From Religion to Relationship | Changed | Full Experience

Let's sing this out. Come on. ♪ I see you in the night sky when the stars are glowing deep ♪ ♪ And I hear you when the wind blows, the leaves are rustling ♪ ♪ There's nowhere that I could go that you haven't been ♪ ♪ There's nowhere that I could go that you haven't been ♪ We sing holy, holy all together. Come on. ♪ Holy, holy, holy, I can't help but to sing it ♪ ♪ You alone are worthy, and I can't help but believe it ♪ ♪ I take a look around, look at all you've done ♪ ♪ It's just a glimpse of what's to come ♪ ♪ Holy, holy, holy, but if this was it then that's enough ♪ ♪ But if this was it then that's enough ♪ ♪ I find you in the details of every finger print ♪ He's in it all. ♪ The presence of a Father that's closer than a friend ♪ ♪ And the crying of a baby, the laughter of a king ♪ ♪ There's nothing that I could find that you want already ♪ ♪ There's nothing that I could find that you want already ♪ ♪ Yeah, say holy, holy, holy, holy ♪ ♪ I can't help but to see it, you alone are worthy, yes ♪ ♪ And I can't help but believe it ♪ ♪ I take a look around, look at all you've done ♪ ♪ It's just a glimpse of what's to come, holy, holy, holy ♪ ♪ But if this was it then that's enough, yeah ♪ ♪ You're more than enough, it's enough, cause you're enough ♪ ♪ Cause you're enough, if saying was believing ♪ ♪ I've seen enough, and it's enough, cause you're enough ♪ ♪ I'm living in the promise of what's to come ♪

♪ And it's enough, cause you're enough, if saying was believing ♪ ♪ I've seen enough, and it's enough, cause you're enough ♪ ♪ I'm living in the promise of what's to come ♪ ♪ Holy, holy, holy, I can't help but to sing it ♪ ♪ You alone are worthy, yes, and I can't help but believe it ♪ ♪ I take a look around, look at all you've done ♪ ♪ It's just a glimpse of what's to come ♪ ♪ Holy, holy, holy, but if this was it then that's enough, yeah ♪ ♪ You've always been enough, Lord, and if this was it then that's enough, yeah ♪ ♪ And if this was it then that's enough, yeah ♪ ♪ But if this was it then that's enough, yeah ♪ ♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ ♪♪♪

♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ ♪ And I'll say that I saw the Lord and He heard and He answered ♪ ♪ I saw the Lord and He heard and He answered ♪ ♪ I saw the Lord and He heard and He answered ♪ ♪ That's why I, let's hear your voices now. ♪ Just your voices, you sing and say. ♪ I saw the Lord, tell it. And I heard and He answered. ♪ ♪ I saw the Lord and He heard and He answered. ♪ ♪ I saw the Lord and He heard and He answered. ♪ ♪ That's why I trust Him. That's why I trust in God. ♪ Jesus, we trust you. We place our hope in you because of who you are and because of what you've done. None of us could save ourselves from our sin, but Jesus, you took our sin to the cross and you left it there. You raised and you defeated death. And this is our praise to you in response to that. The blood you poured out for us. ♪ Everything changed. It's getting harder to recognize. ♪ ♪ The person I was, before I encountered Christ. ♪

♪ I don't walk like I used to. I don't talk like I used to. ♪ ♪ I've been washed from the inside. ♪ ♪ I've been washed from the inside. ♪ ♪ I've been washed from the inside. ♪ ♪ Hallelujah. Hallelujah. I know it was the blood. ♪ ♪ Could have only been the blood. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. ♪ ♪ I know it was the blood. Could have only been the blood. ♪ ♪ Yeah. ♪ ♪ I cannot explain, but nothing's more real than this. ♪ ♪ In the presence of God. What my heart has experienced. ♪ ♪ When my shame hit the wayside. And my sin met the most high. ♪ ♪ I was washed from the inside. I was washed from the inside. ♪ ♪ Hallelujah. Hallelujah. I know it was the blood. Could've only been the blood. ♪ ♪ Hallelujah. Hallelujah. I know it was the blood. Could've only been the blood. ♪ ♪ Could've only been the blood. Yeah. Thank you Jesus. Here's what we know. There is nothing any one of us could ever do to take away our sin. But it's because of Jesus. It's because of his death. It's because of his resurrection. It's because of the blood that he shed for us that we have found life. So it's not about performance. It's about worship of him. So let's declare. ♪ It's never been about performance, perfection, or striving for acceptance. Let me tell you. It's only by the blood. That's true. It's never been about deserving or earning. It's a gift that's freely given. Let me tell you. It's only by the blood. ♪ ♪ Does anybody want to be holy and righteous, purified and spotless? Let me tell you. It's only by the blood. Does anybody want to be worthy, forgiven, justified, really living? Let me tell you. It's only by the blood. ♪ ♪ Hallelujah. Hallelujah. I know it was the blood. Could have only been the blood. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. I know it was the blood. Could have only been the blood. ♪ Thank you Jesus, thank you Jesus, it's by your wounds I'm healed, it's by your wounds we're healed, it's only through Jesus. Amen, it's only by the wounds of Jesus that we have been healed, we're grateful for that, amen? Amen, thanks so much for singing with us, you can go ahead and have a seat. CCV it's so great to be with you today, my name is Leo and I get to serve as one of the pastors here. Well it is crazy to believe that next weekend is Easter, and Easter here at CCV it's so special. One of my favorite memories from last year during Easter was seeing 10 family members going into the water and getting baptized together. Can we clap for that CCV? It was such a beautiful and impactful moment, not only for them but for all of us who were there with them. And CCV here's the thing, it all started with one invitation. Because of one invitation, 10 family members stepped into the water and told the world, we are all in with Jesus. We believe in Him and we're going all in after Him. And I know for a fact that all of us, we all have people in our lives that need to hear the message of Jesus.

They need to hear His hope and they need to experience His love. So let me ask you something, who's your one invitation? Is it a friend, is it a neighbor, is it a family member? I want you to start thinking about it, I want you to start praying about it. Because you cannot be here next weekend without bringing somebody. God is going to do some incredible things and we've made it super simple for you. On your way out, you can grab this invite card, it's right here. Okay, you can grab one, you can grab 20. However, if you're going to grab 20, make sure you use them, okay? Also, in our mobile app, you can text your friends, your family, and you can invite them to one of our services. Well, and as we're preparing for Easter, I want to make sure that we all know what Easter at CCV is going to look like here at our Peoria campus. We have three unique experiences, starting with our Good Friday service at 6.30 p.m. Our nursery will be available for kiddos from birth all the way to 23 months. However, we will not have any other CCV Kids experience available that day. We're going to be inside here in the auditorium, but we also have an outdoor venue that will be great for families. And then on Saturday, we're starting our Easter celebration with our 2.30 service, 4.00, and 5.30 service as well. And then on Sunday, we're starting our day with our sunrise service at 6.30 a.m., which, again, will be out on the grass area. It's so great for you and your whole entire family to be here. And then we'll continue on with our Easter celebration during that 8.30, 10.00, and 11.00 a.m. services. And then we'll conclude our Easter celebration at our Monday night service. It's going to be a phenomenal weekend. And if for some wild reason you were not able to memorize everything that I just said, okay, you can find all that information on our website, ccv.church.edu. And if you're planning on getting baptized next weekend, which Easter will be a phenomenal time for you to jump in the water, make sure you check out ccv.church.edu. You can pre-register. We're going to have baptisms all weekend long. It's going to be a phenomenal, phenomenal weekend. We cannot wait to be here with you, your friends, and your families. Well, this weekend, we have our teaching pastor, Dave Stone, with an incredible message for all of us. So let's join him right now.

♪♪♪ A middle-aged woman had a heart attack and was taken to the hospital. While on the operating table, she had a near-death experience. And seeing God, she asked him, she said, is my time up? And God said, well, actually, no, it's not. He said, you've got another 23 years, 8 months, and 7 days to live. She said, okay, all right. Well, about that time, all of a sudden, she was back in the emergency room. She heard her doctor saying, we got her back, we got her back. Upon her recovery with this insider information, the woman decided to stay in the hospital, have a facelift, some liposuction, a few other things done. And since she had so much more time to live, she figured she might as well make the most of it. So she brought somebody into style and to cut her hair and color it. And after her last procedure, she was released from the hospital. And while she was leaving, as she was crossing the street, she was hit by an ambulance and she died. And she's there standing in front of God and she said, hey, I thought you said I got another 23 years. God said, I'm sorry, I didn't recognize you. I'm sorry. We're both sorry, all right. Well, last week, Ashley started with a joke, so I thought I would follow suit. But it's no joke when I say that you are surrounded with every campus by people who bear very little resemblance

to how they were years ago. And I'm not just talking about their physical changes. And so many of you have experienced major transformations since you committed your life to Jesus Christ. Every row and every campus have people who have been dramatically changed. And your friends from the fraternity or sorority might honestly say, I didn't recognize you. Recently, I saw a video from a prison ministry and they had interviewed a lady there in prison who had come to Christ during her incarceration. And she said this, she said, my teenage daughter came to visit me. And she said, you really look like my mom, but you don't sound anything like her. And lives are changed when people are introduced to Jesus. And today what I wanna do is I just wanna focus on three stories of changed lives. And my hope is that these stories will inspire you to invite some people to join you for an Easter service at CCV, because it might be the most impactful and pivotal invite that you have ever extended. Well, story number one, we'll call this one from religion to relationship. The man's name was Nicodemus. He's a religious leader in Jesus' day who undergoes a transformation. He's a Pharisee, a member of the Jewish ruling council. And in John's gospel, in the third chapter,

Nicodemus has the integrity to begin his own personal investigation of who Jesus is. And he's comparing him to the promises from the Old Testament scriptures. He acknowledges that Jesus has performed some really incredible and powerful miracles that he can't explain. But Nicodemus comes to have a conversation with Jesus, and he does so at night, because it's much safer for him that way. Less risk, no coworkers watching. John three, verse three, Jesus replied to him, very truly I tell you, no one can see the kingdom of God unless they are born again. Well, how can someone be born when they are old? Nicodemus asked. Surely they cannot enter a second time to the mother's womb to be born. And Jesus answered, very truly I tell you, no one can enter the kingdom of God unless they are born of water and the spirit. And Nicodemus is confused. He's thinking physically while Jesus is pointing to a spiritual rebirth. Now I want you to just try to picture the setting. I want you to imagine the sounds that you would hear at nighttime. Maybe it's around a campfire. Perhaps it's just the two of them.

They're the only ones there. They're having this intimate discussion. And Jesus is helping Nicodemus see beyond religion into something deeper. And I love this. Jesus welcomes his questions. He leans into the conversation. And then Jesus looks at Nicodemus, and he says something to him. And I really wish that you could hear these words as if you were hearing them for the very first time. I think he's looking eyeball to eyeball with Nicodemus, man to man. It's just the two of them. And this is what Jesus says. For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through him might be saved. Look at it on the screen. Because right there is the gospel in a nutshell. That's it. Jesus is saying these words, and he is inviting and begging Nicodemus to have a friendship, to have a relationship with God. through God's Son, who just so happens to be the one who is talking to him.

Jesus is offering so much more than religion. He's inviting him and us into a life-giving relationship. Let me say something that might sound rather strange to you. I don't like religion, all right? Now, if you're turned off by religion, I understand that. I've seen too many examples where people chased spirituality but they missed God entirely. Now, the Bible gives a good working definition of religion in James 1, verse 27. It's talking about, it says, "'Religion is caring for widows and orphans "'and living a pure life.'" That's not what most people mean nowadays. Today, when we say religion, usually people are meaning rituals and routines and outward behavior, doing things that make us look or feel spiritual. But we can't earn grace through good behavior. Jesus did what we could not do, what we could never do. He made a way through the cross. It's done. He did it. He did the work for us. And Nicodemus, in this conversation, keeps asking honest questions. And as he discovers truth, he's going to move closer and closer to Jesus. Now, meanwhile, his peers, the religious leaders, are trying to explain Jesus away

as just an uneducated, ignorant, unconventional preacher, a fraud. They say, he may have fooled the others, but he's not going to fool us. But Nicodemus begins to see what they were missing. And that is that a relationship with Jesus is far more freeing than a religion of rules. See, the Pharisees fasted and they prayed and they tithed. And every one of those things are good things. In fact, they're even expected of the believer. But the Pharisees were doing it to impress others more than to draw closer to their heavenly father. Aren't you glad that nobody in the 21st century tries to impress others with the spiritual things that they do? The Pharisees reduced faith to rigid rituals and missed the relationship entirely. I hope you worship weekly. I hope that you give generously. And I hope that you pray daily. It's important to do those things. But hear me when I say activity for Christ does not equal a connection with Christ. And let me just say to those of you who do a lot of activity, thank you for what you do for the church. I greatly appreciate it. But please understand working for Jesus doesn't mean that you're walking with Jesus.

You can do, but first you must be. And that is where the majority of the Pharisees get it wrong. And so will we if we become more consumed with what others see in us as opposed to what God sees us on the inside. Now last week, Ashley reminded us that our good behavior can't accumulate enough points to tip the scales for us to gain access into heaven. Besides, spiritual superiority and self-righteousness is a real turnoff to unbelievers. We've all seen that. I like what author John Ortberg writes. He facetiously says, I'd like to be humble, but what if nobody notices? And we can relate to that. Remember what happened in the Gospels back in Luke chapter 18, verse nine. It says, to some who were confident of their own righteousness and looked down on everybody else, Jesus told this parable. And Jesus goes on and he tells a story about two men who went up to the temple to pray. One of them was a Pharisee. That's what Nicodemus was. The other was a tax collector known for being dishonest and greedy profession. And the Pharisee was so full of himself that Jesus says that he marched right in

and he began to pray in a loud voice for everyone to hear. And he said, dear God, I tithe, I fast, I thank you that I am not like other men, robbers, evildoers, adulterers, or even like this tax collector. That's not a prayer. That's a resume that he is offering to everyone. But the other man, Jesus said he stood at a distance. He struggled to even look up to heaven. He beat his chest with repentance. And he said, God have mercy on me for I am a sinner. Center, are you beginning to understand the difference between a religion and a relationship? Spiritual superiority and empty rule keeping push people away from the gospel and reveal a misplaced confidence in ourselves instead of Christ. Tim Keller says, the gospel teaches us that we are more flawed than we ever imagined and yet we are more loved than we ever thought possible. And the next time that we will see Nicodemus, the pressure is on. Jesus is the talk of the town. His, Nicodemus' cronies, the religious leaders feel threatened, they want Jesus arrested. But then one of their own defends the guards who had refused to arrest Jesus. And guess who it is? It's Nicodemus. John chapter seven, verses 50 and 51.

Nicodemus, who had gone to Jesus earlier and he was one of their own number, asked, hey, does our law condemn a man without first hearing him to find out what he has been doing? Nicodemus is stepping out in faith. And you know this, relationships deepen when someone stands up for you. It means that someone believes in you. Can you think of some times when you have stepped out in faith and you have spoken up for Jesus? Maybe it was in the break room or at the party or it was after the college class and you went up to have a talk with the professor. That's what Nicodemus did for Jesus. And when that relationship becomes real, something shifts. You see, religion is rules, rituals, and restrictions. A relationship is freedom and fulfillment. This isn't a life of duty, it's a life of devotion. Well, we've seen Nicodemus come to Jesus one evening to talk. We call that Nick at night. Thank you for getting that. We've seen him speak up and defend Jesus in a hostile setting. And then there's Christ's arrest, where Christ's followers flee out of fear. But I want you to watch what happens at the cross. John chapter 19, verses 39 and 40. Jesus has died.

Nicodemus brought a mixture of myrrh and aloes, about 75 pounds, taking Jesus' body. The two of them wrapped it with the spices in strips of linen. The Bible says that they helped prepare the body. They laid him in the tomb. Wow, that's a whole lot of spices for anyone, let alone someone who has been crucified, who has died what is called a cursed death. People didn't give that person the time of day. Why? Why 75 pounds? I'll tell you why. Because that's the amount of spices that they would bring if a king died. And Nicodemus is saying in very clear terms, I'll hail King Jesus. That's what he's saying. Evidently, Jesus had impacted his life. Nicodemus would never be the same. He chose Jesus. Nicodemus gave him a royal burial, something that no one would ever do for someone who's crucified. Think of it like this. When the disciples ran from Jesus, Nicodemus ran toward him. He risked his own reputation, his status, everything. He's choosing Jesus even before his resurrection. The Bible doesn't explicitly say he became a believer,

but it would seem illogical to display that level of courage unless there was some type of a commitment that had been made. Nicodemus is a changed man. Something has happened. And many of you know it all too well. You know the price tag of choosing Jesus. A neighbor rolls their eyes when you talk about God. At the family meal, when you pray in Jesus' name, suddenly you're old-fashioned. At work, when you start changing your habits, you're labeled as a fanatic. There's pushback, there's pressure, there's a cost, but don't miss this. God can use that pressure to shape you. You are never more teachable than you are when you are going through adversity. And while you're searching for a job, Jesus is teaching you, I'm your provider. I'm your provider. In those settings, when all of a sudden you're praying for relief, he may be preparing something better for you. In the middle of the diagnosis, the great physician is drawing you closer. Through a breakup, he's reminding you, I will never leave you. The cost is. It's real, but so is the transformation. So listen, if you want an easy life,

if you want to be free from challenges and ridicule, if you want your faith to be casual and comfortable, if you want Christianity to be more of a social experience and a meaningful relationship, then whatever you do, don't choose Jesus. But if you want something more, more than rules, more than a religion, more than surface level faith, more than do's and don'ts, if you want a deeper relationship with the God of the universe who made you in his image, then choose Jesus. Live a life. Live a life that expresses all hail King Jesus. Make him the Lord. I shared with you a few years ago about a time when my wife Beth and I went up to Sedona and we hiked up Devil's Bridge. I know it doesn't sound like a real spiritual location for a pastor to visit, but it was quite an experience. You've probably been there. Beautiful red rocks, great day, about a three mile climb. Along the way, people would encourage each other, you can do it just a little bit farther. Near the top, we hit this really steep stretch. I mean, just toward the end, there's this incredibly steep area there. And there was a family who had kind of been walking up around the same time, two parents and three young kids, and they're trying to divide and conquer. And one of their kids was a little girl

about five years old. And when they came to that steep stretch, the parents were helping with the others. And this little girl just looked like she couldn't take another step and she was just overwhelmed. And her eyes met mine and she went. And I'm telling you, I didn't even think. I just scooped her up and I put her on my back and I carried her the rest of the way. And you would have done the same thing. You see, it was my granddaughter. Her name's Vera and there was already a relationship with Vera, we're family. I love her, she loves me. Relationships allow you that freedom. And you can't do that with a total stranger. I know because halfway up I tried. The man refused to carry me. But when there's a close relationship, there isn't fear, there's trust. And Vera tackled this mountain. And when she lifted her arms up to me, there was just total trust. There wasn't fear. She just didn't see me as a preacher, she didn't see me as a leader, she didn't see me as a professional mountain climber. To Vera, I'm Papa D. And because of our relationship, she can feel comfortable to request my help

anytime, anywhere. From religion to a relationship. Story number two, it comes from here at CCV. It's a familiar one, it's a story of transformation. Story number two is hopeless to hopeful. That's why we share Christ. I love the life stories that we see week after week. Mark North is from the Anthem Campus, and he was kind enough to share his story. It's a transformational story from hopeless to hopeful. Watch this with me. I wasn't a bad kid, but I didn't have a fear of consequences, which ultimately led to consequences. And so I was constantly getting in trouble from a very early age. I think the first time that I was incarcerated as a juvenile, I was 12 years old, from basically from 13 to 20. I was definitely the majority, if not 70, 80% of my time I was incarcerated. Overall, where my life was at, I was so spiritually bankrupt. I was 34. I just am like, what's going on? Like this, I missed life. When I was young, it was like, whatever, I was a bad kid. 20s, yeah, you're still figuring it out. I'm 34 years old and I'm catching DUIs and I'm not, it's just like, I missed the whole show.

At this point, I had progressed to smoking methamphetamine as well. And I live right above my mom. I live in 279. She lives in 179, in the same apartments. And my mom is calling me, and she's begging me to come down. And she just wants one normal day, and she knows that her drug addict son is 10 steps upstairs. And she can hear me. Like, she hears me screwing around all day long. She knows that I'm there. And she's calling, and she's sending me text. And I was so paranoid I couldn't get out of my apartment. And this is hours past. I was supposed to be down there sometime like noon or one. And it's like 6 o'clock at night, and I finally got up the nerve to open the door and scurry down the stairs and then get into hers and lock the door really quickly because I was so paranoid. And I get in there, and I'm, you know, I'm looking out the windows. And I turn, and my mom's just crying into the dinner. And she's like... She just wants one normal... I can't give her one normal day. She's been sitting here in her apartment for all this time, and I can't do it.

And I said, it's it. God spoke to me that day, and I reached out to my brother, and I said, man, I need some help. And he said, all right, let's do this Zoom meeting for this relationship. He said, all right, let's do this Zoom meeting for this recovery group thing. And I started doing that for a couple days in a row and got a little bit of traction. And my brother got into Scripture with me heavy. And so we would do that. Every day, I would get into the Word with him. And now with my mom, she would sit there, and she would be typing, and I'd go down to her place, and I'd read it, and it was safe. And this is for the first few weeks. It was hard. So prior to getting baptized, I went through the same questions that I believe a lot of people do. Am I good enough? Do I know enough about the Bible? Do I have a full comprehension of, if anybody can, of the resurrection of Christ and what that means? And the answer was simple, that you don't need to be. There's no getting ready for this. Get in the water, and let's get this thing going. I still know that there's all of this stuff that needs to be done daily

in order to keep my recovery strong and keep my connection to God tight. But I can do all of that, and I'm doing this. So now what else is there, right? So what else does God have in his plans for me? Because I don't think that this is it. So I opened Guiding Road Recovery Center in August of 2023. We're a substance abuse treatment center here in the Valley, and we get to help people at their most broken time and walk a spiritual path with them, which it's the coolest thing in the world. It's hands down. The winds are bigger than any you could imagine. It was just being in the right spot at the right time and continuously to do the right thing that led to this. It wasn't some thing. It was all God. None of it's me. Talk about equipping. Me? No. I just showed up. I just consistently show up. I'm where I'm at when I'm supposed to be there because God already had something planned. I had zero purpose. I was spiritually bankrupt. I was immoral. I was gross. I was by my own doings. It was who I was. And today I'm not. Today I have freedom. Today I'm changed. Amen.

Wow. I love that. What a journey. And look how God is using his past to help others. And some of you know that 10 steps can feel like a marathon that you just can't tackle. But it began with Mark taking one step followed by another step. He says, I had zero purpose. I was spiritually bankrupt. But then I just kept showing up. Just kept showing up. Some of you feel like God could never use you and yet your story could impact so many people just like Mark's and lead others to be changed. Well, here's a third story. Story number three. Broken to whole. In John chapter 4, the next chapter, Jesus does something that would have raised eyebrows before he ever said a word. He and his disciples have a long journey and the Bible says that Jesus had to go through Samaria. Now, that's strange wording. Most Jews walked miles out of their way to go around Samaria. There was deep racial tension, religious division, generations of hostility. But Jesus is unconditional love and he doesn't avoid broken places and broken people. He walks straight into them.

And he stops at a well outside a village there in Samaria, and he sends the disciples on. They're going to get food. Tired from the journey, Jesus stays, and along comes a Samaritan woman in the heat of the day. That alone tells you something. Most women came early in the morning. She's coming at noon, likely avoiding people, avoiding shame, avoiding whispers. It will make more sense in just a couple of minutes. Then Jesus does the unthinkable. He speaks to her. Will you give me a drink? And that one sentence breaks multiple social rules. A Jewish man speaking to a Samaritan, a rabbi to an outcast, a man to a woman, she's stunned because typically she's shunned. And she says, well, why are you talking to me? And Jesus shifts the conversation, and he says, if you knew who I was, you'd be asking me for living water. Now, she's thinking physical water, but Jesus is talking about something deeper, something that her soul has been craving her entire life. And Jesus asks her about her husband, and she says, I don't have a husband. And Christ gently says, you are right. The truth is, you've had five husbands, and the man that you're living with now is not your husband.

Think about it. Who knows the trauma that this woman had faced in that first century? Abusive man after man that she'd encountered and maybe been forced to marry. But Jesus wasn't exposing her to shame her. He was revealing this to save her. He's confirming to her, I know you. I know you completely. And instead of running, she leans in. Now, we don't know if there were other specifics that Jesus shared to convince her, but trust me, she is convinced. And this segues into a discussion about worship, about truth, and then in John chapter four, verse 25, I love the way the message paraphrases it. Says the woman said, I don't know about that, but I do know that the Messiah is coming, and when he arrives, we'll get the whole story. Jesus says, I am he. You don't have to wait any longer. You don't have to look any further. Outside of all of Christ's private conversations with his disciples, this is Jesus' first and clearest declaration of his identity in all the gospels. What a moment, and to think that he chose this woman to share that news. I don't know if he whispered it. I'm he, I'm the Messiah.

I don't know how he said it, but she leaves her water jar behind, the very reason that she came to the well, because someone better has come along, and she runs back into the town, because she had found something better than physical water. She realizes, I think I just had a taste of living water. I just had a gulp of it, and I want more. John 4, 29, she goes back and tells everybody, come see a man who told me everything that I ever did. Could this be the Christ? Why would she become so bold and vocal after one noontime conversation? Because it's from that encounter that she has been changed, from broken to whole. Hey, Jesus meets you in your shame, and he gives you a new story. And look at what's taking place. Jesus crossed every barrier to reach this one woman. He met her at her point of need. He spoke truth and grace. He turned her into a witness. She came for water. She left as a spring. She left as a spring. John 4, verse 14, indeed the water I give them will become in them a spring of water, welling up to eternal life. She's bubbling over with living water after one simple encounter.

She becomes the first evangelist to her town. She now has a story. She's boldly bearing a witness. This woman who had avoided people is now talking to everyone and saying, you gotta come see this guy. You gotta come hear this guy. And they listen to Jesus. And the Bible says they believe, not just because of her story, but because of their encounters with Jesus. And that's our reality too. Jesus met us right where we were, but he loved us too much to leave us there. When Jesus changes one life, he's not done. He's just getting started. And every changed life points to the power of the resurrection still at work today. That's how it still works. Encounter Jesus, you don't just get your thirst quenched, you now become a spring because you have a story to tell. And this is the week, this is the week for you to share your story. This is the week for you to throw out invitations, like a farmer scattering seeds. And when you have truly encountered Jesus, you don't have to have all the answers, you just need to have a story. It's your story, it might not be dramatic, but if it's true, no one can refute it,

and people will come to Christ because of it. Last week, my daughter-in-law got to baptize some friends who she had been sharing Christ with for three to four years. I'll try to tell you how it started. My daughter-in-law was at a park, my grandson was one year old at the time, and Julie was over at the park, and they'd never met each other, and Julie had a one-year-old. And at some point, the two one-year-olds waved at each other, and that's how it started. And Julie was from Germany, and she didn't know a lot of people, and Kathleen reached out to her, and started befriending her, and they became good friends. And then Kathleen invited Julie to come to a special service at church, kind of like a special service that we have coming up next week. And she came, and they started having conversations, and they started having dialogue, and they started having discussions and disagreements, and sometimes they were heated. They had meals together, they went on trips together. But then, a week and a half ago, Kathleen got to baptize her. And I'm just telling you, it was quite a night. An hour after the baptism,

everybody was still standing around. It was 8.45 at night, no one had had dinner, and no one cared. You know why? Because in some moments like that, we're reminded that the spiritual overshadows the physical. But all of it started with just a simple invitation, started with just a simple friendship that grew. Can I tell you two ways this week that you can express All Hail King Jesus? One is to invite. As I've been speaking, you have names on your heart right now, family members, co-workers, friends, acquaintances. Don't underestimate the power of one invitation. I could tell you story after story of how family trees have been dramatically changed because of just a simple invitation. Hey, why don't you come to church? 50% of the time when you invite someone to a Christmas service or an Easter service, 50% of the time they will say yes. I'm just telling you, people are spiritually curious. Did you know the number one question on chat GPT? You know what it is? How do I overcome loneliness? And your invitation could begin to pave the way for a person to have fellowship with others and to find true community in the body of Christ.

I could tell you about Jim. We invited Jim to an Easter service years ago. He came, he was curious, he came, and he started coming some more. And then it was about a year later, he gave his life to Christ. I'll never forget the phone call. He picked up the phone conversation. He called me up and I had tried to have spiritual conversations with him time after time and it just hadn't gone anywhere. It wasn't on his terms yet. His heart wasn't receptive. But this night he was receptive. And while I'm talking to him, my wife is hearing the different things that I'm saying. And finally I just looked at her, put the phone there. I said pray. She prayed downstairs. I went upstairs. And about five minutes later in that conversation, Jim said something to me that I've never had anyone say to me in 50 years of being a Christian. He said, Dave, how do I make Jesus the Lord of my life? Here was served up to me on a silver platter. God had made his heart so pliable. How did that happen? Well, an Easter service started the process. Prayer greased the wheels. Christian men poured into him.

God's word convicted him. A church softball team provided him with fellowship. And God's spirit moved and his heart became receptive to where he said, how do I make Jesus the Lord of my life? I'll do anything. Next week I got to baptize him. May there be plenty more Jim's and Julie's that you extend an invitation to this next week. Just have the courage to say it. You know someone who's broken and lost and hurting in trouble. You could invite them to one of the many services. Good Friday, sunrise service, an Easter service. If Jesus can change you, then he can also change someone that you know. And we've made it very simple. At every one of our campuses, as you leave, you'll see some stanchions there in the lobby. And they have a bunch of cards like this. It has all the different times of what's going on at your particular campus. And all you gotta do is pick one of those up and you can just give those out. Scatter those seeds. People are open to trying out a church at Easter time. Here's the second way that you can communicate all hail King Jesus. And that is respond. For some of you, the starting place is not who it is that you need to bring.

It's about the fact that you need to come to Jesus. Acts chapter two verse 38 says repent and be baptized. And you need to make that decision. You can make it today. There's no better weekend to get baptized than Easter weekend. Invite some people to come to watch as you identify with Christ. Baptism is a visual expression of Easter weekend. It symbolizes, think about it, Good Friday, the death, the burial, and then the resurrection of Jesus. It's the Easter story. Make him the king, the Lord of your life. And whether you are Nicodemus, or whether you're Mark that was in the life story, or whether you're the Samaritan woman, or whether you are self-righteous, hopeless, or broken, Jesus specializes in turnarounds and transformations. And the reality is that if Jesus can change them, and if he can change me, then he can change you. And if Jesus can change you, he can change those that you invite. You say, well, Dave, I'm not sure that God wants me. You don't know the mistakes that I've made. And I wanna say as lovingly as I possibly can to you, are you kidding me? Of course he wants you. He allowed, he allowed his one and only son to die for you. He would have done it if you were the only person

on the face of the earth, so that your sins could be forgiven through his perfect sacrifice. This communicates that he wants you. He wants you. He made salvation and forgiveness possible for you. And may I remind you that if you see a hopeless end, let me introduce you to my endless hope. His name is Jesus Christ, and Easter is all about hope. So why not share that hope with someone else this week? And if you need to make a decision, why don't you get the party started by taking a step toward Jesus today? John 3, 16. For God, the greatest lover, so loved the greatest degree, the world, the greatest scope, that he gave the greatest generosity, his one and only son, the greatest gift, that whoever believes in him, the greatest plan, shall not perish the greatest promise, but have eternal life, the greatest possession. Jesus loves you, and he went to some extreme measures so that you would never doubt that. We're gonna enter into a time of communion at all of our campuses. We do communion each week for a purpose. If you're watching on our online campus, I wanna encourage you, if you're a believer in Christ,

to get some bread, to get some juice, something that you can drink, and we're gonna take communion all of us together as the body of Christ. We do this every week because the Bible tells us to look back and to look forward. That's what happens in communion. We look back at what Jesus did for us, and we look forward to the day when Jesus will return, when he comes to get his church. And so we come into this with a spirit of humility, with a spirit of repentance, recognizing what Jesus did. So let's make certain that we're in the right frame of mind. He is a holy God, and we're not holy. Our righteousness is like. rags compared to God. And so we acknowledge who he is, we repent of what we've done, and we promise that we're going to try to do better this week with the help of his Spirit. So I want you to take the bread, the bread represents Jesus' broken body, and let's eat the bread together. We do this to remember him. And the cup is representative of his blood that he shed for us, he didn't spill it. Spilling is an accident. This was on purpose, it was intentional. The world drinks to forget, the Christian drinks to remember. Let's remember Christ and drink together. I'm gonna pray after the service. There will be prayer teams up front at every one of our campuses. If you want to talk to someone about making a decision for Christ, or if you are going through a rough time, they'd love to pray with you. Let's pray. Our Father in heaven, put people on our hearts that we can invite. Give us a boldness, give us the courage just to scatter those seeds indiscriminately, and may you bring the blessing. And Lord, for those who have

never said, okay, you're my king, you're the Lord of my life, before they leave, would you help them make that commitment? It's in Jesus' name we pray, amen. We'll see you with a friend this next weekend. God bless.