Why I believe #6

Believe #6

Jamey Mills

Northside Church

4/11/21

Testimony by…. Ron Wobig

Intro:

Thanks Ron

So good to see you guys again… My name is Jamey Mills, I’m one of the pastors here at Northside Church… It’s great to be with you guys.

Northside has been on a bit of a roll.

We have had a couple incredible weeks. We had such a great Good Friday Service and Easter Service. We ended up having 240 people show up for Easter which is huge… and we had such a great Easter Egg hunt too.

Not sure if you all got to say hi, but our children’s director Hanna was able to come down and celebrate Easter with us. Keep praying for them as baby Kaia still has some healing to do.

Today is also baptism Sunday… and we have 4 getting baptized at the end of the service… which means in just a little over a year, we will have baptized 12 with several more coming soon.

YOU DID IT!! Congratulations everyone… we are in the 6th and final week of a series we have been calling why I believe… Looking at what the Bible means when it uses the word as well as the impact Jesus had on the belief of those who interacted with Him. Super fun series… I hope you have enjoyed it too.

So far… we’ve talked about how belief is…

More than believing that God exists.

It should impact the way we see and do life

That it brings “get out of the boat” moments

That it brings both quality and quantity of life

That it doesn't necessarily mean we will never struggle with doubt.

Our passage today starts with Jesus going from Judea to Galilee…

There was this HUGE thing between the Jews and Samaritans. The northern kingdom of Israel was overtaken by Assyria… several of them were deported… and several others from all around were imported… bringing with them all sort of new customs and idols and false religion.

The real Jews saw them as 1\2 breeds… as traitors… and they saw the Jews and unsympathetic haters that wouldn't even accept their help.

(MAP) It got so bad that most Jews who traveled from Judea to Galilee walked for MILES… to avoid even seeing a Samaritan and Samaritans had set up their own place to worship the Lord.

John 4 says that Jesus wasn’t going to do that. He took the direct route and walked right through “enemy” turf. It says he stopped at a well around noon in Sychar which was a place of rich Jewish history.

John 4:4–42 (NLT)

John 4:7–9 NLT

Soon a Samaritan woman came to draw water, and Jesus said to her, “Please give me a drink.” He was alone at the time because his disciples had gone into the village to buy some food. The woman was surprised, for Jews refuse to have anything to do with Samaritans. She said to Jesus, “You are a Jew, and I am a Samaritan woman. Why are you asking me for a drink?”

John 4:7–9 NLT

Soon a Samaritan woman came to draw water, and Jesus said to her, “Please give me a drink.” He was alone at the time because his disciples had gone into the village to buy some food. The woman was surprised, for Jews refuse to have anything to do with Samaritans. She said to Jesus, “You are a Jew, and I am a Samaritan woman. Why are you asking me for a drink?”

7 Soon a Samaritan woman came to draw water, and Jesus said to her, “Please give me a drink.” 8 He was alone at the time because his disciples had gone into the village to buy some food.

9 The woman was surprised, for Jews refuse to have anything to do with Samaritans. She said to Jesus, “You are a Jew, and I am a Samaritan woman. Why are you asking me for a drink?”

Why was this lady shocked Jesus even asked?

This lady was shocked… that Jesus would take the time to talk to her. She was “disqualified” in so many ways.

She was a woman and that wasn't done.

She was a Samaritan

The fact that went farther than she needed to… and that she came in the heat of the day suggests this lady may have been a social outcast…

We are about to find out why, but one incredible thing we learn is that no one is disqualified from belief… or untouchable for what it produces in us.

There were so many boundaries broken here…

Jesus won't be handcuffed by man made cultural barriers.

That means… those who may seem untouchable in your mind… those who seem godless or unforgivable… those who look different… those who may worship differently… or maybe even smell gross... are not beyond the grasp of God’s Grace and redemption. And just like Biblical belief has the power to change your life… in radical ways… that ought to be our hope and prayer for every single person we see every single day.

John 4:10–15 NLT

Jesus replied, “If you only knew the gift God has for you and who you are speaking to, you would ask me, and I would give you living water.” “But sir, you don’t have a rope or a bucket,” she said, “and this well is very deep. Where would you get this living water? And besides, do you think you’re greater than our ancestor Jacob, who gave us this well? How can you offer better water than he and his sons and his animals enjoyed?” Jesus replied, “Anyone who drinks this water will soon become thirsty again. But those who drink the water I give will never be thirsty again. It becomes a fresh, bubbling spring within them, giving them eternal life.” “Please, sir,” the woman said, “give me this water! Then I’ll never be thirsty again, and I won’t have to come here to get water.”

10 Jesus replied, “If you only knew the gift God has for you and who you are speaking to, you would ask me, and I would give you living water.”

11 “But sir, you don’t have a rope or a bucket,” she said, “and this well is very deep. Where would you get this living water? 12 And besides, do you think you’re greater than our ancestor Jacob, who gave us this well? How can you offer better water than he and his sons and his animals enjoyed?”

13 Jesus replied, “Anyone who drinks this water will soon become thirsty again. 14 But those who drink the water I give will never be thirsty again. It becomes a fresh, bubbling spring within them, giving them eternal life.”

15 “Please, sir,” the woman said, “give me this water! Then I’ll never be thirsty again, and I won’t have to come here to get water.”

Jesus says if only you believed the truth about who I am… you’d ask… and I would give you living water.

And what Jesus is getting at is eternal life… which we talked about a couple weeks ago, how that is not just a then and there thing meaning heaven… but it's also a hear and now things… meaning… the fullness, freedom and forgiveness Jesus brings to this life. Living out our eternal life relationship with Jesus here and now.

And Jesus starts getting to the point of what's holding her back. She’d tried to find satisfaction… meaning… and even her identity in things that were never meant to carry that sort of thing for her… and she was going about it outside of what God desires her… and for us.

Jesus is saying there is only one place to find what you’re looking for… If you knew who I was… and what I came to give you… you’d lay that all down take hold of what I have.

Jesus said…

John 4:16–18 NLT

“Go and get your husband,” Jesus told her. “I don’t have a husband,” the woman replied. Jesus said, “You’re right! You don’t have a husband—for you have had five husbands, and you aren’t even married to the man you’re living with now. You certainly spoke the truth!”

16 “Go and get your husband,” Jesus told her.

17 “I don’t have a husband,” the woman replied.

Jesus said, “You’re right! You don’t have a husband—18 for you have had five husbands, and you aren’t even married to the man you’re living with now. You certainly spoke the truth!”

DANG!!! That's rough. Can you imagine that conversation in our day and age. At best it would have ended right there, but… with everything else going on… can you imagine what it would set off.

One thing we see in this… is that Jesus knows. We’ve actually seen it over and over again through this sermon series, but He knows what’s the truth about where you are… and what's in the way… often in ways that often cannot see or maybe don’t want to see.

It's a terrifying and beautiful thing to be known by God like that.

Jesus has the ability to speak into the depth of the real issues in our hearts and in our lives… like no one else. Will you hear it?

Which leads us to another important truth. Something that we need to really wrap our heads around… and even ask some hard questions about.

I think biblical belief also involves the willingness to hear hard truth.

To be teachable and correctable before the Lord.

It isn’t fun… I don’t know that the lady that day, please tell me more about how I am messing up.

At the same time… allowing hard truth to play the role hard truth plays… to allow it to soften the soil of our heart… to allow it to really help us weigh out where we really are… is absolutely huge. In fact…

the way we respond to it, is incredibly telling as to the way our lives will go. You can tell a lot about someone… in that moment.

It would have been easy for her to be defensive… to dodge… to walk away… to make excuses… What is often the result of that?

Maybe I’m wrong, is that lacking in American Christian culture?

Maybe a great question is… what does that even suggest about our relationship with God if we are unable to hear hard truth… or unwilling to respond the right way to it?

It’s why the Bible makes such a big deal out of humility… seeing yourself correctly in light of seeing God correctly…

It’s why the Bible talks so much about how God disciples those he loves. Heb 12:6

It’s not a discipline for discipline's sake but a discipline that leads us to real freedom and fullness.

I’m sure you have seen or maybe even lived it… that cycle that happens when we refuse to see, hear and respond to God’s discipline in our lives is rough. It literally turns into chaos. I’ve been there… and I have seen in the lives of many I love.

Does belief cause you to hear hard truth…. And respond the right way?

John 4:19–26 NLT

“Sir,” the woman said, “you must be a prophet. So tell me, why is it that you Jews insist that Jerusalem is the only place of worship, while we Samaritans claim it is here at Mount Gerizim, where our ancestors worshiped?” Jesus replied, “Believe me, dear woman, the time is coming when it will no longer matter whether you worship the Father on this mountain or in Jerusalem. You Samaritans know very little about the one you worship, while we Jews know all about him, for salvation comes through the Jews. But the time is coming—indeed it’s here now—when true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and in truth. The Father is looking for those who will worship him that way. For God is Spirit, so those who worship him must worship in spirit and in truth.” The woman said, “I know the Messiah is coming—the one who is called Christ. When he comes, he will explain everything to us.” Then Jesus told her, “I Am the Messiah!”

19 “Sir,” the woman said, “you must be a prophet. 20 So tell me, why is it that you Jews insist that Jerusalem is the only place of worship, while we Samaritans claim it is here at Mount Gerizim, where our ancestors worshiped?”

21 Jesus replied, “Believe me, dear woman, the time is coming when it will no longer matter whether you worship the Father on this mountain or in Jerusalem. 22 You Samaritans know very little about the one you worship, while we Jews know all about him, for salvation comes through the Jews. 23 But the time is coming—indeed it’s here now—when true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and in truth. The Father is looking for those who will worship him that way. 24 For God is Spirit, so those who worship him must worship in spirit and in truth.”

25 The woman said, “I know the Messiah is coming—the one who is called Christ. When he comes, he will explain everything to us.”

26 Then Jesus told her, “I AM the Messiah!”

Basically what Jesus is saying is that there will come a day, when all of those things, all of those traditions that have tripped them up, and have to define what it means to connect with God…. There will be a day, and we are living it it by the way.... when those things disappear. Where the where wont matter…

And what will matter… will be bringing our whole selves to God… All of it… honestly… desiring the truth about Him and His truth to reign in our hearts, in our mind and in our lives.

That’s what it means to worship God in spirit and in truth… and it says He is looking for those that will.

Do you want to live in the light of the gospel? Do you want to experience the fruit of the spirit? Do you want to see the freedom that comes from hearing hard truth? To have his spirit welling up within you… in a way that truly and eternally satisfies.

It goes on to say that this lady dropped everything and ran back to tell everyone what had just happened… and what she said sent the people streaming out to see to see Jesus… and the result was that many of them… believed saying “Now we know that He is the savior of the world”.

The lessons I’ve learned… even the hard ones… shapes the way I do marriage… the way I’ve raised my kids, the way I do friendship, the way I preach… whether you realize it or not, they impact you… and that shaping God does there in you, impacts those around you too.

Are you willing to hear the hard truth before the Lord. To be moldable… teachable… before Him?

What Hard truth might Jesus have for you? Are you willing to go there?

COMMUNION…

We want to provide the opportunity for you to participate in communion with us. It was one of the last things Jesus did while walking the earth. He gathered the disciples in the upper room… and he gave them these symbols to remind them of a very hard truth that was right around the corner… that H’ed