Among Monsters | Jesus Loves Monsters

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[Music]
guys doing good
that was unacceptable let's try again
you guys doing good
guys we are in church together we get to
hang out with the lord of the universe
you should act a little more excited all
right unless like someone just made you
come and we're just glad you're right
you can you can stay quiet but the rest
of you uh my name is kevin one of the
pastors around here glad you're with us
week three of talking about how we are
among
monsters
talking about sin
yay said no one ever in church we don't
want to talk about sin
we don't like talking about sin sin
makes us feel bad about ourselves as we
have this like weird relationship it's
easy to see the sin in others uh it's
not as fun to see it in ourselves it's
easy to take seriously the sin of other
people they should not do that and yet
have this unbelievable grace for
ourselves we're like well i just made a
mistake right
and that's why
jesus used our own love for ourselves as
the measure of love he said love your
neighbor as much as you love yourself
like we and the grace that you can have
for yourself is is the standard that god
wants us to have for other people and so
we've been talking about sin for the
last couple of weeks talking about how
we have this capacity
to not even live up to our own standards
let alone the standards of the perfect
and holy god we have this ability to to
intend to do better at something and
then not and sometimes because we just
feel like we can't and sometimes we just
choose not to do better at it we have
this capacity to hurt other people we
have this capacity
to be a lot like a like a monster and so
this among monsters is not what we want
it to be we want to be like oh yeah like
those people we are among other monsters
but the whole story of scripture and the
invitation from jesus is to realize that
the conversation of all that is broken
in the world begins
right in here with you and i
we
have a capacity
to act outside the design of god's image
and creation for us and so this topic is
really important but it's also really
easy to get wrong
sin we've we've talked about kind of
defining it as like missing the mark
like god made us in his image and in
life when we miss the mark he has for us
like when we step outside of his design
those are moments of sin big and small
all moments where we've walked away from
god's best and we need to turn back own
it acknowledge it and step back into
into right relationship or right living
with god sin is anything that that hurts
you or hurts other people or hurts god
sin
are the times where we like try to find
the the shortcut to certain things
to stuff looking to things to be a
promise to us or fix something for us
well that it can't because really only
god can fix
those things and so this
this topic is is really important for us
and like i said it's really easy for the
conversation around sin to get off track
very easy especially religious folk we
love us some thinking about what you
should do and should not do and when we
start talking about sin we start
thinking about the things you should do
more of and the things you should not do
as much of and we start
either trying to like spiritually
perform in our life thinking we can earn
god's love
or we start walking around like the
moral police looking and worrying about
everybody else's behavior and sin
or we can try to find our own sense of
goodness about ourselves in comparison
with what we perceive as other people's
badness
and sometimes when we talk about sin it
can just lead us to places of
frustration where we want to throw our
hands up and just walk away from god or
or the whole conversation
basically what i'm saying is it's easy
to miss the heart of god when we talk
about sin the reason sin
matters so much is because god is
if you don't believe that there is a god
perfect and holy who created us in his
image then you don't this conversation
doesn't have to mean anything but for
those of us who are trying to follow
jesus and become like him this
conversation is so important
to understand why sin matters to
understand why it matters to god and
most importantly so that we can lean in
and understand god's heart because while
being honest about our mistakes and our
shortcomings and our impatient and our
best intentions and our failures that
just don't add up
well that can make us feel bad about
ourselves it is meant to draw us deeper
into the arms of god
a loving
but a holy god
and there is a healthy sense of feeling
bad about sin you've sinned i have
sinned we've all sinned we all need a
savior
and and there's an appropriate healthy
form of guilt or embarrassment it's
meant to like motivate us
to do better and to work on our
character flaws
but far too often we allow our mistakes
and our guilt to devolve into something
that's that's more like shame that
begins to tell us things that are not
true about ourselves or are not true
about others in this world
guilt says i've done something bad
shame tries to tell us i am something
bad
there's a massive difference there one
of those is true we've done some bad
stuff we have we do we will
one of those is not true
you are not bad i am not bad we are
loved we make mistakes but we cannot
allow shame of our failures or the
brokenness of this world
to to cause us to live
in ways that are less than than how god
sees us
so think of it like this god invites us
in the scriptures to know him as one
thing
love
of all the things that we could think of
to describe who god is he's like you
want to understand it it's love all
encompassing love
in fact in the scriptures it tells us
that god is rich in mercy
it is the only place in scripture that
says god is rich in anything and we can
think of stuff we're like god must be
rich in power
but the scriptures only say no god is
abundant
in mercy
think about that for a second
god is perfect and holy and powerful
but he is rich in love and mercy he is
abundant in mercy
and then through the person of jesus
we believe god stepped out of heaven
walked on this earth gave us a name to
know him by
and in the life of jesus we get to watch
him interact with sinners so that we can
understand what his heart is like and
how he feels about us
right when jesus was walking around he's
a rabbi
in the jewish culture
he as far as like their view they are
god's people and he is part of the
religious elite
and yet he was always befriending and
hanging out with prostitutes and tax
collectors
think of this for a moment
in jesus time
the thing that made the religious people
around him the most angry with him is
that he was befriending and spending
time with
people who were like tax collectors and
prostitutes what they were accusing him
of is being friends with the most
despicable kinds of sinners
wherever you see yourself on the
spectrum of a jacked up person hopefully
you know you are on that spectrum we all
are
whether you're like the the tax
collector prostitute end of the spectrum
or you're more over here like i'm pretty
good person
we all think what this says to us
you are exactly the kind of person that
jesus wants to be a friend with
on your worst days
you are exactly why he left heaven
you're exactly the kind of person that
he would see today and be like hey i'm
coming over to your house for dinner
which by the way is a really weird thing
jesus does a lot he invites himself over
to people's houses for dinner he's like
hey you're going to cook i'm going to
come over because you didn't have a
house
i don't know if your mom was like mine
you i was not allowed to invite myself
over to people's house but my lord and
savior did it all the time but anyway he
would hang out with people
who the religious system had rejected
blocked them from access to the presence
of god to the very heart of god and
there were so many things warped in the
world that jesus stepped into and still
affect us
now
and so here's what i want you to do
i'm gonna jump into this story uh from
john chapter four so if you have a bible
open up your your bible to john chapter
four
uh just looking around the room very few
of you actually moved i was really
serious grab your bibles grab your bible
app just pretend like you're doing it
with me okay come on you really should
have a bible by the way if you don't ask
us we'll give you one but you should
also open it up and read it because i
could be making this up
so fact check me okay but i want to read
from the i like john one of his
disciples hung out with jesus watches
all these things and interactions puts
it down in writing for us and in john
chapter 4 one of my absolute favorite
interactions jesus has with a sinner
and and
this this story is going to ask you and
i to ask ourselves a question as we're
thinking about sin as we try to
understand god's heart for us as sinners
this story is going to ask you a
question that will sound weird at first
which is what are you thirsty for
what is your soul
thirsting for
what gets you up every day
drives you and your behaviors and your
priorities and the way you spend your
money and the way you spend your time
when you say a day was a good day
why
when you say a day was a bad day at work
or in a relationship why
what are the things you want that you
need
that you are looking for something to
quench the thirst of
because it's right there that jesus
wants to speak the loudest and this
story is an invitation not just to hear
what he did in this moment but to
realize he wants to do this with you and
i every day of our lives to meet us in
this exact same
kind of way so
jump uh to verse four with me i'll start
john chapter four verse four here's how
the story uh where we'll pick it up
now he that's referring to jesus jesus
is with all of his disciples so he
had to go through samaria so he came to
a town in samaria called sakaar near a
plot of ground jacob had given to his
son
joseph
and then part of verse six
jacob's well was there
and jesus tired as he was from the
journey sat down by the well now you
think about how important a well was in
the ancient world
it's a source
to water something we take mostly for
granted it's always available and we
don't think a whole lot about it
similar to livestock or or crops like
that was that is the thing that
sustained you
um
like they didn't you guys you know they
didn't have meyer back then but you
don't think about the practical
implications of like your
life being sustained was based on access
to water and wells and the ability to
raise crops and livestock
so now john gives us a bunch of details
that when you're reading the bible you
need to do this always slow down
and know that they are not wasting words
for the sake of like painting a picture
john is telling us very specific things
for a very specific reason
he's not just like hey a couple
descriptive things and then like let's
get into the meat of the story he's like
no no understand jesus had to go through
samaria
had to stop in this town called sakaar
then then like there's this plot of land
that jacob given to joseph and then
there's this well and he's tired
john's trying to paint this picture for
you and i understand before we get to
the details of the story and
conversation that there is a lot of
tension
simmering under the surface of the story
the first reason is that to say that
jesus or any jewish person had to go
through samaria would strike first
century readers is like wait why
those are the people that like they
don't like like they would go through
samaria but they didn't have to and they
surely didn't want to so this is how uh
israel looked in jesus time
turns out still does geography it's the
same
i know
mind blown up top here
is the sea of galilee most like 80 of
the stories we get of jesus in the
gospels matthew mark luke and john
happen up north here around the sea of
galilee
jesus is from up north here in a town
called nazareth galilee as a region no
joke was thought of as like very
boondock like people with a certain kind
of accent maybe not super educated kind
of people and you get these little
moments of these thoughts when like
nathaniel's like from nazareth does
anything good come from there because
there was just a stereotype of those
kind of people up north
now jesus grew up up here this is all
part of of like jewish people living
there but it was packed with all kinds
of frustrating history just like it
still is today
and then way down south where all those
little lines converge is the city of
jerusalem it is the headquarters of all
things religious for jewish people it is
where the temple is where the presence
of god is where the ark of the covenant
is where the ten commandments on the
tablets are like it's all there and it's
where like the priests were and all the
things so like if you lived up north
there were multiple times a year you
would make a really long trip down to
jerusalem to participate in the
religious festivals that would go on
down there
and so most of the time jesus is moving
around he's moving from up north to down
south and down south back to up north
right
now the blue paths are the typical ways
that jewish people would journey from
south to north or north to south
aka
skipping around samaria it's not the
place you choose to go
so they would either take a hard left
down over 3000 feet of elevation towards
the dead sea that's like below sea level
up the jordan river so like
over there on the right that's where
jesus got baptized that's where uh john
the baptist was hanging out eating bugs
and being weird when jesus got baptized
and walked into the wilderness he's
walking up towards jerusalem from
jericho that's all happening there
or you would hang
really far left and like take way off
towards the mediterranean sea again lots
of elevation change and either way
you're adding a day or more's worth
travel on foot as a first century person
and we need to understand why that's
important is because the obvious more
direct more gradual uh decline of
elevation is to go through samaria but
they didn't like each other samaritans
and jews it was mutual they did not like
each other through their history though
it was shared though jacob's well was
there though they had the same
forefathers abraham isaac and jacob
when assyria and babylon in the history
of israel had conquered some of those
foreign who they saw as pagan ungodly
people stayed and then some jews married
those people and started what they saw
as a half-breed of dogs would be the way
that the jewish people would refer to
samaritans
and that that chunk of land in between
those places was thought to be dangerous
and they would do business but for the
most part they did not like each other
they were religiously different they
were racially different they had customs
that were different and more important
they had a long long long history of
what you did and how we did and you did
it and now you deserved it and all those
kind of things that happen in human
history that make enemies of just other
humans
of one group thinking they're right and
the only reason well you would think
you're right is because you're part of
their group and the other group thought
the exact same thing and that's
constantly happening
and so when john tells us jesus had to
go through samaria we're supposed to go
no he didn't
and it doesn't tell us why he had to go
through there i mean we know jesus knew
the very will of the father and maybe
god told him to
maybe he knew
that there was like gonna be a divine
interruption to his day with which we're
about to read maybe
he just knew if we head through this
town this is going to raise a lot of
questions for my disciples to understand
my kingdom not the kingdoms of this
world to understand why i came
and to understand how upside down how i
view the world and all the social
hierarchies that you guys make up to
divide and decide who's in and who's out
and then when it says that he goes to
this plot of land that's that's jacob
jacobs well like again this is their
they have the same lineage
and so the very in the way that you and
i would think today of israel and
palestine of muslims and jews those same
tensions still simmer today that were
very real and prevalent then two
so john wants to make sure you and i
know like that's where this is going
like like buckle up wherever this story
goes something exciting is going to
happen because this is not where you're
supposed to go in this story
like many stories that we get from jesus
he's going to places that we're not
normal for jewish people to go
he's going to strike up conversations
with people that were not
normal
as sad as it is the jewish people
defined samaritans
as just sinners who had who had missed
the mark who were like monsters who who
were thought to be unloved and
unapproachable and unacceptable
and so here's what happens next in the
story
uh it was about noon
now again that just sounds like a weird
piece of information very important
though
it's about noon when a samaritan woman
came to draw water jesus said to her
will you give me a drink
and then john wanted to make sure we
knew that he was alone because john says
his disciples had gone into the town
into sakaar to buy food so jesus tired
as he was stops by this well and is
alone then a woman comes out and it says
at noon again john doesn't waste any
words
john is telling us that this is
happening at noon to tip us off that
something is off in this lady's social
life
as a woman in the first century world
you don't walk to go get water at the
well by yourself
that's not safe
and then just practically you don't go
at noon that's the worst time to go get
water when you're up in a high
mountainous region and it's hot
the time you're going to take a big
ceramic jar and go fill it with water
and carry that heavy thing back to town
well that's in the morning or in the
evening when it's cooler out but that's
when everybody else does and so the only
reason you would go at noon
is because you wanted to be alone
because you didn't want to be around
your own
community
and what we'll come to find out is
because your her own community had
scorned her and judged her
for the things in her past
and so jesus asks her for a drink
and john wants to make sure that we
understand the layers of awkwardness to
this moment
not just that he's there
a jewish man
does not talk to a stranger who's a
woman
a jewish man doesn't really talk to even
a jewish woman unless she's part of his
family
so a jewish man talking to a non-jewish
woman is not normal not kosher breaks
all the social norms but especially a
samaritan woman
a samaritan woman who's coming at noon
to be alone
something isn't right in the story and
we're meant to see that
and so here's here's her response is
evidence of all the norms jesus is
breaking in this moment and i don't know
if she says it with as much attitude as
i read into it but i picture her like
snapping her fingers so you decide but
here's what she says the samaritan woman
said this you are a jew
i am a samaritan woman how can you ask
me for a drink
and then john knew
people like us would be removed from
their culture so parenthetically he's
like jews didn't associate with
samaritans like don't let that get lost
on you
she's like
remember she doesn't know this is jesus
you're just some stranger asking me for
water so she's like hey just in case you
weren't aware you're a man i'm not
uh sorry just in case you're not aware
you're a jew i'm not
you're not supposed to talk to me
i'm not supposed to talk to you
that's just what's normal like we don't
like what's normal but we comply with
what's normal
and she's like what even makes you think
i would get you a drink of water
let alone how could you ask me for one
i love it
have you ever felt like like an outsider
a social other in a moment
a moment of awkwardness
a moment of knowing that like you're not
part of that crowd or on that end or
you've you're
whatever it is like have you felt that
because in this moment for you and i to
understand this we need to feel that
feeling
we need to have that sense of like our
own worth or inadequacy is being
challenged
because her response is like our
response and jesus knows that we feel
like the outsider more often than we
want to admit and he knows that that
within us
when we sense that when we feel that
there's this
deep
grumbling of anxiety inside of us and
fear
and that fear always comes up in ways
that cause us to like promote ourselves
or or protect ourselves or compete with
other people or compare ourselves to
other people or try to have some sense
of
self-justifying and in those moments of
fear at least jesus doesn't respond the
way many of us would have to her
because he knows that this toughness
from her is just a facade
that she like all of us are coming to
wells for very practical needs but
they're often covering up the real
spiritual quenching that we're looking
for in life and we're searching all over
the place unsure if it even exists and
so we're just busying our life with just
practical stuff that we can do and
hoping that someday somehow this life
will make sense in its pain and its
awkwardness and all the things that we
don't like but we accept is normal
and so
i i want you because when we read these
stories it's easy for us to be like well
but she was talking to jesus like get a
clue lady
but think like she this is just a
stranger
but what if she knew who he really was
in this moment
how different would her response have
been how different would your response
be
if you knew
that you're talking to the god of the
universe who put on flesh and you can
look him in the eye
what would she have asked for
what would you ask for
i think we'd be we'd ask
to be seen
i think she would be like
tell me who i am
because the world has told me so much
that just doesn't feel right
see me as i am not as men see women or
jews see samaritans or my own culture
sees me by my past see me
i love this jesus
he he gets like mr miyagi on her
and if you've ever felt confused by
jesus you are in good company most of
the times he's talking to people they're
like what
because he takes this conversation
around water
and shifts it to a spiritual focus and
so this is what he says next in verse
10.
jesus answered her if you knew the gift
of god
and who it is that asked you for a drink
you would have asked him and he would
have given you
living water
jesus does this a lot he takes
conversations around
practical stuff in a physical world
and he turns it towards the deeper
things in the unseen spiritual realm
and he begins to talk about something
again she had to be so confused
this is a weird experience and then now
you're talking about living water and i
should have asked you and it's just
weird
and this is so important to understand
when we talk about god's heart and why
sin matters because god is and therefore
when we talk about sin we need to be
reminded of his heart for us when we
read the stories of jesus in moments
like this and so many others it is about
the full radiance of his love and his
heart and his grace not
our shadowy sinful
broken mistakes
what defines us
just like this woman is not our past and
not our mistakes
but rather it can be his love and his
grace
and we still see the same thing like her
reaction to him and the things that were
there this stuff still happens it's all
around us it's in every one of us we see
the brokenness of the world and we we
there's this cry for unity and
acceptance and tolerance and we have all
these kind of practical solutions to
what we see as very practical problems
in the world around us but with the
story of the gospels is to remind us
that this is a spiritual problem and
there are only spiritual answers to fix
what is very broken in this world and in
our own hearts and jesus wanted to turn
the conversation towards this reality
for her
and for you and i to realize we cannot
address we cannot get the things we
really thirst for in this life if we are
not willing to acknowledge the spiritual
reality that we're up against and to
acknowledge and to talk about our sin
all the little moments where we act in
ways as if we are the lords of our own
lives and we're not
or that we're in more control than we
are
and so jesus is going to
propose a solution he starts to point
for this living water
remember this god is rich in mercy
he invites us to understand him as love
and whatever her past was about whatever
your past is full of whatever mistakes
you've made just like her the farther
you feel like you have failed or fallen
from god is an invitation to know that
god wants to hug you all the harder
your sin and your brokenness have caused
separation between a perfect and a holy
god but it does not repel him from you
just like this woman he came for you
he's pursuing you he's been trying to
meet you at that well that you go to
every day trying to draw up your
practical needs and your worth and your
affirmation all the times you scroll on
social media for just someone to like me
someone to tell me how my life compares
he's like i'm right here
every day we go to work trying to look
for some promotion or title to tell us
who we are and he's like no i'm right
here look to me all the times we flip on
another show to binge or we drink or we
eat to like numb out and escape from
pain jesus is trying to meet us at that
well
and turn our attention towards the real
source of our lives
it is not that you would believe one
time jesus died and rose again
it is that every day you would live as
if he is the lord and sustainer of your
life that you would submit every morning
to his authority and kingship and you
would live in the grace that he says is
new every day for you
that is the invitation from jesus
so don't miss his heart and know that
this isn't a story that happened this
happens every day in our lives
jesus is right there trying to talk to
you and i
trying to remind us that he has pursued
us despite our moral shortcomings and
our evil desires and our self-resign
reliance and our fleeting faith
just like this woman in samaria
he comes for us
he's available he wants to meet you
and so they they continue the
conversation and she's still confused
the same reason we would be
and she's like all right well if you
have this like crazy good water that's
like alive and then jesus goes on to say
like if you asked for the water i have
you'd never thirst again she's like well
then i want that
so in verse 15 we'll pick up the story
she said sir give me this water so that
i won't get thirsty and have to keep
coming here to draw water
and then he told her go call your
husband and come back
jesus what are you talking about
again if you've ever felt confused by
jesus you are in good company and
perhaps if you've never felt confused by
jesus you don't talk to him very often
he's the lord of the universe and he's
mysterious and it's really hard to get
our head around it
and so he's like oh you want that living
water we'll go get your husband and come
back what
now what's happening is beautiful
and it is the same thing that jesus
wants to do when he meets you at the
well
but this part is on us
he's there he shows up but he'll put the
ball in our court and he's making an
invitation right now for this woman to
decide if she wants to really connect
with him
because she will have to tell the truth
the scripture tells us the truth that
sets us free but often it is the truth
of our worst fears of who we might
really be or what we might not be enough
of that we try to hide
and appease in so many other ways
and his invitation to go
get her husband and come back
it was like an invitation to decide do
you want to be vulnerable right now and
connect
or do you want to keep up the facade
i don't know if you've ever listened to
or read any of bernay brown's stuff
she's like the expert on shame which is
i think we can agree a weird thing to be
an expert on but i'm really thankful
because she's put a lot of thought into
some really good stuff and she's written
really good books like the power of
vulnerability she's got a bunch of ted
talks youtube cool stuff check it out
later but
she says this about vulnerability she
says
staying vulnerable
is a risk we have to take if we want to
experience connection
now that's just true in human life
sin is the invitation for us to take the
risk of being vulnerable in all our
imperfections and standing before god
just as we are and saying i'm not enough
i still mess up
and jesus in this moment the invitation
he's making to her he is making to you
for his grace and his mercy and his
power to have its full and lasting
effect on you you have to be willing to
own it
to be truthful
to be vulnerable
so listen to what she says next to jesus
verse 17
i have no husband
in this moment of vulnerability
to not have a husband in the first
century world whether whether we like
this or not this offends us as modern
people was to have nothing
no protection no land you could own
and jesus jumps all over this moment of
truth and this is what he says to her
you are right when you say you have no
husband
the fact is you have had five husbands
and the man that you now have is not
your husband
what you have said
just said is quite true
now there are a lot of ways that we try
to interpret this story like the way i i
always heard this like this lady must
have like had really loose morals and
had a bunch of affairs and she got
divorced five times
the truth is we don't know what happened
in her life because it doesn't matter
we love to know the details but the
details aren't what matter her life was
a big compound pile of her own sin and
other people's sins that have affected
her just like yours is
it's just as likely she was tragically
widowed five times
it's just as likely she was barren and
could not bear a child and again it's
offensive to us now but in the first
century world a woman who could not bear
a child was useless and discardable to
men
and so perhaps she was reacting to jesus
in this moment because every other guy
in her life had just been another person
who wanted to use her for what they
could get and discarded her when they
couldn't
we don't know
we just know that living in this world
this sinful broken world we all feel
desperate and unlovable because of the
decisions that we have made
and other people's sins and the
consequences of that brokenness in this
world have made us feel desperate and
unlovable and it's exactly why jesus
came and it's exactly why he wants to
meet you at that well today
to invite you to a life
fully lived free from worrying about
what culture says and the world says and
what you accomplish and what your title
is and what your paycheck looks like but
to know that your identity is in him
every day you can live out of the
freedom of being forgiven as his son and
daughter
freed up to live in this world to be an
agent of his change and his love and his
reconciliation when we allow that
reconciliation
to wreck us
to get our arms around all that god has
forgiven us of
so she responds
and is like what um
give me that
and then she senses that like like he
just read her diary
and then she brings up some excuses of
why she hasn't been at church the temple
in a long time it's because the jews
wouldn't let them
and then jesus begins to explain how
things really will be in the future
when it will not be about where you live
it will not be about your gender it will
not be about your race it will be about
worshiping the father in in spirit and
in truth
for all who believe
he will pour out his spirit on you and
you and i become the temple we don't
have to go find it
we don't have to wait till next sunday
to come back to church we have access to
the presence of god every day of our
lives if we choose by faith to enter
this relationship to accept what we are
not and to believe in all that he is
and then this incredible moment happens
we'll jump to verse 25 listen to what
she says
[Music]
see i know that the messiah called
christ is coming when he comes he will
explain everything to us
and jesus just responds like this
i
the one speaking to you
i am he
the very first person
jesus declares
who he is to
is this woman
in this place
in this unlikely not supposed to happen
kind of moment
because that is the heart of god
that is exactly who he is
and you and i need to do the work to not
only know exactly who we are but to make
sure our sin or our brokenness or our
religion is not blocking us from the
real heart of a god who does that again
and again and again and he wants to do
it right now
so let me pray for you
father we love you
and we thank you for your goodness and
your grace in our lives
we thank you for all the ways that you
have forgiven us and for the fact that
you have come after us you didn't wait
you didn't wait for us to figure it out
you didn't wait for us to clean up our
act you didn't wait for us to come to
understand you
pursued us and you changed history
and you've been echoing through all of
your creation
through all the beauty and perfection
that you have made
and all the gifts and the blessings of
our lives you have been screaming your
love at us
and so god i want to pray for the person
who's new to their faith
new to trying to figure out what they
believe about you would you
overwhelm them
with your presence
and god don't let them misunderstand
that it's because they're a church or a
building it's because you
are real
the burden of proof is not on us it's
not on a book it's you
but god i know there are many people in
this room who have been following you
for a long time and perhaps too long
because they have forgotten how present
you are how much access they have to you
ha that you're at that well every day of
their life and they don't have to look
to anything else to be their source of
life but you
god i know that we all have next steps
to take
i don't know what they are for each one
of us but i ask that you would give us
the courage and the conviction to take
them
we pray in jesus name
amen