Sunday Message (2nd service) - Pastor Brad Neuschwander (August 16, 2026) | Life Bible Church

Welcome to the Life Bible Church podcast. We

want to thank you for joining us today, and we

hope you find today's sermon impacting as you

listen to it wherever you are in your daily walk.

To find service times and watch messages online,

see our website at lifebiblechurch .org. Now,

enjoy this week's message. All right, would you

do me a favor and would you open your Bibles

to two places this morning? I'd like you to open

to the book of John. Go ahead and continue just

a little more. I'm not quite done yet. The book

of John chapter 4. If you could put your finger

John 4 · chapter mention

there, Matthew, Mark, Luke, John. And then I'd

like you to go a little further beyond and I'd

like you to find Romans 11. And as you do that,

I'm going to just turn our hearts now and ask

the Lord to feed us. Father, we thank you this

morning. Lord, that we can dedicate children

and we can begin to call on you as a loving father

and ask for mercy and help in our time of need.

Lord, that's what you say. You can boldly approach

the throne of grace in your time of need. Lord,

we've done that this morning. We grab a hold

of that truth. And now we also come to you as

the one who is the shepherd of our souls. Lord,

we're asking you to feed us this morning. Feed

our heart, feed our spirit, feed our mind, Lord,

that the word of God would be open. We know that

it's living. The word of God is clean and pure

and true and it divides truth from error. And

I'm asking this morning that as you release it,

Lord, I'm just a vessel, but you would take it

and you would cause it to be fresh bread from

heaven. Lord, that would feed your people. Jesus,

you said my words are spirit and life. And Lord,

they're your words. Let the word of the Lord

bring life to us. In Jesus' holy name, amen,

amen. Thank you, sweetheart. All right, we're

talking about, we've been on a little bit of

a journey. If you're visiting with us here, we're

kind of taking some time. And I started, I think

in... In June, actually, I started this process

somehow. God just kind of gave me a thought and

dropped it into my spirit. We were in the midst

of another series, and so we may go back there,

but this is what happens. I feel like, what is

the movie where there's dreams within dreams

within dreams? I feel like we're in a spiritual

inception. Hallelujah. But the reality is every

time we move on to a certain aspect and a theme,

then God begins to open that theme up and it's

incredible. But I started with the idea of the

journey from Passover to Pentecost. getting us

to understand all of the truths that God put

in the scriptures in regard to the Lamb of God,

the blood of the Lamb on the doorposts of every

Israelite's house that were slaves to now become

free, and the process of partnering by removing

the leaven, which means the yeast, which the

Bible always talks about sin, out of their houses.

And we really dealt with that on dealing with

the partnership. That God does what only he can

do, but then he always creates places for us

to partner with him. And that partnership with

him carries all the way from the Old Testament

into our New Covenant and into the New Testament

reality. And then we took that journey from there

and we began to say, as we begin to extrapolate

the scriptures in various... partnerships that

we see God set up we see the genius and this

is how I'd like to say it we see the genius of

Jesus as he in his ministry begins to highlight

the ministry of the Holy Spirit he begins to

unfold for us What the Father's plan and purpose,

especially as he's now finishing the old covenant

that was made according to Moses and the law,

and he's now bringing life and understanding

to this brand new thing he's about to introduce

called the new covenant in Christ. As he goes

to the cross, which would be his... number one

work that he would fulfill, the reason he was

sent from the Father was what? He came to die.

That was his work. I came to be what? He was

the Lamb of God. He was the fulfillment of Passover.

Jesus Christ in the New Testament, God's shadow.

for three, 3 ,500 years with the people of God

is now coming to a fulfillment that Jesus would

once and for all be the lamb of God that takes

away the sin of the world. And through the cross

and the resurrection, because without the resurrection,

then we'd have to keep having someone over and

over die for our sins. But Jesus wants them for

all at the cross. And then three days later,

rose from the dead, opened the door for us that

we couldn't open. We were closed out because

of sin, if you will. We were locked out. Fellowship,

when God said from Adam and Eve, because of your

willful disobedience, he ushered them out of

the garden. That was a type and shadow of, I

now cannot have the fellowship that I intended

to have with you. You've chosen sin over me.

And therefore I have to usher you out of the

place of intimacy. I have to usher you out of

the place of walking and fellowship with you.

And I'm now having to put a barrier so that in

the time to come, I will work at closing that

barrier because no man can close it. And Jesus

was the only one that could do that. And so as

we do this, we see Jesus on the scene with the

challenging, pulling apart things that they just

garnered from being good Jewish boys, going to

synagogue, reading the Torah, but through cultural

adaptation and years of men adding to the word

of God. Jesus had some work to do to reformat

and position them to begin to understand what

Jesus was going to do. It's a big deal. And so

this is the genius of Jesus. Jesus is separating

out of the disciples their wrong perspectives

of the Father, which in turn... would give you

wrong perspectives about the Messiah that would

come, the Son, and in turn would give you wrong

perspectives about the Holy Spirit. If you have

wrong perspectives about the Father, you're going

to have a wrong perspective on every other aspect

of the Father. Any counselor that's worth any

type of, even should be speaking, understands

that if you got daddy issues, then you got issues

with everybody else. Are you there? She's raising

her hands. I know that's right. No, I'm just

kidding. I'm kidding. I'm kidding. I'm messing.

The point is, you better get it locked down with

dad. And locked down with your father. Because

your identity comes from there. Your understanding

comes from there. And the nature of how dad.

Acts and interacts with you. Shapes your framework.

And your world view. To embrace the son. And

to embrace the other. As Jesus said. I will send

you another. That's just like him. That will

come in the father and the son's name. Of his

nature and character. And so if you're. If your

template of the Father is skewed, if it's off,

if it's minimized, it's going to automatically

minimize your expectation of Jesus. And now it's

going to throttle down and minimize your expectation

of the Holy Spirit. Now, last couple of times

that I've been able to get into this text. We

talked about that God is by nature, he's the

giver. We looked at James chapter one, verse,

I believe it's verse 17. It says, every good

and perfect gift that comes down from above from

the father of lights has no shadow or varying

to it. I don't even think it's on the screen.

I'm just quoting it by reference. It means there's

no shadow, there's no, there's no. God doesn't

just wake up on one side of the bed. Number one,

he doesn't sleep. You know, he sees in the dark

as well as the night. So God's not like moody.

Okay, he's not like he got bad news that came

the day before and he still ticked off. Okay.

That's not who God is. That's not who the father

is. He is perfect. Everything that he gives is

perfect. Everything that comes from him has no

variance to it. You didn't get a, Scott didn't

get a 6 .5 of God's 10 and Jihad got a 7 .8.

Okay. And David, you know, David gets a 9 .2.

It doesn't, God doesn't work on a sliding scale.

every gift is good and whole and perfect. Now,

how we mitigate that gift, how we use it, maybe

not, might not be so perfect, but what comes

to you that's from him is. Now. So I want to

start with a verse. Now, I'm going to try not

to preach the whole Bible to you today, okay?

Because I am going to start in Romans 11, and

we are going to get to John 4. But I want to

start by showing you in Romans 11, I want to

take a hot topic of the day, and I want to begin

to extrapolate it a little bit and show you how

important This verse is to your promises and

help you expand your understanding of God. Now

I am going to a very unique passage of scripture,

Romans 11. And if you are there, Romans 11, I'm

going to get there. Verse 28. Now you say, why

are we going there? Well, first of all, the apostle

Paul by the Holy Spirit is addressing believers

in Rome. So as you're just looking at this deal,

when you see the book of Romans, he is addressing

Jewish and Gentile believers in Rome that are

part of the church together. Jew and Gentile

together. I don't know if you understand this,

but there should not, the whole idea of the New

Testament is we don't have segregated congregations.

The whole idea is the church is done Jew and

Gentile, slave and free, rich, poor, male, female.

It's what? In Christ they are one. And so the

Apostle Paul, by the Holy Spirit, is writing

to this understanding that is right now 2026

issue. If you have an understanding of the difference

between how much Jewish influence is in the church,

how much Jewish influence is not in the church,

how much emphasis is on Palestine, how much emphasis

is on Israel. We are right there, right now in

2026. And the Apostle Paul, that's why I can

say Solomon actually had to have some wisdom

because he says there's nothing new under the

sun. This argument has been around for over 2

,026 years. And the reality is, here's what he's

going to say, and I'm not going to exegete all

of Romans 11, but I am going to move to go to

verse 28. I'm going to start in verse 25 just

by reading it and then we'll highlight verse

28. Lest you be wise in your own sight. Isn't

that always the narrative? That sometimes we

find people of podcasts and people on things

and we become... We're wise in our own sight

and oftentimes think we know better than what

has already been established. So there's a word

of the Lord for you. Lest you become wise in

your own sight, I do not want you to be unaware

of this mystery. What was Paul saying? I don't

want to leave you in a state of ignorance. Unaware

is what? Ignorance. It's not stupid. Not being

aware of your ignorance and being wise in your

own eyes is stupid. But if you'll actually put

on the reality that, hey, I need to make sure

that I am balancing some things and that I need

to be aware of some spiritual things that are

beyond just normal or natural logic. Do you understand

that you didn't get saved by logic? You didn't

get saved by logic. You got saved by the word

of God and the power of the spirit coming and

breaking. Just didn't answer every one of your

questions. I can tell you this. I had way more

questions of Jesus when I got saved than when

I wasn't. I got a lot more questions today than

I had back then. And he did what? Because. I

had been drawn by the Spirit of God. He was able

to get, doesn't mean that he asked me to check

my mind or my questions. He wants me to ask questions.

He wants me to search and find. That's the scripture.

But he was able to get behind the gate of what

I thought were my objections and move right into

the very center of my heart. And so the Holy

Spirit's doing that here. And he says, I don't

want you to be unaware of this mystery. There's

mystery that takes place. And a partial hardening

has come upon Israel until the fullness of the

Gentiles has come in. Means he's saying, listen,

there's been a mystery that's been operating.

Those that should have recognized the Messiah

did not recognize him. And there are reasons

behind that. I want you to be aware that this

is in the background when you look at the tensions

between what takes place. And he said, listen,

for the fullness of the Gentiles has come in.

And in this way, all of Israel will be saved.

And then he quotes Isaiah 59 verse 20 through

Isaiah 59:20–21

21 saying, the deliverer will come from Zion.

He will banish ungodliness from Jacob. And this

will be my covenant with them. I will take away

their sins. It's so amazing that Isaiah prophesies

that he is going to take away the sin of Jacob.

We're going to get to that in a bit. And then

he says this verse, which we are focusing on

for our service today. He says this, concerning

the gospel, they, being Israel, are your enemies

for your sake. What? Lord, thank you, I think.

There are enemies. Israel is our enemies as far

as the gospel is concerned for my sake? Hmm.

Why would he say that? Why would he? That is

a mystery. Well, that doesn't even make sense.

No, it doesn't make sense to your natural mind,

but you need to understand something. I've had

mercy on a people who were never intended to

have mercy on. And for your sake, when they rejected

me, I chose you. Now he brings it back and he

says, listen, you need to understand this. He

goes, yes, they are enemies for your sake. What's

that mean? It means that when When Judaism rejects

Jesus, who was the Son of God and born a Jewish

male, fulfilling all prophecies, when they reject

that, what? A blinder came over them, and now

many of them have rejected the gospel, right?

But God says there is going to be when the fullness

of time is... he's set a time that there will

be a more emphasis on the open door at the end.

But in the midst of the process, you shouldn't

get discouraged with those that are mocking you

or that are persecuting you as you share the

gospel. Part of the reason they're doing so is

your salvation. So when we come to now 2026,

And we begin to see all of these issues of all

of these podcasts of saying, well, evil this

and evil that. And I'm not here to go the total

weight on this this morning. But you need to

understand something. You cannot just crumple

up your Jewish understanding of Israel in the

Bible like a piece of used tinfoil and say, well,

if they don't reject Jesus, they have nothing

to do with it. The church now replaces it. No.

Yes to the fact that if your definition is that

the church is both Jew and Gentile. But if your

definition is God's done with the Jewish people

and it's only Gentiles they're going to save.

Absolutely not. It is the Jewish believers who

believe in Jesus first because it's their first

portion. And us second doesn't make us second

class citizens. It just means that we get served

second. It's like the waiter that waits on us

at the table. He never looks at me first. Now

I get that he looks at Jenny. I look at Jenny

first too. I don't hold up my phone and look

at myself. I like looking at something beautiful.

But the reality is the waiter comes to the table

and he always starts with. Jenny, I don't look

at the waiter and go, listen, that's not fair.

I want you to serve me first. No, I'm serving

her first and then I'll serve you second. Your

second is like the first, but you're still second.

It's that simple. It's that simple. Quit. mocking

it up. Okay. All right. All right. So you're

all right. I'm having a little fun today. We

got to, we got to push through this here a little

bit. He said, but now listen, here's where the

great truth lies. He says there for the gospel

concerning the gospel, Israel, the whole, the

whole of them, except for the messianic ones

are your are enemies for your sake, but concerning

the election. Now, please, we're not talking

about politics here. It's not the election of

politics. When he uses that word concerning the

election, what is he talking about? He's talking

about in the sovereignty of God, who knows all

things, sees all things, and looks from eternity.

And has made a determination on bringing people

to himself. And who he chooses out of his own

will. This word, election, is dealing with the

foreknowledge of those that have the opportunity

to be grafted to God. It does not mean they're

automatically grafted. It means that they have

the promise of God and the covenant of God extended

to them. Are you there? And so that's a whole

doctrine in itself on the election and the foreknowledge

of God. And we'll deal with that in Romans when

I can finally get out of this message. But moving

on. But concerning the election, they are beloved

for the sake of the fathers. Okay, what does

that mean? So they're enemies? As far as the

gospel is concerned, Matt, they're enemies for

your sake, but concerning the election and the

foreknowledge of God, of promises made and covenants

extended, they are beloved for the sake of the

fathers. So now you have to ask the question

because this is one of the key tenets of faith,

Jed. Good to see you, by the way. This is one

of the tenets of faith, by the way, that is being

absolutely assaulted in wokeism today. And it's

the very core tenet that's actually what we would

call being deconstructed in many people's faith,

even on college campuses and Bible college campuses.

And the issue is, and maybe you've heard this,

well, we're just removing the patriarchy. Have

you heard that? Don't smoke that if you've heard

it. Okay? Because that is a stinking lie. Listen,

he's not talking about every father here. First

of all, you have to drill down on that fact.

He's not talking about the fathers are every

father in Israel. He's talking about three. If

you understand from Paul's understanding of what

he's actually trying to communicate to the church

that would have Jew and Gentile, he's saying,

listen, you need to understand that your very

root system of salvation is connected to the

election and the promise that God holds dear

of what he gave of himself to the three. Who

are the three? The three represent what? A type

and shadow of Trinity. That when God says, Abraham,

Isaac, and Jacob, he's looking at father, son,

and expansion of the family through the Holy

Spirit. Those three represent, now I'm not saying

that Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob are the father,

are the son, or the Holy Spirit. They represent

a type and shadow of what God does. To bring

a covenant expression that was in limited capability

and bring it into the New Testament so that you

understand that the promise he made to them,

that he would fulfill it and still fulfill it,

is what actually causes your promise and everything

from God to actually be proven and sure. So you

think of it, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. I'm going

to try to be a little bit funny today. Don't

get upset at me being sacrilegious. But you need

to understand something. If you don't understand

what took place in Genesis 12 in the previous

two chapters of Genesis 10 and Genesis 11. You

will get lost in the deconstruction arguments.

You'll get lost in what I would call a woke mindset

because you didn't understand what God actually

was saying and doing because you actually have

to have Bible understanding and knowledge to

see the power of what took place from Genesis

10 and 11 to Genesis 12. It is not going to read,

and God did this. But in what is read, you're

supposed to have enough understanding of the

nature of God and the power of God of what he

did that you can see the connections. And that's

my job to try to help you pull that out. If you

remember, now are you ready? We're gonna go deep

in the kimchi this morning, all right? Okay,

here we go. All right, number one. We all know

what happened in the garden and we all know the

fall, right? And from that point, we look at

sin entered the world and we look at Genesis

4 and we see the issue of Cain and Abel and we

see murder happened within moments or years,

however that was calculated, between brothers.

Hatred, jealousy, covetousness, envy, murder.

Bam, right off the bat. And then we move through

the corridors of time and we don't know how long

those spans were, but men were living many, many

years on the earth. And in that process, the

Bible says when we get to Noah in Genesis 6,

7, and 8, specifically, we see that between Genesis

4 and by the time God brings the flood, that

all of humanity had been corrupted. Now, I don't

have time to spend too long on this. You'll have

to come to a freedom encounter and an understanding

of spiritual things to understand what I'm about

to dive into in fuller detail. But Genesis 6

gives us a picture that it was not just sin on

an earthly level between people that actually

throughout corruption, then what happened that

there was a what? That the sons of God, and that's

a deep topic in itself, fell and they came into

the daughters of men. And through that union,

there became giants on the earth. And it says,

and man's thoughts were corrupt continually.

Now, if I was to extrapolate and spend another

hour showing you the reality of this, in all

of that, you'll need to understand that there

was a, there was, if I will, sinful, demonic.

and perverse, not just sexuality, even though

that was the case of the sons of God, whether

you believe that's angels or whether you believe

whatever your thought process is. I have some

theories and ideas, but God doesn't go into that.

He just lets us know that what was the product

of that was not of human only origin. It was

of origin that was fallen of a higher level and

of human origin, and it was evil. And it implies

that, not technology, excuse me, that ideas and

information about how to do life was given from

another realm, not just from the realm of God

giving it. Everything you study, everything you

understand, trust me, I've looked at this for

years and I've studied it with a passion. But

I'm making it very, just trying to encapsulate

it because of time. From that point on, God does

what? He says, I haven't found anything that's

whole except Noah. And that was Noah's claim

to fame as Noah was found as a righteous man

before the Lord. And for a hundred years, Noah

performed his faith and stayed righteous in the

midst of a culture that was contrary in every

dimension. And God promised that he would send

the flood. And there's so much more to that.

But Noah, his wife, three sons, Noah, wife, three

sons, and three wives. That's eight. Eight people

were preserved on the ark. What does eight mean

in numerology biblically? New beginnings. So

just type in shadow. God was saying in the ark,

which is a type of salvation, in the ark closed

up, being lifted above all the circumstances,

having all the atmosphere of destruction and

death. You see God having patterns like this

all the way through the scriptures. that what

would happen? They would be preserved. Judgment

would take place. All the Nephilim on the earth

would be wiped out at that time. All the people

of the earth would be wiped out at that time.

And only eight people would emerge out of that

ark as it would come to rest. And then they would

begin to populate. Now, as you begin to read

that, God gave Noah a sign. And of course, it's

been hijacked by the culture of debauchery, that

they would use the rainbow as was a sign given

of God's mercy that he would not destroy the

whole earth with a flood because of man's perversion

and because of the perversion of thought completely.

And God made Noah a promise. He said, I will

not destroy ever again the earth with a flood.

So please keep that in mind. As you begin to

read now the accounts of Genesis 8 and Genesis

9, and this is a byproduct, by the way. If you

decide to grow a vineyard and drink of its fruit,

you better think twice. You better read the story

of Noah. Because moms and dads, if you choose

to drink in front of your children, Noah decided

to do that the same way and nothing good happened

from that point on. Not saying you can't. Have

something in your own house. But you probably

ought to be wise and read that story. Because

it brought shame and hardship and pain. For generations.

And as you read that. You begin to see. God promised

not to destroy the earth with a flood. And you

begin to see in the paintings of scripture. That

from those eight people. tribes began to be born.

And you begin to hear the offspring of Shem,

Japheth, and Ham. And you follow the lines through

it. You see it in Genesis 9 and 10. And from

Genesis 9 and 10, you read some real weird, funky

things. Now, I don't know about you, but I'm

kind of the guy or maybe the kid. That when somebody

puts something weird out there, I'm asking the

question, hmm, why is this different? And hmm,

I need to kind of figure it out. And so when

you read like Genesis 10, it makes obscure comments.

It says, in the days of peg leg, the earth was

divided. First of all, that's a word of wisdom

to all of us. Don't name your kids peg leg, okay?

Second, okay, second is that in the days of Pegleg,

the earth was divided. Well, okay, what does

that mean? We're getting somewhere with this.

It means that most scholars believe that there

was a larger mass of land that in those days,

on the basis of how things moved from the flood

and what God decided to do with all things, separation

began to take place with different continents

and land mass. There's your science. And we can

go through science, but it's right there in the

scriptures. Because God in his foreknowledge,

now remember, we're talking about election, right?

We're talking about promises that will be stood

by that God sees in advance before you ever say

yes or no. You don't think God knew? What was

about ready to come down on the earth? He held

his covenant that he would not destroy the earth

again by water. And what takes place? Here are

the eight people, eight people that he saved

in the ark. And now you read it in Genesis 10,

what takes place? He lists 70 different potential

tribes that will become nations out of that.

And the earth was what? populated again between

Genesis 8, and this is what we miss, between

Genesis 8 and Genesis 10, the earth was filled

with people. And they made a choice. Now remember,

Noah was a righteous man. Noah would have given

the answers on how to communicate with God. Remember,

God told him to build ark. They were not without

knowledge. Noah would have said, this is how

we hear from God. This is how we understand God.

Noah was still living. He was still there when

he was teaching Shem, Ham, and Japheth. And then

they were passing that on to their children,

wives, and so forth and so forth. And guess what

happens? That moment at Babel, Genesis 11. When

they all gathered to come to the plain of Shinar.

In essence, you want to describe what's happening?

It was burning men. They all came to the plain

of Shinar to do what? To build a tower and a

system to worship God the way they wanted to.

And if you were to look at history and look at

all the ziggurats of temples that were built,

most likely Babel was a type of temple that was

built to do what? To communicate with a, quote,

God, but not the one out of the Bible. And you

have to ask yourself the question, where did

they get that knowledge? Come on. Things that

make you go, hmm. Where did they get that knowledge?

Why? Because those spirits that fell that took

the daughters of men in Genesis way back, they

don't die. And so what was happening? They were

still speaking wisdom. Wasn't a godly wisdom,

but a wisdom that was earthly, sensual, and demonic.

And there were people that had, here has how

you serve the true living God, and yet a whole,

almost a whole world. came to Babel to do what?

To make bricks and mortar and to build a temple

and tower that would reach the sky. And that's

why the Bible calls Babel, it's the root of Babylon.

It's what? When the Bible ends it in Revelation

saying Babylon, the city, the mother of all harlots,

he's not talking about the city being a sexual

prostitute. He's talking about the very system

that beget another way to worship the God of

your choosing that looks like you versus the

one who said, I want you to look like me. That's

the difference between antichrist and Christ.

It started all the way back. It started all the

way back. So this is why I say, well, where are

we going with this? Well, we're going back to

Romans 11 for the sake of election and the promise

of the Father. What you need to read in Genesis

11 is this. When they chose Babel, what did God

do? Matt, God did something. That is mind boggling.

He said, okay, I'm coming down. And I know that

what they decide to do, there will be nothing

that stops them. Why? He wasn't talking about

human power. I have the power. No, he wasn't

talking about that. He was talking about that

the counsel that they were giving, that there

was nothing that they wouldn't try to do to reach

and communicate with something that was not holy.

Are you there? And in that process, he did what?

He came down and he confused their language as

you read it. And that's why it's called the Tower

of Babel. The language that they had to form

unity, strength, faith in it, he now did what?

He dispersed it. And he had already prepared

that the continents were separated. And they

did what? They took their tribes. They took their

clans. And they spread out over the face of the

earth because they couldn't stand it. One was

speaking Chinese. And the other was speaking

Indian. Right? And the reality is they didn't

understand each other. Okay? Sorry. I'm trying

to make it fun here. Interactive. Here we go.

You should have seen some eyebrows go up on that.

Anyway, the reality is they did what? They scattered

and the project stayed left abandoned. But it

wasn't abandoned because the spirit had already

been released. And we would find the spirit of

Babel or Babylon that would now be the thread

and theme all the way through until we get...

to the book of Revelation. Now, it's important

because Genesis 12 is the breaker and the key

point of Revelation. Meaning, when they scattered

the nations, it was this. It was like this. God

turned in essence and said, go pursue the gods

of your own heart. Now you'll not read a chapter

and verse that, but that is in essence what he

did. Because when you go to Genesis 12, what

did he do? He abandoned all the 70 nations that

are listed in Genesis 10, and he finds a moon

worshiper. In Ur of Chaldees. Now, can I tell

you? Ur of Chaldees is where? Modern day Iraq.

He finds a moon worshiper out of the Chaldeans.

That was the God that they served. Listen. did

the Chaldeans even get? Well, anyways, moving

on from all the families in the earth, what were

they worshiping? We see in Genesis 12, they'd

abandoned Jehovah and Yahweh to do what? The

worship, the moon. And God found Abraham whose

heart was right. And he said, what? Get out of

your country. I'm quoting straight out of Genesis

12 chapter verse three. Get out of your country,

out of your father's house into a place that

I will show you. And I will make you a father

of many nations. And those who bless you shall

be blessed and those who curse you shall be cursed.

And in your seed, all the families of the earth

will be blessed. If you don't understand that

language, you don't understand your covenant.

Because that covenant was where God said, if

all the other nations and all the other lineages

want to follow all these ones that fell and try

to make themselves gods, and they've chosen in

their heart to deny me, I'm going to give them

up. It's Romans 1, folks. Read Romans 1 again.

I'm going to give them up to the desires of their

heart to pursue what is inside of them, and I'm

going to turn them over that they won't even

be able to find their way back. And I'm going

to choose Abraham. And as Abraham believed God,

God counted it to him as righteousness. And from

that point, God developed the nation out of Abraham.

And so when you look at Abraham as a type and

shadow, he represents what? The father. Of our

faith. Now I'm not saying he is the father. I'm

not saying Isaac is the son. I'm not saying that

Jacob is the Holy Spirit. It's type and shadow.

What did the father God do with Abraham? He promised

him a son. And when Abraham tried to manifest

a son. Through Sarah's language. It's not happening.

We're too old. I'm past time. Just take my handmaiden.

That never works. You just need to ask yourself

one question. What part of negotiation with God

when you tried to make it happen has ever blessed

you? Never happens. So he had to say, Ishmael,

I'm going to bless because it came from you,

Abraham, because I'm determined to bless you.

But if I hadn't already determined, I would be

pretty ticked with you. But I'm going to bless

Ishmael, but he's not your son. And they send

Ishmael away. And there's a whole truth about

that. So God waits longer. I don't know about

you, but this was part of the supernatural reality

of where our covenant comes from and why you

can begin to believe God. How many 90 -year -old

women in this room would like to say, God, give

me a baby? And I'm trying not to be crass, but

that was Sarah's argument. Oh, you're going to

wait now? Now that I'm dry? Now that the milk

has curdled? Come on. Come on, we're getting

real in church here. Now you're going to give

me a son? You see, folks, God had to step in

beyond until what? Until Abraham and Sarah had

no way of pushing their fleshly ideas and actually

had to have a platform that only God could do

it. It's the only way it could happen. And God

covenanted with that son and the promise of how

God walked Abraham and grew Abraham. And then

what? He sent Isaac, the promised son. And what

did Isaac have to do? Isaac had to covenant with

God again. And God came to Isaac the same way

he came to Jacob. And Isaac had to take a wife

from his what? From his own kind. Not an outsider.

Then after Isaac and Rebecca had twins. One proved

to be a son of the earth and flesh who the Bible

ends up saying as Esau was a fornicator and a

selfish person versus Jacob who started with

deception, learned to lean on the Lord and value

the covenant. And that's the promise that Paul

through the Holy Spirit is making reference to

saying for the sake. of election. They are beloved

for the sake of the fathers. It was the promise

to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Jacob representing

the 12 sons that went in. That promise to them

is why God is being faithful to their offspring

that have hardened their heart and don't believe.

Please hear me say that. That's the answer. To

some of these things that you're hearing in podcasts.

And people that are trying to throw out the.

Not. It's not the political Israel. It's not

the Knesset. It's not. Yahoo. Okay. It's not

any of those guys that. The Bible is saying because

of political Israel. No, no, no, no. For the

sake of the fathers. He has given favor and continues

to uphold his promise waiting for the fullness

of time. And the question is this. If he would

shuck that promise, then what would he shuck

with us? You need to really grasp that. If God

is faithful to his promise, promised to the what

he made to Abraham Isaac and Jacob and he said

no to that that doesn't mean that all of Israel

will automatically get it get into heaven no

because you have to accept Jesus Christ he add

that you have to but but even still the fact

that God cares about them and leaves that opportunity

for the Holy Spirit to keep wooing them is the

very reason that you and I have been saved and

can believe that God's heart is for us. And he

won't change his mind. Now this is so important

as we get to now the chapter that I wanted to

get to. John chapter 4. Let's get there. John

John 4 · chapter mention John 4 · chapter mention

chapter 4. Now Jesus is dealing with the Samaritan

woman. And I believe this passage is probably

one of the most critical passages in the New

Testament. It's probably one of the most preached,

but it's the one most underdeveloped of the treasure

that's in it. Jesus comes to the Samaritan woman.

Now you have to understand, the Samaritan woman

is a product of mixture. She comes from a lineage

of people that refused out of Israel. That refused

to obey God. They got judged first. Assyria came

in and scattered them to pagan lands and issues.

And the Jewish people were driven. And the tribes

of Israel that used to be ten. Ten tribes were

circumnavigated all around the globe. Only two

tribes remained loyal. The tribe of Judah. The

Samaritans were part of the ten that got dispersed.

So here she's coming to the well and the Jewish

son of God is at the well. There's so much more

I can say, but this woman was mixed in every

capacity. She was mixed. In her cultural understanding.

She was mixed in her religious understanding.

She was mixed in her moral understanding. She

was mixed in community understanding. That's

why she was coming alone in the heat of the day.

It's like in Arizona. You don't go out at two

in the afternoon just to play in the yard in

the summer. Unless you want to call yourself

lobster. The reality is she was coming in the

heat of the day to do work. That's not normal.

And so Jesus sitting at the well, and I'll just

use that and jump in here. He says, if you knew

the gift of God and who it was that was saying

to you, give me a drink, you would ask of him

and he would have given you living water. I want

you to say this with me, if you knew. If you

knew. If you knew. Means what? A lot of us are

like the Samaritan woman with our understanding

of God. We've received a lot of mixture. We've

put together Little cute sayings. We've put together

maybe some understandings from those that walk

before us. And because we haven't really read

the Bible and really dove in to search it out

for ourselves, we've found the easier track of

just gleaning a little here and gleaning a little

there. And most Christians in today's Western

culture have what I call a spiritual potpourri

of understanding of who God is. And there's no

difference. Jesus could be talking to 2026 right

now. Fact is, he is as much as he was talking

in 4 AD. He said, if you knew. If you knew the

gift of God and who it was that was saying it

to you. You see, the first thing that Jesus is

trying to get to a woman that had mixed parts

of her life in every category His first job wasn't

trying to just fix the mixture. His first job

was to do what? Is to reveal himself that God

wants to give something to you. Now, if you've

been ostracized by some of the choices you made,

if you have experienced some things from people

and life has not gone well, because remember,

Jesus is gonna find out. That she'd been married

five times and the man she was with was not her

own. That means she's on number six and she's

chosen to just set aside what should be done.

She's living in a state of mixture. But God moves

right past the mixture at the first part and

he gets right into the core and he's saying,

if you knew the gift of God and who it was, who

it was that was saying to you, give me a drink,

you would have asked. Meaning, you don't know

the God that I know that's a gift giver. And

his whole nature is different than what you've

been told. His whole nature is different than

what you've been told. You see, the nature of

the Father, what Jesus was trying to reveal is

the nature of the Father himself is that he wants

to give of himself. God is not like us at the

core. At the core, I'm gonna, see how I'm gonna

pick on you here. Because you got hair. That's

why, that's why I'm picking on you. Okay, not

messing with you. At the core, We're selfish,

aren't we? That's the difference why we need

the transformation power of Christ is to change

the nature of what we were born with. It isn't

about color of skin. It's about all of us having

what? A heart that serves self first. That's

not who God is at the core. Who God is at the

core is a giver of himself. We don't understand

that because we constantly default to our own

thinking that we have to do something to keep

what is ours. That is not the nature of who God

is. God is the source of all. He doesn't experience

lack ever. And therefore, Jesus was trying to

explain by asking this question to the Samaritan

woman to get her to come out of her framework

where everywhere she turned, all she's getting

what is leftovers. You understand that? She's

leaving leftovers and she's getting leftovers.

And God moves. He doesn't come and start arguing

with her, trying to pull the mixture out immediately.

He first comes to her by identifying himself

that the one who's standing in front of you,

if you knew his nature, there would be something

in you automatically to ask. There would be no

reproach. There would be no, I'm not sure if

he'll accept me. There would be none of those

thoughts. You would know who he was. The second

thing that Jesus does by standing there is he

would let this woman know that God wants to be

known. Because her next argument was, well, you

people worship over there and we worship over

here. And I know that when Messiah comes, he's

going to sort this all out. No, Jesus was saying

that isn't what it is about. I'm here and God

wants to be known. You don't have to travel to

that mountain. You don't have to travel to that

mountain. You don't have to go to that land.

You don't make a pilgrimage to over here. And

you don't have to make a pilgrimage over there.

God is looking to come to you to be known. And

he's saying this to the woman and to all the

Gentiles. Then he says, go ahead. Thank you,

sweetheart. And he says, okay. He says, when

she makes that argument, the Jews worship on

this mountain and we worship on this mountain,

Jesus corrects her. So one time he moves into

a correction. He said, my people know salvation

is of the Jews. Why was he saying that? because,

and I gotta end here, and I know I'm keeping

you right up to time, and Pastor Trent's getting

ready to come up. He validated something that

we need to get, and I'm gonna use you guys as

an example. He validated something that was in

every Jewish person from the time of Abraham

forward, and he called it out, and he was showing

it to this woman. From the very beginning, seed

of Abraham who was not a Jew who was made a Jew

okay let's get that down he was made one through

covenant and exchange he said from that point

on listen he's saying salvation is of the Jews

they knew are you ready they knew instinctively

that they were a gift to the world Now you say,

well, pastor, how are you getting up? Because

if you, if you understand what God said to them

over and over, especially, especially when he

said you are to be my own special people, a holy

race appointed. to minister to me. God said that

over the children of Israel. And he said that

they were to be what? That they were to be a

witness and a light to the nations, to draw the

nations who had partnered with darkness and dark

spirits to come to the light. That's why when

Jesus uses all the phraseology about you're the

light of the world, he was borrowing from language

that was part of a covenant responsibility. That's

why he said, that's why in first Peter, when

it said, hey, you are a holy race, a chosen generation,

that was the same language that God used in Deuteronomy

over God's people in Israel. Why? Because right

from birth of their covenant in Abraham, Isaac,

and Jacob, they knew from the time you were able

to hear anything out of the loins of that family

that came out of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, immediately,

I'm going to say his name is David, David would

have known, I'm a gift. That would have been

in his DNA. I'm a gift. And everywhere I go,

I've been given favor. Please hear me say that.

Have you ever wondered why even though non -believing

Jewish people have such favor and grace on their

life? It's because right from birth. they have

instinctively instilled in them based on an old

covenant that they were a gift from God and everywhere

they go, they had God's touch, presence, and

favor. Even though like Paul, they were doing

things in ignorance, it was what was instilled

in them. Folks, you have a better covenant. Why

is it? Why is it? That when we get born again,

all we think about is self. You see, that's what

happens in Western Christianity. Western Christianity

only preaches. I get saved. Jesus is for me.

He forgave my sin. Yes, that's true. That's the

true portion. But you miss the other side. See,

most of our Christianity focuses about us. If

you think about how Christianity has been spread,

it's about my fellowship time, my worship time,

my issue with God, my going to heaven, my hell

insurance paid up, so to speak. And it's all

about me. But there's the other side. The other

side was, hey, you're a gift. There should be

something inside that when you're born again,

a superior covenant, that right from the DNA

of how you were born again, there should be something

in you saying, I am a gift to the nations. I'm

a gift to my region. I'm a gift because God is

on me and everywhere I go, I carry his favor.

If that's not operating, then we've got what?

We've got barriers in our understanding of the

gift giver himself. My job, one of them, is to

preach the message to expose where you don't

actually believe the gift giver completely. Where

experience or voice or disappointment, or loss

has come in and removed your understanding of

the gift giver just back to salvation. The goal

that the Holy Spirit is working in the church

today is to what? Remove the pins that are only

around salvation. and to bring his church into

an understanding that, yes, salvation is the

first unnecessary step, but you must trust him

as the gift giver in everything so that what

is of him and what is from him you desire. That's

the goal. That's the goal of the Holy Spirit.

That's the goal of understanding the Father,

which makes you understand the Son, which now...

brings you into partnership with the Holy Spirit

that says, I trust the gift giver because the

gifts that come from him are good. Would you

pray with me this morning as Pastor Trent comes?

Father, in Jesus' name this morning, we, I'm

so grateful for those that are here. I'm grateful.

for those that are pursuing you. Lord, I stand

this morning and I begin to extend your invitation

to those, Lord, who by circumstances, just like

the Samaritan woman, have been mixed, mixed in

their understanding, mixed through their experiences,

mixed through brokenness, mixed. through betrayal,

mixed through accident and injury, mixed through

faulty understanding, and mixed through selfishness.

But today, Lord, you do not withhold yourself

and say, until you figure this out, I am restrained

by your own mixture. No, Lord. Jesus said to

the Samaritan woman, just like he says to us

today, if you knew, the gift of God, and you

knew who it was that is speaking to you right

now. It's not Pastor Brad that's speaking. He

has nothing to give, but Jesus has everything

to give. If you knew the gift of God and you

knew who it was was speaking, you would ask him

and he would give you living water. You see,

Jesus tells that Samaritan woman and he's telling

us today, if you ask, he's not going to put up

a bunch of restrictions. If you ask, he's not

going to make you jump through hoops. If you

ask, he's not going to viciously parade all of

your mistakes before you. If you ask, he will

reach in to who he is. and the gift that he is

himself, and give of himself to you as God himself.

God who gives the gift of God's grace, mercy,

love, and fellowship. If you're here this morning,

you say, you know what? I've never invited Jesus

Christ into my life. I'm not talking about...

External knowledge that you might believe that

he existed or that even that he was born and

that he came to die. It's wonderful that you

believe that, but there has to be a personal

knowledge that you welcome him and that you are

willing to say, Lord, I want you in my life.

I want to know you. That's why the scripture

says, if you knew. not just have an idea of knowledge,

but if you actually become acquainted with and

have an experience with the one who is the gift.

And I'm inviting you in the next few moments,

if that's you, and you would like to get to know

Jesus Christ because he desires to know you,

this is him coming and sitting by the well of

your life. This is him coming. and saying, I

choose you. He invites you to himself. Maybe

you're one that's walked away and been estranged

for a while. This is Jesus inviting you back

to that place of fellowship. Would you be so

bold just to say, that's me right now. Just lift

your hand. I'll send somebody to you. I'm not

asking you to come to the front, but I will send

somebody right now to pray with you and say,

Lord, I want to know you and I want to be aligned

and in right relationship with you. If that's

you, would you just do that right now as I'm

just making this plea? Thank you. Awesome. Thank

you, Jesus. Thank you, Lord. Thank you. Father,

I pray over this congregation. I thank you. Lord,

for hearts that hear, and Lord, I'm asking for

you to do your work. Lord, you would cause us

to want everything that is of God and from God.

In Jesus' name, amen. Thank you for taking the

time to listen to this week's message. We are

so grateful for those who tune in each week and

have given generously to this ministry. If you

are in need of prayer, send us a text message

at 541 -625 -1365. We would love to pray with

you.