Prasie God for Transformation

Good morning, great song for you here, to start with.

One thing I ask of the Lord this is what I seek.

One thing I ask of the Lord this is what I see.

May I dwell in the house of the Lord.

May I dwell in the house of the Lord to seek Him in His temple to gaze upon His beauty.

One thing I ask of the Lord this is what I seek.

One thing I ask of the Lord this is what I see.

May I dwell in the house of the Lord.

May I dwell in the house of the Lord to seek him in his temple, to gaze upon his beauty.

One thing I ask of the Lord this is what I seek, this is what I seek, this is what I seek.

He took my burdens all away, up to a brighter day.

He gave me a song, a wonderful song, a wonderful song I now can sing.

In my heart joy bells ring.

He gave me a song, a wonderful song.

He gave me a song, a wonderful song.

He gave me a song to sing about.

He lifted me from sin and doubt.

Oh, praise his name.

He is my King.

A wonderful song he is to me.

He is my King.

A wonderful song he is to me.

I am redeemed no more to die never to say goodbye.

He gave me a song, a wonderful song, and some of these days in that fair land.

Sing with the chorus.

He gave me a song, a wonderful song.

He gave me a song To sing about.

He lifted me From sit and doubt.

Oh praise his name.

Oh praise his name.

He is my king.

He is my king.

A wonderful song, a wonderful song.

He is to me.

He is to me, lord.

The light of your love is shining In the midst of the darkness.

Shining, jesus, light of the world, shine upon us, set us free by the truth you now bring us.

Shine on me, shine on me, shine, jesus, shine.

Fill this land with the Father's glory.

Blaze, spirit blaze.

Set our hearts on fire.

Flow, river, flow.

Flood the nations with grace and mercy.

Send forth your word, lord, and let there be light as we gaze on your kingly brightness, so our faces display your likeness, ever changing from glory to glory.

Mirror, here may our lives tell your story.

Shine on me, shine on me, shine, jesus, shine.

Flood the nations with grace and mercy.

Send forth your word, lord, and let there be light All right.

The scripture reading comes from Ephesians 2.

But God is so rich in mercy and he loved us so much that, even though we were dead because of our sins, he gave us life when he raised Christ from the dead.

Let's begin with the word of prayer.

Dear God, we thank you for this day.

God, we're thankful for an opportunity to gather as a family, to take time to be able to praise you for the things that you've done, the work that you've done.

And, god, this morning, as we study that we can take time to praise you for the transformation we study, that we can take time to praise you for the transformation that you've done through your son, we're thankful for Jesus.

We're thankful for his example of how to love and to interact with people.

And God, at this time, we pray that you'll open up our hearts and our ears and our eyes to the things that you want us to know and to see.

It's in Jesus' name, we pray Amen, alright, good morning, good morning.

In Jesus' name, we pray amen, alright, good morning.

Transitions, or transformation, I guess, is a better word that I'd like to use.

Transformation happens fast and sometimes we don't even know when it happens.

You walk into Walmart at one moment and it looks like that there's pumpkins everywhere, there's orange everywhere, there's Halloween costumes everywhere, there's overpriced candy everywhere, and then you go to sleep and you go in the next day because you definitely didn't get everything you needed at Walmart in one trip.

So you go back the next day and it looks like this, and it's like it just happens out of nowhere.

You don't see the transformation take place.

There's probably some elves working in throughout the night that make it happen, but from one moment to the next it turns into a winter wonderland snow globe, and if you've been in Walmart this week, you know that all the fall stuff is gone and everything Christmas is out.

We haven't even hit Thanksgiving and it's winter wonderland.

I'm not complaining, I'm excited about this time of the year, but it is.

It just happens.

And so if you are a Starbucks person, you know that this happened this week, and so that only furthers the idea that the holidays are coming because the red cups have this week, and so that only furthers the idea that the holidays are coming because the red cups have came out, and so everybody has to go get their chestnut praline latte, whatever it is, everybody has to get that.

What is it?

Peppermint mocha?

My bad, I apologize, lee.

It's that peppermint mocha.

Everybody's got to go get it, but it just happens overnight.

It's just like this quick transformation that nobody even realizes it's happening.

And here it is.

Our courthouse did a Halloween light show this year and I think they did it in prior years past.

I did some research on that.

This year on the Halloween display there was over 8,000 control channels to make that light show operate.

For every two minutes of music for the courthouse show it takes 22 hours to get it to cooperate.

It's 22 hours of work to get two minutes to go along with it.

The Halloween show this year was approximately 40 minutes long.

So you can do the math 36 days of work for that 40-minute presentation and its last show was on October 31st.

Do you know when the first Christmas show was November 1st?

24 hours later it transforms to that On the Christmas display there's 8,300 control circuits for 80,000 lights.

15,000 of those lights are around the structure of the courthouse.

There's 60 animated displays and a 20-foot mega Christmas tree in the center of it all with 3,000 plus lights on it.

And if you go this year we were there last night.

We were those people We've started already.

We were there last night.

They got a new piece.

Right in the middle of the courthouse is this new display and it is unbelievable.

Santa showed up on it, the Grinch showed up on it.

It was all kinds of cool stuff.

But my point is this overnight the courthouse transforms.

There's a transformation that takes place, and so that's what happens, just real quickly.

And as we jump in this morning, we're going to be in Ephesians.

And as we jump in this morning, we're going to be in Ephesians, and life happens.

You've all experienced this.

If you've had kids, your baby becomes a toddler and your toddler becomes a kid and then your kid becomes a teenager and then your teenager becomes an adult and then your adult begins to take care of you, if everything works out right.

But it happens.

I've noticed this, I've watched this happen with Jordi.

Jordi's our baby and unfortunately Jordi is no longer a baby.

She's in that toddler stage Now.

She'll forever be my baby, but she's in that toddler stage Now.

She'll forever be my baby.

But she's in the toddler stage.

And Jameson and Drew aren't necessarily toddlers, especially Jameson.

He's not necessarily a toddler anymore, he's becoming a kid, or, like he would tell me, I'm a big kid.

And that transformation just kind of takes place.

So as we continue our series this week, we continue to study what we have to praise.

Last week we looked at the idea that we can praise because of what God has done, and this week we're going to pick back up in Ephesians.

We're going to be in Ephesians, chapter 2.

Ephesians 2 · chapter mention

And Paul is writing to a group of Christians Ultimately he's writing to you and I, and he reminds us of this.

It says this in verse 1.

It says Once you were dead because of your disobedience and your many sins, you used to live in sin just like the rest of the world, obeying the devil, the commander of the powers in the unseen world.

He is the spirit at work in the hearts of those who refuse to obey God.

All of us used to live that way, following the passionate desires and inclinations of our sinful nature.

By our very nature, we were subject to God's anger, just like everyone else.

Paul starts off Ephesians, chapter 2 by saying this is what your life was like.

Ephesians 2 · chapter mention

Remember your roots.

At your roots you fell into sin and this is what life was like.

And so, on your outline, you have four blanks.

There are not blanks for you.

They're not going to show up on here.

What I would like for you to write down and to think about for just a few minutes this morning is what are the effects of sin?

What effect does sin have on your life.

I'm not asking you to write down your sins or the sins that you associate with.

I'm not asking you to write down your sins or the sins that you associate with, but what I want you to write down is what does the effect that sin has on your life?

I'll give you an example.

Sin has the effect to make you feel like you're lonely and you're isolated, that you are only the person in the world that struggles with that sin.

Does that make sense?

One of the effects of sin is isolation.

Okay, so as we think about that, I want you to write down some of the effects that sin has For me.

I always feel like sin has a way of holding me back or holding me down.

The idea of that sin can trap me.

Sin is always in the back of my head, or when I'm committing a sin, it's always there.

It has the power to blind you, to keep you from seeing what God is doing in your life, which makes you feel like you have nothing to offer or you can do nothing for God.

And when you feel that way, you begin to limit your interactions with people.

None of your conversations that you have feel authentic, because you're in a constant state of feeling like you have nothing possibly to bring to the conversation.

So those are all just effects of sin.

So I wrote down a list.

So if you don't want to do the homework, you can cheat off my list.

Sin has the effect of making you feel blind, lost, a slave and a stranger to God, and so I don't know what you wrote down and I don't know what you've experienced.

But I do believe we've all experienced what Paul is writing about here.

We've all fallen victim into Satan's tactics and destruction.

We've wrestled with sin.

We've experienced hurt, the pain that comes with sin.

We've experienced the guilt, we've experienced the shame and we've experienced the fear that Satan brings through sin.

We've dealt with damaged relationships.

We've dealt with depression that sin oftentimes brings to our life, and so this morning we're going to jump to another story, like we did last week.

Last week we looked at Ephesians 1 and then paired it with the prodigal son.

This week we're going to look at Ephesians 2 and we're going to pair it with John 4.

So if you have your Bibles or your phone and you want to turn to where we'll be, we're going to be in John 4.

We're going to jump into our this morning and this is a story that you know you've heard before.

But in v 6, it says Jacob's well was there and Jesus, tired as he was from the journey, sat down by the well.

It was about noon when a Samaritan woman came to draw water.

Jesus said to her will you give Me a drink?

You've heard this story before.

Many of you have made the connections with this story before.

Many of you have made the connections with this story before.

But there are so many reasons that this interaction shouldn't have happened.

There are so many reasons why this interaction between Jesus and this woman shouldn't have happened, but it did.

One of the reasons why it shouldn't have happened was in verse 3.

It says he left Judea and departed again to Galilee.

So his destination is not Samaria, but it is what Galilee.

Now, if you looked at a map, it is easier to get to Galilee by passing through Samaria.

But almost all of the Jewish community, when they would travel to Galilee, would go around Samaria, because the Jews and Samaritans did not get along.

There was a deep distrust and a dislike among each other, and so what they would often do was travel around Samaria to get to Galilee.

So I say that this interaction shouldn't have happened because most Jewish people would have not taken this route.

They would not have ended up in Samaria.

But when you read that I'm reading the NLT.

I've had some people ask it's the NLT when you read that, in verse 4, it says he needed to go to Samaria, that Jesus needed to go to Samaria.

The NIV, I believe it says he had to go to Samaria, that Jesus needed to go to Samaria.

The NIV, I believe it says he had to go to Samaria.

So God has a plan here.

There's somebody, there's people that he knows he needs to get to in Samaria.

But one of the main reasons, just right off the bat, why this interaction shouldn't have happened is that the Jews and the Samaritans did not get along.

This wouldn't have been a normal travel route.

Does that make sense?

The second reason why this shouldn't have happened is that it's the middle of the day.

Most women and children would have already been there to get the water that day, and so it's not likely that any women or any family would be at the well because they would go in the morning.

Now, why would you go in the morning?

It's cooler that.

Now, why would you go in the morning?

It's cooler.

That's the best answer.

You don't want to work in the heat of the day, and so you would go, and it's cooler to get the water.

Why else would you go in the morning?

So you had water.

You need water for your daily routine.

If you're going to water your livestock, you need water.

If you're going to feed your family, you need water.

If you're going to feed your family, you need water.

If you're going to clean, you need water.

If you're going to brush your teeth, you need water.

And so it makes a lot of sense that you would go in the morning, and so everybody else goes in the morning.

And so there's another reason this interaction shouldn't happen.

She shouldn't be there in the middle of the day.

Now, we'll get to that in a minute.

Another reason this interaction shouldn't happen is a Jewish person wouldn't talk or speak to a Samaritan.

Remember, they didn't trust each other and they didn't like each other, and so they'd do everything they could to not interact with one another.

And so another reason this conversation should have never happened is because Samaritans didn't speak to Jews and Jews didn't speak to Samaritans.

Okay, that make sense.

And then the fourth reason is is a rabbi or a teacher would not talk to a woman in biblical times, and so this interaction was never supposed to happen, but it does.

So we have to ask the question why is she there?

Why does this moment happen?

Why is the woman there at this moment?

Perhaps I said this in the 830 and Martha started shaking her head.

No, right away I said perhaps there was a sudden need for water, maybe the water supply that she'd gotten there this morning has already been gone, it's been used, and so she had to come back to the well.

Okay, you've probably not been taught that right, I don't know that.

That's why she's back.

I have other.

I feel the same way, but maybe, just maybe, there's a shortage of water and she had to go back to the well.

The most common thought is that she's there at the well in the middle of the day because she's an outcast and she's shunned by the community.

Okay, she doesn't feel welcome to be a part of the community.

That would have been meeting at the well in the mornings, because it was custom for the community of women and children to come out to the well together.

It was a social gathering.

It was like the McDonald's group that meets at McDonald's every morning they would come out together.

It would be a time of communication.

It would be a time of community.

What we know is it's the hottest part of the day and that's when she's gathering her water.

Here's what else we know about the woman.

If you're in your Bibles and you flip to chapter 4, verse 16, it says Go and get your husband.

Jesus told her.

She says I don't have a husband.

The woman replied.

Jesus said you're right, you don't have a husband, for you already have had five and you aren't even married to the man that you're living with now.

You certainly spoke the truth.

So what do we know about the woman?

She's been married five times.

She's at the well at the middle of the day.

Here's what we know.

She has a past and oftentimes our past gives us a reputation and sometimes those both align to make us feel pretty bad about who we are.

And then we allow those feelings to define who we are, that reputation and that past to define who we are, and then we start to believe that we have to be what that reputation in our past says.

We are and that's who we are and that's who we have to be.

So it becomes easier to understand why this woman is there, whether it's the community forced her to go at noon, or whether it's self-inflicted.

Maybe no one's ever said you don't come with us.

Maybe she just doesn't feel like she can be with them.

Because that's what sin has the ability to do.

It has the ability to isolate us and make us feel like we don't belong.

And so what I want you to understand, or what do I want you to think about?

I don't know if this is community forced or not, it doesn't matter.

She doesn't feel welcome to be at the well in the morning.

She doesn't feel welcome to be at the well in the morning.

I can relate to that.

You can relate to that.

Sin has the ability and the capability to make us feel isolated and to feel like we're on an island.

It makes us have this feeling that we can't associate with other people because, well, I do this and I've done that and I made this mistake.

That's what Satan has the power to do.

It tells us that Satan's working in the first part of the chapter of Ephesians 2.

And that's what he's doing.

So she's experiencing Ephesians 2, verse 1.

Ephesians 2:1

She's experiencing where it says that our sins will cause us to separate.

Thank goodness, this isn't where the story ends, right?

Thank goodness, this isn't where the story ends.

Thank goodness this isn't where the passage stops.

This isn't where her story ends.

This isn't where your story ends.

Paul continues through Ephesians 2.

It says but that's where I want you to say the word.

But God is so rich in mercy and he loved us so much, I missed that one.

Let's try it again.

But God, I'm struggling.

But God is so rich in mercy, we'll get there one year.

We'll get this.

He loved us so much that, even though we were because of our sins, he gave us life when he raised Christ from the dead.

So, even though it took forever to get there, guys, even though we were once dead, he gives us life.

That Jesus gives us life.

Through His resurrection.

He gives us life.

God, so rich in mercy, loved us so much.

Now some of us imagine that God loves us because we are so lovable.

Some of us think that way God loves us so much because we are just so lovable.

You're laughing because you know.

Instead, we think of it this way God's love is so great that it extends to even the unlovable.

That's the way we've got to think about it.

Every reason for God's mercy and love is found in Him.

We give Him no reason to love us, yet in His greatness and in His love he loves us with great love anyway.

Therefore, we have to stop trying to make ourselves lovable to God and simply just receive his great love while recognizing that we're not worthy of it.

That's kind of the whole idea of grace, and the secret of the Christian life is understanding that we didn't deserve it.

But we got it because God is so good.

But there's a transformation that takes place that you probably maybe didn't even realize here.

We were once dead in our sins and then he gave us life when he raised Christ Jesus.

There's a chance to get out of that state of deadness when we recognize the Messiah, the Savior and the King.

Does that make sense?

And so, as we continue here, there's a transformation in me and there's a transformation in John 4.

I don't think I have it up there yet.

Not yet If you're still following along in your Bibles, we're in verse 19.

Right after Jesus says you don't have a husband and in fact you've been with five husbands and the guy you're with now isn't your husband.

This is how she follows it up.

She says sir.

The woman said you must be a prophet.

And then verse 25, it says the woman said I know the Messiah is coming, the one who was called Christ, and when he comes he will explain everything to us.

And then you get verse 26.

Then Jesus told her I am the Messiah.

Notice what happens when she recognizes who she is and who she's talking to.

When she experiences the Messiah, everything changes.

There's a transformation that takes place.

Verse 28, it's up there on the screen.

It says then, leaving her water jar, the woman went back to the town and said to the people Come see a man who told me everything I ever did.

Could this be the Messiah?

They came out of the town and made their way toward Him.

Many of the Samaritans from the town believed in Him because of the woman's testimony.

He told me everything I ever did.

So he told me everything I ever did.

So when the Samaritans came to Him, they urged Him to stay with them and he stayed for two days and because of His words, many more became believers.

Notice the transformation that takes place here.

She's no longer concerned about water.

She's no longer concerned about water.

In fact, what she is concerned about is sharing the good news that the Messiah is here, that sharing the good news that Jesus is here.

Whatever happened in that short conversation with Jesus made her forget the lies of Satan and what he had been feeding her, and it made her step out of her discomfort to go share with the community.

The comfort of being with Jesus makes her willing to step into the uncomfortable.

So, through transformation, god brings testimony, and testimony points back to God.

The minefield that she was looking to avoid has now become the mission field.

The people and the interactions that she was once avoiding has now become the mission field.

You think about it.

She's there in the heat of the day because she doesn't want to interact with the people, because for some reason she feels distant from them because of her current state.

But once she's been transformed through Jesus, once she meets the Messiah, she turns and that field that she was avoiding now becomes the mission field.

She wasn't afraid to step on toes or to hurt anybody.

In fact, what she wanted to do was tell everybody about Jesus.

She actually goes to them boasting that the Messiah knows everything I did, and before she was avoiding this group of people because they knew everything she did, and so it only confirms that God is actually there.

And then the transformation of the woman spreads to the community.

The transformation spreads to the community.

So as we jump back into Ephesians 2, this happens too.

It says he brought the good news of peace to the Gentiles who were far away from Him, and peace to the Jews who were near Him.

Now all of us can come to the Father through the same Holy Spirit because of what Christ has done for us.

He says there's two groups of people.

There was the Jews and the Gentiles, and you always wanted to separate from each other.

But what Jesus did when he came and died is he brought you together and you both received there's that word that we're going to talk about you both received the Holy Spirit.

You both received the gift of the Holy Spirit.

And then you go through and you get to verse 20.

And it says brought all of you together and the cornerstone of it all is Christ.

The church says Jesus.

Alright, the cornerstone is Christ Jesus Himself.

The cornerstone is the most important piece in a structure.

It's the binding stone that holds everything together.

Back in biblical times or back in this time, oftentimes the royal name would get inscribed on the cornerstone.

Any foundation was built, the royal family would sign it, and so if Jesus is the cornerstone, he signed it, it's Jesus.

It's all about Jesus.

The transformation in the church and I'm not saying the building and I'm not saying stop nine, but transformation in people happens when everything points back to Jesus.

Everything in this story points back to Jesus.

Once the woman at the well identified who the Messiah was and who the Savior was, it changed everything for her.

She actually goes into the city and becomes a disciple maker.

She's one of the first people to share the goodness and the gospel of Jesus.

The woman at the well, in an interaction that didn't have to take place, but Jesus aligned it so it would.

We talked about it in the 830.

He aligned it in such a way that it would make such a great impact If he went to anybody else in the community who knows what happens.

But he goes to the woman that everybody else was already talking about and he says watch me change her life and see what it does to this community, and there's transformation that takes place.

She no longer avoids the city, but she goes to the city to share the good news and the gospel.

Does that make sense?

Let's pray, father.

We thank you for your love, god, we thank you for the way that you work in our life.

And, god, we know that Satan works too, and we know that Satan has the ability to make us believe things, that Satan has the objective to get us to believe lies that hold us back.

And, god, there are so many times in my life where I feel restricted, where I feel held back by the sins that I've committed.

And, god, I'm so thankful for the way that you work.

As we read through Ephesians, as we read through John and the story of the woman at the well, we get to see how you have transformation power, that you can make things different.

We're thankful for the life of Jesus and the sacrifice that he made on the cross for us and what that does for sin and how it eliminates it and washes it away.

And, god, I pray that, as Christians, we can continue to believe in that forgiving, working power that you've given us through your son.

God, we pray for opportunities this week to go into the community, god, to go into the community and point people to you.

That we can take the example of the woman at the well, that we can be confident that we can be courageous in the things that you've said and the things that you've done, and that it will lead us and guide us into the world, so that we can point people to you, so that others may experience the love and kindness that you've given, so that others may know that they are lovable because of how great your love is.

God, we're so thankful for the way that you work in our lives.

Give us opportunities this week to see your love and to show your love to the world.

We're around.

So, in Jesus' name, we pray Amen.

Heavenly Father we appreciate you.

We appreciate you, heavenly Father.

We appreciate you.

We love you and adore you.

We bow down before you, heavenly Father.

We appreciate you, heavenly Father, we appreciate you, son of God, what a wonder you are, son of God.

What a wonder you are.

You've cleansed my soul from sin, sent the Spirit within.

Son of God, what a wonder you are, holy Spirit.

What a comfort you are, holy Spirit.

What a comfort you are.

You lead us, you guide us, you live right inside us.

Holy Spirit, what a comfort to walk.

All right.

Thank you everyone for coming today.

We appreciate everyone who's able to be here.

Let's go ahead and bow for a closing prayer.

Thank you, father, so much for giving us your Son, jesus.

Thank you for giving us the church.

Thank you for letting us meet together the ability to love each other and to love you.

Thank you for so many examples that You've given to us.

We thank you for our preacher here and all those who are working to help your kingdom and your cause.

Pray that You'll help us so that we can be the people that we need to be and realize how that you are using us and accepting us as we are.

We pray you'll be with us throughout the week and bless us these things.

We pray in Jesus' name, amen.

Praise the Lord the heavens, adore him.

Praise him angels in the height.

Son of the rich was before him.

Praise him all his stars of light.

Hallelujah amen, hallelujah amen, hallelujah amen, amen.

Praise the Lord, for he is glorious, never shall his promise fail.

God hath made his saints victorious.

Sin and death shall not prevail.

Hallelujah amen, hallelujah amen, amen, amen, amen.

Praise the God of our salvation, whose on high His power, proclaim heaven and earth and all creation, lord, and magnify His name.

Hallelujah Amen, hallelujah Amen, amen, amen.

Alright, everyone have a great week.