John chapter number four do be praying for my brother He was supposed to come with me this morning the last time that I preached here actually during the revival a couple of years ago I was sitting over there on the second pew my mom sent me a text message my brother was being served an arrest warrant or or an EPO warrant for some decisions that he had made. Right in this church, I sat over there and I got that and I had to get up just minutes after and preach to you all. And I'll be honest with you, it was weighing on me heavy. A lot on my mind that night. I remember even talking to you all about that and it's just a hard season in my life. And since then, Jeremy's moved to North Carolina with my wife and I and he's gotten saved, give his life to the Lord, which we thank God for that. But this week, was just a very unexpected event happened. Jeremy was acting you know out of sorts and really beside himself and we took him to the hospital and they tested his blood sugar and he tested in the 930 range and this week at 19 years old he found out that He was a type one diabetic and just breaks my heart as his brother to see him going through this. I'll be honest, I didn't even know if I was gonna be able to make it this weekend. He just got out of the hospital yesterday. He was in the intensive care unit for a day and they was able to get his insulin in and got him down into the 200 levels. But do pray for my brother. I love him like he's my brother and I love him like he's my son. and he's a few years younger than me, and it breaks my heart as his older brother to see him going through this. And I'm aware, I know diabetes is a normal diagnosis now, but when it happens to your family, it's just something you wasn't expecting and wasn't looking for. So there's a lot of obstacles that we're gonna have to jump through with health insurance, and I just believe that God is in the business of answering prayers. And I'm not telling you that as a pity. You listen to me. I could have been sitting up here this morning with a lot different things to be said about that situation. That night, if we did not get him to that hospital and the 900 levels, he very easily could have went into a diabetic coma, but God. It wasn't no doctor, I sat in that hospital room as they was doing all these tests and a lot of uncertainty and unknown and I had great peace knowing that I was speaking to the great physician. Now I'm not ignorant, my head ain't in the sand, we do need to go to the doctors, all you men say amen. There's nothing wise about a man that won't go to the doctor, that's ignorant and that's arrogant, okay? And he probably should've went to the doctor a long time ago and would've found out this, fast-tracked it. but I'm thankful that when we do get in times of trouble, that he's a friend that sticketh closer than a brother. When I got saved, I got a whole lot more than a ticket into heaven. If all this thing was about was eternity, man, we'd have not a lot to live for here on earth, but he's a faithful God. He's able to meet all of our needs. Some of you are staring at me like I'm taking too much time, so I'll go ahead and start preaching. John chapter number four, go ahead and stand up, because we're gonna be here a while. I don't want you to get restless sitting down. John chapter number four, and my least favorite part about being in the pulpit is everything that I've just done. My favorite is preaching, amen. So let's get into the service. I appreciate you for being here. John chapter four, verse number one, if you found your place, say amen. The Bible says, when therefore the Lord knew how the Pharisees had heard that Jesus made and baptized more disciples than John, though Jesus himself baptized not, but his disciples. He left Judea and departed again into Galilee, and he must needs go through Samaria. Then cometh he to a city of Samaria, which is called Sychar, near to the desert. and parcel of ground that Jacob gave to his son Joseph, and Jacob's well was there, and Jesus, therefore, being wearied with his journey, he set this on the well, and it was about the sixth hour, and there cometh a woman of Samaria to draw water, and Jesus saith unto her, give me a drink. Listen closely. Jesus knew this woman had nothing to offer him. He just needed this woman to know that. Jesus knew before he ever asked that this woman had nothing to offer him But he just needed her to understand that she had nothing to offer him You know we got a lot of church people who feel like they're doing God a favor Say amen You understand that it is our reasonable service to be here today. We don't have to be at church. Didn't nobody make me get up and come to church this morning. I got up on my own free will with the desire in my heart to be around the people of God. We're not doing God a favor by tithing. We're not doing God a favor by serving. We're not doing God a favor by being faithful. It is our reasonable service to give a portion back to God with all that he's given to us. That wasn't in my notes. That means we're in for a long morning. For his disciples were gone away into the city to buy me. Then saith the woman of Samaria unto him, How is it that thou, being a Jew, Do you remember when Jesus first started speaking to you? Lord, how are you speaking to me right now? Just in a humble place. How is it that thou, being a Jew, askest a drink of me, which am a woman of Samaria? For the Jews have no dealings with the Samaritans. Jesus answered and said unto her, If thou knewest the gift of God, and who it is that said to thee, give me to drink, thou wouldst have asked of him, he would have given thee living water. I want to direct your attention again to verse number 10, the middle portion of the text, Jesus answered and said unto her, if thou knewest the gift of God, by the help of the Lord this morning, I want to preach on this thought, if you only knew, if you only knew, you can be seated. Let's pray, Father, in Jesus' name, You've been so faithful to me, God. And I publicly want to thank you and bless your name for it. God, there's nothing in my charisma, in my youth, in my personality, God, there's nothing in my flesh, Lord, that can make a man move this morning. But if the power of God would fall, and if the spirit of God would draw, Lord, a life could be changed for all of eternity. Dear God, there's many gathered here today. God, some no doubt lost, got on their way to hell. And Father, we pray, oh, that they'd hear heaven calling after them, and they'd respond to the word of God. Lord, I'm sure there's some, Lord, that they need a heavenly homecoming this morning. God, to return back to the fold. Dear God, I pray. Lord, for the prodigals that sit on the pews. God, may you revive our hearts and draw us close to you again. God, there's maybe a young person here, Lord, that is struggling. God, and they have doubt in their mind. God, Lord, if they're saved, God, what your purpose is. God, maybe there's some, Lord, that have messed up. God, surely all of us have messed up, Father. Lord, sometimes we feel like you're done with us, but God, if we only knew. what you could do with somebody like us if we just obey your word. God, I pray you'd make seeing real, God, in the service. God, may moms and dads, grandmas, grandpas, God, teenagers, God, and the children, God, see themselves for who they are, God. Lord, I pray, Lord, that when we go eat a meal after a while, God, we already leave. God's saying you've done business with us, Lord, because we know that you have. Lord, we love you. We thank you for this ministry of this church, how they've been faithful, God. They've been good to my family and I. And God, I pray and I ask you, God, Lord, you'd help us, Lord, to be a blessing to them. God, I woke up this morning, God, and I asked you to help me to be a blessing. I went to bed last night, God, and before my head touched my pillow, God, I begged you to let me be a blessing to these people. Lord, there's some that are in need. God, give us their attention, God, for a little while. In Jesus' name, amen and amen. It's a familiar portion of scripture. If you're honest with me this morning, sometimes when we get into the word of God, you're very guilty of knowing the end of the story before you ever even read it. I'm gonna take my coat off. I hope that's all right. If it's not, you just gonna have to get over it, amen. In the word of God, when we get to John chapter number four, we know what's gonna happen. There's gonna be a woman that comes to a well. Jesus is gonna be at that well, and when she leaves that well, her life will forever be changed. You've heard preaching about it, I'm sure. You've probably even read about it, and maybe you hadn't, and so this morning, I pray that God would give us a vision, He'd give us an understanding that would be afresh and anew. We took our young people to camp this year, and I'll be honest with you, we've got a great youth group at the church. I love what God's called me to do. I love being a youth pastor. I love investing into kids' lives, pouring myself into them, being there for them. I got a young man with me this morning that God is doing a great work in his life. It's 5.30 to come meet the preacher at his house to drive several hours up the road, and man, just hungry for God, desperate for God, but every year when we get to go to camp, I try to pray and say, Lord, you know, God, what's the burden for this year? Well, what are we doing? What's going on? And there was a lot of kids that were going with us this year that had been before, and I began to pray in our prayer room and say, God, you know, what is it that these kids need? And I started thinking about in our lifetime, how several times we'll go to the same places over and over and over again. And some of you, it's church, and some of you, it's camp, and God began to burden my heart that this year, they'd have an encounter with the Lord Jesus Christ. You do understand that we could come to church every week, but if God's not here, we'll leave in vain. A preacher can give his best efforts in studying and prayer, but except the Spirit of God come down, nobody's life will be truly changed for eternity. And I began to pray, and God directed my mind to John chapter number four. And you say, preacher, what's all that got to do with us this morning? It's because it's very easy in a homecoming atmosphere. Most of you that are here this morning, you've been to church several times in your life, but wouldn't God this morning, you'd get a fresh view of the Lord Jesus Christ, You begin to see how God can move and use you in your life. I believe there's several things about this woman in John chapter number four that you and I can relate to this morning. First of all, we see the condition of this woman. The Bible is very clear to let us know some specific things about this woman, first of all. We see the emptiness of the woman. You say, preacher, what are you saying? The Bible says in verse number seven that there cometh the woman of Samaria to draw water, understanding your word of God, that Jesus Christ, the God of the Son, God of the Word, he speaks to us in spiritual ways through physical instances. This, my friend, in the word of God, is a picture of you and me without Jesus Christ on the inside of our soul. We are empty and undone without God. I believe if there was one word that could describe our nation today, that could describe our world today, that could describe our communities today, that could describe our colleges today, that could describe every high schooler, every middle school and elementary, every hard worker and every lazy man, the word that would be is the word empty. We are living in a day and an hour. where the world is empty, and you understand this. The Bible says in the word of God that when the unclean spirit is gone out of a man, he will walk through dry places seeking rest, but he will find none. I can testify this morning in my life that whenever I was empty, I did not stay empty. I put forth efforts just like this woman. to feel the emptiness in my life. As a young man, it may not have been very sinful. Maybe I tried to find it in a sport. Maybe I tried to find it in some soccer goal or some touchdown, something that would fulfill me on the inside. Some people, they try to find it in a social club. Maybe it's a skating rink, a video game chat online. Maybe it's a friend group. Maybe it's just some gathering that you'll have together, Something that will make you feel like you've got purpose. Something that will give you peace. But how many of you know that that will leave you the same way that it found you? It does not matter even if it's a good thing. If you score a touchdown, my friend, you're gonna want another one if you make a raise. You're gonna need another one before too long. You can buy a brand new car today and before the sun goes down tomorrow, you're gonna see something nicer that you wish you had. You can build the biggest of houses and when you get done and you get in your bedroom there in that master suite, you're gonna wish you would've done one thing different. You can get married one day and that's a great thing to do. But even a marriage will not fill you like the Lord Jesus Christ will. You can be in a relationship and even your girlfriend or your boyfriend will not fill you like Jesus. You can get a degree and you can be smart and you can be educated. You can be a millionaire. You can even be a billionaire, and that money will not do for you what Jesus can do for you. But where we're living at today, and exactly like this woman, people in the world are going to the extremes on a pursuit for peace. It's no longer the video games, and it's no longer the sports, but they get older, and because they didn't do business with God, because they didn't get that eternal, that everlasting drink of water that only Jesus can give spiritually, they begin to go try to find it in a nightclub, They begin to go try to find it in a marijuana joint. They begin to go try and find it in an alcohol drop. And my friend, I stand before you today to tell you, you can look far and wide. You can run yourself dry. You can be like that woman with the issue of blood. You can spend all that you have, but you will be just like her in the end. Nothing will be better, but everything will grow worse. You can get another girl. You can get another guy. You can take another hit. You can drop another drink. You can do whatever you want to try to fill that void. That's why we've got so many homosexuals in this world. That's why we've got so many people that are ruining their life as husbands and as fathers and as mothers. It's because they're relying upon something tangible to fill them on the inside. And you listen to this young man this morning. The best of wives will fail their husbands. The best of husbands will fail their wives. The best of preachers will fail their churches, but there's a God in heaven that will never fail you. He will never let you down. He sits on high and looks down low. And you may have felt neglected before. You may have been abused before. You may have felt abandoned before. But there's a God in heaven that can fill you on the inside. I'm tired of seeing young people run into the extremes to try to find what only Jesus can give them. I wish as a young man I would have found it sooner. I wish as a teenage boy I didn't have to live 16 years. out in the world looking for hope whenever it was found in a relationship with Jesus Christ. Some of you young people are in here religiously lost, and this church is a well in your life. Let me get to my second point, the consistency of the woman. Due to her needs, she would have to consistently resort back to this well. She would never be filled enough to where she wouldn't have to come back Look at the familiarity of the well. Jesus says himself in verse 13 that whosoever drinketh of this water shall thirst again. This well was a familiar place for this woman to resort to many a time. And let me say this, regardless of how much water that she did drink when she was at the well, or regardless of how much that she had put in her pot, she would be back. And this is very good for us when we look at the familiarity of our pursuit for peace. No matter how high you get, my friend, eventually you're gonna be sober. You can go buy a marijuana joint or a gram of dope today, and you're gonna need another one by the end of the nighttime. My friend, you can go buy you a fifth of liquor when you get out of church this morning and say, I'm not listening to what that preacher says, and God the Holy Ghost will remind you tonight before you go to bed that that liquor will not do for you what God can do for you. My friend, you can go out and you can watch a pornography video and you may feel fulfilled for just a few seconds, but you're eventually gonna have to be back to that. You can go out and treat somebody's daughter a way you shouldn't, and take advantage of some young lady, and you're going to feel guilty, and she will as well. You can go try to find another boy, and sneak behind your parents' back to do what you want to do, but there's nothing in this world that will fill you on the inside like the Lord Jesus Christ. You can go try to be a great athlete, and I've got nothing against the sports my kids will play in one day, but you can hit as many home runs as you want. Aaron Judge broke a record last year, and they're already talking about how he can break another one this year. Patrick Mahomes has won several Super Bowls in a row, and they're already looking at what better he can do. You can go try to be a great physician, you can go try to get a great degree, you can go try to get a great job, and there's nothing wrong with doing so. But you better understand this morning that nothing in your life will fill you like Jesus Christ can. Nothing in this world will do for you what a personal relationship with Him can. And so many people, you hear this preacher this morning, church is a well to them. They can get in church and they can leave the same way that they come. I would not dare go to a church. I would not dare sit through services and leave the same way that I come every time. If I don't get bothered to go to the altar, when I go to church, I go to the altar and say, Why ain't you speaking to me? God, why ain't you moving in me? Not every time that you come down here and pray, does that mean you got sin in your life? Does that mean that you're doing wrong? I beg to God you listen this morning. There's people in here that are religiously lost. You could be 30. You could be 40, you could be 80 years old, for all I know. You say, preacher, would you really believe that? You wait till I get to the end of this service, I'll share a story with you about how I was preaching. Matter of fact, I'm gonna tell it right now. I was preaching this several months ago at a church for a backpack giveaway to a group of young people, and a 75-year-old man, a war veteran, walked down an aisle from the very back of the church. His name was David. He bowed his head. He asked Jesus Christ to save him. He got up and said, Preacher, there was just something different today. There was just something different about how God was dealing with me. I pray that God's dealing with somebody differently this morning, and I pray that you'd find that eternal peace that only Jesus Christ can give. You understand? You say, Preacher, are you trying to talk me out of my salvation? No, my friend, I'm not. I'm trying to get you into heaven. You say, Preacher, are you trying to scare me to get me there? Whatever it takes, some say my fear pulling them out of the fire. Time's running out. Jesus is coming back, and you must repent and be saved. Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. Be born again by his power and by his grace. And this woman, she went to this place, Jack, that was familiar to her, and many people churches familiar to you. You know how to dress. You know you need a King James Bible. You know how to talk. You know when to raise your hand. You don't even need a hymn book when you sing. My friend, it ain't about what you know, it's about who you know. You could have graduated from Christian school. You could have a vacation Bible school certificate, but if you don't got that peace inside, then everything's right between you and God. You've been looking everywhere to try to find it. You've been going from church to church to church. You've been going from service to service to service. You've been listening. And the problem ain't with anybody else, it's with you this morning. Definitely did not plan on preaching this today. Happy homecoming. Did you say we're taking a love offering at the end? Let me take everything I just said back. I wouldn't go to a church. that a preacher wouldn't preach the truth. Everything I've said this morning, I've got Bible to back it up. I know my inabilities, I'm 23 years old, I'm not, I preached at a church last week and the guy got up after me and said, I marvel at the wisdom of that young man. I'm like, man, thank God my wife ain't here or she'd testify. I also said, brother, you wanna hang out with me for a little while? Listen, anything good about me is God. I'm not here to hurt you, but God forbid There's people in this church lost and undone without God. And I wouldn't preach what God put on my heart. I would stand accountable for that, not you. The familiarity of the well, the face that was different. The only thing that'll change you this morning is if Jesus Christ has showed up in your life. Now, he may have done it through my preaching, but it wasn't me. I'm a vessel that God is just choosing to use, not because of anything that I've done. Now, I gotta do my best to keep this vessel clean or it won't come out right. Now, I gotta do my best to pray and to study, and I'll just be transparent with you. This week's been a hard week to do that, my brother laying in the hospital. It's been a difficult week to really get alone and get a word from God, but you never forget this. I'd rather be a prepared messenger than have a prepared message. God is working in somebody's life this morning. Is it different? I'll never forget that. I mean, that man raised his hand, and preacher, you know this, there's a lot of people that leave our churches, they'll raise their hand, they'll look at us and say they're lost, but they won't get to this altar. You say, do I gotta go to an altar to get saved? No, you don't, but if you're not willing to, then you're not gonna be getting saved. You say, well, do you have Bible for that? Well, here's the deal. If you're ashamed of him before men, he'll be ashamed of you before the Father. Now, I believe that as soon as you step out of that pew, your heart's already changed. My wife, the devil fights her all the time. Well, you didn't pray out loud. Shut up, devil. You know what I mean? It ain't about my words. It's about my heart. Say amen. Now, I pray out loud, but some of you may not. Did you mean business with God in here? Has there been a change? Has there been a change? Now, if somebody gets saved at five years old, what are they going to change? Are they going to pick up their toys? You know what I mean? They should probably not be much of a transformation. If there is, man, good. They needed to get saved for real. But you're 10 years old, 15, 20, 25. There ain't been no change in you? You can go fool somebody else, but you ain't going to fool me this morning. The face, it was different. Jesus Christ makes a difference. I love coming to this church because I know there's going to be good singing before I preach. Man, I'm telling you, you go preaching something that don't got it, and you're like, Lord, help. I should have brought my wife with me. Man. Because God knows I can't sing. The face, it was different. This woman, she had been to this well many of times in her life, but something was different about this one time in particular. Can somebody help me and be prepared to sing a song? Anytime that you enter into the presence of God, things will be different. I think about Saul, a man that literally murdered Christians, but when God's light shined in his life, he was different. I think about a man in the Word of God that laid beside of a pool for 38 years. The Bible says that this man laid there. Jesus said, would you get in this water and be made whole? He said, sir, I have no man. And the problem with this man was he was waiting on a man the whole time and not God. A lot of people in the church are waiting on a man instead of waiting on God. How long have you been waiting this morning? The presence of God will change you. We think about a man blind from birth and Jesus passed by his way and spat in the clay and put the clay on his eyes. He went washed and came seeing. We think about a woman with an issue for 12 years, 12 years, doing everything that she could in her own ability. It doesn't say she was a bad woman. It doesn't say she done bad things. It just says that she had an issue and for 12 years she tried to fix that issue only to find out that Jesus was the only person that could change her. Y'all just play when you get ready. Think about a man that laid for three days in a grave. We know him by Lazarus. Jesus was his friend. Jesus loved Lazarus. Lazarus there for three days. They put the oil on him. They'd done everything that they knew how to do in their own ability, but only the presence of God could change that man. You say, preacher, that's Jesus in his physical presence. What does that have to do with us? Well, where two or three are gathered in his name, there he is in the midst. Acts chapter number three, Peter and John making their way to a temple. There's a lame man. Peter and John look at him and said, silver and gold have I none, but such as I have given out of thee in the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth. Rise up and walk. You say, did they anoint him and make him do that? No, he come to God the same way we did. He believed that if he made an effort to get up and walk, he had faith in his heart that if he obeyed the word of God, that he would be able to walk. And that's the same faith that you need this morning. What are you going to say about me? I didn't get saved the first time I went to church. Church was a familiar place to me there for a couple of months. I've done a lot of things in this world to try to fill me internally. Listen, young people, if you just be wise enough for just a moment, Lord, give everybody in here wisdom for just 10 minutes. Do you guys understand that the devil is even us that are Christians? We sometimes man, I'm telling you what hang around me for 10 minutes. I'll have 10 different business ideas You know why cuz Joe Biden's a president. I need 10 businesses to pay my mortgage. Amen If you don't like that if it rubs you the wrong way just turn around be okay listen There ain't no business that's gonna fill me I've been on some nice vacations. I'm telling you what, I've sat down. My wife and I went to the Dominican Republic this year. I kind of had to take her there because she graduated from Liberty. We got to go for fairly cheap, thank God. And so we went down there. I'm sitting on the beach, miserable. What does that even make sense? I'm not in sin, but a desire in my heart to be around the people of God and in the presence of God. I'm not legalistic. I'm not saying we can't enjoy things. Me and my family just got back on vacation. My father-in-law took us as a family down to Florida, and as we're sitting there on the beach, we're watching our church on Facebook Live. Because nothing can fill you in this life like the Lord Jesus Christ. I thought after I got saved, man, when I get married, you know, all these different things, and all that's awesome. But you listen to me. There's nothing, by the grace of God, when we get back in here at 2 o'clock, I want to preach to the church. Out of Hebrews 10, 25, not forsaken the assembling of ourselves together. I shouldn't have told you because some of you ain't gonna come. But if you don't come, you're disobeying that verse. Thank God we got each other. That word together. There's nothing, nothing in this world that will fulfill you like the Lord Jesus Christ. Young lady, listen to me. That boy that's telling you all the right things, he is lying to you and he just wants one thing out of you. And when he gets it, he's going to want nothing to do with you. Last week, it broke my heart. My wife and I have been trying to have kids for several months and we've got medical issues. And even this week was at specialists and all these different things going on. And I'm not here to talk about that pity, anything like that. But after the service, there was a lady that came up to me. She said, preacher, She wasn't married. She never had been. She said, I work at the OBGYN and she gave me some advice for my wife and I and all this stuff. She said, pray for me. She said, just a few months ago, she said, I was dating a guy for a year and a half. She said, I got pregnant. I told him that I was pregnant. He left me. You listen to this preacher. You listen so much to that dumb phone, TikTok, all those people that got influence on your life and the men of God don't got no influence in you because you won't give them the ear. Listen heed the warnings after a while you keep running through stop signs. You're eventually gonna get into a wreck You've got good parents that try to put up boundaries in your life Don't go wondering why they put them up just trust that they're up for a reason Let me get on a soapbox because I can Snapchat craziest thing you'd ever want to have Who in the world would want something where they can send pictures and it goes away? That sounds like trouble to me Now, I don't got Bible to prove that. I probably could abstain from even the appearance of evil. Hello? Some of you have been giving your parents a hard time about standards they're putting up in your life. They're trying to save you. We are losing Christian kids when they get to a certain age because parents have tried to be their friends instead of be their parents. I don't need a best friend of my mama. I needed a mom and dad when I was 14. I didn't need an aunt that would go out and get me alcohol as a 14 year old or give me a bag of dope as a 14 year old. I needed somebody to raise me and somebody to teach me the way to go. Some of you got good parents, you need to thank God for them. Because it could be a lot different. Well, I about preached everything you can today. I'll close with this, the change of the woman. Jesus dealt with her. He said, go get your husband. She said, I don't got no husband. He said, you're right, you got five of them. Listen to me, you can lie all day long, but the only person you're fooling is yourself. You'll never fool God. He knows everything about you. He knows how many hairs are on your head. He knows what you ate this morning when you woke up. He knows the thoughts that were on your mind when you went to bed. And He knows the premeditated sin that you already got in your heart. Some of you are already planning on sinning before you ever get out of church. God help us. We need the pulpits to get hot again and people to repent. We need to be a people that's clean before God so that God can pour His Spirit and His blessings out upon us. You must be born again. It's not about what you know. It's about who you know. You can be 70 years old and die and go to hell off of a church pew if you've never been saved. God help us. Jesus dealt with her. She had a desire. She said, sir, give me this water. You know why people get saved? Because they don't want to go to hell. That's a good reason to get saved, I think so. She just wanted what Jesus had. She didn't want to have to keep going back to this well. She wanted what Jesus had to offer her. The decision. You know what I love about this passage of scripture? You can see repentance and action. Jack, she went to the well that day with a water pot, but she didn't leave with one. Because she got what she needed. Some of you come to church today with a lot of stuff in your water pot. Would you leave it at an altar and leave with Jesus? My life's not been perfect since I've gotten saved. In fact, there's several of testimonies. We could be here all day talking about different trials and different things that I went through. But I promise you this, I've never went to bed not one night, even in the darkest of moments of my life, hopeless. Never, not one night. Now, I've cried myself to sleep many a night, and I've worried myself about to death in fear and anxiety and all this stuff. But there ain't never been a night that I've laid my head on my pillow without a little bit of optimism. that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared to the glory which shall be revealed in us. Last of all, the declaration of the woman. Keep your Bibles, verse 29. John 4, 29. Come see a man which told me all things ever I did is not this, the Christ. Let me have your attention for just a moment. Would you look at me? This woman's life changed when she recognized that Jesus was God enough to know everything that she had ever done, but gracious enough to love her, to forgive her, and to change her life anyways. Read verse 29 again, look at it. Come see a man. which told me all things, ever I did. It's not this, the Christ. You know what's so special about Jesus? He knows what He's getting when He gets us. But until all of eternity, we'll never completely understand what all we got when we got Him. What a Savior. You know, I've been through many things with my brother in this life. We've been abused together. We've been neglected together. We felt abandoned together. We've been to courtrooms together. We've been in custody battles together. We've done drugs together. We've done, listen, done a lot of things in this life together. Thank God we got saved and now we're together as a family of God. And whenever I was in that hospital room the other night at three o'clock in the morning and they told us the news that he was getting admitted into the ICU and that none of us could stay the night with him, man, I got discouraged real quickly. That's my little brother. He's 19 years old, I'm 23. He don't really completely as a 19-year-old even know how to speak for himself in some of these matters. And I've had my whole life to kind of be a father figure to him. He lives with my wife now. We do our best to take care of them, and we can't stay with them, and the Holy Ghost of God come to where I was. He said, you might not be able to stay here tonight, but there ain't no rule that can prevent me from being here. There ain't no regulation, there ain't no doctor, nurse, or security guard that can keep me away. My brother got a good night's rest that night, because he wasn't in that bedroom alone. You say, preacher, what's that got to do with this? Thank God for the day that I come to that well in my life, and I left change, because my life beyond that has been history about His grace and what it can do. Some of you been to that well, and you forgot just how sweet it tastes. Homecoming will be a good morning for you to come home, recognize that He's a good God. Listen to me, young people. 21 years actually 25 years or younger stand up right now 25 or younger stand up if you're 25 or younger I Found the cheat code to life You're here this morning listen, that's why you're here this morning some of you because if you didn't come you get what? Others because you're looking for something you're looking for something the cheat code to this life is to always put God first and I preached a message the other day to a group of young people on a football team. The word success is mentioned one time in the word of God. Joshua chapter 1 verse 8. This book of the law shall not depart out of thy mouth. You know that verse. There's one way to being successful. It's to get in God's word and let God speak to you. First step to being successful in life, you've got to be saved. You got to be saved. You don't need religion, you can be seated. You don't need religion, you need a relationship. Second step and third step go together. Once you get saved, be serious about God and always seek Him first. Listen, everything in my life come together when I got saved. And everything in my life really come together when I got serious about Him. I could talk to you all day about how I met my wife and the career that God's given me, the ministry, the doors that He's opened, all that stuff. You know why God's done all that? Because I'm not always been good at this and I can tell in my life personally when I'm not. There are times when Nate White tries to figure situations out and that don't never go good. But when I put God first, I do everything that I can to live for Him, that's when I found my wife. That's when God put me in a church. That's when God put me in a Bible college. That's when God give me the home that I wanted. That's when God's given me a nice vehicle, given me a business to have. That way I can do things like preach, you know. It's hard to punch a clock when you're preaching out. And if I stop putting God first today, I believe this with all my heart, everything that He's given me will be diminished. Chico, boys look at me, girls look at me. Quit worrying about your future career, your spouse, all these things that's got you anxious and worried. Put God first and the pieces of the puzzle will come together. I'm not 80 years old telling you this and there's nothing wrong with 80 year olds that do, they need to hear it. I'm 23 and I can testify while I'm in it, it works. It works. Some of you need to be saved. Adults, some that are here that for a long time God's been dealing with your heart. You've been pushing it off. I wonder if like David, today's different. Today's different. Is today different for anybody? Let's stand all across the church. Heads bowed, eyes closed. Nobody move, nobody look around. I want to ask one question. One question, is there anybody under my voice, nobody looking around, heads bowed, eyes closed, you be honest with me as a preacher and with God as he's watching, and you say, preacher, I don't think that I've ever been saved. Preacher, I don't think that I've ever been born again. If that's you right now with nobody looking around, would you raise your hand? Preacher, raise it real high, real high. Thank you, bud. Real high, raise it up. If you say preacher, I don't think I've ever been saved. Thank you, God bless you. Heads bowed, eyes closed. Anybody else, you say preacher. Just keep your hand up if that's you. Say preacher, I don't know that I've ever been saved. Just raise your hand real high to where I can see it. Thank you. This is what I want to do. You can put it down. Nobody look at me. But right now, if you're saying preacher, I don't know that I've ever been saved. Maybe you didn't even just raise your hand, but God's dealing with your heart right now. If you say, I don't know that I've ever been saved, would you look at me? Make eye contact with me. Would you just look at me? Thank you. I'm scanning the auditorium. Anybody else? Do you say preacher? I don't know. I can't say that I've ever been saved at that. You just make eye contact with me right now. Thank you, young lady. Now, This is what I want to do. There's nobody looking around. Right now. Would you come down here? Young lady, would you look at me again? Nobody's looking right now. It's just me and you. I'm going to give you an opportunity. Right now, if I could take my Bible and show you how you could be saved and know Jesus Christ, would you let me? Would you let me? Young lady, look back up here at me. Would you let me? You do understand. Look at me. There's nothing in this world. Ain't nobody gonna be mad at you. Nobody's gonna look down at you. This will be the best decision that you ever make in your life. There's nothing to be ashamed of this morning. There's no way that I would leave this service the same way that I come. If God has dealt with your heart about being saved, why not today? Right now, brother, would you come down here and let us take a Bible and show you? Come on, right now. Thank you, man. Pastor Brian, if you'll meet this man over here. Young lady, right now, would you step out and let us take a Bible and show you? Now, how many else say preacher? I know that I've been saved. Preacher, I'm 100% sure that I'm saved. Raise your hand right now. Yeah. Now, how many of you? Put it down. Well, be honest and say, Preacher, if I'm being honest, sometimes I don't go to Jesus for the satisfaction in my life. Preacher, pray for me. This morning, I need to get closer to Him. If that's you, raise your hand now. Yep. Hands everywhere. They're gonna sing. Those of you that raised your hand, come find your place on an altar. Come on, right now. As they sing, it ought not to just be young people, if God's dealt with your heart, any of you. We'll go eat in just a minute. But you need to come down here and pray. There's somebody in here that has lost, acknowledged that they're lost, and said they ain't coming. Let's pray that God would continue to deal with their heart. Right now! If somebody's lost, they think we're mad at them. But the reality is this. We love them enough to plead for their soul. There's nobody like Jesus. What a blessing. Altars filled. Pray that God would send sinners to this church. When my scars touch yours I know that I'm not alone When my scars touch yours I find that my heart is whole Where there's hope and there's healing Mercy and meaning That I've never felt before When my scars touch yours You are present, never absent. You can be saved. In the middle of it all. You are faithful. I've never met a person that's regretted giving their life to the Lord Jesus Christ. And your love will Some of you, you've been on the brink of completely destroying your life trying to find that peace. Jesus is the answer. You're as close to God this morning as you want to be. How many of you remember the day when Jesus passed by your way? May we never forget that moment. The darkest of our nights. He's a friend that sticks closer than a brother. God's dealing with somebody right now. I pray the Holy Ghost won't leave them alone. You'll never regret one moment of making a decision for Jesus. Think about it right now. Have you ever heard somebody tell you they regretted doing something for God? When my scars touch yours I know that I'm not alone When my scars touch yours I find that my heart is whole Where there's hope and there's healing Mercy and meaning That I've never felt before When my scars touch yours In the breaking, in the aching, in the suffering, you are here. In my wanting, in my wandering, in the longing, you are here. You say come as you are. We thank God today for His blessings. We thank Him for how good He's been. Thankful for the move of God in our services today. It's impressed on our hearts, those that need to be saved. Other things, other battles we have in our lives that we all face here this morning, We're bringing it to God today. As Brother Nate was saying, there's so many things out here in this world. Sometimes we can run to find the fulfillment and satisfaction in life that we feel like we really need and we always come up empty. You can draw water out of this well. your whole life, the whales of this world, your whole life. It'll never bring you to the place where you want to be. You'll come back time and time and time again. But the Lord Jesus is a different type of whale. Bible says in him springs life. If you're here today and you've never accepted Christ as your personal savior, please make sure you don't leave this service today without knowing Jesus as your savior. Bible says what is your life? It is but a vapor that appears for a little time and then vanishes away. Understanding today that we need to know without a shadow of a doubt The death is no respecter of persons. It don't matter how young you are. It don't matter how old you are. Everybody needs to be saved. The Bible says he's not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance. Amen. You may be seated here for just a moment.