not the right one and it's because she doesn't know who she's talking to all she sees is his Humanity all she sees is a Jewish man and her inability to recognize that he is more than what he is is directly connected to her spiritual condition to say it another way she has come to this well to get water but Jesus has come to show show her that she has a thirst that natural water can't even fix and until she sees him for who she is she will never ask him for what

she needs it's that in our ministry to people we want to introduce them to Jesus we we want to give them the gospel we want to disciple them in Christ but there are spiritual stumbling blocks that has to be addressed for people to even recognize that they need him people will not ask ask him for certain things if they think they're okay and that is why we have to address it every person every person you will ever meet has a cultural context but every person also has a theological context which is that because we are

born after Adam we have inherited his sin and therefore we are all thirsty it doesn't matter if you were raised in church it doesn't matter if you tried to do the right thing your whole life it doesn't matter if all you've ever sto is three T three Snickers and two twixs it does not matter what what the truth is is that the Bible says all have fallen short of the glory all all universally have fallen short of the glory of God and our experience of the sinful nature does not just manifest in rebellious Behavior our

experience of the sin sinful nature is also experienced in having a deep Soul dissatisfaction really the behavior is a byproduct of the dissatisfaction so we want security and we can't find it we want peace and it keeps leaving we want a right mind and we're still confused and really what we want is God himself we all in a sense want God but the issue with sin is that sin wants us to want God but not God himself like we want the things that God has we want the things that God has made we don't want

the person we don't want the source that's the delusion of sin is that we are born believing that everything that God has made is better than the god that made it that's Romans 1 and there are two reasons for this sin produces ignorance and idolatry our ignorance is described in Ephesians when Paul says that we are darkened in our understanding sin don't just affect your behavior you ain't just ratchet for no reason is that is that apart from the spirit's work you don't think right your perspectives are skewed your your decisions are off you you

think you are wise in your own eyes when God says that you are foolish we we need God like and out of this bad thinking we look at the things that God has made and instead of seeing them as being useful to worship him we see them as opportunities to worship them this is why we have a whole generation of people who looks at the stars and instead of seeing them as signs for seasons and for days and for nights we give Stars the power to determine our identity and our future reality do you understand

how crazy it is to look at the sky a created thing to tell you who you are and where you're going to go I'm an Aries I'm a Capricorn I'm a Pisces no sis you're an image bearer of the Living God the the Stars that's divination the stars do not have the authority to Define you you even limit Yourself by by living inside of a category instead of going to God to say God tell me who I am and I say this I say this with as much gentleness as I can Romans 1 would call

you a fool for trusting in the stars to tell you who you are more than the God who made you but do you know why you do it you do it because you're thirsty for identity and Direction and so your needs your needs are showing up as thirst and out of ignorance you are grasping and reaching for anything that will supply what you are lacking which is forming the basis of your idolatry our thirsty our thirstiness will always manifesting our Behavior so so you can't change the behavior without dealing with the thirst and how do

we do that we help people see that the water they really need is the water that Jesus has when I was around 20 I'm about to expose you I moved to LA and I joined the church and while I was there I ended up living with the woman who would disciple the Lord knew I needed constant conviction and one day I was really emotional and sad about missing my ex-girlfriend uh if you didn't know I I used to be gay um and I say used to be because I don't identify by my Temptations I identify

with Christ but we've we we had just been broken up for about six months I was about 20 and I missed her because I loved her but I left her because I could not love her and Jesus at the same time so I had to choose I had to choose but the decision to follow Jesus didn't necessarily deliver me from the feelings of that relationship so I'm walking around all sad and disheartened and depressed there was no Twitter back then so I couldn't vent socially Le all we had was mypace and and she said you

know what I'mma give you an assignment because I'm really tired of you being sad about this girl and I was like okay and she Saidi want you to get a piece of paper and I want you to draw a line line down the middle on one side I want you to write down everything that you miss about her the things and and what you miss I want you to write down the things that you think that only she can give you on the other side I want you to write down the scripture that shows you

that go God can give that to you too I don't even remember yeah go do that when y'all get home some of y'all that's sad about it's not it's not Soul TI it's idolatry but I I that was a word golly it's true sometimes we're not missing the person we're missing the experience right and I what what I don't remember even all the things I wrote because it was a long little list and I know some of it was really stupid 20 year old stuff like she made me laugh you know stuff like that and

but the thing that shifted my heart and has literally become the metric by which I deal with my own thirst is that on one side I wrote down that she comforted me she made me feel safe she made me feel secure and then on the other side I I pulled up Google because I didn't know the scriptures like that and I said scriptures about God and comfort and I found 2 Corinthians 1:3 that says all praise to God the father of our Lord Jesus Christ God is our most merciful father and the source of all

comfort I don't think you understand what they did from my heart it it helped me see that everything I was trusting everybody else to give me God already had so I didn't need them I I didn't need the water that they had because it wasn't going to quitch my thirst anyway that's why I was so desperate for their attention that's why I kept calling them that's why I had to be around them because they were not Eternal they were not sufficient enough to feel my soul my thirstiness my thirstiness was an opportunity for me to

see Jesus so I can be filled the women we do ministry with are just as thirsty as we are and in the same way that Christ has quenched our thirst we have to teach them and lead them so they can experience the same observation number four use what's revealed to reveal God what's up there use what's revealed to reveal God verse 16 Jesus said to her go call your husband and come here the woman answered him I have no husband Jesus said to her you are right in saying I have no husband for you have

had five husbands and the one you now had is not your husband what you have said is true the woman said to him sir I perceive that you are a prophet you know how much discernment it took for her to say that that's like when the prophets get up and like I think somebody in is in here is is tired we're all tired I don't it didn't take the Holy Ghost for you to realize that everybody's exhausted in 2023 then came out of a pan damn it anyway I I love this part because I think

it evokes the messy part of me because I just wonder how Jesus said it like I just want to know his tone like if he was like like if he was like you know go call your husband and like ask for a drink and she's like I ain't got no husband he's like yeah I know you ain't got no husband you had five five of them five couldn't settle on one just but I don't think Jesus ridicules people so raise your hand if you've heard this story before everyone um I asked that because sometimes when

we have read very um popular or common stories in scripture we come to the text with assumptions and I chose to move against my assumption by coming to this text very objectively so I could see what the text wanted me to say and not what the commentaries have drilled into me how this portion is commonly explained is that Jesus is Calling attention to the amount of husband she's had as a means of revealing her sinfulness in light of that interpretation I'm personally not a fan of how this woman has been framed because of it I

when I was studying it I read several commentaries and several sermons which is a part of why I have to say this why reading or studying and having a diversity of study partners and is necessary because we have to understand that we bring our ethnic our our our gender biases into our interpretations that can sometimes influence the way we see a text just because they saw it that way doesn't mean that it's actually true okay I have to say that now they they would they would call her a they would call her a prostitute and

it's like if you just look at the text just look at the text does the text give you any clue to that being the case first of all she had five husbands husbands husbands not five situationships not five boyfriends five husbands it's hard committing to one so for her to commit to five Jesus tells me that she's at we at least a woman willing to commit to a covenant at the end of the day I don't know if John the writer of this gospel I don't know if his intention is for us to be so

distracted by the personal details of This Woman's life that we end up missing what the text is trying to tell us about Jesus I'll say that again I I don't know if John us to spend all of our energy paying attention and parsing the details of her life so much so that we miss what the text is trying to show us about Jesus and I have a scripture unless you think I made that up in John chapter 20 verse 31 he tells us why he's written everything he said these are written why so that you

could know the Samaritan woman so that you could know her business so you can make a whole sermon about her sexual past no these are written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ the son of God and that by believing you may have life in his name that tells me that the whole book of John which includes this narrative between the Jesus and the woman at the world the whole point is so that people will believe that Jesus is the Messiah right which means that every time I read something in the Book

of John I need to step back and say what does this reveal to me about Jesus we get so caught up in her sex life that we missed the point which is Jesus when you situate this passage and the larger context of John what you'll see is that what Jesus does with her is not altogether unique but what Jesus does with her he does on other occasions with the intention of revealing his deity in John chapter two or John chapter one John or Jesus sees Nathaniel walking when he sees him he says behold an Israelite

in whom there is no deceit Nathaniel like how you know me Jesus respond when when you were under the Fig Tree I saw you Jesus wasn't there Jesus wasn't nowhere in proximity to Nathaniel but because he has Divine knowledge he knew something he shouldn't know in John Chapter 2 when people were believing in Jesus it said that Jesus would not entrust himself to them because he knew all people and needed no one to Bear witness about man for he himself knew what was in man he did not have to Google what is a man he

didn't have to ask Peter what is a man he didn't have to ask anybody for advice or Insight he didn't need a prophet to tell him about y'all he he just knew in John chapter 5 Jesus walks into the pool of Bethesda the place surrounded by the lame and the sick and the text says that Jesus saw a paralytic man on the ground and that he knew he had been there a long time he didn't turn to Peter and say hey Peter how long he been there oh man he been here about 30 some years

and every time he tried to jump in the water they get in performing so now he just been laying there halfway sleep he just needs you to like he didn't say none of that he he knew because he had Divine knowledge what is the point the point is that Jesus in this text displays his Divine knowledge of This Woman's past and present to make the point that even if she does not know him even if she cannot see him even if she does not recognize him even though she does not have any insight on him

he has always been knowing her the Samaritan woman connects to Hagar the Samaritan woman is separated from the people the Samaritan woman is at a des desolate place next to some water but at this at this at this place at this point she she's meeting with Elroy too at this at this place she is seeing the God who has been seeing her he is still doing the same thing going to rejected women and revealing himself from the beginning from the beginning of this whole discourse do y'all remember what her problem is her problem is that

she does not know who she's talking to she does not know God and if that is the case it does not matter if she had five husbands or one when you do not know God Everything You Touch Is infected whatever is not coming for faith is sin and Ministry in Ministry the way we apply this is that we get so distracted by the specifics though so distracted by the details so though so distracted by the circumstances that we miss the big picture which is that everything that comes up we need to leverage to show them

God she has a terrible boyfriend okay deal with that but make sure you show her God so she knows how to handle relationships in the future she's dealing with anxiety and depression okay address that but make sure you teach her how to cast her cares on God so moving forward as circumstances get hard and difficult she doesn't need to call you all the time she she has her own relationship with God most of most of your work in Ministry and and in the church will involve details specifics sin exposure but if you if you focus

in on and get distracted by what people are struggling with and you miss that the point is Jesus you will often become a legalistic discip where you will help people to be good and be right and forget to tell them to be like Jesus there are a lot of women at the church who are just like the women at the well who are told to just stop messing with men but who is going to do the work of showing her how her life with men is a symptom of her thirst because if we just stop

tell or if we just tell people to just stop it to just do better to just do right to stop being stupid and we don't cultivate faith we don't cultivate obedience we don't teach them how to read their Bible we don't teach them how to fast we don't teach them how to pray we don't teach them how to depend on God and what if we don't teach them what will happen is they will replace one Idol with another and it'll about Idol that's acceptable to you and damnable to God like that that's what happened with

the gay community that's what happened with the gay community we kept telling people to be straight instead of telling people to go to God there is a difference there's a difference I think sometimes huh I think sometimes what is pouring out of us is what we do so if you think your if you think your works are sufficient you'll teach that if you don't have a depth of wisdom with God if you don't have intimacy with God if you don't have a prayer life with God if you don't fast and pray with God if you

don't consider Community with God then I will not be surprised if the disciples that you make look just like you that is why we need God use what's revealed to reveal God number five practice true worship notice that a bunch of these instructions are really things that will serve us to be before we do because we can't teach what we aren't right verse 20 our fathers worshiped on this mountain but you say that in Jerusalem is the place where people ought to worship Jesus said to Heroman believe me the hour is coming when 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 the hour is coming and is now here when the true worshippers will worship the father in spirit and Truth for the father is seeking such people to worship Him I love that it says the father is seeking when when I thought about when I was working through this message how to speak to what it means to practice true worship I was like okay I know I need to

put some kind of illustration here I'm not an illustration preacher my mind doesn't my mind thinks in ideas and logic and and so sometimes I get insecure like oh I don't have stories like Tony Evans but so I was Googling sermon illustrations about worship and I didn't like any of them it just felt very unnatural so I just said I'mma just be very direct on the subject of worship because at this point maybe metaphors aren't even helpful so I I think I think the plain communication of Jesus's words might be sufficient for us which is

that God the father is seeking worshippers who will worship Him in spirit and truth that's it that's it that's all I got see the woman at the well brings up the topic of how Jews and Samaritans worship on a certain mountain and in a certain place which means that Jews and Samaritans both of them were dependent on a place as a means of worship but Jesus says a time is coming and is now here when the mountain and the temple are no longer requirements for worship because he has come into the world to die for

the world worship is no longer determined by a place but a person not an altar but a person not a ritual but a person not a church but a person not a political party but a person to put it as plain as possible Jesus is saying that if ever anybody wants to meet God they have to come through me he is the new mountain and he is the new Temple therefore the worship of the father has made or or the worship of Jesus is made Central to the worship of the father but notice we don't

get to determine what this worship looks like Jesus doesn't say that true worship is either Marvin sap or elevation that true worship is either Church of God in Christ or non-denominational that that true worship is doing what I want to do or doing everything like like we we don't we've brought into the lie that we have the authority to categorize worship according to what feels most authentic to us but in John chapter 4 it's it ain't the woman at the well or even us or Jacob or none of them Jesus gets to define the terms

and conditions of true worship he says that true worship is done in spirit and in truth by Spirit Dr s and preached him silly uh well not the spirit silly preached us silly about the spirit he the spirit is the means the the source of Living Water the third person of the Triune God the Holy Spirit who indwells who creates who sustains who motivates who anoints who convicts true worshippers by truth he means the truth about God as revealed in the sun who is the way the truth and the life see if God is Spirit

if God has no Corporal body then the only way we can know what is true about God is if God makes it his business to tell us the the only reason you know what God is like is because God has disclosed himself God has revealed himself to you and by what means has God chosen to reveal himself obviously through the scripture obviously by the spirit in the face of Jesus it is Jesus who has made him known I don't think though that many of us in this room would argue with what I just said we

like Jesus we sing about Jesus we talk about Jesus we write write about Jesus we teach about Jesus we got tattoos of crosses on our collar bones Bibles in our backpacks we love to take pictures on Instagram with the Open Bible with highlighted in Leviticus and the little Cactus PL and the cup of coffee like who told us that that's the Paradigm for devotion but it's Pinterest all over I I don't think I don't think I have to convince many of you that Jesus is the focus of true worship but what the scriptures by the

power of the spirit have to show you is that none of what I just said proves you're a true worshipper if if in your you can read and you can do the devotionals and you can sing all the songs you can go to church you can be disciples you can do all this stuff but if in your practices in your priorities and your perspectives if there is no Act of reality that Jesus is Lord you are not not a true worshipper God is is not seeking the kind of worship that fills Sanctuary Sunday after Sunday

where we sing songs to the father and live however we want with preachers preachers who don't even open the Bible and have the have the audacity to call it Ministry and if they do they spend 40 minutes telling us about ourselves as if we already don't spend enough time talking to ourselves about ourselves as it is God Is Not seeking the kind of worshippers who are content with only depending on the Holy Spirit when it's time to minister when it's time to sing when it's time to preach but as soon as we get home we

are mean to our children we are disrespectful to our husbands we are worldly with our co-workers unless they know our position then we change our tone God is Not seeking the kind of worshippers that need Christ and Witchcraft Christ and Renaissance Christ and ancesters Christ and orishas Christ and divination God is Not seeking the kind of worshippers who think that they can be carnal and still be pleasing God is Not seeking the kind of worshippers who will go to conference to conference do devotional after devotional always learning and never at any point coming to a

knowledge of the truth because they are burdened with sin and slaves to their passions God does not need you to keep coming here if you won't believe what you already know God God is Not seeking God is Not seeking the kind of worshippers that are satisfied with the bare minimum synchronistic Holy Spirit quenching Christianity that is so endemic to America and maybe because we started with a demonic sense of what Christianity was in the first place Jesus said this people they honor me with their lips but their hearts are so far from me in vain

it's usess their worship God is seeking worshippers who will worship Him in spirit and Truth the good news is that the very fact that God is the one doing the seeking means that all we have to do is be found Jesus has done the work he's lived the life he's conquered sin and death he's he's G given his Spirit to all who repent and call on him in truth Jesus has actually torn down every obstacle to us being able to worship the Father which means that if you want to continue as a true worshipper and

if you want to begin as a true worshipper all you have to do is believe in Jesus observation number six keep it simple keep it simple look at verse 27 just then his disciples came back they marveled that he was talking with the woman but no one said what do you seek or why are you talking with her so the woman left her water jar and went into town and said to the people come see a man who told me all that I ever did can this be the Christ remember the point of John she's

founded they went out of the town and were coming to him verse 39 many Samaritans from that town believed in him because of the woman's testimony me 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 there two days and many more believed because of his word this is the this is the testimony that you want in your ministry verse 42 they said to the woman it is no longer because of what you said that we believe for we have heard

for ourselves now and we know that this is indeed the savior of the world after Jesus reveals himself as Christ as the Messiah the water leaves or the lady leaves her water jar because I think she's found a better Source I think she's found what will actually quench her thirst and she goes back to town as a witness to the glory that she seen she says come see a man who told me all that I ever did can this be the cist Jesus began his ministry to her in Simplicity give me a drink and she

begins her Ministry for him in Simplicity come and see she she doesn't go out and start a church she doesn't go out and preach a sermon even she she doesn't create a podcast or write a book and all of that's good because I done done half of it but I didn't start that way all of it is good but I need you to appreciate how her Ministry begins it it begins in Simplicity and I think that will free you up from some anxieties because it's the S like we think we need the fireworks we need

the rainbows and the balloons we we need all the the bigness and the extravagance or a large platform to be effective but it's actually the simple things that are effective and glorifying to God whether you know a little bible or a lot of Bible God wants to use you exactly where you are God intends to use you exactly how you are whether you known Jesus for 12 minutes a 20 years God has never needed you to be more than what you are for him to use you all he needs is your yes you might be

thinking that you got to do the most to begin but is that Jesus telling you that or is that social pressure it could be that next week next Wednesday that's usually when Bible studies happen I don't know who picked that day but next Wednesday in your small group maybe the way the Lord wants you to start to walk in the courage and the passion of ministry is instead of sitting in the corner being quiet you raise your hand to pray you you edify the Saints by having a conversation with god that's simple but it's effective

maybe it could be that you know you know how every Sunday the announcements go forward and the person comes up and they just just Sunday after Sunday they just keep saying how they need people in children's ministry we we got 75 kids and three volunteers maybe maybe they keep saying that so you would just raise your hand and just say you know what I'll help and and and some of us have a arrogance about us where we say God use me but you want to be used in the place that you feel gifted for but

maybe God wants you to show up where the church has a need it could be that you do have a ton of gifts that nobody sees and it's because God is hiding you maybe you're you're in a season of De development because if God released you now it would be to your destruction and everybody else's because you're not even prepared for the weight of the call that he's given you so now is a time to pray now is a time to be discipled now is a time like like the Apostle Paul didn't just go out

and start aposl I made that up he spent time away after his conversion to be developed I think for the older Saints I don't even have a word for you except to say pray pray and say God I've been I've been with you for a minute now I've been walking with you for a while what do you want me to do in this season who do you want me to be how do you want me to show up how do you want I think about Daniel who in the beginning of his ministry he was having

these prophetic these big situations like you're giving words to Nebuchadnezzar and you you over here in the Lions then you but at the end of his ministry was a Ministry of prayer it was a Ministry of intercession a couple months before or after I became a a Christian I had a really large desire to teach God's word mind you I didn't know one scripture all I knew was John 3:16 because it was at the bottom of the forever one bag that's all I knew that's Ministry simple but effective and but even though I didn't know

a lot what I knew I wanted to teach and understand I I just wanted I didn't even know what the spiritual gift of teaching was I had never even read Ephesians or Corinthians or I didn't even know so I text my friends one day I said hey let's start a Bible study so we went over my one friend's house she was the friend the only one that's kind of independent yet and so she has an apartment but it's like a Sanctified crack house like it's just one couch and four forks and they always got an

internet router somewhere in the middle of the living room it's just it's never hidden it's just always public and we were so broke we we would go to her apartment every Thursday and we'd sit around and talk about the Bible and I had this really great idea one day where I was like hey guys this is what we're going to do we're going to watch The Passion of the Christ and I would pause every scene for us to find in the scriptures what the scene it was don't even worry about it was the longest Bible

study I have ever done in my entire life mind you that wasn't it I also bought some Post-it notes and I gave a stack of Post-it notes to everybody and I said write one sin on each poster note so that as Jesus was getting beat it was like lust I got I got healed from my iniquities and by his wounds I am healed and he was crushed from my transgressions it was just paper all over the floor and I should have made them red because it was yellow and orange and lime green papers red would

have been more unbrand for what was happening but I use that as an example because I think I'm still technically a beginner in ministry right I I'm a I'm a I'm a I'm a I'm a middle schooler in Jesus right but I don't want some of the young people in this room to think that you need a conference or a platform or publicity that you need to be exalted before you start you you you you don't need to be exalted before you start because often times those are the people that like when you have that

kind of motive usually God will not even allow you to be up here to protect you because your motives aren't right that like be okay be okay with giving God glory when you're invisible he sees you and he will honor you the thing about the woman at the well is she kept it so simple she did not do a lot but what she did was more than enough did you realize how complicated her her her Ministry witness was all she did was say come and see Jesus she just left a seminary class with Jesus y'all

realize that right she learned about the Holy Spirit as living water the insufficiency of true water she's learned how the entire system of worship for Samaritans was collapsing into the person of Jesus she's learned how salvation is the je from the Jews how God is seeking uh spir uh seeking worshippers who Worship in the spir she's even learned that Jesus is the Christ and he hasn't revealed that to anyone at at this point in this book but she didn't go and tell them none of that one it was too much to understand but second I

think she knew she knew that if they just go see him for themselves they will learn all that they need to know in your ministry to women at Welles what God is calling you to do is to point every woman to Jesus why because the Bible says I'm G read what the it says that he is the image of the invisible God that he is the one who made all things and that without him nothing was made that was made that he is the word made flesh that he is the Son of God that he

is the one born of a virgin that he is the one who was wrapped in cloths that he was the one who was born in a manger that he is the one to which the angel said today in the town of David a savior has been born to you he is the Messiah he is the Lord he is the one who straps we are unworthy to untie he is the lamb who's come to take away the sins of the world he is the way he is the truth he is the life he is the Christ

he is the anointed one he is the son of David he is the seed of the woman who crushed the Serpent's head he is the one who bore our sins in his body on the cross he is the one who took our pain and bore our sufferings he is the one who was pierced for our transgressions and crushed for our iniquities it is by his wounds that we are healed he is the one who became a curse on a tree he is the one who was buried he is the one who got up he is

the one who was raised from the dead he is the one seated and God God's right hand and the Heavenly places far above all Rule and all authority and all power and all Dominion he has the name that is above every name he is the head of the body of the church he is the one sitting on a white horse he is the one who was called faithful he is the one who was called true he is the king of kings and the Lord of lords he is the Alpha and the Omega he is the

first and the last he is the beginning in the end he is the one who was worthy to receive all glory he is the one who is worthy to receive all honor honor all power and this Jesus is coming soon in your ministry however it may look please remember this women don't ultimately need you they need you to give them Jesus I know some of y'all want to rush out but if you you don't mind I would like to pray and then close is that okay Lord God you sent the disciples out with a promise

the promise was not just merely that you would be with them until the end of the age but the promise was that you would be in them that we would receive power from on high God we ask for power the power to preach and teach the power to love the power to administrate the power to be merciful the power to be forgiving the power to parent well the power to love our neighbors the power not to to pursue worldly entities or worldly lust God make us women who have the power to love you with all

of our hearts and with all of our mind and with all of our soul God you made us For Your Glory you made us for yourself all things were made for you and that without you was not anything made that was made that means that we are not even walking in our purpose until we find you God I pray that we would find you and that we would love you and that we would serve you and that we would honor you I pray God that we would not be satisfied with getting our ears itched and

our ears scratched by people that make us comfortable in our idolatry and comfortable in our sin even if the people in the church don't see us you see us God but you also welcome us to be forgiven and to be free so free us free us set us free to glorify by your name and love our neighbor we love you in Jesus name amen thank you for coming