Celebrating Transformation: Embracing Authenticity in Christ
Mar 16, 2025
Devotional
Sermon Summary
Bible Study Guide
Sermon Clips
"So celebration is like a core value for us. We love celebrating the goodness of God and His love for us and His power in us and His calling on us. So we celebrate what God is doing in us. We celebrate what God is doing through us. We celebrate people who join our church body as members. We celebrate people like Lauren and all of our group leaders that are leading us. We celebrate when people come to know Jesus. Last week, we celebrated 12 people being baptized. Today, we have three more being baptized." [00:28:07] (28 seconds)
"And Jesus overcame death that day so that we could have life, new life, better life, so that we could have rich, satisfying, abundant, eternal life, and all that's possible because of Easter. So it really is the most important event in history. And so this year, we're gonna really celebrate that. It's about a month from now, and we're super excited. We're gonna be, again, at Ranger Stadium over at Smithson Valley High School, so there'll be thousands of crazy people there. We're gonna celebrate the resurrection of Jesus and the life that he gives us, and we're gonna celebrate that with songs and with worship and with prayer and with God's word and with 15,000 Easter eggs." [00:29:22] (43 seconds)
"We want to prepare our hearts for Resurrection Sunday. So we're gonna have something for every day that week leading up to Easter. So on Palm Sunday, obviously we'll have our church service here. Then Monday and Tuesday and Wednesday, we're gonna have available to you like a five minute devotional and kind of a prayer theme or something for you, for your family at home. And that's gonna be based on something specific to that day in Holy Week. And then on Thursday, here together, we're gonna go through a traditional Passover meal, a Seder meal, but with a big twist." [00:30:37] (34 seconds)
"Chapter four in verse three, Jesus is leaving Judea. He's returning to Galilee. He has to go through Samaria on the way. And he eventually came to this village of Sychar near the field that Jacob gave his son, Joseph. Jacob's well was there and Jesus tired from a long walk set weirly beside the well about noon. And soon a Samaritan woman came to draw water. And Jesus said to her, please give me a drink. He was alone at the time because the disciples had just gone into town to buy some food. So the woman was surprised because Jews refused to have anything to do with Samaritans." [00:38:12] (31 seconds)
"We read John 3, 16 today, maybe the most famous verse in the New Testament. It says that Jesus came so that everyone who believes in him could have eternal life. Jesus reached out and welcomed every people group, rich people, poor people, men, women, healthy, sick, Jews, Gentiles, slaves, free. Jesus came to initiate and to announce God's coming kingdom and to call and to prepare and to empower its citizens. And in the book of Revelation, God gives John a vision of this, a vision of the future." [00:43:31] (37 seconds)
"And they're all standing in front of the throne and before the Lamb. So this is a pretty diverse group. Every nationality, every people group, every language, every denomination, every family. So yeah, in this group, in God's kingdom in the future, we've got black and white and women and men and rich and poor and Republicans and Democrats and socialists and Baptists and Methodists and Anglicans and Americans and Kenyans and Mongolians. It's all kinds of people from all kinds of groups, but they have something in common. It tells us they're all clothed in white robes and they're all holding these palm branches in their hands." [00:44:19] (41 seconds)
"Jesus really just wants people who will be real, like this woman. I mean, you talk about opposites, right? Here's this super respected, incredibly, you know, high, high, everybody loved Nicodemus. He's like a really big, he's a Pharisee. He's a religious leader. He's probably a Sadducee. He's super well educated. He is just like, everybody just reveres him. And then here's this woman that Jesus talks to, and she's just, she's rough, man. Bad bloodline. Her reputation is so bad that she doesn't even go to fetch water with the other women early in the morning when it's cool." [00:57:13] (41 seconds)
"She sees Jesus, and she knows he's something. First, she just calls him a prophet, and then it's like, well, maybe he's a Messiah, but she doesn't make this huge, like, show about it, like Nicodemus did. She just, she's just real, you know. She just says, well, maybe you're a prophet. I got a question for you, and she just, this question's been bothering her, so she just asks him the question, and I think what we can see is Jesus responds much better to people who are real than people who are religious, and I think sometimes we act like the opposite is true, you know." [00:58:26] (35 seconds)
"Jesus changes our story. And then he uses it to change others. So, yeah, good stop on the Jesus journey today. Two completely different encounters with Jesus. Two completely different conversations with two completely different people. And together, I think they can help us know Jesus more and follow him more closely because they show us Jesus breaks down barriers. And as followers, so should we. And Jesus calls us just to be real, not to be religious. And if Jesus has changed your story, he can use your story to change others." [01:07:33] (43 seconds)
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"And Jesus overcame death that day so that we could have life, new life, better life, so that we could have rich, satisfying, abundant, eternal life, and all that's possible because of Easter. So it really is the most important event in history. And so this year, we're gonna really celebrate that. It's about a month from now, and we're super excited. We're gonna be, again, at Ranger Stadium over at Smithson Valley High School, so there'll be thousands of crazy people there. We're gonna celebrate the resurrection of Jesus and the life that he gives us, and we're gonna celebrate that with songs and with worship and with prayer and with God's word and with 15,000 Easter eggs." [00:29:22] (43 seconds)
"We want to prepare our hearts for Resurrection Sunday. So we're gonna have something for every day that week leading up to Easter. So on Palm Sunday, obviously we'll have our church service here. Then Monday and Tuesday and Wednesday, we're gonna have available to you like a five minute devotional and kind of a prayer theme or something for you, for your family at home. And that's gonna be based on something specific to that day in Holy Week. And then on Thursday, here together, we're gonna go through a traditional Passover meal, a Seder meal, but with a big twist." [00:30:37] (34 seconds)
"Chapter four in verse three, Jesus is leaving Judea. He's returning to Galilee. He has to go through Samaria on the way. And he eventually came to this village of Sychar near the field that Jacob gave his son, Joseph. Jacob's well was there and Jesus tired from a long walk set weirly beside the well about noon. And soon a Samaritan woman came to draw water. And Jesus said to her, please give me a drink. He was alone at the time because the disciples had just gone into town to buy some food. So the woman was surprised because Jews refused to have anything to do with Samaritans." [00:38:12] (31 seconds)
"We read John 3, 16 today, maybe the most famous verse in the New Testament. It says that Jesus came so that everyone who believes in him could have eternal life. Jesus reached out and welcomed every people group, rich people, poor people, men, women, healthy, sick, Jews, Gentiles, slaves, free. Jesus came to initiate and to announce God's coming kingdom and to call and to prepare and to empower its citizens. And in the book of Revelation, God gives John a vision of this, a vision of the future." [00:43:31] (37 seconds)
"And they're all standing in front of the throne and before the Lamb. So this is a pretty diverse group. Every nationality, every people group, every language, every denomination, every family. So yeah, in this group, in God's kingdom in the future, we've got black and white and women and men and rich and poor and Republicans and Democrats and socialists and Baptists and Methodists and Anglicans and Americans and Kenyans and Mongolians. It's all kinds of people from all kinds of groups, but they have something in common. It tells us they're all clothed in white robes and they're all holding these palm branches in their hands." [00:44:19] (41 seconds)
"Jesus really just wants people who will be real, like this woman. I mean, you talk about opposites, right? Here's this super respected, incredibly, you know, high, high, everybody loved Nicodemus. He's like a really big, he's a Pharisee. He's a religious leader. He's probably a Sadducee. He's super well educated. He is just like, everybody just reveres him. And then here's this woman that Jesus talks to, and she's just, she's rough, man. Bad bloodline. Her reputation is so bad that she doesn't even go to fetch water with the other women early in the morning when it's cool." [00:57:13] (41 seconds)
"She sees Jesus, and she knows he's something. First, she just calls him a prophet, and then it's like, well, maybe he's a Messiah, but she doesn't make this huge, like, show about it, like Nicodemus did. She just, she's just real, you know. She just says, well, maybe you're a prophet. I got a question for you, and she just, this question's been bothering her, so she just asks him the question, and I think what we can see is Jesus responds much better to people who are real than people who are religious, and I think sometimes we act like the opposite is true, you know." [00:58:26] (35 seconds)
"Jesus changes our story. And then he uses it to change others. So, yeah, good stop on the Jesus journey today. Two completely different encounters with Jesus. Two completely different conversations with two completely different people. And together, I think they can help us know Jesus more and follow him more closely because they show us Jesus breaks down barriers. And as followers, so should we. And Jesus calls us just to be real, not to be religious. And if Jesus has changed your story, he can use your story to change others." [01:07:33] (43 seconds)
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