260621 The God You Never Knew Was Seeking You

Jun 21, 2026

Devotional

Day 1: Labels as Luggage Tags, Not Suitcases

A Samaritan woman carried identities she never chose: outcast, immoral, unwanted. Shame isolated her at noon’s empty well, far from morning’s communal laughter. But Jesus approached her story not as a verdict but as a doorway. Our worst chapters become Satan’s favorite titles until Christ rewrites the narrative. What others call failure, he calls an invitation. Grace peels off sticky labels to reveal the image beneath. [31:36]

“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 label have you allowed to define you? How might Jesus’ presence at your “well” reframe that story?

Day 2: The God Who Breaks Barriers

Jews avoided Samaritans. Men didn’t address lone women. Holiness kept its distance from scandal—until Jesus said, “Give me a drink.” Four words shattered centuries of division. Christ’s mission isn’t about maintaining reputations but crossing lines: ethnic hostility, religious pride, cultural taboos. He steps into shame’s isolation because mercy matters more than appearances. [34:42]

“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.’” (John 4:9–10, ESV)

Reflection: What barriers (internal or external) keep you from approaching—or being approached by—those Jesus is pursuing?

Day 3: Wells That Can’t Hold Water

Five husbands. A sixth man. The woman kept returning to relationships hoping they’d quench her thirst. Jesus named her deeper drought: she’d traded the fountain of living water for broken cisterns. We dig wells too—approval, success, comfort—but they leak. Every earthly substitute parches the soul until we drink from the source that never runs dry. [39:26]

“For my people have committed two evils: they have forsaken me, the fountain of living waters, and hewed out cisterns for themselves, broken cisterns that can hold no water.” (Jeremiah 2:13, ESV)

Reflection: What “well” have you been drinking from this week? How has it deepened your thirst instead of satisfying it?

Day 4: Exposed Yet Unashamed

Jesus named her five husbands not to humiliate but to heal. He uncovered the wound beneath the wound: expecting broken people to do what only God can. Shame makes us hide; grace invites us to be fully known. Christ sees every failure, every secret—and stays. His love doesn’t retreat when truth walks in. [44:11]

“And no creature is hidden from his sight, but all are naked and exposed to the eyes of him to whom we must give account.” (Hebrews 4:13, ESV)

Reflection: Where do you fear being “exposed”? How might Jesus’ response to the woman free you from hiding?

Day 5: The Father Who Seeks

The woman debated worship locations to avoid surrendering her heart. We distract with theology when God gets too close. But Jesus rerouted her arguments: “The Father is seeking.” Religion asks, “Who belongs?” The gospel declares, “You’re sought.” Salvation starts not with our search but God’s. He’s the shepherd hunting lost sheep, the woman sweeping for coins, the father sprinting toward prodigals. [53:34]

“What man of you, having a hundred sheep, if he has lost one of them, does not leave the ninety-nine in the open country, and go after the one that is lost, until he finds it? And when he has found it, he lays it on his shoulders, rejoicing.” (Luke 15:4–6, ESV)

Reflection: When have you mistaken God’s pursuit for condemnation? How does being “found” reshape your view of His heart?

Sermon Summary

John sets the scene with a woman who thinks she knows God because she knows stories, arguments, and controversies. Jesus meets her at a well and shows that what she knows about God is not the same as knowing God. The woman’s life has been reduced to labels. Shame has isolated her. A luggage tag has become the suitcase. The devil has tried to turn a chapter of her story into the title of her life. Jesus refuses that script and chooses to approach her, not as the world labels her, but by his redeeming love.

Jesus begins with four simple words, Give me a drink, and those words break centuries of walls. Jew and Samaritan. Man and woman. Holy and unholy. Reputation and risk. Religion asks, Who belongs? Jesus asks, Who needs mercy? He seeks the lost, not the sorted, and he moves toward her before she ever moves toward him.

Jesus offers what she actually needs. If you knew the gift of God, he says, you would ask me for living water. Her serial wells are broken cisterns. Five marriages and another try are not the problem by themselves. The deeper adultery is expecting another sinner to do what only God can do. Sin is salt water. The more a person drinks, the thirstier the soul becomes. Yet grace arrives before any cleanup. Before she changes, before she recognizes him, Jesus offers living water that becomes a spring within, welling up to eternal life.

Jesus exposes her thirst without shaming her. Go call your husband is not a trap but a surgery. He uncovers a wound beneath a wound to free her from false hopes and to move her from dodge-and-debate to surrender-and-truth. When she throws up the worship-location argument, Jesus redirects from mountains to the heart. The Father is seeking worshipers who worship in spirit and truth. The gospel is not people seeking God. It is God seeking people.

Jesus then names himself with clarity. I who speak to you am he. The miracle is not that Jesus knows her past. The miracle is that after knowing her past, he stays. She came for water and found a Savior. She arrived with shame and left with a new name, not defined by her worst sin or best success, but by his redeeming love. The same Christ still stands before sinners in his word, not offering better circumstances but the promise of living water for the thirsty.

Key Takeaways

1. Labels are not identity Shame isolates and shrinks a life down to a name tag, but Christ refuses to read a person by the tag. He separates a sinner’s worst chapter from the book God is still writing. The Spirit pries off Satan’s glue so a child of God can live from a truer name. [31:36]
2. Jesus crosses every barrier Ethnic hostility, gender norms, moral reputation, and religious rules all fall when Jesus says, Give me a drink. He does not wait on the safe side of the line, he steps over it to rescue. Mission looks like movement toward the person others avoid. [34:42]
3. Grace precedes real transformation Before any reform, before any polished confession, Jesus offers living water. The gift births the change, not the other way around. Holiness grows out of receiving, not achieving, and it springs from within because the Giver abides within. [42:25]
4. Only Christ quenches the thirst Broken cisterns promise relief and deepen hunger. Success, romance, ministry, and comfort can hydrate for a moment yet salt the soul in the end. Christ alone becomes a spring in a person, not a bucket outside the person. [41:26]
5. The Father is seeking worshipers Worship is not geography or performance but a Spirit-created relationship anchored in the truth of Christ. God is not hard to find because he is the One searching. Surrender begins by being found. [53:34]

Youtube Chapters

[00:00] - Welcome
[26:12] - When knowing about is not knowing
[28:17] - John 4 read aloud
[31:36] - When labels become identity
[34:20] - Give me a drink
[35:52] - Holy meets unholy in public
[37:12] - Who belongs vs who needs mercy
[39:02] - If you knew the gift of God
[41:26] - Salt water and soul thirst
[42:25] - Grace before transformation
[44:11] - Go call your husband
[48:06] - From repentance to argument
[52:51] - The Father is seeking worshipers
[55:29] - I who speak to you am he
[58:28] - Not defined by past, but love
[59:27] - Never thirst again promise
[60:49] - The red line of redemption
[62:13] - The Lord’s Prayer

Bible Study Guide

Bible Reading
John 4:1-26 (ESV)
(Read the full passage of Jesus’ encounter with the Samaritan woman at the well.)

Observation Questions

What cultural, ethnic, and religious barriers did Jesus cross when he spoke to the Samaritan woman at the well? [34:42]
How did the woman initially misunderstand Jesus’ offer of “living water” (John 4:11-15)? What practical limitations did she focus on?
What shift happened in the conversation when Jesus said, “Go, call your husband” (John 4:16-19)? How did the woman respond? [44:11]
What argument did the woman raise about worship locations, and how did Jesus redirect her focus (John 4:20-24)? [49:26]

Interpretation Questions

Why do you think Jesus chose to confront the woman’s relational history (“five husbands”) instead of directly addressing her theological questions first? [45:30]
The sermon says, “Sin is salt water. The more a person drinks, the thirstier the soul becomes.” How does this metaphor explain the woman’s cycle of seeking fulfillment in relationships? [41:26]
Jesus tells the woman, “The Father is seeking worshipers” (John 4:23). How does this redefine her understanding of worship—and ours? [53:34]
Why might the woman have tried to shift the conversation from her personal life to a religious debate about worship locations? [49:42]

Application Questions

What “labels” or past mistakes do you or others sometimes use to define your identity? How can Jesus’ response to the Samaritan woman reframe those labels? [31:36]
The sermon says, “Broken cisterns promise relief but deepen hunger.” What “wells” (e.g., success, approval, comfort) do you return to for temporary relief? How can you recognize when you’re drinking “salt water”? [39:26]
Jesus approached the woman before she changed her behavior. Where in your life do you feel unqualified to receive grace? How does this story challenge that mindset? [42:25]
The woman tried to debate theology to avoid personal surrender. When have you used intellectual or religious arguments to keep God at a distance? What step could you take to move from “debate” to “surrender”? [49:42]
How does the truth that “God is seeking you” (not the other way around) change the way you pray, serve, or share your faith with others? [53:34]
The Samaritan woman left her water jar to tell others about Jesus (John 4:28-30). What is one practical way you could “leave your jar” this week to point someone to Christ’s living water?

Sermon Clips

41s

#MercyOverCondemnation

“See, the greatest miracle of the story is not that Jesus knew her past. The greatest miracle is after knowing her past, he stayed. And the Christ she thought she knew was not the Christ standing before her. She suspected condemnation like she experienced from everybody else, and yet she received mercy. She expected distance like everybody else had done to her, and she found pursuit. She expected some hardcore religion of laws, and she found a loving father. She expected another argument, and she found living water.”

72s

#RedeemedNotDefined

“See, young man thought that those tattoos defined him. The woman thought her past defined her. Some must think our failures define us. Others think our success defines us. But Jesus defines people differently, not by their worst sin, not by their greatest accomplishment, but by his redeeming love. The woman came carrying shame. She left with living water. She came to a well, and she left with a savior. She came thinking, oh, I know God, and she left really knowing him. And the same Christ that stand before her stands in front of you today. Not at Jacob's well, but in his word. Not offering ordinary water, but forgiveness, life, salvation.”

45s

#GraceGivesLife

“Jesus does not say to her, go get your life in order and come back to me. Go find your religion, and you'll find me. Jesus says, no. I will give you water, and this water will give you a new life that will dwell up from inside of you, not from the outside of this world, but deep inside your heart and soul. And this is how God works. This is why God initiates this relationship in the waters of baptism. Why? He gives us the gift, not say, hey, are you right? Are you serious enough about it? He says, no. It's my grace gift. I wanna give you the gift of life.”

38s

#GodIsSeekingYou

“The gospel is not a story of people seeking god. It's a story of a god who's seeking people. The woman came for just earthly water, and yet what does she do? She finds the father came near to her. The woman thought she was searching for answers. The father had been searching for her all along. I mean, this is the heart of the gospel. If you would take the Bible and the gospels and you would divide them, you'd take you to chapter 15 of Luke. And chapter 15 of Luke are the three great stories of the gospel. I know you know them. Right? Let's just try it out.”

64s

#JesusPursuesTheLost

“And yet, what do we see? Jesus pursues sinners. See, Jesus never never met a barrier. He wasn't willing to cross to save someone. I mean, this is at the heart of the mission. Luke nineteen ten. What the son of man came to seek and save the what? Lost. And notice, the woman never seeks Jesus. Jesus seeks her. See, religion often asks, who belongs? Jesus asked, who needs mercy? The Christ, the thought she thought she knew would avoid her. It says you don't belong. But the Christ standing before her pursues her.”

65s

#OnlyGodHeals

“Now this is not Jesus trying to humiliate her. This is Jesus that's uncovering a wound beneath a wound of her life. Because every husband in her life represents hope for her. This one will make me happy. This one will complete me. This one will heal me. This one will finally work. Yet five times, the promise failed. And the problem wasn't five husbands. The problem was expecting another sinner to do what only God could do. And that's the adultery that she's really committing. And if we're honest, it's the adultery we all are committing.”

56s

#WorshipInSpiritAndTruth

“And this is the heart of the gospel. And Jesus is showing this woman who's far from everything saying, look, God is seeking you. You are lost. And he's been always seeking you. In John four, say, look, the father keeps seeking you all along, and he's seeking for you to worship in spirit and truth. And what does that mean? God is not looking at some external performance. He's not looking at your religious geography or your your cultural identity, your geology. He's saying, I want to create a relationship in you by the spirit of God that is centered in Christ in the truth. That's why Jesus says he is the way, the truth, and the life. You follow the spirit, draws you to him, to the truth, and there is life.”

46s

#DontLetLabelsDefineYou

“See, when labels become our identity, they lead us in a path of shame, and shame always isolates. Adam and Eve, when they felt their shame, they hid. Leopards who had their shame, they were outside of the community. The prodigal son led his shame to be all alone feeding pigs. That is what shame does. It convinces you that we are what we have done. It convinces you you are what you have done. A luggage tag is never intended to become the suitcase, but we let it.”

83s

#FullyKnownFullyLoved

“Most of us fear to be fully known by somebody. Because we assume if somebody really knew us and they really knew everything, they would reject us, they would abandon us, They would condemn us. And so that's why we spend so much energy hiding. Hiding amongst our success, our achievements, whatever we can push forward to keep that to be the distraction, that for you to know, so you don't get to know the full real self. And the gospel says the office opposite. In Christ, you are fully known. You're more fully known. I think Christ fully knows you better than you even know yourself. He knows it all, but this is the great gospel. He knows it all, and he fully loves He fully loves you.”

54s

#LoveReframesIdentity

“See, the world identifies people by their worst moments, but Jesus identifies people by his redeeming love. See, this mistake you made is not the same thing as the person you are in Christ. And so number two, the Jesus she thought she knew would never speak to her. I mean, this is this is this is incredible, this moment here. I mean, if you're disciples and you're seeing this, it's like we leave Jesus alone for a couple minutes and he breaks all the culture rules. I mean, what is he doing?”

43s

#PastIsNotYourTitle

“See, the devil loves to turn a chapter of your story into the title of your life. That's what he does. So many people spend their lives carrying these labels. They were never meant to define them. And what began as something they experience becomes who they believe they are. And the woman alongly merely has a past. Her past becomes her identity. But the most remarkable thing of the story is not who she is. It's who Jesus chooses to approach.”

70s

#EncounterGodOnHisTerms

“But she didn't want a conversation. She wanted a fight because God got close to her, and she wanted to avoid that. And that sickness brought that reality to her that she was gonna die and what was gonna happen. So she had a fight, and this is what people do. When Jesus gets too close to the heart, Christians are a bunch of hypocrites. What what about politics? Oh, I I don't like that pastor. He makes me feel uncomfortable. He said things. I don't like the music. What about denominational difference? How do they spend their money anyway? Now questions matter. But often, concerts begins to shield that they can avoid encountering God. And here's the key, on his terms, not theirs.”

50s

#OutcastNoMore

“Here she is. She Jesus encounters a woman whose entire life has to been defined by labels. Some of these labels have been put on herself, and some of these labels others have put on her. But she has put on this that she is immoral. She is an outcast. She is unwanted. She's a failure. She is rejected. And notice the setting. She comes to the well in the sixth hour. That is at noon, and she's alone. Not with the other women who all gather in the morning to get their water from the well, not part of a community, not welcomed in the circle, but alone.”

58s

#LovedAndTransformed

“The gospel does God does not love the improved version of you that says, if you finally get here, I'll love you. He loves you just the way you are, but he loves you enough to not leave you there and to bring a new life. A new version of you and his identity and him. And so he moves from this water to worship, from thirst to truth. Number four, Jesus exposes her thirst without shaming her. He exposes the thirst without shaming her. Again, because his purpose is what? To save her.”

58s

#JesusDrawsNear

“And many today carry that same misconception. They assume that Jesus wants distance, that Jesus couldn't possibly care about them after everything they've done, everything they've said, everything they thought about God. And this is a self inflicted label with Satan's glue that he tries to stick on you again and again and again. You're unworthy. You're the black sheep. It's unforgivable. You've gone too far. And I'm sure those thoughts were probably her thoughts too. And yet, what do we see? We see a Jesus that keeps moving closer, closer to her.”

43s

#MinistryWhereTheyAre

“When I was doing chaplain training as part of my seminary, you go into different rooms and meet people that are in the hospital, and you you get all sorts of situations where you try to minister where they're at. And I came into this room and and late. you know, ladies being a 10 too, she was in. She was sick. She was having heart issues and some other things going on in her life, a lot of complexities. But when I walked in and I introduced myself, hey, my name is Jason. I'm a a chaplain here. Can I be any assistance for you tonight? She goes, oh, good. A chaplain. I want you to know, when anybody in the hospital says, oh, good. A chaplain, it's never good. It is never good.”

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260621 The God You Never Knew Was Seeking You

Devotional

Day 1: Labels as Luggage Tags, Not Suitcases

Day 2: The God Who Breaks Barriers

Day 3: Wells That Can’t Hold Water

Day 4: Exposed Yet Unashamed

Day 5: The Father Who Seeks

Sermon Summary

Key Takeaways

Youtube Chapters

Bible Study Guide

Sermon Clips

260621 The God You Never Knew Was Seeking You

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