Transcription
Welcome to the Victory Broadcast. If this ministry has impacted you in any way, please consider supporting the spread of the gospel by visiting us online and choosing the giving option that works best for you. Now, we pray that this message will stir your heart and build your faith. Get ready to receive the word of God. Today is week one of a six-week series called Real Encounters.
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Yes, and there's no misspelling in that graphic. Uh, if you've been living in a cave or you're unfamiliar with a reel, it's just a short video, a snippet, a glimpse into a person's life, a part, a part of a story that doesn't give you the full picture. And, uh, and this series is going to make sense to you in just a few moments. Before I jump into the proclamation of God's word, let me just take a moment and pray for us. And it'll all come together in a few minutes. Amen.
Everybody, we thank God for His faithfulness. Easter is like the Super Bowl. Today is the beginning of a new season. [Music] It's building season. [Music] And we move forward from here in Jesus' name. Amen.
So, Father, in the name of Yahshua, help me, Lord, in my human frailty, to the hearts of Your sons and daughters firmly upon You, to woo in those who are far away from You. I pray You breathe on this time we spend together, bring revelation and insight. I pray that You would drive away our familiarity, our commonality, and dishonor of Your Son. In Christ's name, I pray. Give me a bracelet. Amen.
And, um, in 2018, my wife and I met a young lady who was the supervisor at a major shipping company. For four years, she handled all of the inbound business packages for our church. Every flag, every banner, most of the equipment in this room, all of these cameras, everything that has come to us by mail, she put her hands on for four years. She served our church very faithfully. She was 18 when we met her. I got a phone call this week that this sister, who became a daughter to my wife, or not, who we saw every single week of our life, poured seeds into and prayed for, is no longer here. She has gone into eternity. She was found unresponsive in her home. No real answers for her family members and friends. Those of us who love her, loved her. We are still grappling with her untimely departure from this life. I attended her funeral, uh, this week on Thursday, sat in the back of the room and just watched the grief of her family and friends, and tears that were shut in that room. I shed my own tears. And, uh, it's very difficult to stare at the casket of a 22-year-old. It's very difficult to [Music] just watch the depths of the human pain that we suffer from the separation of people we love, through something that God never intended that we would have to deal with until sin entered into the world.
And as I sat in the back of the room, I was, um, reminded of three great realities that I want to share with you in this moment. The first is this: that everyone sitting in this room, everybody watching me, wherever you're watching this message, the first reality I was reminded of in that room is that we all have a date with eternity. It is coming for you and for I. For as much as we go to the gym, for as much as we try to stay healthy, for as much as we botox ourselves to death, you will not escape death except the Lord returned while we are alive. We all have a date with eternity. And I will go so far as to say, we all have an unknown date with eternity. Like, we, we really don't know when our last year will be, our last month will be, our last week will be, our last day will be. Is why I always encourage people who are close to me to live well and love well, watch and forgive well. Like, you don't have time to hold people in your heart forever. You don't have time to keep grudges. And I encourage people to suffer well and live well and love well and forgive well, and to give your time to those things that are most important.
The second reality I was reminded of as I sat in my daughter, in a sense, funeral, was that while we are all living in this fallen, fractured, broken world, plagued by issues, there is no one perfect among us. And no matter how we dress it up, how tight we make it look on the outside, I was reminded by some of the most calmest people, from dignitaries who sat on the platform to thugs that were sitting in the room in tears, that no one has it all together on the inside. That every person sitting on your row, every person watching, it doesn't matter how good we camouflage, every person is dealing with something or some things. Watch, we all have issues.
And thirdly, I was reminded of this: that in this broken, dysfunctional, and sin-sick world, it is the person of Christ who was sent by God as an agent of hope to depraved human beings, who continuously keeps inviting people into the most significant and meaningful pathway to life change and progressive transformation. There is no more meaningful life change that a person will ever have in this life except through Christ. Jesus offers every human being, from the wealthy to the poor, we'll get to all of them in this series, the most meaningful, the most significant pathway to life change, watch, and progressive transformation than any other person [Music] that we can put our confidence in. Listen to me, I'm so serious about this series. There is no meaningful life change apart from Christ. Like, you, you can, you can get degrees and you can build businesses and build a whole shrine to yourself on social media, but there is no meaningful life change now, apart from Christ. There is no spiritual wokeness that is pleasing in the eyes of God apart from Christ. I don't care what you believe in, what crystals you carry in your purse, what you pray to that you built that's sitting on a window in your bathroom. I don't care about what Jehovah's Witnesses knock on my door, or what Mormon knock on my door, or what five-0 trying to shake me down on the corner of the block in Atlanta. There is no, listen to me, no spiritual wokeness that is acceptable in the sight of a holy God apart from His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ. There is no, listen to me, you could band-aid it up and get counseling all you want. There was no real dealing with your deep inner issues apart from the person of Christ.
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I think I should say that again. I don't care how much counseling you get, how many coaches you have. There are some things in the basement of your soul that a counselor cannot fix. A coach cannot fix. They cannot impute to you righteousness. They did not die for you. Was not spread out on a cross for you. Cannot be justified for you. There are some issues in the core of your soul that cannot be ministered to [Music] apart from the person of Christ. And there is no safe pathway out of this life into eternity [Applause] apart from Christ. Look right at me. Let me say this to you again. Since you're so woke, I don't care if you move to Africa trying to find some other religion. There is no, look right at me, there is no safe pathway out of this life apart from Christ. Watch, it does not exist. So, a preacher, I don't believe you. You don't want to die to find out that Jesus was not a liar. [Applause] And you don't want to die to find out that the scriptures were for real. So let me say this to you one more time, my brother and my sister, I don't care what you believe in or reject. There is no safe pathway out of this life apart from the person of Christ. It does not exist. And that's why it grieves me when I go to funerals and we lie to people from the pulpit saying that everybody's gonna see this loved one again. No, they won't. We give people false hope sitting in seats staring at a coffin, saying, "Everybody in the room is going to see their loved one again." No, they won't. For you can't follow someone who ended up in heaven apart from Christ. Everyone is not going to see that loved one again. There is only one guarantee to see the one that has gone into the presence of Jesus. [Applause] And in the funerals I've been, we heard people lie and say, "Oh, God had a space in His garden, so He wanted a flower, so He let this bullet hit your daughter in the head," just to put a flower in His garden to make you feel like God is evil and wicked. No, sin is evil and wicked. We need to stop blaming God for every death. No, they don't want this too real for y'all. We need to stop blaming God for every death. No, sin divorces people from this life sometimes before their time. [Applause] [Music] We need to stop tagging God for every funeral as if He's wicked and evil.
So, by direct inspiration of the Holy Spirit, and I obey Him, I've carved out six weeks for us to gaze upon the Lord Jesus Christ. Six weeks to proverbially swipe up at 61st-century reels, six snippets into the lives of six historical people, three women and three men, whose lives were forever altered and changed through their encounters with the Lord. And I'm preaching this series by inspiration of the Holy Spirit, that maybe by the power of God, all of our wandering affections can be refocused back on the thing you and I need more than anything else. More than a good marriage, more than good relationships, more than a thriving business or entrepreneurial venture, more than money in the bank, more than a big social media following. You and I need, human beings need, a real, sincere, substantive, growing, intimate relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ. That's what you really need more than all the other things you think you need. [Applause] [Music]
So, watch how Jesus changes lives. How many of you will find nuances of your own life in the historical lives of these six people over these next six weeks? You'll see some of your own issues, some of your own flaws, some of your own needs in the lives of these six people. Our first glimpse of a real life encounter, a real encounter, comes from the life of an unknown woman who lived in the region of ancient Samaria. John, an eyewitness of the life and ministry of the Lord Jesus Christ, recorded the longest conversation Jesus had with any human being. John chapter four and verse one. Help me, Holy Spirit.
Now when Jesus learned that the Pharisees had heard that Jesus was making and baptizing more disciples than John, his predecessor, although Jesus himself did not baptize, but only his disciples did, he, Jesus, left Judea and departed for Galilee. Verse four, and he had to pass through Samaria. Now this opening that John gives us is both theological and geographical. Geographical information he gave us in this text is very, very important. It says that Jesus heard that people were talking trash about Him, and so He made a decision to leave where He was to travel to another place. So He's leaving Judea to go to Galilee, and it says that He had to go through Samaria. Now, in ancient times, Judea was situated in one part of ancient Israel, Galilee was situated in another part of ancient Israel, and in the center of Judea and Galilee was Samaria. Now, in times past, the Assyrians had conquered the area of Samaria, and the wars that happened there, they captured the Jewish people, began to intermarry with them, and produce a mixed race of Jews called Samaritans. Purebred Jews, because racism didn't just start with George Floyd, right? Like the Bible ain't sanitized. Purebred Jews who were racist wanted to avoid Samaritans. So instead of just traveling through Samaria to get to Galilee and back to Judea, they would go east and down past the Jordan River, go all the way around Samaria just to avoid a race of people. Like all the stuff you do to not deal with white people, or black people, or Hispanic people, or your classism. You're too good to talk to a poor person like they're invisible on the corner by Walmart, like they're not human beings with a story. Like I haven't had aunts who's been there, right? But notice the text, it says Jesus, watch this word, had to go through Samaria. That means He was compelled to go through Samaria, being led by the Holy Spirit. Why? He had a date with an unknown woman. This is so powerful to me as I read the text, because it tells us what lengths God would go through to get to you. That some of us know God because of divine encounters. It wasn't by accident. You was in that room when the gospel was preached, or you was at that crusade, or you was in that place when the Lord tapped your heart for the first time. It tells us how God will divinely engineer circumstances just to reach you. [Music] I don't care if you go on the other side of the planet, He can engineer circumstances in another country just to reach you. [Music] So He had to go through Samaria. Verse five. So He came to a town of Samaria called Sychar, near the field that Jacob had given to his son Joseph. Historical figures, Jacob, who had sons that became the tribes of Israel. Jacob's well was there. So Jesus, weary as He was from His journey, was sitting beside a well. It was about the sixth hour. A woman from Samaria came out to draw water. Jesus said to her, "Give me a drink," for His disciples had gone into the city to buy food.
Now, this is massive and it is powerful. Peep the text. It says Jesus, John wrote this note, was traveling through Samaria, and watch, He got tired. I love that John told us that Jesus got tired. Although His entire gospel was written to prove that Jesus was the Son of God, you see that in the end of His gospel, He gives us this footnote that Jesus was walking through a region and sat down because He was tired. A reminder to us of the humanity of Christ. It points me to Hebrews 4 that tells me you and I serve a High Priest who can identify with all of our feelings and infirmities, meaning, aka, there is nothing you and I will ever go through that Jesus has not felt. This is why when we pray, we should pray with confidence instead of babbling, like He already knows how I feel. I'm talking to you, right? But notice what the text says. It says that it was the sixth hour. Now, this is powerful. The sixth hour is 12 o'clock in the afternoon. Now, this is an important detail in the text. Why? Because this was in Samaria, a desert place. I've been to Israel, it is hot at 12 o'clock in the afternoon. Watch. And so a woman, Lord help me Jesus, comes to draw, help me Jesus, comes to draw water at 12 o'clock in the afternoon. Culturally, women at that time only came to draw water early in the morning while it was cool, so powerful, or late in the evening while it was cool. Watch. No one came to draw water in the middle of the day. Why is she coming to the well at 12? Why is this woman coming to the well at 12? You know what she was doing? She's planned her whole schedule to avoid her most pressing pains. She planned her schedule to avoid people and community and real relationships. This is powerful. She planned her schedule, watch, to be alone. She planned her schedule because she was, watch, battling the fear of being fully known. She's coming to the well at a time she hopes, watch, no one from my town will see me there. No one will be present when I get there. She planned her schedule to be completely by herself. Why? And she's dealing with some measure of shame, some measure of rejection from people around her. Why is she hiding from other people? Watch. She doesn't want to have real relationships. God forbid somebody finds out that I have issues. God forbid they find out who I really am or what I'm really struggling with. So she does everything she can to avoid the people from her town. That is, I have these casual relationships, but nobody really knows me. She runs from community. Some of you are like this. You got friends on Facebook, but no friends plane took off. You're not there. Got 5,000 friends on Facebook, but no real friends, no one to be intimate with, no one you can share your dirt with, no one you can say, "I'm struggling, I'm going through this, pray for me, sister or brother." Man, some of us are just like this woman. We do everything we can to avoid real contact with other people. God forbid they find out who I really am or when I'm really struggling. I just want them to know the church me, the jump on my army, but not the masturbation me. [Applause] Not the pornography me. No. So she, she, she, she plans her schedule, watch, to be alone. Gosh, maybe she feels like some of us feel like, "I can't measure up." Maybe she feels like some of us feel like, "What I'm going through can't be fixed." Her troubles were too great to fix. So watch this, some of us, we do this so well. She plans her life to be safe, but not whole. Some of y'all are good at doing that. You plan your whole life to be safe, but not whole. So you put up walls to be safe, but not whole. You avoid intimacy with other people to be safe, but not whole. So you plan your whole life, your whole page, every post, every text, you plan your whole life to be safe, but not whole. Because you can't become your best self by yourself. [Applause] Jesus is not trying to fix the fake you.
Verse 9. The Samaritan woman said to Him, "How is it that You, being a Jew, ask me for a drink from me, a woman of Samaria? For Jews have no dealings with Samaritans." Are y'all listening to the scriptures? Jesus answered her, "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." So now He's talking to a woman who's trying to mask all of her issues, like we do well, trying to camouflage all her issues, like we do well, trying to hide all her issues, like we do well, want to come to church and mask all of our issues. Like He's talking to a woman that's living a camouflaged life, all those issues, but nobody close enough to do anything about it. Watch, while you're dying by yourself in pride and security. [Applause] I'm talking to you. I'm talking to you. You keep shedding tears at night, but you won't let Jesus get in there. You keep shedding tears at night, but you got walls that nothing can't get in there. I'm talking to you. You're just like this woman. You avoid all contact with your reality. Jesus. And Jesus says to her, "If you only knew the gift of God and who it was that asked you for a drink, you would have asked Him, and He would have given you living water." Man, this woman, historically, watch, she was coming daily to this well. It's so powerful to satisfy her physical needs, but she was ignorant of her deeper need. That there was a deeper well of greater water that was necessary to heal her in the areas where a sermon cannot touch, where a man cannot touch, where a spouse cannot touch, where boyfriend or girlfriend cannot touch, where a counselor and coach cannot touch. And now she keeps talking to Him about physical water. He's talking about spiritual water. It shows me in the text, she's completely blind to what she really needs. But you, the same way. Come on, come on. Some of you sit in this room, watch me right now, we are oblivious to what we really need. You think you need that next job. No, you don't. You think you'll be happy when you get to a certain level in your finances. No, you won't. You think if you could scale your business to a certain level, you'll feel fulfilled inside. No, you won't. You think if you just secure that woman or man you're running after, you'll be fulfilled inside. No, you won't. She's, we're just like her, completely oblivious to what we really need. The touch we really need, the healing we really need, the confrontation we really need, the holding that we really need, the comfort that we really need. You've been wrestling with this since you was five, ten. You've been dealing with this for 20 years, 10 years. And how many more men are you gonna keep trying to see counselors and coaches that can't really deal with only those things Jesus can touch? Don't judge her. You're no different. Having all these conversations with the Lord in prayer about things that don't matter, but He's trying to talk to you about the deeper things that you really need. What does Jesus give her? Look right at me. I'm almost done. An invitation into a new life. An invitation into something much greater. Watch. An invitation into healing. Wait till I get to week five, it's going to blow your mind. An invitation into healing.
Verse 11. The woman said to Him, "Sir, You don't have anything to draw the water with, and the well is deep. Watch. Oh my God, where can I get this living water?" Peep the text. "Are You greater than our father Jacob, who gave us the well and drank from it himself, and his sons and his livestock?" Jesus said to her, "Oh my God, everyone who drinks of this water will be thirsty again. Watch. Next verse. But whoever drinks of the water that I will give him will never be thirsty again. He will never be thirsty again. The water that I give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life." Watch. She says, "The Lord, what, Sir, give me this water." She cries out to Him, right? Verse 15. The woman says, "Sir, give me this water, so that I will not be thirsty or have to come back to draw water from here." A thirsty woman. So I will not be thirsty or have to come back to draw water from here. This woman's ignorance begins to break free as she begins to realize, maybe this man has something that I need. Watch this. This is so powerful. She realized now, this physical water, watch, is not enough to satisfy me. I'm going somewhere with this. And this man has something that I need. Man, this physical water reminds me of all the things we keep chasing that we think will satisfy our deepest thirsts. Now, I'm talking to you. We, that physical water, it's like all the things you and I actually think that if we get it, it's going to satisfy the deepest longings of my soul. I know how this go down. I know how this go down. So from one relationship to the next, and one job to the next, and one church to the next, and one business opportunity, we keep trying to climb these mountains to get to the top of them and look over and realize, I'm still empty and bankrupt. You know what I've learned? With everything I've acquired, it will betray me after a period of time. No, the new iPhone. I was so happy when I got my new iPhone, and it got three cameras on the back, and I could hit a button and I could get close and then far away and take a bit. And then after a while, I'm tossing it on the floor in the gym because the novelty wears off. And you get the new house, and you feel your thirst is quenched, and then the novelty of the new house wears off. And then you get the person that you wanted, and then you're five years into the relationship like, "Oh, you're a sinner." And then the novelty of the marriage wears off. [Applause] See, I see some of y'all been married for three months, and then you're trying to be life coaches for marriages. Marriage people, you ain't been through nothing yet to be no. Don't trust no marriage coach that ain't been married past five years. See, all these false married coaches on Instagram, you've been married for one year, trying to build a whole business to teach other people how to be married. You ain't going through a storm yet. You ain't had to choose to love outside of your bubbly feelings yet. How dare you, man? Get off of that page. Take that joint off your profile. The nerve for you to tell me about how to do marriage. You've been married for 12 months. You ain't had a good fight yet. You ain't had the opportunity to walk away yet. These fake coaches with no experience, no fruit, no track record of consistency. [Applause] I'ma help my church, so y'all stop thumbing and liking and supporting fake help. [Applause] And all these things we keep chasing, we think, "If I only get it, I've been here. If I only get it, watch, I won't be thirsty again." If I get to this certain number on my Instagram page, I won't be thirsty again. No, you're gonna keep being thirsty. That's why millionaires commit suicide. [Applause] [Music] You see that Kate Spade bag you got in your closet? She hung herself because all these tangible things we keep running out. You know what I learned? They betray you when the novelty wears off. You realize you wake up next to the person and realize, "I'm still empty." [Music] You climb the corporate ladder and realize, "I'm still empty." You build the ministry and realize, "I'm still empty." I'm almost done. Take my time. Yeah. You get the ride you finally wanted and realize, "I'm still empty." Get the bundles that you wanted, the snaps that you wanted. They don't like enough for your joints. I'm still empty. [Applause] I'm in your neighborhood. I know your bundle is dope, and I know your filter was dope. And when 80 people don't like it, you take it down because you're still empty. [Applause] Why are you searching for those likes? Because you're empty. [Applause] You can't post and walk away. I've been there. I'm talking to you. Yeah, yeah. The person with the microphone has been there. I'm talking to you. Watch. You're gonna keep acquiring. I'm telling you what's gonna happen. You're gonna get to every goal you wanna hit and still come up empty. They will, all of it, betray you. This is Jesus Christ. I'm telling you what I know by personal pain. You're gonna keep acquiring what you think you want, and when the novelty wears off, you're gonna realize, "I'm still empty." That's not a discouragement to not pursue it. It is a warning about priorities. Her response, watch. She says, "I'm almost done. Lord, give me that living water." Now, what will make her say, "Give me that living water"? You got to read the scriptures. That's a sign to me that she doesn't feel whole. Because if she felt whole, she wouldn't ask Him for what He had. So now she leaks in front of Him, watch, that I have a need. Your tears testify you have a need. Your pursuit and keep coming up empty testifies you have a need. Watch. And you keep trying to put in place of where God is supposed to be, fill in the blank, and that idol will continue to betray you. You will betray you. I'll give her props for one thing, though, that I pray for so many of you and for me. Listen. At least it shows that she had self-awareness. Oh my gosh, this is powerful. I'm about to get in your mail. I'm about to help somebody, man. The first step to transformation is self-awareness. We can't help nobody that don't have no idea they need help. That's why Jesus said, "I did not come for the well, but those who are sick. I did not come for those who think they're righteous, but those who need a doctor." One of the first steps to healing, transformational life change, is self-awareness. And a lot of us, I pray for you that you will have, watch, self-awareness that you are rotten in this area, that you are desperate in this area, that Philip Anthony Mitchell, you have a need in this area. One of the worst people to help is a person who is self-righteous and thinks that they are perfect. You walk around looking down at everybody. You're so self-righteous on your row. You sit there with your hands folded, critiquing my whole sermon like you could leave the church better than me, like you can preach better than me. You ain't get up here and preach 42 sermons in a year. And we're always looking down with our critical and judgmental spirit because we can't see the blinders, how really messed up and broken in that area you are. Your own self-righteousness testifies to your fallacies. Wow. That's why self-awareness is so powerful. That's why I love how David says, "Lord, search me. See if there be any wickedness in me. See, is there anything that You don't like in me?" Why? Because when my own heart deceives me, I gotta invite God in there to do an assessment of what I cannot see. One of the greatest gifts you can give yourself is self-awareness. Like, man, I need to change in this area. That leads to transformation. This is too much for you. I feel like you're mad. I feel tension in the room. Like, don't I got Rhonda in here? She from Philly. Like, I'll get, I'll get my goons up here with me. Like, I feel tension in the room. Like, like you matter. I'm talking to you like this because I love you. [Applause] I love you. I feel heat in the room. Like you want me to come down. Rhonda right here. Don't play with me. Oh, the Milton right there. They from Philly. We from up top. Like we zip up this Bible and go the other way and repent later. Don't I feel heat in the room? I feel weak. My man Sam over there, he from New York. Like my drummer, drummer Golly. Don't play with me. I got a gully drummer. Don't play with me. I feel heat. Can I, can I proceed? Yes, indeed. Now, I miss that. Can I proceed? I got that spirit of Little Kim on me. Let's try this again. Can I proceed? Thank you.
Verse 16. [Music] Let's land the plane. It's about to get heat. Jesus said to her, "You, oh, you want this water? Watch. Oh, you want life change? Go call your husband. You want what I have? Go call your husband and come here." Verse 17. The woman answered, "I have no husband." Jesus said to her, "You are right in saying, 'I have no husband,' for you have had five husbands, and the one you have now is not your husband. What you have said is true." Notice, Jesus didn't say to her, "I love you, ask me into your heart." No, no, no, no. Because we cannot conquer what we won't confront. So He has to deal with the idolatry of her sin first to lead her towards this massive word called repentance that gives birth to regeneration by the power of the Holy Spirit. There is no "I love you, ask me into your heart." [Music] That's nowhere in the scriptures. But Jesus did confront people about their idolatry and sin. Let's deal with the root issue before I give you living water. Why? You won't be able to handle living water if we don't confront that thing right there. We gotta work on the nastiness of the cup so I can put that living water in there. Watch. Repent first. [Applause] No, "I love you, ask me into your heart." It's not in the scriptures. It's in culture. It's not in the scriptures. [Music] It's in culture. It's not in the scriptures. Jesus, a rich young man said, "Jesus, I want to go with You." He said, "Good. Uh, go sell everything you have, then come follow Me." What is He dealing with? His idolatry first. [Applause] No, "I love you and ask me into your heart." She's battling, right? Let's let, we, we, we're in her mailbox. Six men hopping in and out of beds, in and out of relationships, in and out of thirstiness. She's either grossly misguided. I think she's something else. I think she's searching. [Applause] Like many of you. We can knock her for her sin, or we can look at her real core. She's searching. That's why we should stop condemning people in their sin. Stop judging people in their sin. Get to the root of why they're doing that. Why they keep hopping out of beds? Maybe they didn't have a father to tell them, "I love you." Maybe they were never affirmed by a parent. Maybe they don't know that they're beautiful in the sight of God, so they need another man to tell them that they're beautiful, and then another one, and then another one, and then another one. That's four. And another one, five. And another one, six. Until she meets the seventh man, the seventh husband, the Bridegroom, the Lord Jesus Christ. [Applause] Everything changed when she met the seventh man. And some of us males and females, we need a date with the seventh man. Let me finish.
The woman said to Him, "Sir, let me change the topic. I perceive that You are a prophet. Our fathers worship on this mountain, but You say that in Jerusalem is the place that we should worship." Jesus said, "Woman, believe Me, the hour is coming. I'm almost done. We're neither on this mountain," which was Mount Gerizim, I've been there, "in Jerusalem where you worship the Father. You worship what you do not know. We worship what we do know, for salvation is of the Jews." Not of the Mormons, not of all these other isms. Salvation is of the Jews, the lineage of Christ. Not all these other isms. But the hour is coming. Don't send me no mail. And it's now here. I'm not afraid to preach the gospel when the true worshipers will worship and spit in the Father in spirit and truth. My life is in Christ's hands, for the Father is seeking. I'm talking to y'all that keep sending me hate mail. The Father is seeking such people to worship Him. I'm not afraid of you. We're at 2250 Perry Boulevard Northwest. Pull up. Hear this gospel. God is spirit, and those who worship Him must, must worship Him in spirit and in truth. I don't have a lot of time to bother this because I want to land the plane. But just notice that Jesus is teaching us something. He's teaching at the location of worship. It's not as important as the heart of worship. Yo, you could be in the room and have a poor heart towards God. I could be in my bathroom and have a pure heart towards God. It don't matter where you worship. It's about how you worship. For God is not contained to a, a building. He's in my car on the way home. He's in the shower while I'm butt naked. So I can't worship God while I'm naked. Jesus hung on a cross naked. He's in the cubicle at work. He's at the kitchen sink while I'm cleaning the dishes. I can feel His presence. While I'm cooking for my babies at night, Zipporah, I've been praying for you, Zipporah. While I'm dealing with my babies at night, Zipporah, I feel His presence around me. While I'm being a stay-at-home mom and taking care of the gifts that God gave me, I could feel His presence all around me. While I'm taking care of the gift that He gave me, I could feel His presence on. I don't have to be in this room to worship. I could be in the bathroom down the hall and worshiping God. Let me finish the text.
The woman said to Him, "I know that the Messiah is coming." Verse 25. "He who is called Christ. When He comes, He will tell us all things." Jesus said to her, "One of the few people He ever revealed Himself to, I who speak to you." And it showed that she had hope. She had, watch this. This is what we need for life change. Everybody look at me. Look at this big word. This big word called, watch this, desire. Some of you, something will shift in your life when you just get a desire. This is why almost every day, I'm always praying, "God, give me the desires You want me to have." That's that verse in a song where it says, "God will give you the desires of His heart." No, you quote that wrong. It says, "If you delight yourself in the Lord." That word, "delight," in Hebrew means to present yourself softly. If you delight yourself in the Lord, He will give you the desires of your heart. These prosperity false preachers say, "If you delight yourself, God, He'll give you whatever you want." And then you'll be mad at God because that's a lie. But if you delight yourself in God, He will download. He will give you the desires of your heart. He'll give you things to desire. [Applause]
Verse 27. Just then His disciples came back. They marveled that He was talking to a woman. But no one said, "What do You ask for? Why are You talking to her?" Just peep how Jesus crossed, how He crossed racial lines to get to her, class lines to get to her, socioeconomic lines to get to her. He broke boundaries to rescue her. Verse 28 through 30. I'm about to land the plane.
So the woman left her water jar. She left the thing she came there to draw water with. She went into the town and said to the people, "Come and see a man who told me everything I ever did." She confesses her own promiscuity. "Can this be the Christ?" They went out of the town and they were coming to Him. The former sinner becomes an evangelist. [Music] [Applause] The woman who gets life change now runs into purpose. Watch. First, she's running from her pain. Now she's running towards purpose. I want you to see that before I land a plane. At first, she's running from pain. In one moment, now she's running into purpose in the next moment. She leaves behind her water jar. I got two revelations from that. Can I give them to you really quickly? The physical water jar that she left on the floor, she needs that to draw water. She runs into the town. Watch. That's a guarantee that she got to come back and see Jesus again, right? So I don't just get an encounter in the church gathering on Easter and then never come back to church. She leaves the water jar as a guarantee she got to come back and see Jesus again. But the second revelation I got from that, proverbially, she left behind the thing she thought would keep her fed. Sometimes we gotta leave behind some things to really grab hold of what we really need. Leave behind pride. Leave behind idealism. Leave behind some season. Forgive yourself for something you did. Forgive yourself for something you did. Leave that. I'm talking to somebody. Leave the water jar behind. That's done now. You can minister to these people. Frank.
Verse 31. Let me land the plane. Meanwhile, the disciples were urging Him, saying, "Rabbi, eat." But He said to them, "I have food to eat that you know nothing about." I wish my whole church would join me right here. So the disciples said to one another, "Has anyone brought Him something to eat?" It's like, yo, you've been with me all this time, and you still don't get it. Like Jesus is saying, like, yo, yeah, we've been in these, like, yo, how many of you have been with me all this time, you still don't understand? How many more meetings is it going to take for you to get this? Jesus Christ. Jesus said to them, "My food is, I want this for my staff, for our leaders, for our church. My food is to do the will of the one who sent Me to accomplish His work." You know what? You know what the greatest win for me is when I'm in my box? There's a man who finished his race. That's what I want for you. Four months now, and look at the harvest. I tell you, lift up your eyes and see that the fields are white for harvest. All around the city of Atlanta, all up and down your social media page, people far away from God. What are you posting about? What are you texting? What are you liking? What are you doing? I want to say to the American church, what are we doing? Are we having services and conferences and podcasts and books? So what if it's disconnected from the Great Commission? Everyone might care. The Lord don't care. What is it going to matter a hundred years from now? Church, I'm talking to us. Those of us behind the podium, what are we preaching? What are we doing? What are you believing for? What are you posting about? Are you building a shrine to yourself, or are you preaching this God? We are living in the last days. Pay attention. It don't matter if the room is full if the pulpit is empty of truth. [Music] We're just sending another 5,000 people to hell. I'm so sick of it. You know what the Lord was saying to disciples? You need to live missionarily, like men and women with a purpose. Like if you're a Christian, you've been saved from something to something. Saved from damnation to purpose, to live missionarily. [Music] Not to just live to build a monument to yourself. You know what I learned? Being in funerals and being by the side of people who are dying, they don't care about how much money they had in the bank. They care about the lives that they impacted while it was here. We got to live missionarily. How we treat our sons and daughters, our children, how we post, how we share, how we serve, how we give, how we love. What you think this is like? This is the Super Bowl. This is not about a huddle for you to go out there and spread that gospel. Live this out tomorrow morning at your job and at your school. And call you to sit in a pew. He called you to be a witness.
Many Samaritans, verse 39. I'm over time. I just feel the spirit of God. Man, man. Many Samaritans from that town believed in Him because of that woman's testimony. That's why your testimony is so powerful, man. Tell it. Some of you are so ashamed of your past, but if you're under the blood, your past is a weapon now. My past is a weapon now. I'm not ashamed. My past is a weapon. Yeah, that's what I was and what I did, but look what God has done in me. So the Samaritans came out to Him and they asked Him to stay with them. And they stayed two days. And many more believed because of His word. And they said, "Because of the woman, it is no longer because of you that we believe, but we have heard for ourselves and we know that this indeed is the Savior of the world."
I'm closing. Do you read your Bible? Acts chapter 8. A man named Philip went down to Samaria and preached there, and there was a whole revival in a city. He was building on somebody else's foundation. Oh my God. For four years before Philip got there, this woman ran back into that same town and said, "Come see a man that told me everything I ever did." You have no idea what your present faithfulness is doing for some future circumstances. Four years after this moment, Philip arrives in the same city to preach the gospel. That foundation was already laid by a former prostitute, a former sinful woman. Was there four years before Philip read Acts 8. She sowed the ground. She tilled the ground for him. How do I close? This woman who had six husbands, you know what she was? I gotta tell you this before you leave. She was what I was. What some of you still are. She was a chaser. Keep pursuing something that, fill in the blank, "When I get it, I'll be happy." No, you won't. In constant pursuit of whatever, only to keep coming up empty and unfulfilled. And how long we gonna stay trapped in that cycle before we realize what we really need is in Christ? The healing you need is in Christ. That, that emptiness you're feeling, Christ. That lack of value you feel, Christ. That lack of fulfillment you feel, Christ. What the coach can't fix, the counsel can't fix, your spouse cannot fix, Christ. [Music]
I want to pray for every person in the room right now and watching me who is struggling with something deep on the inside that is harassing you. I want to pray for you. But everybody, just bow your heads with me. I'm praying for every person right now who's just weary, thirsty, tired. Just, "I got the job and I'm still empty." I see you on the floor, my brother. There it is. I, I'm praying for every person that you keep, you, you're just fed up and frustrated. Christ. I'm gonna keep digging into you until you realize He is the reward. My, my favorite time is in His presence. So right now, Father, I pray for every person under the sound of my voice who is just weary and tired, thirsty. I pray for every chaser, every person that's trying to fill in the blank for fulfillment and keeps coming up empty. [Music] A man won't do. A woman won't do. Scaling the business won't do. A bank account won't do. A bigger following on social media won't do. Them accepting you back into the circle won't do. None of it is gonna do. I pray for them, God, would You right now give them living water? Would You right now draw them to Yourself, Lord Jesus? Would You grab their wandering affections and refocus it back on You? Help them to remember that You are the reward. You give a type of water and fulfillment that satisfies. Whoo. [Music] Jesus, I was here and sometimes I still struggle here. I pray for me too. All the things I think I need to be fulfilled, will You, Lord, for me, for my brother, my sister, satisfy? And Father, I pray for the one who is far away from You, the one who is not saved, the one who is in danger of damnation. May they run to the foot of the cross. May they repent of their sin. May they cry out to You. May they cry out to You right there in their chair, in the car, in the parking lot. Man, they said, "Lord, I am a sinner. Forgive me of my sins and throw themselves on the altar of mercy." [Music] Jesus, give everyone under the sound of my voice that living water. We need You. We need You more than anything else. Our prayer life, our devotional life, when we open the word, may we keep finding You. In songs of worship, Lord, I pray for my church that we would love You more than anything else. We need You. You are the living water. Help us, these thirsty women and these thirsty men. [Music] I pray that in the mighty and majestic and matchless name of the Lord Jesus Christ. If you receive that, just shout with me. Amen. Come on, put your hands together and shout, amen.
Thank you for listening to the Victory Broadcast. We pray that message was a blessing to you. If you have a story or testimony to share, we want to hear all about it. Send us an email to share@victorychurchatl.org or visit us online under share. Thanks for listening. Go in peace.