COME AS YOU ARE

Aug 23, 2026

Devotional

Day 1: Seats Taken: When Rejection Hides the Invitation

A child’s letter to a TV scientist goes unanswered. A job application vanishes into silence. A hat-wearing church visitor gets side-eyed. Rejection carves grooves into our souls, whispering lies that we’re not enough. Yet Jesus walks past every “seats taken” sign to sit with the excluded. His first words to the Samaritan woman weren’t demands but an invitation to give – even when she thought she had nothing left to offer. [21:23]

“He left Judea and departed again for Galilee. And he had to pass through Samaria. So he came to a town of Samaria called Sychar, near the field that Jacob had given to his son Joseph. Jacob’s well was there; so Jesus, wearied as he was from his journey, was sitting beside the well. It was about the sixth hour. A woman from Samaria came to draw water. Jesus said to her, ‘Give me a drink.’ (For his disciples had gone away into the city to buy food.) The Samaritan woman said to him, ‘How is it that you, a Jew, ask for a drink from me, a woman of Samaria?’ (For Jews have no dealings with Samaritans.)”
(John 4:3-9, ESV)

Reflection: When has a “seats taken” moment made you question your worth? How might Jesus’ choice to sit with the excluded reshape your view of where you belong?

Day 2: Noon at the Well: Hiding in Plain Sight

The sun bleaches shame white-hot. A woman times her water run to avoid whispers, her water jar both burden and shield. Jesus meets her at high noon – not to expose, but to see. He names five husbands not as indictment, but as keys to unlock the armor she welded from sarcasm and isolation. True worship begins when we stop hiding our thirst. [31:19]

“Jesus said to her, ‘Go, call your husband, and come here.’ The woman answered him, ‘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 now have is not your husband. What you have said is true.’”
(John 4:16-18, ESV)

Reflection: What part of your story do you keep at “high noon” isolation? How might bringing it into Christ’s light transform shame into connection?

Day 3: “I Am He” in the Dust

A racial slur becomes a divine introduction. When Jesus says “I Am” to the Samaritan woman, he grafts God’s burning bush name onto her broken history. The first “I Am” revelation in John’s Gospel isn’t to scholars or disciples, but to a woman whose life smelled like failure. Divinity speaks through cracked clay jars. [56:29]

“The woman said to him, ‘I know that Messiah is coming (he who is called Christ). When he comes, he will tell us all things.’ Jesus said to her, ‘I who speak to you am he.’”
(John 4:25-26, ESV)

Reflection: Where have you believed God only speaks to “qualified” people? How does Jesus’ choice to reveal himself to an outcast redefine who gets to hear God’s voice?

Day 4: The Water Jar Left Behind

A Netflix cake show reveals truth through slicing. The Samaritan woman’s abandoned water jar marks the exact moment pretense dies – not because she fixed her life, but because being fully known became more satisfying than hiding. Her evangelism begins with “he told me everything” because real healing overflows. [57:22]

“So the woman left her water jar and went away into town and said to the people, ‘Come, see a man who told me all that I ever did. Can this be the Christ?’ They went out of the town and were coming to him.”
(John 4:28-30, ESV)

Reflection: What “water jar” do you cling to for protection? What might happen if you let Christ’s knowledge of you replace the need to perform?

Day 5: Texting a Dead Man’s Phone

Four years of texts to a lost father accidentally heal a stranger. Chastity’s grief became someone else’s lifeline when she stopped editing her pain. Like the Samaritan woman running to town with messy hair and no notes, our healed wounds become maps for others. God uses uncurated stories to build His kingdom. [01:01:06]

“Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our affliction, so that we may be able to comfort those who are in any affliction, with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God.”
(2 Corinthians 1:3-4, ESV)

Reflection: What part of your healing journey feels “too messy” to share? Who might need the exact comfort your unpolished story provides?

Sermon Summary

John 4 begins with a line that sounds like directions, but it is really mission. Jesus “had to go” through Samaria, not because the map forced him there, and not because his schedule was tight, but because God had a purpose waiting at a well. The road through Samaria was the road religious people usually avoided, since Jews treated Samaritans as defiled, unwanted, and outside the circle. Jesus walks straight into the place others walked around.

The Samaritan woman comes to the well at noon, the worst time of day to carry water. Her timing says something before her mouth ever does. The well at noon looks like a hiding place, away from crowds, whispers, looks, and judgment. Jesus meets her there and asks, “Give me a drink.” That simple request cuts across gender rules, racial hatred, and religious expectations. Jesus does not recoil from what she touched. Jesus sits with her, speaks to her, and stays with her. Jesus rejects every cultural and religious expectation to reach the rejected.

The “seats taken” image names the way people get pushed away by teams, jobs, relationships, and sadly, churches. Religion can become another velvet rope when it says people are welcome only after they get fixed. Jesus does the opposite. Jesus leads with grace first, relationship first. Jesus does not treat the woman like a project. Jesus shows her she still has something to give.

Living water exposes the thirst beneath her sarcasm. The woman pushes back with attitude, because this stranger does not even have a rope or bucket. Jesus does not get distracted by the sass. Jesus cuts to the core of her life, naming the five husbands and the man she lives with now, not to shame her, but to show that he knows the real story and still stays. God cannot heal what gets pretended away.

The woman’s question about worship becomes a shield, but Jesus does not take the bait. True worship is not about this mountain or that temple. True worship is spirit and truth, passion and the real self. Jesus wants the messy person, not the polished version.

Jesus then reveals himself as “I am,” the God who spoke from the burning bush. The first person in John to hear that kind of revelation is a rejected Samaritan woman. Her water jar gets left behind because she no longer has to hide behind it. Her testimony is messy, simple, and powerful: “Come see a man who told me everything I ever did.” God knows the mess, stays in it, heals it, and uses it so others can come running toward Jesus too.

Key Takeaways

1. Jesus walks toward rejected places Jesus “had to go” through Samaria because divine purpose pulled him toward the place religious people avoided. The road others treated as contaminated became the road where grace showed up in person. Christ’s mission does not tiptoe around human rejection, it walks straight into it and sits down beside the well. [30:59]
2. Grace starts before people change Jesus asked the woman for a drink before asking anything from her life. That request gave dignity before correction and relationship before repair. The grace of Christ does not pretend sin and pain are unreal, but it refuses to make cleaned-up behavior the price of being seen. [39:41]
3. God heals the real mess Jesus named the woman’s story because hidden shame cannot be healed while it stays buried behind sarcasm and survival. His knowledge did not drive him away, which means his holiness was not fragile around her brokenness. The real person, not the pretend version, is the one God meets, loves, and restores. [50:06]
4. Deflection cannot distract Jesus The woman raised a spicy worship debate when the conversation got too close to her wound. Jesus could handle the question, but he also saw the shield behind it. Christ is patient with honest questions, yet he loves people too much to let arguments protect the places that need healing. [52:47]
5. Messy testimony still brings people The woman left her water jar and ran toward the town she had been avoiding. Her invitation was not polished, but it was honest: Jesus knew everything and stayed. A healed mess becomes a doorway for others when it points to the God who knows, loves, and remains.

## [58:26]

Youtube Chapters

[00:00] - Welcome
[21:23] - Not On The List
[23:14] - Nineties Rejection Letters
[26:17] - A Church For The Rejected
[27:43] - The Eight Point Church Values
[29:09] - John 4 And Samaria
[32:20] - Jesus Breaks The Rules
[35:22] - Seats Taken And Saved Seats
[41:10] - Living Water At The Well
[44:23] - Jesus Knows Her Story
[48:19] - Cutting To The Core
[51:55] - Worship In Spirit And Truth
[55:29] - Jesus Reveals “I Am”
[58:41] - A Messy Story That Heals
[62:12] - Making Room For More People

Bible Study Guide

Bible Reading

John 4:1-42
“Now when Jesus learned that the Pharisees had heard that Jesus was making and baptizing more disciples than John (although Jesus himself did not baptize, but only his disciples), he left Judea and departed again for Galilee. And he had to pass through Samaria. So he came to a town of Samaria called Sychar, near the field that Jacob had given to his son Joseph. Jacob's well was there; so Jesus, wearied as he was from his journey, was sitting beside the well. It was about the sixth hour. A woman from Samaria came to draw water. Jesus said to her, ‘Give me a drink.’ (For his disciples had gone away into the city to buy food.) The Samaritan woman said to him, ‘How is it that you, a Jew, ask for a drink from me, a woman of Samaria?’ (For Jews have no dealings with Samaritans.) 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.’ The woman said to him, ‘Sir, you have nothing to draw water with, and the well is deep. Where do you get that living water? Are you greater than our father Jacob? He gave us the well and drank from it himself, as did his sons and his livestock.’ Jesus said to her, ‘Everyone who drinks of this water will be thirsty again, but whoever drinks of the water that I will give him will never be thirsty again. The water that I will give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life.’ The woman said to him, ‘Sir, give me this water, so that I will not be thirsty or have to come here to draw water.’ Jesus said to her, ‘Go, call your husband, and come here.’ The woman answered him, ‘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 now have is not your husband. What you have said is true.’ The woman said to him, ‘Sir, I perceive that you are a prophet. Our fathers worshiped on this mountain, but you say that in Jerusalem is the place where people ought to worship.’ Jesus said to her, ‘Woman, believe me, the hour is coming when neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem will you worship the Father. You worship what you do not know; we worship what we know, for salvation is from the Jews. But the hour is coming, and is now here, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for the Father is seeking such people to worship him. God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth.’ The woman said to him, ‘I know that Messiah is coming (he who is called Christ). When he comes, he will tell us all things.’ Jesus said to her, ‘I who speak to you am he.’ Just then his disciples came back. They marveled that he was talking with a woman, but no one said, ‘What do you seek?’ or, ‘Why are you talking with her?’ So the woman left her water jar and went away into town and said to the people, ‘Come, see a man who told me all that I ever did. Can this be the Christ?’ They went out of the town and were coming to him.” [29:11]

Exodus 3:14
“God said to Moses, ‘I AM WHO I AM.’ And he said, ‘Say this to the people of Israel: “I AM has sent me to you.”’” [55:50]

Observation questions

In John 4, what details in the story show how unusual it was for Jesus to speak with this Samaritan woman at the well? [32:20]
What does the passage say about the time of day the woman came to the well, and what other details in the story stand out about that setting?
As the conversation unfolds, what changes can be seen in the woman’s responses to Jesus—from surprise, to pushback, to testimony? [58:26]
What does the woman leave behind, and what does she say to the people in town after meeting Jesus? [57:16]

Interpretation questions

John says Jesus “had to” go through Samaria. If many others would have avoided that road, what does that suggest about the kind of mission Jesus was living out? [30:59]
Jesus asks the woman for a drink before addressing the broken places in her life. What does that order reveal about how grace and truth work together in the way Jesus deals with people? [39:41]
When Jesus names the woman’s real story, he does not leave. What does that help show about God’s holiness, God’s knowledge, and God’s heart toward human shame? [50:06]
The woman brings up the worship-location debate right after the conversation gets personal. Why might people raise religious or intellectual questions when deeper wounds are being exposed? [52:47]

Application questions

Jesus moved toward the very place others avoided. Who is the kind of person this group, this church, or this household might be tempted to avoid, overlook, or quietly keep at a distance? [40:03]
Grace starts before people change. Where is there a temptation to expect someone to get cleaned up first before offering welcome, friendship, or spiritual conversation? [41:10]
The woman seems to come to the well at a time when she can avoid the crowd. Where has hiding become a pattern—through sarcasm, keeping busy, changing the subject, or only letting people see the polished version? [48:01]
God cannot heal what is only being pretended away. What is one area of mess, shame, loss, or rejection that would be hard to speak honestly about, but might need to be brought into the light? [50:04]
Jesus can handle hard questions, but questions can also become shields. When spiritual conversations get close to a painful area, what kind of deflections usually come out? [52:02]
True worship is in spirit and truth. What would it look like this week to bring the real self to God instead of a cleaned-up church version? [53:58]
The woman’s testimony was simple and messy: Jesus knew everything and stayed. What part of that story has become real enough in life to share with someone else in an honest, non-polished way? [58:31]

Sermon Clips

42s

#YouArePursued

“Because maybe you came today and you've been turned away your whole life, denied access, and you thought when you came to church, would just be another place that you were told you weren't on the list. But that's not my Jesus. Jesus isn't the guy with the clipboard. Jesus is the guy that's been searching for you, pursuing you, who knows everything about you and still he has stayed. He stayed all the way to the cross. He died for you. So your name could be on the list.”

52s

#LeadWithGrace

“Does that sound like the kind of place that celebrates and worships the man who rejected every single cultural and religious expectation to speak to the woman that had been rejected her whole life? It doesn't. Jesus always led with grace first. He always started with relationship first. And you can see that's exactly what he does with this woman. He doesn't say, excuse me. Before you give me a drink, can you please accept Jewish theology? And can can you act and behave the way I want you to act? That's not where he begins. Instead, he starts, without even treating her like a project or something to fix, he reminds her and shows her she still has something to give by saying, please give me a drink.”

38s

#HealTheRealYou

“That this woman, she came to the well to hide, to get away from people. She hides herself beside behind sarcasm with Jesus. And so what Jesus does is he gets real with her, that he shows her he knows who she is by cutting to the core because he knows inside of her there is shame and there is pain. So he cuts to the core not to not to reject her, not to shame her, but to reveal what's inside so she can begin to heal. God cannot heal what you pretend to be.”

85s

#BreakSocialBarriers

“They made that basically the same bad level right there. Like, that's it was it was hard. There was hatred. There was violence between these people, and so they wouldn't have interacted. It would have been shocking for a Jewish man to speak to the Samaritan woman. But it's more than just a gender thing. It's more than just a racial thing. Because it's both gender and racial, it also became a religious thing. There are Jewish rabbis that would teach in this era that that Samaritan women were defiled, were unclean spiritually from the moment they were born. This would mean that anything that a Samaritan woman would touch would have to be ritually cleansed before any devout Jewish worshiper could be near it or touch it. And so when Jesus asked her for water, the cup that she would have given him, the jar that he would have drank from, would have made the average religious Jewish person recoil in disgust. But not Jesus. Jesus sat with her. He spoke to her. stayed with her. Jesus rejects every cultural and religious expectation to reach the rejected.”

53s

#KnownAndAccepted

“This is the first time in the book of John that Jesus reveals his divinity to somebody. He tells somebody he's God. And who does he choose to tell? woman who had been rejected her entire life. He tells her he knows her. He knows everything about her. I'm God, and I'm still with you. The impact it had on her, she she runs back to tell everybody. She runs back. The people that she had avoided, who she came to the well at noontime so she didn't have to be around anybody else, she runs back to town to tell them who she met. And did you see what she left behind? The water jug. She left the water jug behind because she didn't have to hide behind it anymore.”

39s

#SaveASeatForAll

“But that's not what Jesus would do. don't know why they're wearing a hat. We don't know why they got tattoos. We don't know why they smell the way they do. But I do know this, Jesus would save them a seat. And if we call ourselves Christ followers, then we have to be grace first people just like Jesus was grace first. We have to give the grace we hope we will never need ourselves.”

44s

#MessyChurchWelcome

“And God is looking for people that will follow him in spirit and in truth, in spirit, in passion, in enthusiasm. As we say around here, in rowdyness. And people that are going to put their full selves into following him. But more than just the passion, he wants to see the truth. He wants the true you, the real you, the messy you. That's why we say that the point is a messy church where real people with real flaws and struggles can meet a god whose grace is bigger than their mess.”

45s

#ShareWhatYouFound

“You don't have to have all the Bible memorized. You don't even have to have life together. The woman in our story, she didn't even have a chance to change her behavior at all. She had found Jesus and went and told everyone what she found. It was messy and it worked because, what does it say, they came out of the town and made their way toward him. All she did was share what she found in Jesus, and it worked. It worked for her. It worked for them. And it's working right now, right here as well.”

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