Sunday Message (1st service) - Pastor Brad Neuschwander (August 9, 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. Well, Lord Jesus,

we are honored this morning to be in your holy

presence. Lord, there is no one like you. There

never will be. You are the same yesterday and

today and tomorrow. You never change. You are

always faithful. You are always true. Lord, as

we open our hearts to the word of God this morning,

we ask now that you would bring understanding,

bring illumination. Lord, quicken, even as it's

said in the scripture. Lord, quicken thoughts

and perspectives to your people's minds. Lord,

you are the master preacher teacher. Lord, help

me today to deliver what is on your heart. For

we welcome you here, Holy Spirit. We welcome

you. that you reveal what's on the heart and

mind of the Father and the Son. Lead us in his

direction, his counsel, and into the fullness

of his word, in Jesus Christ's holy name. And

everybody said, amen, amen. Well, why don't you

just say hello to your neighbor beside you, make

sure that they know that you're happy that they're

there. And I'd like you to turn to the Gospel

of John. As you're doing that, turn to the Gospel

of John. We're going to take a look at, if I

can get where I need to get, we're going to take

a look at the woman at the well, which is a very

well -exegeted passage of Scripture. There's

so much that's in John 4, and we're in our...

mini series, Passover to Pentecost. And I am

pulling as we are looking at the reality, maybe

just turn me down just a little bit, Nathan.

We're looking at the reality of what God had.

infused in the Old Testament with his desire

to show you what God can only do and then the

coupling of partnership for his kingdom. It started

all the way back when he initiated Passover.

And he brings it... all the way through, and

as we move into a new covenant reality, certainly,

as Jesus is setting the stage to not only fulfill

all that was in the old, but he's, if I look

through a lens, there's so many ways to, we read

the gospels, but there's so many nuances of this,

when we put a lens of, okay, Lord, How many times

did you introduce, did you prepare, did you cause

them to have an appetite to understand and embrace

the Holy Spirit? Because prior to that, in the

Old Testament, it was only the anointing was

poured out on prophet. priest and king and a

few people to do the Holy Spirit's ministry.

Now there is a prepping all the way through.

And Jesus' three and a half years of ministry

was, if you look at it and just read it from

that, and I would challenge you to do that. Sometimes

when we read the scriptures, we come at it from

different lenses. And of course, there's ways

to do this. Of course, the first way you want

to read it is set all of your prejudgments and

presets aside and just read the Gospels as though

you had no knowledge or input from anything and

allow the Word of God to speak to you. And then

as you continue to read the Gospels over and

over, you can begin to put, if you will, godly

filters over your... mind and go I'm going to

look for every time the Lord in Matthew Mark

Luke and John every time he talked about the

kingdom you can put a kingdom lens on there and

then in this particular case as I'm reading the

gospels and immersing myself in them just for

teaching the series I am looking at how many

times the Holy Spirit is mentioned and is integrated

in Jesus' teaching. And it is amazing. Maybe

turn me down just a little more, Nathan, because

I'm going to preach today. It's amazing how Jesus...

highlights the Holy Spirit. It wasn't just all

of a sudden, oh, he just talked about him at

the end in John 20, and they talked about the

kingdom at the end. No, he was constantly seeding

from the moment the anointing came upon him when

he started his ministry, he was constantly seeding

the atmosphere, the minds, the expectation for

them to understand that the Holy Spirit was and

is God and was the very thing they should be

partnering with. Now, this is the genius of Jesus.

As we're going through Passover to Pentecost

and kind of the reason for Pentecost and the

baptism of the Holy Spirit, which is the infilling

of the Holy Spirit and the gifts of all of that.

How much we'll get to this summer? I don't know.

Probably not very much. But we are going to go

give a platform to it in regard to where I believe

God is taking Life Bible Church in our journey

in this season is exactly what we dealt with

at the altar call today. is do we believe and

have a faith that what God has said he has given,

we're willing to walk into? And it's not a faith

of knowledge. It's a faith of actually receptivity

and that will actually move you to partnership.

Now, if you understand that that's where we're

going, don't leave right now. But there is a

big difference. between having knowledge and

actually having a working partnership. That's

what God wants of every one of us. He wants a

working partnership with you. That's his desire.

A working partnership. I'm gonna read a few verses

here in a bit, but think of this. As Jesus highlights

the nature of the Father, in revealing everything.

Jesus says, if you've seen me, you've seen the

Father. In how he trained his disciples. In how,

listen, have you noticed in the three and a half

years of picking men, how many know when you

pick men, now wives don't answer this too loudly,

but how many know when you pick men that you're

gonna end up with some flaws? Anytime you choose

to bring humanity in from the God perspective,

you're gonna have flaws. Folks, notice the disciples

in the beginning were not fully trained as of

experts. Notice he gave them the most powerful

ministry on planet Earth to walk in untrained.

I mean, literally, Jenny and I were talking about

this the other day. We were thinking about it.

We go, oh, I don't know if that person's ready.

I don't know if that person's ready. She goes,

can I remind you that you pioneered this church

at 32? I did? She goes, I was 25. Ooh. Yeah,

you weren't ready. Anyway, anyway. No, I'm messing

with you. The reality is God is always willing

to move you into something prior than what you

think you're ready for. And he's willing to trust

you with something that's bigger than you are

before you think you can handle it. Now listen,

if he's the same yesterday, today, and forever,

guess what? He's willing to do that with you.

The fact is he's not just willing, he's wanting

to. And this is the genius of Jesus. He is a

giver of himself and he trusts you with him.

Now he knows when you mess up, you have him to

fix it. You mess up sin wise, you can ask for

forgiveness. If you're repenting in your heart,

he does what? He forgives it. If you need. Healing

in your body. He's the healer. Listen, it doesn't

mean that we remove ourselves from consequences

or all of the sowing and reaping, but to deal

with the fact that it shelves us and puts us

away if we ever fail is an absolute falsehood.

God is constantly looking to renew, redeem, restore,

and to put you out into the arena to show Christ

in you. Because he's into partnership. And as

we talked about this a couple weeks ago, we talked

about how Jesus went through, in Matthew, he

went through to try to teach the disciples how

to pray. But before he ever taught them how to

pray, he reminded them what he did not want them

to do. He told them, do not, in Matthew 6, 5,

he said, do not be like the hypocrites. That's

his first thing. A hypocrite is what? Believing

something, living something else. So your first

rule of partnership is you can't believe something

and live contrary. That's not just opposite.

That means not actually manifesting the works

of what you believe. That's a good word. Come

on. That's why I got a big split. In my teeth,

I've got punched so many times with the gospel.

The reality is, you know what? That applies to

every single one of us. If I actually believe

this, why and where is it not manifesting in

my life? I'll never forget when we went, when

Jenny and I had been in ministry almost eight

years. Before we had pioneered this work and

the Lord called us to do this and I remember

Jesus speaking to me very clearly in my heart.

I was reading Mark 16, 16 through 18, reading

the list of these shall be the signs that follow

those that believe. And he asked me, he says,

are you ready to do all of them? And I thought,

cast out devils, nope. Heal the sick. Nope. Pick

up serpents. I met him in the church, maybe.

Speak in tongues. Okay, I got that one. And I

thought to myself, I can do one of the four.

That isn't good enough. From where he's taking

me and what I'm going to have to believe for.

What has been in my heart that I pulled myself

from believing that I should be operating in

all four of those things? Those are his commands.

So Jesus said, don't be like the hypocrites.

In verse 7 he said, and don't use vain repetitions

as the heathen. They think that by their multitude

of words, that's what will cause their God. to

operate. No, no, no, no. He was trying to move

what? Remove the genuine nature of relationship

with God and partnership. I don't have to say

the same things over and over and over and over

and over and over to the Father. I can pray my

heart because why? I'm recognizing he's there.

He's in a personal relationship and I'm in partnership

with him. I don't have to meet some quota that

if I say it 15 times, I mean, now forgive me

here, but just forgive my picking on our Catholic

brothers. I don't have to say, okay, when you're

done, pray 15 Hail Marys and 20 Our Fathers.

Why? It's not about repetition. It's not about

religion or roteness. And that's why when he

taught them how to pray, he was introducing them

to a father's nature and character. And the main

thing that he was introducing them to, which

is going to be the key as we're reading the gospels,

this time just maybe with a filter of, of course

you want all of the truth that's in there. But

read it. read it through, and then read it again

for the Holy Spirit, pulling out what was Jesus

trying to set the disciples to get into their

heart that was different than how they were raised

to know God and to love God. It wasn't that he

was saying it was bad. It's just their perspective

of him was incomplete. He was introducing them

to a father that was a giver, that he was a supplier.

that he was a protector, a forgiver, a leader,

and a deliverer. And if you look at the whole

Lord's Prayer, it moves God from just being estranged

and distant and us having to do things to approach

and have no relationship, which was the Old Testament.

Only one tribe could do that and come near. Now

he was preparing the disciples, changing their

minds of saying, no, you get to come near to

the forgiver. You get to forgive us our debts

as we forgive those. Lead us not into, you get

to come into the leader, the shepherd of your

soul, not into temptation, but deliver us from

evil. You get to come to the one who is your

sword and your shield of what David prayed. You

get to come, God, give us this daily bread, a

giver and a supplier. And so when we think about

these categories of prayer, we see Jesus initiating

a commissioning before we ever look at the great

commission, go into all the world, teaching them

to observe all things I commanded them, preaching

them repentance and all things in the name of

the Father, Son, and the Holy Spirit. That's

the great commission. But the commissioning happened

before that verse called the Great Commission.

The commissioning happened in the beginning of

how Jesus was trying to shape them and form them

to understand the Father and the new level of

covenant he was bringing them into. He was bringing

them into from a distance to now a close proximity

and partnership. And so we see a commissioning

and a linking to the responsibility of what it

means to be in kingdom partnership as we activate

his will, we activate his ways, and we speak

and live by his words. That should be, even as

we heard Andy and Patty share, that should be,

if you've stopped memorizing scriptures, who

told you to do that? Who told you that that was

enough? It certainly wasn't the Lord. He didn't

come down to you, Garrett, and say, thus says

the Spirit of the Lord, you've learned enough

of me. Do not memorize any more of my word in

your heart. It's full. You'll never get a prophetic

word like that. You'll never hear him say that.

Why? He wants you to fill your heart with his

word. To meditate on it. And to meditate means

what? To bring it up and to remind yourself of

what he said. Not meditate in this, oh. If you

go to a place of nothingness, that's called sin.

Let me just speak to this new age crapola, which

is the Greek word. Going to a place of nothingness

is not peace. It's actually a form of being deceived

and deluded. True meditation of what the Bible

says is you meditate on his word, which what?

You recall his word and you bring it into your

mind and you allow his principles, his truth

to saturate you, which brings you into his peace.

Anything that tries to empty yourself out of

nothing and to keep nothing in is antichrist.

Because Christ wants to fill you with his word,

his presence, his goodness, and his grace. You

don't keep the spirit of God out. You welcome

his word. You welcome his life. You welcome his

thoughts. For the thoughts of God are thousands

daily. Our job is to allow his thoughts to begin

to fill us and shape us so that we what? Walk

lives that are pleasing to him. Folks, that is

Christianity. That's real Christianity. Anything

outside of that is subset Christianity. It is

man saying, I don't have to. You're welcome.

Moving on. And listen, do you understand that

this is where persecution comes from right here?

The calling out of what is substandard. To actually

live. Folks, that's not radical Christianity.

That is just basic Christianity. Now, why I said

that, I knew I was going to say something. I

want to just give a great, just take a quick

pause here. Dakota, where are you at? Dakota,

right there. He just graduated from Ranger School.

Come on and just give him a big hand. I looked

at him, he came in the doors this morning. I

was going to get a cup of coffee. Strong, thin,

hair. Everything about it just made me sick.

No, no, just kidding. And the reality is to be

able to go to that school and the top of fitness,

to jump out of airplanes, to do all the stuff,

to be part of our National Guard in the state

of Washington, I'm really proud of you. Great

job. Great job. Now, why did I stop there? Because

I need you to understand that just even in that

illustration, just in that moment, Dakota taking

something beyond basic and saying, I want to

move to a level of going further and deeper because

there's more. See, every single one of us should

have something inside of us that says, I don't

want just to live at the lowest common denominator.

I want to go to kingdom school. I want to live

in kingdom partnership. I want to, if you will,

be a Jesus ranger. Come on. Not afraid of anything,

air, land, and sea. Come on. And that's the whole

point, is that God's plan and purpose for us

from the very start of his Seed understanding

of bringing salvation to us, quickening us, is

meant to bring us into discipleship that would

lead us into the life of more. You see, our Heavenly

Father, we can put this on the screen, our Heavenly

Father is the giver of supreme gifts. He's the

supreme gift giver, which means if he's the supreme

gift giver, his gifts are supreme. That means

all good gifts. Think of it. Every good gift

that we have is from the father is full of light

and life and is good. That's what it says in

James. Let's just look at the scripture. James

1 17. Every good gift and perfect gift is from

above coming down from the father of lights.

in whom there is no variation or shadow due to

change. Man, that is incredible. First of all,

it's a promise to us saying, listen, God's goodness

and his nature, he doesn't have a sliding scale

of how he visits you in the morning or the evening.

There's no change with him. He didn't wait for

one generation to say, well, I really love that

generation, but this generation, no, no, no.

Every good and perfect gift comes down from the

father of lights of whom there's no variation,

meaning that every gift is pure. Every gift is

true. Every gift is holy. That means you can't.

Find something that's adverse with what God says

he gives. And any attempt to do so. Please hear

me on this. Any attempt to do so is actually

speaking falsehood against his gift. Please look

at the scripture. See, I'm trying to uncover

some of the old things that we were raised with

for some of us that have been in Christianity

for a long time. Sometimes we pick up things

and we pick up cliches and we buy philosophies

that are built on human experience rather than

the truth of God's word solidifying it and then

trying to find our experience with that truth.

We've got to remove this idea that because somebody

had a bad experience or somebody didn't have

this or that, that the gift that God says is

from him isn't really good anymore. Oh, my, my,

my. Of his own will, verse 18, of his own will,

he brought us forth by the word of truth. That

we should be a kind of first fruits of his creatures.

So what are we saying? Well, we're saying, first

of all, that our heavenly father's nature is

a gift giver. Second, we are made in his likeness

and his image. And that is a big deal. There

is no variation with that. When we read it in

Genesis 1, 26 and 27, it says, let us. Make man

in our image after our likeness. God created

man in his own image in the image of God. He

created them male and female. He created them.

Listen, after sin in the garden, God did not,

Father did not stop being the creator and Father

did not stop being Father. He can't change. He's

still creator. He's still father. He's still

giver. That's his nature. He's giver. The father

continues to do what? Bring us back to what?

In the Holy Spirit, what are we getting? What

is God trying to restore in the New Testament

that had previous generations had not been restored?

Bringing us back to original purpose. Original

purpose was what? Partnership with God. Walking

with him, talking with him, and extending his

will and his ways on the earth. You know, that

was the original intention. That's what the new

covenant is about. Partnering, walking, fellowship,

and extending his will through what? His word

and his ways on the earth. I don't know how you

could deviate from that. Because that was original

purpose, when death came in because of sin. I'm

not here to, I don't have time to extrapolate

the difference between death and sin, but there's

two different things. Sin came in, and because

of sin, death had reign. But the reality is,

prior to sin and death, men didn't think, oh.

I wonder if there's another option. I wonder

if there's an option just to believe that God

is in the garden, but not actually walk in fellowship

with him. I wonder if a man thought, sorry, I'm

not trying to make anybody feel stupid, but if

you feel ignorant today, maybe that's okay. Right?

There's a big difference. Ignorant is uninformed.

Stupid is just not believing what God's word

said is true. Yep, there you go. You see, the

reality is this. You have to understand what

God's will is for your life. And you have to

have that so clear. And it doesn't come as though

a personal package for you. It comes by bringing

you, you get the personal package after you accept

the actual tour that he's providing. How many

have ever been on a cruise before in this room?

Anybody ever been, okay. Notice that you go in

the general vicinity, but then they offer these

things like personalized packages. That is in

addition to what your general cruise is. Folks,

that, if I could just say in a crude analogy,

that is actually what Christianity is like. You

get saved to get on the cruise to move you in

the general will of God and the purpose. Once

you embrace that and get on the ship, then the

nuances of personalized visitation and personalized

understanding of what his specific will is for

you comes further into alignment. But if you

want to stand on the dock and just say, I want

to know what the will of God is by not getting

on the ship or embracing the will of God, you'll

never experience the personalization of what's

supposed to happen. You actually have to get

on the ship of what? Realizing what the scripture's

intent was. It's to bring you back into fellowship,

relationship, and to cause you to partner with

God's will on the earth. And that's why Jesus

had to spend such time in prayer with the disciples.

He had to bring them back to your kingdom come,

your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.

Now, If we understand that, and put this slide

up there, that salvation is a gift from God and

that this was Jesus' mission. This is the true

mission of Jesus Christ as first priority. To

bring about a reconciliation and a bridge to

allow people to experience what they were cut

off from because of what happened. in man's willful

choice. So what is God primarily doing? He's

reestablishing as a gift giver righteousness,

sanctification, justification, redemption, and

restoration. Those are all gifts to you in salvation.

That's a perfect gift to you. Sanctification,

justification. righteousness, redemption, restoration,

all of those things we cannot access except through

the blood of Jesus Christ and except through

we believe by faith that he is God's answer to

bridge that gap in which we have no hope to close

it without him. This is what it says in Ephesians.

You guys know this, but listen, think of it just

with the lens of Holy Spirit. For by grace you

have been saved through faith. Notice the highlight

here. That the Apostle Paul is writing, as the

Holy Spirit is writing to the Ephesian church

about how much is in their inheritance in Christ.

He says, listen, you need to understand something.

You've been, by grace, God's divine enablement,

you have been saved through faith. So faith,

every one of us here that professes Jesus Christ,

you had to access it through what? Faith. Yes?

God provided, he gave you a measure of faith.

He provided the blood of his son as propitiation

for atonement. He also released the spirit of

grace that would come, what? Draw you to himself

because he's loved you before you were ever even

aware of him so that you might encounter his

word and truth, but you can't just accept it

mentally. You actually have to confess it. That's

what Romans 10, nine is. If I believe in my,

heart and confess with my mouth that God has

raised Jesus from the dead I shall be saved what

was the issue it has to go in you and through

you to believe and then you apprehend it Even

though it's been released already from Calvary.

Here we are 2 ,000 years later. It's been released

from Calvary and the risen tomb of God. And it's

been available. The only way it becomes available

for you to walk in it is that you have to accept

what is actually given by faith. So every one

of you that loves Jesus and has said, I'm a born

again believer, I've been born from above, had

to do what? You had to receive that truth and

that spiritual reality by what? Faith. By what?

Faith. Okay, half of you are getting it. By what?

Faith. By faith. Do you know how everything else

that Jesus gives is accepted? Okay, six of you.

By what? Faith. Every good and perfect gift doesn't

change how you receive it. You have to receive

it by what? Faith. It is fundamentally the very

currency of the kingdom. And when, and here's

what happens, when doubt and unbelief, oh my

goodness. Just looking at Troy makes me say doubt

and unbelief. No, just kidding. When doubt and

unbelief come in, what happens? You begin to

wonder whether you want to receive it. And so

one of the reasons that we don't walk in kingdom

partnership is that there are places in our mind

and our heart that the teaching of Jesus Christ's

word is so absolutely real. And it's not just

one odd verse. It's verse after verse after verse

after verse. But somewhere, doubt and unbelief

creeped in through wrong philosophy or an argument

of somebody else's experience. And what did it

do? It put a pin that stopped faith from moving

forward. And therefore you hear it here, but

you, because of doubt and a belief and a mindset,

you haven't really been able to receive it. And

then you try to receive something cerebrally

versus from the heart. Let me, are we getting

this? Because we're moving forward. And you've

got to begin to see that this is the language

and the atmosphere of heaven in order to partner

with the kingdom. This is not an issue this morning

of whether or not you're saved. You're saved

by the grace of God, by the blood of Jesus, and

you had to have faith to do it. This is now...

After you're saved, how do you hook up to the

will of God and the will of God for your life

in kingdom partnership? Your job is to begin

to ask the Lord through his word and through

his spirit, where do I not believe? That's why

Jesus... let's just go back to it that's why

Jesus would tell the disciples before he ever

taught them to pray don't do these two things

because if you bring this into your prayer you

bring the nature of hypocrisy into your prayer

or you bring culture's mandate of how they think

God will hear them through superstition and through

the number of times of how they pray. You know,

just kind of praying with your tongue and your

foot up and, you know. No. You'd be shocked at

how many cultures of the world and ideas that

are out there in religion of how their God might

answer their prayer. All you have to do is look

at Elijah on Mount Carmel and see how the people

who followed Baal, what they thought they had

to do to actually get their God's attention.

Fact is, if you want to think Elijah was always

in the spirit of sweetness and softness, his

taunt to them was, talk louder. He's relieving

himself in the heavenly toilet. That's what that

Hebrew means. He was relieving himself so he's

gone to take a number two and your prayers aren't

hitting him. Elijah was mocking them. I take

great joy in that. So you need to understand

the nature here. The nature here is what? I got

to begin to ask the Lord where I really am stuck

not receiving what you have said is true. And

that's why having a lens of the Holy Spirit to

see it afresh. Lord, you promised the Holy Spirit.

You promised he was good. He's of your nature.

He's part of the Trinity. He can't. be bad. He

can't even be kind of bad. He has to be wholly

good because he's God good, God holy, God righteous,

God true. And everything he does is God perfect.

Where have I pigeonholed him to somehow say he's

not who he says he is? How about God is the nature

of a gift giver. Romans 11, 28, concerning the

gospel. Now this is a big one. Concerning the

gospel, they, who's the they? Israel, are enemies

for your sake. Meaning right now, Paul was talking

about right now, natural Israel is persecuting

you who have faith in Jesus as the Messiah. But

concerning election, meaning what? The foreknowledge

of God and his purpose of who he wants to be

saved. They are beloved for the sake of the fathers.

And then he makes this question. For the gifts

and the callings of God are irrevocable. The

word irrevocable in the English is different.

Because in the Greek, it defines it with this.

It means irrevocable, and the Greek means without

regret. Or without repentance. Meaning there's

no changing of the way God thinks. When there's

a foreknowledge and election, it means that he

refuses to... think a different way because it's

been fixed and firm in his mind. This is the

whole point. It's not contingent on your action

or even your belief. It is what he says it is

regardless. which makes it irrevocable, not because

it's made irrevocable by man. It's irrevocable

in God because he changes not. And if he swore

by himself, he cannot undo what he swore. It

is now. Not regrettable even though he regrets

the behavior and he hates the sin. His promise

to his foreknowledge because he's eternal. Just

like the same principle why you get your gifts

and why you get the grace of God is that he swore

by himself and he doesn't ever regret or change

his mind how he feels about you or what he chooses

to give you through the Holy Spirit. That's a

big deal. Because one of the greatest lies is

this. One of the greatest lies is that when you

decide, if you decided to backslide or you decided

to allow something that where you began to not

live and you turned away for a season, the biggest

lie of the accuser that will come to your door

is saying, well, you need to just give up on

hope that God can use you now. Just be content.

The fact that he's forgiven you and you're back

in. That whole lie of, I can't be used again

in the things of the kingdom. I can't flow in

kingdom partnership if I've walked away or I

backslid or I've made some mistakes that I just

need to be content with. God just saved me and

that's enough. Well, principally, yes, it is

enough. If that's all he did would save you.

It's more than enough. But that is never the

nature of the gift giver, what he says in the

scriptures. The gifts that he's given you and

set aside for you are not based on your behavior.

It's based on his character. And therefore, he

does never, does he regret giving of himself

to you. Of every dimension. Why? Because he's

good. He's full of light and every gift he gives

is not on your qualification. If it was, none

of us could get saved. And I would just say this,

use this philosophy and filter in everything.

If God gave you salvation through faith, which

you did not deserve, it was by grace. You have

to use the same filter with what all the other

gifts that God wants to give you. He didn't change

filters halfway through. Now notice what he says

here. I'm actually getting to John 4. We're here.

Notice what he says. Now, God would never regret.

He would not repent of giving gifts of himself.

Because every gift you get from God is from himself.

Please hear me say that. You get a gift of him.

In anything that the Holy Spirit does and gives

you, it's from him. Can we partner with it and

malign it and make mistakes with it and jack

it up? Yes. Let me just say that again. Can you

mess it up? Again, pretty weak. Can you mess

it up? Okay, did the disciples mess it up? Did

God just say, he did say, how long must I be

with these? He did say that. But he didn't say,

revoked. Canceled. Stupid. He didn't say that.

Never said that. He corrected it. He rebuked

them. Why? Because he loved them and he didn't

want his gift maligned, mistreated, or misrepresented.

So when you don't want to be corrected or rebuked

in the spirit of God's word and wholeness of

it, you want to actually do something different

than him. Part of what keeps that gift clean

is your willingness to actually be adjusted and

shifted based on the purity of his word. All

right, moving on. Now, John chapter four, you're

there. Verse 10. I want to focus on this in the

five minutes I have left. Jenny, if you want

to come and give me some believing music. Jesus

answered her and said, I'd love to give you the

10 verses, but I can't right now. He said, now

listen, I want this to be a highlight as you

go through John 4 again. If you knew, everybody

say knew. If you knew the gift of God and who

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

you would have asked him, And he would have given

you living water. Now, I don't want to move into

the gift of living water. I want to focus on

the, if you knew. Jesus was getting at something

with the woman at the well here. He was revealing

himself. This is why, in my opinion, this is

one of the reasons of why this dialogue is so

long in the book of John. You know, you think

about the book of John. It's an incredible book,

but man, most of the book is about the last week

of Jesus in his time before he goes to the cross

and after. I mean, three quarters of the book,

or at least two thirds, is about from chapter,

I think, like 11 forward, is about the last week.

So in the first 11 chapters, There's three years

and chapter four takes up, I mean, literally

almost all except one small part of the whole

chapter of John is given to this woman at the

well. So there's way more in four that Jesus

was highlighting. And he was saying, if you knew.

Why was he saying, I got to get you to understand

a lady that isn't part of Israel, but has been

estranged from Israel and now is more Gentile

than she was Jewish. If you knew God as a gift

giver, if you knew what was the heart of the

father, because what happened every time he tried

to reveal truth? Every time she had an argument

to try, not offensively, but her mind and her

heart brought up arguments to every point that

Jesus was working his way onto the inside to

change her perspective. He was revealing to her

how many areas, her belief, her unbelief, the

culture. of her day, the culture of her community

had separated her from knowing the truth of who

Jesus really was. And a lot of us, a lot of us

are in that boat. The Father's nature, as Jesus

was revealing to the Samaritan woman, was to

give of himself. If you knew the gift of God,

he was saying what? God is here to give you of

himself. She couldn't, she could hardly, she

couldn't fathom it in the beginning of the conversation.

She couldn't fathom it. Always had to take a

step back and say, well, I know you say this

and we say that. What are you, a Jew talking

to me as Samaritan? Don't you know that the well

is deep? Are you great? I mean, every single

argument was highlighting arguments and doubt

and unbelief and a disbelief that God would actually

come down and find her or him. And want to give

something to us. You see, that's the whole point.

That if God wants to give something to you, he

doesn't change. Doesn't change. He still wants

to give gifts to you. He still wants to bring

grace to you. He still wants to actually bring.

Hey man, it's great to see you guys. Blessings

on you. He still wants to actually. move into

your life, remove doubt and unbelief. I mean,

a lot of it here. No, I'm just messing with you.

He wants to remove doubt and unbelief to do what?

To give you himself in that place. You see, the

goal of the Samaritan woman wasn't just to get

her to worship at some mountain different than

what she believed. The goal was to get her to

bypass all of the philosophies that seemed so

rigid in how she could approach God and begin

to believe that God would actually give something

to her because his nature doesn't see on the

outside. He's always looking on the heart to

give of himself. I'd like to close this morning.

And if you would, just bow your heads for a moment

and let's just... Wait on the Lord. Holy Spirit,

we thank you. Lord, you are heaven's great administrator,

facilitator, and giver of the Father's and the

Son's heart, words, and love and i invite you

i honor you as as the one who is both the spirit

of truth you are the great counselor you are

the great advocate attorney you are and bring

the spirit of peace you are the one who brings

conviction of sin, and you are the one that says,

I'll never leave you or forsake you. I will come

to you. I will not leave you orphan. Lord, every

part of that is good. Every part of that is the

nature of the Father and the Son, and that is

who you are. You are God, Holy Spirit. But your

assignment on the earth is to magnify the Lord

Jesus Christ. To lift him up. To fill those that

have received him so that they could honor him,

worship him, and partner with him. But your first...

if we could say it in human terms, your first

priority for us is to draw people to him. If

you're here this morning and you've not accepted

Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior, he's drawing

you even now. He loves you. He's the one that

the Bible says knows the Father's heart, even

the deep things of God. And he draws you to the

Father through the Son. The Son is what made

a way to the Father. Jesus becoming the door

that you enter through him and his name alone

and his work alone. Do we get reconciled to the

Holy Father? And the Holy Spirit is here to draw

people to him. Whether you have You've never

taken that step. The Spirit of God is active.

It's here. He's drawing his creation to him.

Or maybe you found yourself, even in the preaching

of this word this morning, you might have been

irritated, but then it moved from irritation

to, is there something lacking? Have I stepped

away? And that's the point that the Holy Spirit

would say, don't stay in the far away position.

Come back to relationship through my love and

my grace. If you're in any one of those categories

in just a few moments, I'm going to ask you to

just lift your hand over your head and keep it

lifted. I'm going to send somebody back to you

to pray with you. If you're here this morning

and you want to accept the Lord Jesus Christ

as your savior, if you're here and you know you've

walked away from the place of where he called

you and you found yourself drifting and you've

believed the lies of the accuser that you've

had to just settle for mediocrity, if that's

you and God is drawing you back, would you just

be so kind right now and just say, that's me,

I'm lifting my hand, I need. I need, yeah, just

lift it up. Thank you, sir. I need, I need, right

there. I need Jesus now. I need, right there,

yes, right here. Thank you. I need Jesus now.

I wanna come back into that fellowship. I wanna

be introduced to the one. Who gave himself to

me. I come back into alignment. I come for the

very first time. Lord to engage you. And to invite

you into my life. To be Lord and Savior. Lord

cause me to be born again. It's not a flesh birthing.

It's a spirit. Lord I'm being born from above.

That I might learn to hear your voice. And walk

in your truth. Is there anyone else? Before I

close this. Come on. You have to move to him.

I can't see him. Is there anyone else? Thank

you, Jesus. So Father, you know what's going

on in hearts today. I thank you for those that

are responding. And I thank you for this church.

I thank you for the people that are hungry and

desirous to follow you, to love you. Lord, they're

here because they want more of you. I'm asking

you to bless them. I'm asking you to fill them.

I'm asking you to strengthen them. Even as we

pray today, let strength and joy fill their heart

and their mind as we move together as a family

and the house of the Lord in the joy of the journey

of being your disciples. We love you, Jesus,

and we bless you. In Jesus' holy name. We are

so grateful for those who tune in each week and

have given generously to this ministry. If you

would like to give, click the link in the episode

description below. You can also help us by subscribing

to this podcast and sharing it with your friends

and family. Lastly, if you are in need of prayer,

send us a text message at 541 -625 -1365. We

would love to pray with you.