I love it. I love being here. Uh, thank you for having me. It is a pleasure and honor, a true honor. I, I was here, uh, earlier this year, and it's, it's honestly, I'm so excited to be here, uh, back again. I feel like I'm in family. You guys are familia. We're primos. We're cousins, uh, so thank you for helping us launch this church in Bacaye. It's been a really crazy, amazing, thrilling ride that we started this year. Uh, gathering and building what we call the launch team, the team that's gonna help us launch social church, and along this ride, we have baptized 9 people. Praise God. Uh, there's people coming to life, uh, finding Jesus, and, uh, we have our launch team right now, a little over 100 people, and we're getting very, very close to our launch day, very exciting. So keep us in your prayer, and, and thank you, thank you for supporting. The mission, and that's a little bit of what we're gonna talk about today, how God takes us from a mess to mission. Are you guys ready to dive in? I love the word of God. Anyone else loves the Word of God, come on. BIB, oh, I love that. Someone loves the word of God. I don't even have to give the disclaimer cause this is what I was about to say. I am one of those preachers that you, you gotta respond with me. We, we, we preach together, OK? Like, you can't stay silent. Uh, uh, while I preach, you can say things like, preach it brown boy. It's OK. You can say, you, you can clap, you can laugh, you can even stand up and say, whoa, that was for me, or you can stand up and say, whoa, that was for you, like whatever the case may be. If God is speaking to you, come on, just respond to God's word and we're gonna have a good time. Who comes to church to have a good time? Like that's amazing, right? Like we come and get, get, have a good time and leave just challenged and blessed by the word, the living word of God. So we're gonna be talking about John chapter 4, and you guys have been in this amazing story of greater story, and I wanna challenge you as well, share your story. You have no idea how much people can be blessed, inspired, touched by your story. Week one, you guys saw how um Nicodemus went from greedy. To generous. And last week you saw about how Seas went to, went from, oh no, I changed it, right? Yeah, Zacchaeus greedy degenerate Nicodemus from curious to courageous. Who said backwards? Hey, you're taking notes, good. If you take notes at church, you have like a a special place in heaven for you reserved. You gotta take notes in church. Amen. And now we're gonna look at how God takes us from mess to mission, looking at John chapter 4. And I'm gonna give you a quick snapshot of what's going on in John chapter 4. The longest recorded conversation we have in scripture is found in John chapter 4. Can you imagine that the longest recorded conversation that Jesus has with an individual is found in John chapter 4. And this conversation was not with a rabbi, was not with one of his disciples, not even with John, his beloved disciples, which by the way, it was John who wrote that in the book of John, that he is the beloved disciple. It was not with a powerful or an influential person. No, this conversation, the longest recorded conversation of Jesus with an individual, was with a woman. Cause God is relational. Jesus is, is, is social. He's relational and he has this long conversation with a woman, and not any woman, but it was a Samaritan woman. Uh, uh, a Samaritan woman that had a lot of issues. Just like you and me. Amen to that. Yes. We, we all got issues. all God's people got issues. If you don't think you have issues, that is your issue. Because we all have issues. And this woman, she, uh, she was doubly rejected. When it says that she was a Samaritan woman, there was racial tension between Jews and Samaritans. She was not only rejected by the Jews, but she was also rejected by her fellow Samaritans, and we're gonna look into that, and I can relate so much to this woman as a as a young kid. Grew up here in Phoenix Uh, we had moved from Mexico. I was in first grade. I was the only kid in class, the only Mexican kid in class that did not speak English. And because of that, I got bullied. And it was fun. And during recess, I had to stay in class. I would stay with my ESL teacher because that was the only place I felt safe. Because I was the only kid that didn't know how to speak English. No, don't get sad, it gets worse. Every summer when we would go visit our family in Mexico, I was so excited, so pumped. I'm gonna go see my cousins, my primos, right? I'm gonna have a good time with them. I'm gonna finally be able to hang out with someone until I realized that all my cousins would call me the gringo. Oh, we can't play with you because you're the gringo. You're the one that lives over there. You, you won't understand this game. You can't eat with us. You get, I was like, what? I'm clearly not, right? But I, I understand this whole thing of being doubly rejected. Like I was rejected at school here in the States and then I would go back to my place of origin and I would be rejected there too. At a really young age, I started developing this question of where do I belong. Where's my place? Like, where do I belong? I'm so glad that my parents instilled in us at a very young age that going to church was gonna be a non-negotiable. And oh my God, that blessed my life. I didn't understand it at the time. But then God said, like, if you knew that this is gonna bless you so much, you're gonna find your your best friends, you're gonna find your wife, you're in church, like I'm so glad that my parents instilled that in me. I found the place where I belong and it's in his kingdom with his people. And that's why we're so committed today. To build a church where language will not be a barrier for people to hear the gospel message of Jesus Christ. And if we have to do two languages, we're gonna do it, but people that are far from Christ will come to life, back to life in Christ Jesus. There's no language gonna be a barrier. Amen. So thank you for helping us for that, helping us with that, with that mission. I remember this, this moment, uh, in, in, I was like 10 years old. And again, this was a non-negotiable at home, right? Every Sunday we go to church. I woke up one Sunday, and I just, I don't know where I got this bravery, but I told my dad, I ain't going to church. He looked at me and said, In Spanish He was a pastor. A little chubby, big dude, mustache. I never heard him roll his Rs so much. He just looked at me. He said, the wayamatar. Which means I'm gonna kill you. And then he continues saying, and if I kill you, we're gonna have your memorial service in the church. So you're still gonna go to church. You decide if you wanna go alive or dead. And I said, Dad, I'm gonna put my pants on. I'm gonna change real quick and I'm gonna go to church. I understood. I, I can relate to this woman being doubly rejected. And what happens in this story that Jesus has a divine appointment with, with her. Jesus takes the church to her. She didn't go to church. Jesus takes the church to her and because of that, this woman changed an entire city. This woman came for water, but the living water came to her. Isn't that so true in our life? Sometimes we're, we're probably here just curious. We're probably need something from God and we end up with more than what we came for, more than what we expected. That happened to my sister. She grew up, she was born and raised in Mexico. And uh she wanted to learn English. So there was a summer, a couple of years ago that she decided to come. I said, hey, spend the summer with us. You'll learn some English. I have some assignments for you. Here's the first assignment. We're gonna go to McDonald's. I'm gonna wait for you in the parking lot. You're gonna go inside. You're gonna order an ice cream cone. That's it, it's easy, ice cream cone. OK, I got it, ice cream cone. I wait for her in the parking lot, she goes in, comes back a few minutes later with a huge McFlurry. With all the toppings. She's laughing. I'm laughing. I asked her what went wrong. She's like, I don't know. I asked for an ice cream cone, but then she started asking me questions and the only thing I did was smile and said, yes, yes. And she ended up with more than what she expected. She, her mess got turned into a mission. Like there was something beautiful in that. And I said, sister, that is what happens in our walk with Christ. That every time we follow Jesus and we say yes to Jesus, even when we don't understand it, he gives us more than what we expected. So this woman Comes to the well, and I wanna, I want us to catch this story. In verse 4 Jesus had to go through Samaria. That's the very first verse that we're gonna read. Jesus had to go through Samaria. Everyone else, every other Jew would avoid Samaria, but Jesus went through Samaria. In other words, he went to the very place everyone else would avoid, so he can reach those who others didn't. Every time religion, religion steps back, grace steps in. And Jesus goes because he knew he had. To have this divine appointment with this woman. Verse 6, verse 6 says, Jacob's well was there, and Jesus, tired as he was from his journey, he sat down by the well. Divine appointments happen in dry places. Divine appointments happen in dry places. Not only was it geographically a dry place, it was a desert. The time also, it was at 120. I'm gonna read that verse to you. At the end of verse 6, it said, it was about 12:00. Let me stop there. It was about, it, it, it, there was, this was the hottest time during the day. Why? Let me tell you something about wells. Wells were these significant gathering places. There was a certain hour during the day where everyone would go draw water, and this was early in the morning. It was cool. It wasn't hot They would go and as, as, as the whole town is they're gathering water, drawing water, they would chat, they would build community, they would catch up. They didn't have Facebook. So they had, they had to catch up. We call it the Spanish chisme. It's a whole like, hey, you know what happened to the neighbor down the street last week, you know, they're catching up and while everyone would go during early in the morning, this woman went at noon. Why? The reason why she went at noon was because she was she was avoiding. Human contact. She was avoiding being social. She didn't wanna run into. Anyone And our God is so good that even when we avoid being social, he's social to us. He meets us where we're at. He finds us. She went at noon to avoid any human contact. And it was this precise moment where she encounters Jesus. And I love the very first thing that Jesus asks this woman, the very first thing that Jesus says to this woman. Found in verse 7. Will you give me a drink? I love it. Hey, will you give me a drink? No, no, there's no holacom estas me yamo Jesus, no, none of that. Can you get me a drink? And her response is, hey, I, I'm a Samaritan woman. You're a Jew How can you ask me for a drink, for Jews do not associate with Samaritans. And I love Jesus' response verse 10. I wanna stop here for a second, in the very first part. If you knew. Come on, let that preach to you. If you knew. Have you ever heard God's voice telling, if you knew? Cause if we're honest, So often in our lives, we don't do what God is asking us to do because we think we know better. We think we know better than God. And Jesus is telling you, if you knew. If you knew that I'm trying to get something to you, not something from you. You would become a giver. You would become a tither if you knew. If you knew that what I'm trying to do is wash away your sins, and you would jump at the opportunity to get baptized. If you knew, if you knew that I, I'm not trying to take away your individuality, but bring to life your individuality when you join a group, when you plan your life in a church, that's where you flourish. If you knew. Come on, If you knew that your marriage would heal when you heal first. That your marriage will come to life when you die to self. If you knew If you knew that you will find freedom, not in hiding sin, but confessing sin, if you knew. Cause so oftentimes it's in our lives, we don't do what is right, what God is commanding us to do because we think we know better than God. This is exactly what's going on here. Look at her response. Jesus finishes saying, if you only knew the gift of God and who it is that is asking you for a drink, you would ask him and he would give you living water. Hold on to that thought cause we're, we're gonna talk about this in a second. Verse 11, sir, you have nothing to draw water with this well is deep. In other words, you ain't got no bucket. You don't have a bucket. How are you gonna draw water with? You don't have a bucket. Jesus is trying to have a living water conversation with her while she is stuck on the well that is in front of her. Verse 12, are you greater than our father Jacob, who gave us this well and drank from it himself, as did also his sons and his livestock? My goodness, this woman knew so much about this well. All the details But she knew nothing about living water. Whew. If, if wells were gathering places. Can it be? That a church is also a symbol, a representation of a well. That people think they have a certain thirst and they need water. And they go to a church and they find out that the real need is living water, but on their way to the well, they also find their community, their people. Isn't that beautiful? That's beautiful for new people, but what happens when, when people know so much of the well? You've been Christian, you've been a follower of Christ for so many years. You know, so much theology, that is good for you. I applaud you for that. But could it be in our lives as well that sometimes we know so much about the church. But we still don't know much about Christ. The living water. And we go through the motions and we, and we check the boxes and we just, we just go to church cause that's, that's part of our Sunday routine. And God is wanting to take us to deeper waters. In a relationship with him, if you knew. She brings the past, the history. You got a bucket. You know who built this well? Jacob built this well. You know who drank from this well? His sons, his livestock, like, you think you're better than him? She's trying to have like even this theological conversation or debate with Jesus. Isn't that funny? We do that sometimes too. We try to argument our, our, our, our, our, our reasoning with God. We even bring scripture to God. God, your word says that if I rebuke the foolish, I will become foolish. I'm not, I'm not gonna do it. And then if you find out in the same proverbs, in the same book of Proverbs, it says, rebuke the fool. As well. What do I do, right? It's like, God is leading you somewhere. He wants to take you from the mess to the mission. God meets us where we are, but he leads us where he's going. And this is for someone here this, this morning, that you maybe have disqualified yourself. You think you, you have a lot of mess in your life. And you said, God can't do anything. God can't do something with this mess. Well, you're in here for a treat. God, God has something special for you. He wants to show you how he's actually attracted to our mess, to our chaos, to do something, cause we all got issues. Hey, all God's people got issues. Right? Again, if you, if you don't think you got issues, that is your issue. God has something for us. He wants to meet us in our midst, but take us to his mission. Jesus answered everyone who drinks from this well. This well that you know so much about, you know the history of this well. Well, let me tell you that anyone who drinks from this well will thirst again. But whoever drinks the water I give them will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give them will become in them a spring of water welling up to eternal life. The woman said to him, Sir, give me this water so I don't have to come back every time I'm thirsty. And Jesus says to her, go call your husband and come back, and I'll give you some water. And she's like, I don't have, I don't have a husband. And she's like, that is right. You don't. You've had 5 husbands, and the dude you're with right now is not your husband. You have answered correctly. You've been with Juan, Jose, Julio, Javier, Joaquin. But now you're with Jesus. The only man that can change your life, you have answered correctly. But now you're in the presence of the 7th men. I learned this in therapy, that every man and every woman has a core question within their soul. Every man's soul's core question is, am I worthy and how will I prove it? And this starts at a very young age. From 4 to 6 years old. And every woman's soul's core question is, am I lovable and who will love me? And this woman has been trying to answer that question in so many different ways. The well of Joaquin didn't work. Luella Jose didn't work. She's been trying to fill this void. And what Jesus is trying to do in this conversation, he, he, he's trying to bring order. Cause listen, flow requires order. When there's something in our lives that that that that God needs to deal with, that water is not gonna flow through us. God needs to bring order. He wants to do something in us first before he can do something through us. Flow requires order. Everything, every time we do things out of order, our life ends up looking out of order. Brokenness typically comes from doing things out of order. Every time we do things out of order, we will find ourselves out of order. If you try to find your identity in what culture says instead of what the Bible says, You're going to end up anxious, broken. Depressed. Because you're doing things out of order and everything, every time you do things out of order, your life will end up out of order. If if you try to work 7 days a week and not take a Sabbath, If you don't take a Sabbath, the Sabbath will take you. And you try to hustle and grind and work 7 days, you're gonna find yourself broken, burned out, tired. Cause you're doing things out of order. You're not obeying God's command. Rest. Come on, Sex comes after marriage. That's the order. Oh, we got quiet here. Marriage first. 2 If we put sex first before marriage, we're doing things out of order. And then we find ourselves broken. We say, we find in our lives, this anxiety, this, this void, more, more chaos because we're doing things out of order. God gets the 1st 10%, not the leftovers. We got quiet again. We don't believe in tipping God, we believe in. Honoring God with the 10%, setting apart what is holy, because this is the order he gave us. Every time God asks something from us, it's because he wants to bring the right order. It's not to destroy us, it's actually to bring us life. There's order. There is order, and God wants to bring order into our lives. In Genesis chapter one, in the recount of creation, we see that God's response to chaos is not peace. It's order. I had, I had to learned this the hard way being a youth pastor. I, every week I would have to pray for the young people, the students, because they were anxious. Every week, I'm like, God, here we go again. Until I started asking some questions. OK, every week I'm praying for, for healing over your anxiety. What time are you going to sleep? Can I see your phone? How much? Hours you scroll a day. Right? What are you doing? Sleeping with your boyfriend like you're doing things out of order, and God's response to chaos is not peace. It's order. It's order. I can't live believing in God's promises, but then also denying his principles. He needs to bring order into our lives. What is it in our lives that needs order? Because if you knew Like if you gave first, your finances would be more blessed, right? God is bringing order into your life. God's response to chaos. I order If you knew Who is asking you for a drink of water. It's not that Jesus needs water. He was tired But what he's saying is that I'm actually asking you, so I can make you realize your deepest need, cause I want to bring order into your life. You would ask him for water and he would give you what? Living water. Let's talk about living water, cause this wasn't a concept. This is, this wasn't a a metaphorical thing, like, it meant something for the Jews of the first century. They knew the difference between the living water and dead water. Dead water was any body of water that was stagnant, not moving. It became dead. That's why the Dead Sea was called Dead Sea. It had nothing coming out of it, only. Incoming water. The Jordan River would flow into it, but nothing flowing out of it. And any body of water that retains but does not release becomes dead. And I wanna tell you this morning, church, that God wants to use your life and wants to take you to mission, but what he does in your life must not end with your life, because every time you retain what God has given you, and you don't release what God has given you, it becomes dead. God not only wants to do something in you, he wants to do something through you. That's why a river, a river represented living water. It moves, it flows. Jews would only baptize in rivers, not lakes. Every time you would get baptized, guess what, your sins would move downstream. You can't find them anymore. You can't find them even if you tried looking for your sins. That's why Jesus said, I forgive them, and I will remember them no more. If God forgave your sins and does not remember them, you can also forgive yourself and not remember your sins no more. If I drop something in the lake, I can reach back and get it, but if I drop something in the river, it's gone. It's gone. So what Jesus is offering her is this living water that will clean you, wash away your sin, wash away your shame, wash away your guilt. Living water. This is the only water that has the power to quench your deepest thirst. She needed it She came to Jesus full of shame. Full of guilt, she was avoiding everyone else. And Jesus forgot to bring something to the world. You guys remember this? What was the only thing that Jesus did not have with him? A bucket The woman even asked Jesus, how are you pretending to get water? You don't even have a bucket. How are you gonna do this? And what Jesus is responding to her, I want you to catch this. What Jesus is telling this woman is that. I did not bring a bucket on purpose. Because I'm making you my bucket. I'm making you my bucket to take this living water to Samaria. There's a whole city that I want to reach, and I need a crazy woman like you. Amen to that. I need to take this living water to Samaria. Isn't that beautiful? This woman came. As a bucket full of shame. And chaos and mess in her life. And the only thing she's been trying to do is fill that bucket. With waters from different wells that haven't worked out. But now she encounters Jesus. He washes away her sins. And now she becomes a bucket of honor. To take this living water to Samaria. Come on, that is beautiful. What can God do with our lives? If we just say yes to him. If we believe that he can take our mess. And then use us and transform it to bring us into his mission. There's nothing that God cannot forgive. There's nothing that God cannot reach and transform and change it for his good. I don't know about you, but Maybe you're here and you're, you can relate to this woman. Maybe not with her issues. But you're also here, thirsty and dry. And you need living water. You need living water. Maybe you also relate with this other part. Or you've been coming to church for so long. You know so much about the church, you know how many songs they're gonna sing, you know all the songs they sing as well. All right, after this song, the pastor's gonna come up, he's gonna preach a sermon. He's gonna dismiss us and we Leave this place and go to Golden Corral or whatever the your favorite place to eat. And go through the motions. You as well need living water. Maybe it's been a while. That you haven't drank from the water, the living water. The best description the Bible gives us of this living water, it's so energetic, it just bubbles up. It becomes in you a spring of water welling up to eternal life. Eternal life, you know what's in the balance? Eternity. There's people around you, people you know, your neighbors, family members that need the living water, and God's saying, I wanna bless you so much, but it cannot end with you. I need to take this living water to others. Eternity is on the line. Can you trust God that he can use you as a bucket of living water? Every eye closed, every head bowed, I wanna pray for you. Holy Spirit, come. Jesus, give us your living water. Give us your living water. We need your living water. We've been dry, we recognize, we confess, we admit that we've been thirsty, we've been dry, and that we need your living water. We need you, Holy Spirit. We don't, we don't wanna be like the disciples in Acts 19. That were followers of Jesus, but did not know anything about the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit, they asked. This is the living water I have for you. Holy Spirit, fill us this morning. Have your way. We give you our hearts. We give you our buckets. Fill it with your presence. And flow through us Amen.