Fruit That Remains | Run and Tell That | John 4:29-30 | Lonnell Williams

may take your seat in this gathering. My name is Lonnell Dawson-Williams. I'm the executive pastor here at 2819 Church. Thank you. To God be the glory. Grateful to be in the room today as we continue in this amazing series. Just believing that God has something special for us on today. I really want to just jump right into the word. I don't want to waste any time. I believe the first gathering, we saw and experienced the fruit of the work. And so I just, I don't want to belabor the point. I want God to be God. And so if you can and will, I want you to open up your Bibles to the book of John, the book of John, the book of John. We're going to go to chapter number four. We're going to shout out pastor Phillip, Ms. Lena, while we turn our lead pastors here in this house. Oh man. He and I were texting early this morning as he was traveling and he was just, I'm praying for you. I know God's going to do an amazing thing. And my response to him was, him we proclaim. That's it. And we just believe God has something special. And to all of our digital disciples online, in the chat, we thank you. We appreciate you. You are a part of our family. You may be in different parts of the world, but you are still a part of this house. And so for that, we celebrate you on this morning. And to those who are in the room, who do not believe yet. I said yet, not at all, but yet. We are of the belief that you can belong before you believe. You can be in this room and learn. And when the Lord pricks your heart and you are ready to take that walk, we are here with you. John chapter four, we're going to actually walk through the majority of the entire chapter. But for the purposes of this reading, we are going to actually start with verse number 29 and verse 30, verse 29 and verse 30. And it reads, come see a man who told me all that I ever did. Can this be the Christ? They went out of the town and were coming to him. One more time. Come see a man who told me all that I ever did. Can this be the Christ? If I could pin a title upon this message, I would call it Run and Tell That. Run and Tell That. When I was a child, it was often that I would find myself into all types of wonderful things. I loved building Legos as a child. I remember reading Goosebump books as a child. How many people remember Goosebumps? I'm that old. My goodness. All right. Goosebumps. I remember something called a Tamagotchi. Anybody remember Tamagotchis? My son is 10. He got a Tamagotchi for Christmas. I said, I remember this. My Tamagotchi always died for some reason, but nevertheless. But for me, one of the most exciting things that we do is when we would have to go to the store to go shopping. I told the

story earlier in the first gathering about when I take my children shopping, but when my mama used to take me shopping, she would say the same thing that I say to my children when I go shopping. We would pull up to the store no matter where it was, and she would always turn around, and she would look over her shoulder, and she would say these words. Maybe your mama said it to you. I don't know about you, but my mama said it to me. When we get up in this store, don't ask for nothing. As a matter of fact, don't even touch nothing, right? Don't even touch a thing. We would get into the store, and we would walk down the aisles, and I always found a way to make my way to the toy section. I would be excited about all the new Legos that I would see, and all the new toys, and all the new Spidermans, and Batmans, and Jokers that were out there. I remember very vividly going into these aisles, and when I would find something that I would love, I would go back and run to my mother, and I would say, Mama, Mama, Mama, you got to come see what I found. Come see what I found. I would drag her along with me to make it to the aisle to point to the thing that I loved the most, the thing that I wanted her to buy, and she would look at it and say, Oh, that's nice, but we're not buying that today, because I told you when we came in here, don't touch nothing. This zeal that I had as a child, this excitement that I had as a child, it was everything that I loved to be moaned and found in that one moment, and then something happened. I got older. Bills started coming. Life started lifin'. Somewhere between being a kid and being a man. who could not wait to show my mother what it was that I wanted her to buy. Being a grown-up, too bothered to look, something died on the inside. You see, the child had a burden to show, and the grown-up in me developed a preference. And see, this is the thing about the Word of God. Many of us have lost the desire that we once had when we first came into the faith. See, most of us didn't even notice that it was dying. We didn't wake up one morning and say, oh my god, it's gone. No, what happened was we didn't even lose our, we lost our urgency. Nobody had to teach you how to share the good news. They had to teach you how to sit on it. All right, that's okay. You see, we just, we get busy, we get sophisticated, we get, we got careful, we got, we got respectable. We didn't decide to stop caring, we just stopped getting interrupted. See, lostness stopped being an

emergency and became a category. And this, my brothers and sisters, is what we have learned. We've learned to keep our faith private and we've called it wisdom. We've learned how to be moved by the worship and muted in our witness. We call it being private and heaven calls it being quiet. A faith that only moves you in the room but never moves you towards the loss has just gotten too comfortable. We have traded a burden for the loss for the preference of being comfortable. A burden makes you move, but a preference makes you comfortable. Check which one you've got. I'll show it in your week. I'll show it in how you spend your time. I'll show it the way in which you gauge in worship. I'll show you, based on your life, what matters more, your preference or Jesus. There was a season in our hearts when we would burn for the loss, that moment when we first came into the faith and everything was about Jesus and we had the Jesus bumper sticker and we carried our Bible everywhere and we spread the gospel to anybody who would listen. But over time, that burden, that burning heart, kind of fizzled out. And now the only time when our hearts burn is when we show up late to the gathering and we have to sit in overflow. Yep. Our hearts used to burn for the loss, but now they burn when we realize how long the line is and so we turn back around and say, I can watch it on YouTube. Our hearts used to burn when we are online watching because we aren't close, but we knew that we had to be tuned in to the proclamation. But now it burns when you see that Pastor Philip is no longer preaching in this season. Well, you know, Pastor's on sabbatical, so I'm gonna be on sabbatical too, you know, you know. See, that is the problem. We have lost our burden. There was a day when we were excited to be saved and the question is not just now, are you saved? The question is, who did your salvation send you to? And this story, I believe, will help us to really understand the power of the words, come see. Now listen to me. You do not have to be perfect to win the loss, but somebody stays lost if you stay quiet. You get nothing else from the message. That is the thesis. And John makes that point by putting the message in unlikely hands. Not a pastor, not a scholar, not a theologian, not somebody that is polished, not someone who has platformed or prepared a woman with a

complicated story, carrying a fresh encounter, running back to the very people who knew all about her shame, saying, come see a man. So before we get to Samaria, my prayer is that by the end of this message, your heart has been pricked to seek after the loss by telling the truth of who you really are. See, faith that still runs when it finds something good is great, but love that cannot watch people stay thirsty while you know where the water is. John, in the book of John, he is the son of Zebedee. He is the one in which Jesus loved and he was a fisherman in one season and he is the one who wrote in the gospel about the Christological nature of who Christ is. It is one of the few... only times where Jesus actually calls himself the Messiah. He's referenced in the text as such. And so this is a very peculiar message that we are being ready to read. Watch what happens in verse number three. If you open up your Bibles, it says, and he left Judea and departed again for Galilee and he had to pass through Samaria. You see, that's a very interesting component because John was very intentional in his writing. That was not the only way to get from Judea to Galilee. You see, Judea is here. Samaria is here. Galilee is here. And the Jordan river along the right side of the territories. The problem is that the Jews and the Samarians, they had an issue. There was conflict. There was historical conflict. The Jews were actually taught to despise those of Samaria. And so this tension was very unique. And so it is very peculiar that Jesus had to walk through. You see, he didn't really have to. He could have taken an alternative route, but he chose to do it. The Samarians were not just strangers. They were people the Jews hated. And this is the thing. When you read, he had to, I don't want you to think of it as a shortcut. He did not have to pass through Samaria to get to Galilee, but he did have to pass through Samaria to get to her. He didn't have to stumble onto her. He didn't bump into her. He arranged his steps around the fact that she needed him more than he needed her. You see, the text does not say Jesus chose to. It says he had to. His had to does everything. When heaven puts a had to on the name of Jesus, you got to be glad because if he had to, that means he didn't have to try to, that means he didn't have to think about it. He had to. And when Jesus decides that he has to do something, things have got to move. Shame has to move. When Jesus says he has to, isolation has to move. When Jesus says he has to, labels have to move. When Jesus says he has to, your self-esteem has to move. When Jesus says he has to, your hiding place can no longer hide you

because mercy has an appointment. Jesus took the road everybody avoided. He entered the region that everybody despised and sat at a well to wait. And here it is, a woman at the well who thought she was coming for water. And Jesus knew that she was coming for salvation. See, she came to the well for water, but heaven knew that she was thirsty for a rescue. Could it be that the place people avoid may be the very place that Jesus appoints? You see, your shame may know where to find you, but so does Jesus. See, some of us thought that the place of our shame was proof God had left us. Yeah. Can I ask you something? What if the place we thought disqualified us was the place that Jesus chose for the meeting? All right. That's okay. That's okay. Not the cleaned up version of our lives. The messed up version. The one we don't like to tell people about. The one that we write in our journal and lock away and hope nobody reads. The one that we put in the closet and lock the door. The real us. The trifling us. The cussing us. Oh, okay. So y'all don't cuss. All right. That's fine. The well. The place shame used as evidence against her. And Jesus turned that evidence into the moment of his pursuit. So let's look at the text. Let's look at the text. The text says this. It says, in the sixth hour. My goodness. In the sixth hour. That's noon. That's 12 o'clock. That's not a normal hour to draw water. You drew water either in the beginning of the day when it's cool or in the evening when it's cool. Because at 12 o'clock, you would be there by yourself. Normally, women gather together in the morning and the evening. You take up the water from the well. You carry it back to your home. You drink it. And then by the end of the day, you go back and you get the rest. This is the thing. Why would she go to the well at 12 o'clock? The woman potentially was organizing her entire day to avoid people Yeah, well see when you have been hurt long enough you build a life around isolation You move at the safest hour You take the quietest route You late but you leave out early See near people without ever being known by people see you can be surrounded by people and still be hiding Shame does not always look like rebellion. Sometimes shame looks like scheduling Avoidance is what people call wisdom when it has not been healed yet And see avoidance may protect you from people, but it also can imprison you from your purpose

All right And some of us have learned how to do church the same way You're you arrive just late enough so nobody can talk to you You get out early just enough so nobody can touch you Avoiding the chat online you you go to overflow on purpose So you don't have to be in the room that you you take a safe distance You say stuff like I live 20 minutes away. So and you know, it's raining. So i'ma just watch it online I live in union city and i'm a digital disciple. No you just at home Now you'll drive an hour and a half to get to a football game, but you refuse Oh, okay, that's not y'all praise god for you being in the room But for y'all online, you know now you live up the street You right across the street from green bar and talking about I can't make it. Come on And watch this i'm not minimizing What happened to her but watch this shame does not just wound you shame starts managing you When you leave the house Who to avoid? Which room should I go into? Which conversation should I try to avoid? Which invitation should I accept which version of yourself should show up in the conversation? That is why she came in noon. See noon is not just the time of the day. Noon is what happens when pain becomes a pattern So so so so jesus does not just come to forgive her past He comes to interrupt the system her past created and we're not just asking god to heal what happened We need god to confront what we built because of what happened See see see see you can be in the room and still be at the well All right You can be known And you can know where the water is and still arrange your life around hiding See the well is her hiding place Now watch that hiding place become her sending place Would you look at the text verse number seven?

So this woman from samaria came down to draw water and jesus said to her give me a drink For his disciples had gone away into the city for food and the samaritan woman said to him How is it that you a jew remember? They did not like each other ask for a drink from me a woman of samaria for jews have no dealings with samaritans And jesus said in verse number 10 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. Oh my the woman said to him sir You have nothing to draw the water with and the well is deep Where do you get living water from now now watch this? She is being literal The well is a hundred feet deep No rope No bucket and she's like, well, how are you gonna get water out? Because she is thinking about the well, but he is talking about a spring She is thinking can you make this need to get water daily better Jesus is saying I came to deal with why you keep having to come back to the well in the first place See there's a difference between relief and rescue Relief helps you survive the cycle rescue break it Yeah A well refreshment, uh, a well refreshes you for a moment a spring sustains you for within The well makes you draw you carry you run out you go back to the well you try to get more water the water jesus gives Is what's inside of you? He says a spring of water Welling up It's eternal life He does not offer a deeper bucket He offers himself And that is the danger of an untreated heart See when you're thirsty if the source is wrong the cycle will continue

When I was in college we used to use the term I know i'm old but we should say that people are thirsty They consistently ran after somebody they didn't want them anymore Yes, they used to be like yeah, you thirsty dog. You does that I? Remember one time my homeboy. He was so thirsty. I got a bottle of water. I put on the table. I said you good Good cuz doc you thirsty now. What did you know they was talking about me, but nevermind? All right listen listen listen So here's the thing she was offering a drink to the only one God who could end all of her thirst See thirst sends you back to what disappointed you I'm gonna say that again thirst will send you back to the thing that disappointed you See thirst has a memory and if Jesus does not heal it it will keep driving you backwards Back to what damaged you? Same path same pattern same relationship same bed same vice Same challenges same bucket same disappointment. We have all been lowering our buckets somewhere And We keep pulling up empty Some of us are not tired because life is hard we're tired because the source is wrong and Jesus did not come to decorate your well. He came to become the spring from within Look at what the Bible says in verse number 13 says Jesus said to her everyone who drinks of this water will be thirsty again But whoever drinks of the water that I will give to him will never be thirsty again The water that I will give him will become in him a spring of living Water welling up from eternal life and the woman said to him sir Give me this water So that I will not be thirsty or have to come here to draw more water look at verse number 16 and Jesus said to her Go call your husband's and come here. Wait a minute now. Wait a minute Wait a second, bro But that jumps real fast, all right See if I'm her me personally me personally if I'm her I like Jesus better when we was talking about water I like the blessing Jesus, you know I

Like I like that version of Jesus Give me that Jesus who loves to give gifts and makes promises and and it's like a genie that I can rub on and I Get anything I want. Give me that Jesus, but but we love the blessing Jesus until Jesus becomes the surgeon Jesus Everybody wants the gift until he puts his finger in the wound Everybody wants living water until he says go call your husband Yeah, yeah see grace will hold you but grace will never lie to you Jesus loves you too much to hydrate a lie So she reaches for water and he reaches for the truth He's not asking because he lacks information He is he is cognizant enough to know that she actually has had more husbands than that. He's seeking out her honesty He already knew the five husbands that she had had he he already knew that the man she was with right now This is not an interrogation. It was an invitation living water brings the hidden places out to light And some of us want Jesus to fill our bucket while we keep editing the story See we want the gift, but we don't want the truth We want the relief, but we don't want the honesty And Jesus loves you too much to bless the edited version of your life See some of us Don't want to tell the truth and shame the devil as my grandmama used to say We don't want to tell who we really are What we've really done Who we have really been around But the truth Shall set you free Look at verse number 17 the woman answered him. I have no husband. She said wait a minute So he so he brings her to the one sentence. She can finally tell the truth about I have no husband and Watch the mercy. He does not crush her with the truth. He meets her in it It says you're right, you know One honest sentence in the presence of Jesus can become the doorway to a new life Look what he says. He says for you have five husbands and

The one you with now, it's not even your husband What you have said is very true Now slow down. Wait a second now. I've been reading this text my whole life And I'm like, wait a minute five husbands see naturally We assume based on our own cultural context that that means she had five affairs The text never says that The text gives us no permission to turn her into a punching bag nor to scandalize her story What if five husbands meant five funerals? What if five husbands meant five moments of abandonment Because in that time you a woman could not leave a man the man had to leave the woman five times somebody walked away See the town counted her husband's and jesus counted her wounds See we know enough to know her life was broken but not enough to pretend like we knew her And isn't it like people? To know just enough about your story to judge you but not enough to understand what happened to you And that's why you can't judge people's praise Because you don't know the hell it took to even walk into these doors You don't know what they've been through what their week looked like the arguments that they had the depression that they had to fight the moments of suicide the the baby daddies and baby mamas husbands and Wives and cousins money challenges life challenges the fact that they are in the room Got a tear coming down their eyes it's enough Jesus See people often know you people often know your facts but do not understand your fractures See a fracture it's a very small small break Oftentimes people with fractures don't even have to wear a cast but that does not mean it doesn't hurt That's another sermon for another time but jesus does And that's the point

The town knew enough to whisper about her And jesus knew enough to heal her See, they knew her reputation, but jesus knew her wound and they labeled her But jesus loved her They tried to avoid her but jesus sat and waited on her everybody who had something to say about her story Was hiding one of their own See, that's why you never throw rocks at a glass house And That is how gossip works it spins your secrets to cover its own Now watch this twice in three verses jesus proclaims and professes that she's telling the truth he says you're right What you have said is true He named the worst parts of her story And he attached shame to none of them See he he can know all of it and still not leave you he can touch the deepest wounds and not crush you tell the truth Still be full of grace So so so she she does what we do when jesus gets too close she reaches for religious debates Look at the verse in 19. The woman said to him, sir I perceive that you are a prophet our fathers we worshiped on the mountains But you say jerusalem is the place in other words, can we talk about worship and not my wounds I mean, can we talk about anything else about what my life and my past has been Before you judge her We do the same thing We would rather debate worship than surrender to the wound It's called intellectual deflection What about them Well, what about her? Well, did you see what they did?

Well, at least i'm not that At least I didn't do this At least my children don't act like that Anything that keeps jesus from touching the place we have learned to protect But she does not run She leans in To see and watch what happens in verse number 25 The woman said to him I know that messiah is coming the messiah is coming He who is called christ when he comes he will tell me all things and then jesus says to her I who speak to you am he That is the clearest revelation of jesus professing that he is the messiah He tells this to the person with the messiest resume You see at a well In samaria a place. He's not supposed to be To a woman with five husbands and no name in the text Not because she's she's qualified but because he chose her And jesus is still choosing the unqualified the unlikely Still sitting in the heat For the one everybody keeps writing off He did not expose her Expose Was her to shame her he exposed her to sin her See exposure in the hand of Jesus is not punishment It's preparation You see a good doctor does not show you the scan on your body to humiliate you He shows you the scan because he found the thing that he can treat Five husbands was not a verdict

It was a diagnosis and the patient who walks out healed becomes the loudest voice in the waiting room Y'all missed it that that's okay, that's okay So watch this verse number 28 and 29 So the woman left her water jar and went away in the town and said to the people come see a man Who told me all that I ever did can this be the Christ? This is this is so amazing Did you see what she says she left her water jar The jar was the whole reason for her to be there at noon Her routine proof that she came empty and John says That she left it, but why did she leave it because she came carrying a jar, but she left carrying a witness See the jar stayed because the thirst changed Some things only have power because you still thirsty The woman changed she came with a container and left with a calling She came with shame and she left with a shout She came alone and went back to be a witness Isn't that how salvation works see you came in this church one way But you left out another way You came in with caring sin and now you walk out professing and proclaiming that he died on the cross for your sins She didn't drop the jar because she forgot it she dropped the jar because she outgrew it See when and if you have an authentic encounter with Jesus there are some things you just got to drop And watch this watch where she runs The woman who came to avoid the town now runs right back into it I mean this is this is interesting listen to what she says come see a man who told me all that I ever did Can this be the Christ come see not a sermon? Not an argument See evangelism is not making yourself impressive. It's making Jesus visible Not a doctrine She had down cold an invitation built on the one life she had It became a door and it was not a debate And look at what she leads with not the miracle

Not his teaching the very thing she came at noon to hide. He told me Everything I ever did She points people to him using the thing that she was hiding She did not wait for a new life to witness I'm coming down your street. Just just just wait one second. I'm coming. I'm coming she witnessed from the old one Some of us have been waiting for a testimony that sounds cleaner But God may want to use the one that still has smoke on it The Thing you're trying to hide may be the very thing God wants to turn into a doorway for somebody else See you used to be toe up from the floor Now you saved You used to be pretentious and now your reserve used to cuss up a storm and now you pray down heaven see she did not Get a new platform. She redirected the one she already had And look at how it ends Can this be the Christ a question not a statement? She still didn't have the right answer she had an encounter not a sermon not a story a Person to point to and That was enough for an open door She dropped the jar that carried her shame and some of us are still carrying ours Hoping that Jesus would touch you but not send you Feel you but not make you visible But what if the thing he healed in private is the very thing he wants to use in public? Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah and hear me you have been doing this longer than you can think you are not deciding whether to witness You are deciding what to witness for see silence is Still a sermon it just preaches something else that matters more See you cannot receive the spring and still cling to the jar Yeah, that is like walking out of a prison, but refusing to take off the prison uniform Yeah, see freedom will feel strange when bondages is the only outfit, you know

The door is open the sentence is over the blood on Calvary covered the cost and the record has been covered But you are still dressed like the place Jesus delivered you from She left the jar because she was no longer dressed by her shame and when your thirst change She left the jar because she was no longer dressed by her shame She left the jar because she was no longer dressed by her shame And when your thirst change grip has to change to at some point The thing that fills you has to cost you the thing that you were hiding You see she dropped her cover She went right back in the town. Can I ask you something? What are you still holding on to that keeps you quiet? She ran into town like a woman on fire And I don't want you to rush past the cost they received an invitation from a person they reduced to her reputation And here is the miracle of verse number 30. Look what it says. They went out of town and We're coming to him a Whole town got up and followed a woman used they used to whisper about Not Because of her theological prowess because she was different and they could not explain it See the change in her was the argument and this is the beauty of it all You see this in verse number 31 31. Well, I'm a jump. I'm a jump. I'm a jump. I'm a jump I want to go do this. I want you to go to verse number 39 go to verse number 39 It says this many Samaritans from the town believed in him because of the woman's testimony You don't miss that the same town that judged her are Now saved because of her Is this any state Jesus said there for two days and many more believed because of his word and we have heard ourselves And they said we have heard for ourselves and we know that this is indeed the Savior of the world By the time Jesus was done the whole town was saved and the text names the exact line that did it the embarrassing one He told me all that I ever did They all knew her story and that is what makes the testimony dangerous

She's not speaking to strangers to impress them with a polished version. She's speaking to people who know too much They know the names and the whispers and the patterns and the noon walks in and they knew all About her and they and they said to themselves. I know a man Because she said come see So when she says he knows everything about me they knew exactly what the cost was Her scandal became the door that everybody in town walked through her worst chapter in her life Became the town's first chapter Now you just watched the most unlikely town in the Bible get saved now, I want you to hear what it actually did I'm afraid you we think if we open our mouths we have to carry the whole miracle We have to be able to debate every objection to faith We have to debate every doctrinal concern that every wound and every every hypocrisy and I'll be unbelief it all has to surrender to one conversation No wonder we say quiet. We gave ourselves a job that Jesus never assigned You think the win is the conversation? It's not nobody asked you to close the deal. They asked you to open the door Stop trying to save them. He saves you point You are the cup you were never meant to be the cure Your job is to carry the water to the thirsty. It was never your job to be the water You ain't got to be impressive you don't have to be brilliant you don't have to know the Nicene Creed You don't have to know the Apostles Creed. You don't need to know eschatology or numerology. The only thing you have to do Say come see a man Just carry what you have received see cups do not heal anyone Cuffs make the water available So here's the thing you bring the invitation and Jesus does the work Open your mouth. He opens their heart You point to the well and he makes the spring and evangelism is not just you doing God's job It is you joining with what the Spirit is already doing You gotta get that weight off your back

Now he came looking and she was met and They did it for themselves. You do not find him in a vacuum you yourselves were changed because somebody said to you come see a Grandmother a mother a friend a cousin you saw something on social media Maybe on YouTube or Instagram and immediately your heart was pricked and you said I want to see for myself What it is that God is doing Can I be honest with y'all about something me personally I like to eat Thank you, I Do I like to eat but I also love to cook if you've ever had my double-crusted sloppy on my own peach cobbler You would understand why I say that Yes, I'm serious. It's amazing. I Can't be that Somebody got my phone number. I said in the world. How you get my number anyway, but this is the thing Recently I was on tik-tok and a young lady She was online and she talked about a restaurant that was near mom near the office It's I was like, okay cool it and she opened up the plate. She's like this This is the turkey wings and the ribs and I was like, yo, this is that looks good And by the end of the video she like, you know, you have the plastic fork It was like it like she beat into the fork I mean, that's how I'm serious like and I'm gonna put the video over my social media Y'all gonna see if you said I was like, oh my gosh, like that looks good I was like, I'm gonna share this with the team So I shared it with a few of the staff members and I was like, you know what and they only open like went Thursday Through Sunday, so I was like, oh, yeah, we won't go there. It's Thursday. I'm going today So I went for myself and and I and I ordered the food and it was crazy because the food looked exactly like the video You know, I'm saying, you know Like sometimes you see commercials and the burger don't look like the burger when you get it I don't know what I'm talking about. But but the ribs look like the ribs right and they taste so Good. I mean it was so good and I got the peach cobbler

It wasn't as good as my peach cobbler, but it was I got the peach cobbler I know cuz if you go and it's nasty, I don't want you calling me but but but I got the mac and cheese I got the collard greens. I saw somebody get rib tips. Somebody got the turkey wings. We got everything It was so good And the minute we was done and I got on social media I was like y'all gotta try this food. It's so good and that place so quickly Just got an unpaid missionary Nobody asked me But it was so good that I picked up my phone and I said you got to come check this place out Yep See when you love something the embarrassment evaporates Yep, because you are not shy You witness all day long you spend the confidence that you have on restaurants and on vacations and on Opinions and then you get silent at your own desk The problem was never your confidence the problem was the priority We are not careful. We are we are not quiet. We are curated We are not afraid to recommend what we love We are afraid to reveal who we love Let somebody take you to a brunch spot that's good you being you being a group chat immediately Let there be a sales at Banana Republic or J crew you be the first one or tarjay wherever you want to go Whatever your speed is you'll be the first one to say you got it. They got 25% off today But you won't say come to church So I'm gonna make it plain for you This is the thing that we have to recognize The way that you live your life is a testimony Where you go What you do? How you show up? What you post?

see we're the type of people where we would sit there and we would take a picture or have someone take a picture for Excuse me, and we'd be like, ah, you got to get it, right? So they'll take 30 pictures 0.5 1% up top down low horizontal Vertical go ahead then you get it in the app and you got to retouch it to make sure that it's perfect And then we'll post it. We'll think about the captions. We'll think about the lighting. We'll think about the hashtags We'll think about the emojis. We'll think about all of that But refuse to post about God What if the person at 2 a.m. Who's contemplating suicide comes across your feed? Could your words be the words that change their life? What about when you're rolling down the street? Rolling down the street at my six-fo? Nope. See, I'm from Compton, so that's all good. Listen. What are you listening to? Huh? What are you listening to? I know some of y'all be in here listening to Sexy Red, but that's okay. Now, come on, don't sit here and play me like you don't know. You still be working out with fear and trembling. I know your salvation's still being worked out. It's okay. Now, you be rolling down the street, music loud as God knows what. I'm old. I'd be like, turn that music down. You know, don't nobody need to hear what you got going on up in there, but why aren't you bumping worship music? Why aren't you when you drive down the street and your windows are down and people look over confused because you're in a full-blown praise?

Why aren't you singing for Christ alone? Why are you not listening to music that saturates your soul? See, that's a witness. How about when you show up to work on Tuesday? See, this is the thing. Your coworkers believe the Tuesday you more than the Sunday you. Let me break it down for you. See, how you show up on Tuesday is really what they're looking at. I don't care if the Bible is on your cubicle desk, but see, if Susie or Sally come in your way and you cuss her out, that right there is proof that God is still working on you, but your witness is what matters. We were out of town recently for my son's birthday. We went overseas for his birthday, and we were inside of the hotel. We had to get an extra suitcase to get some stuff, and we were moving things around and putting clothes away because we had to get it under a certain amount of weight. All of a sudden, as I went out to go get the taxi so that we can get to the airport because we were late, these two girls came up to my wife, and they saw a shirt and a hoodie, and they said, excuse me, do you go to 2819? Now mind you, we are literally 13 hours away. She said, I'm an Ethiopian. He bragged you. She said, I watched 2819, and it's changing my life. We went to another church in this foreign country. A woman comes up to me, and she says, oh my God, 2819, I watched you guys after this gathering. My life is changing. I even bought the book. My life is changing because of the work of what you guys are doing. In a foreign land, see what you wear, how you move, how you think, how you talk, how you show up, it matters. Digital disciples, how you respond in the chat, it matters.

How you serve the community, it matters. Serve in 25 is in September, I believe. July? Thank you. In July. It matters. You don't need a platform to tell people about Jesus. You just need to open your mouth. Your life, it is the loudest testimony one could ever have. I want you to realize something. I'm not here to condemn you. I'm here to wake you up. When you look at the loss, does it do anything to move you? The coworker, the cousin, the person that spots you at the gym, the mail lady who drops off your mail, the neighbor who invites you over for the barbecue during the summer, the person at the pool, the lady at the cash register. What is stopping you from saying, come see? Is it our pride? Is it our intellect? Is it our insecurities? But what if Jesus chose not to save you because he was insecure? Where would we be? So what will move you? What is stopping you from closing your mouth? Your embarrassment is not bigger than someone else's forever. See, this is the thing. When I was growing up, I used to hear these stories about hell and hell is real. Better get right and you bet and I used to be so scared So my initial encounter with Christ for salvation was the fear of actually going to hell It was not based on the love that I have for him and what he did for me

Right. All right. So so in theological language there was this almost shift in culture Where we went from hell and damnation to prosperity So now Jesus gonna pay my rent. You know, give me everything. I want just reach up and grab it But then we forgot That when this life is over There is another part to this story That the Bible is real That revelation is real The Bible says that the dead in Christ shall rise and those who are behind him as he rides on his horse Will come back and there will be a new heaven and a new earth And that those who do not believe will throw in be thrown into the lake of fire for eternal damnation I Know you care about the person with your last name But do you care about the person walking down the street Does your heart break The person Who doesn't even realize that they're lost I mean truly Does your heart break for them Or is it just I made it it's all that matters Why aren't you inviting them to church I Mean you come Some of you have room in your car and refused to pick up the phone There is literally somebody's name in your phone right now That's going to hell matter of fact put your phone out pull it out Now if you don't want to you don't have to but pull it out Go to your contacts. I'm praying for all the green bubbles, but Go to your contacts real quick go to your contacts And just scroll through your contacts I see a name just just one name

Begin to count how many of them that you know for a fact don't know Jesus You're willing to carry them around in your pockets, but refuse to introduce them to the king Ten twenty thirty Home girls and homeboys cousins and friends parents You have them literally In your phone and you won't even say come see Come see a man that changed my life And maybe maybe this isn't maybe you maybe everybody in your phone is saved Maybe a whole iPhone or Android phone is just anointed with God's anointed grace But there are billions of people in the world Who don't know Jesus, and if you don't believe me watch this Do you believe in Jesus Christ by any chance I know can I cut it a long time ago Do you believe in Jesus Christ ain't recording right now? Yeah? I'm going around asking people if they believe in Jesus Yeah, they tell you if you stop recording Do you believe in Jesus Christ? I Saw I used to be a big church person just recently. I don't know anymore. I don't know yeah I just I don't know what to believe honestly you guys believe in Jesus You guys believe in Jesus You believe in Jesus Do you believe in Jesus Christ? Do you believe in Jesus Christ do you guys believe in Jesus Christ? No, do you guys believe in Jesus? Do you believe in Jesus Christ do you guys believe in Jesus Christ? Do you believe in Jesus Christ Do you believe in Jesus Christ? Because believe in Jesus Do you believe in Jesus Christ?

Jesus Christ No, do you believe in Jesus Christ? Do you guys believe in Jesus Christ? Yes? I know he's my safety You We celebrate the end but we fail to count 20 people who said no Young and old said no. We just saw a video of 20 people that will go to hell. See, I'm not gonna sugarcoat it. I'm not gonna try to sanitize it with just fluffy language. We just saw all those people who said no, who are on their way to hell. And on phones, we could just, oh, that's crazy. Oh yeah, we just gonna keep going. But that guy's page is filled. Hundreds of people who don't believe. But you do. You're the door. You are the door. I don't know how to push this any harder. You are the door to somebody's life changing. It is malpractice to hold on to Jesus and not give him to others. Who in your neighborhood needs to hear about Christ? Who on your job needs to hear about Christ? Who at the gym needs to hear about Christ? And maybe you're like, I'm too embarrassed. Come see. I don't know what to say. Come see. What you doing today? Come to church. Male lady at my, in our, in our office complex. Every time I see her, I say, you come to church today. I'm coming. I'm gonna be there. I'll be there one day. Every time. She thinks I'm just being funny, but she doesn't realize that the Lord placed her on my heart because I don't want her to deliver the mail to me and then death deliver into the hands of Satan. And maybe there's somebody in this room in this moment. You don't even realize it, but somebody said, come see. And you are now in this room having this conversation and your heart has been pricked by the simple fact that someone who brought you, you see their life change and here you are, your life changing in real time. And maybe you didn't even realize it, but Jesus is knocking on the door of your heart. And the voice in your ear is not Satan telling you, don't do it. It is Jesus saying, come all you who are weary and heavy laden, and I will give you rest. You have been running from Jesus for far too long. You have been fighting an uphill battle of doing life your way. And Jesus has brought you in here to give you a, from a well that will never run dry, to give you what he says is eternal life. Do not miss the opportunity to be in his presence. You do not have to be perfect. If we got nothing from this story, nothing about you has to be perfect. Nothing about you has to be absolutely

right. Cause I promise you, just because you say yes, does not mean all of a sudden you're going to be holy. It's called sanctification. It is a continual process. It is going before the Lord. It is repenting daily. It is saying, Lord, how must I be? And how can I be? It is having clean hands and a pure heart. Who can ascend? But it starts with yes. It started with someone saying, come see. See, we're not preaching this message for this series, the fruit that remains just so that we can have people in church during the summer. We're okay. Because even though we may count how many people come into the room, heaven doesn't count. Heaven takes names because the Bible says that your name shall be written in the lamb's book of life. And when that may comes, I want your name to be next to mine and next to theirs and next to theirs. So everybody in the room, if you feel like the Lord brought you in here and set you up for a holy encounter to experience his grace and his mercy and his love for you to say, and recognize that he died on the cross for your sins, that he has come and that he will return. And that you do no longer want to have this, this lack of assurance, but you want blessings and assurance that Jesus is yours. If you know for a fact that you are a sinner that is saved by grace, still being worked out, still being perfected. But you say, Lord, I no longer want to run. I want to follow you. If I'm talking to you, raise your hand right now. I see you. I see you. I see you. I see you. I see you. I see you. God bless you. I see you. I see you. I see you. God bless you. Hallelujah. The Bible says that just in one, the angels rejoice.

So we have more than one. So heaven is rejoicing. And so should you. Listen, I want to give you some clear instructions and I want to make sure we do this after every single gathering. If you have just been pricked by your heart to say, I want to know more. There's a tent right outside of this door. It's a black tent. You can go right up to it. You'll get a Bible. You'll get a bag with instructions and directions on what to do next. The goal is for you to keep coming back. Six months. That's all it takes. You give Jesus six months and I promise you your life will change. It will not be perfect, but it will be better. You walk out that tent, you go right to that black tent, you get the information that you need. And from there, I want to see you next Sunday. I want this whole church to be filled from room to room, pew to pew, seat to seat. Not because we want butts in the seat, but because we want people in heaven. If you've been blessed by the word, put your hands together.