Elevation with Steven Furtick - Deeper Than You Think

Episode Date: July 18, 2022

God wants to deal with our problems at the root. In “Deeper Than You Think,” Pastor Steven Furtick shows us that God’s power at work within us is stronger than any circumstance we’re facing. If you’ve just made a decision for Christ, please respond HERE: http://ele.vc/tIepfrSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This is an I-Heart podcast. Guaranteed Human. Hey there. Before we jump into the amazing message today, we wanted to let you know about our upcoming tour, starting in just a few days. We're heading out in the month of August with our friends, Carrie Job and Cody Carnes,

and we're coming to a city near you. We're going to have an amazing time in the presence of God. Every single time we gather, he's faithful to meet with us and do something new and fresh in our heart. So we hope you'll join us. Yes, we're going to be. in Dallas, San Antonio, Omaha. Soup balls. We're going to be in Toledo, Dayton, we're coming to you, Knoxville, Huntsville.

Yes, we're also going to be in Louisville, Cleveland, Pittsburgh, Philadelphia, and New York. So come out, join us, bring your friends, bring your family, everything you need, tickets and information is at elevationworship.com. We'll see you soon. What I want to do with the time that I have with you today, which I take very seriously, is continue in the conversation that we started last week. All right? I want to continue on this path that we only really took a few steps last week down this path. Let me tell you, there's so much to this that God is showing me.

And don't worry if you weren't here last week, you're like, oh, no, now I'm missing out. I won't know what you're talking about. You will. You'll pick right up. because I want to go into a very familiar scripture today. And I thank you, worship team. Y'all can be seated. I want to go to John Chapter 4.

Y'all were clapping? Y'all like to worship. Now sit down. All right. Thanks, y'all. I want to go to John Chapter 4, sharing with you some thoughts on the hard work of happiness. On the hard work of happiness.

And I think I told you last week that this came to me while I was riding a bike. But then, you know, you look all over the Bible and you just see. Now, not all of my sermons start from a Bible passage, and I should be honest with you. I think that the best sermons, they feel more like real life, not just like the library. So we don't just want to approach things from an intellectual point of view. Some people think that something is more spiritual if it's more intellectual. I say, oh, that was really deep what you said.

What does it mean? I don't know, but it was deep. How do you know? Because I didn't understand it. It was deep. We used to have a staff member who would get up on stage, and Holly said he had the spiritual gift of confusing her. She said, when he talks, he always makes me think that I don't get it. I don't really think he gets it.

So I think by him making me not get it and making me think that he's got something deep to say, he circumvanced the fact that he didn't study by just saying stuff that sounds so abstract that I think, well, I guess that's why I made a on my SAT because I don't understand this. But in the scripture in John chapter 4, there's a passage, a story that is well loved and well worn and as familiar as it is, I want to be. I want to be a want us to get into it today. And there's something that the Lord is speaking on the subject of the hard work of happiness. And before I read you my scripture, let me tell you the quote that actually gave me that phrase, okay? It's not a Bible verse that says the hard work of happiness.

I was watching a documentary, and that quote came up. The person said, it's something that took me to age 70 to realize that happiness is really hard work. And me and Holly were watching the same movie at the same time. And I looked over at her and she didn't look like it really registered at all at a deep level. Because like I told you last week, she's naturally happy. I don't mean she doesn't work hard at it. She tries not to complain. She serves others.

She does a lot of habits that make her happy. But she's more hardwired for happiness than me. I figured that out in our marriage. One marriage advice somebody said in every marriage, there's the crazy one. Make sure that you're the crazy one in the relationship before you get married. Go easier for you. And when Holly teaches her study on marriage, Mrs. Betterhaef, becoming Mrs. Betterhalf, she's not bragging like, oh, I'm the better half.

But I certainly would say that of her. And in my life, it's been hard work to actually be happy. And hard work I'm good at. And happiness, not so much. And, you know, after I preached that last week, I went home and said, did they hear what I said? What I was trying to say? It's hard to know sometimes.

A lot of times I think my sermons are a lot deeper than you think they are. Like I'll preach a whole sermon with all these Greek words or these insights in the Old Testament and the New Testament. And then people will come up to me and say, that was a funny story about the toilet getting clogged up there at the end. That was good. I like that. One time I preached on Ruth and Boas. And, man, I studied the whole Testament to preach that message.

And they said, it's good you're finally getting the kid's a dog. It's like the one thing you heard, you know, is right there on the surface. So all that being said as a setup, the person who said that in the documentary was Brian Wilson from the Beach Boys. I defy you to name me a happier sounding band than the Beach Boys. That was the sound of my childhood. This is literally the man that was singing. We'll have fun, fun, fun, till her daddy took the TV.

bird away. And yet his struggles are well documented now with mental illness and drug abuse. And he said something that was quoted, you know, it took me 70 years. He sold 100 million albums the Beach Boys have. He wrote what Paul McCartney said is the greatest song ever written. God only knows what I'd be without you. He wrote good vibrations for Pete's sake. and to know that as he was creating these masterpieces of music, that he was saying things like it was three weeks in my bed, wondering if I wanted to live. Now, apart from analyzing that specific situation,

I just want to take that idea and talk to you about it for a few minutes, that it is possible for you to make happy music and have a troubled mind, that it is possible for you to have memorized scripture and have a troubled soul, that it is possible for you to be sober, you know, free from some substances that you used to struggle with, but yet deep down, and this is what I want to talk about a little deeper down today from John Chapter 4. Do we really experience what Jesus came to give us? Do we really? And to look at that, we're going to go into John Chapter 4. This story is about, I'm testing you all out to see how much I need to cover.

It sounds like I need to go to the very beginning today. Okay, good, good, good. That lets me know. This is one of the most famous Bible stories, the woman at the well, the woman in Samaria at the well that Jesus stopped to talk to and changed her life. And so where I want to start today is going to be a little different than where we end up. So just flow with me. Flow with the preacher. Would you please flow with the preacher?

Touch your neighbor. Touch your neighbor and say flow with the preacher. Touch your neighbor and say, say flow with the preacher. There you go. John chapter four, verse one. Now, Jesus learned that the Pharisees had heard that he was gaining and baptizing more disciples than John, although in fact, it was not Jesus who baptized, but his disciples. So he left Judea and went back once more to Galilee. Now, he had to go through Samaria, so he came to a town in Samaria called Sychar, near the plot of ground Jacob had given to his son Joseph.

Jacob's well was there, and Jesus tired as he was from the journey, sat down by the well. It was about noon. When a Samaritan woman came to draw water, Jesus said to her, will you give me a drink? His disciples had gone into the town to buy food. The Samaritan woman said to him, you are a Jew and I am a Samaritan woman. How can you ask me for a drink? For Jews do not associate with someone. And Jesus answered her, if you knew the gift of God and who it is that ask you for a drink,

you'd lose the attitude and ask him, and he would have given you living water. Sir, the woman said, you have nothing to draw with, and the well is deep. Where can you get this living water? Are you greater than our father, Jacob, who gave us the well and drank from it himself? He didn't need a woman to give him a jar. He had his own jar. Are you greater than Jacob? As did also his sons and livestock, and Jesus answer.

You ready, this is deep. This scripture is deep. Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again. But whoever drinks the water I give them will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give them will become in them a spring of water welling up to eternal life. The woman said to him, this is 42 verses, y'all. I'm only going to read the first 24. The woman said to him, Sir, give me this water so that I won't get thirsty and have to keep coming here to draw water.

And he told her, go call your husband and come back. I have no husband, she replied. Jesus said to her, you were right? When you say you have no husband, fact is you've had five husbands, the man you now have is not your husband. What you've said is quite true. Get a little closer now. Sir, the woman said, I can see that you are a prophet. You think?

Our ancestors worshipped on this mountain, but you Jews claim that the place we must worship is in Jerusalem. Woman, Jesus replied, believe me, a time is coming when you will worship the Father neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem. You Samaritans worship what you do not know. We worship what we do know, for salvation is from the Jews, yet a time is coming and has now come when the true worshippers will worship the Father in the Spirit and in truth, For they are the kind of worshippers the Father seeks.

God is Spirit, and His worshippers must worship in the Spirit and in truth. Let's stop there. The subject for today is deeper than you think. Deeper than you think. It's deeper than you think. In defense of the disciples, they did not know where you think. this was all heading. In defense of the disciples, they had more faith than most of us will ever demonstrate by leaving their trained chosen vocations in order to follow someone whose

life would meet a violent end. At the same time that I commend them for their courage, I would like to go on record as saying that there is nothing obvious in the scriptures that makes me think that the disciples were particularly perceptive. What I'm trying to say is, I don't think the disciples were all that deep. Not saying they were dumb, but I wouldn't exactly characterize them as deep either. To give you one example of how they tended to be a little less than deep, not saying they're stupid. I'm not saying they're shallow.

I'm just saying that a lot of times, if you read the scriptures, Jesus seemed to be operating on one level, and they were operating on another, and they were trying to catch up with them pretty much all the way to the cross, where they were surprised that he died after he told them. That's a good example. He tells them one day, he's like, I've got to go to Jerusalem and die. So they walk a little down the road. He turns around and finds him talking, and he asks, what are you talking about? And they said, we were just trying to figure out who gets to sit on your right hand when you enter into your kingdom.

So they weren't very deep, fighting over position and status and stuff like that. One time I was just studying this one this week, too. Jesus said, be careful of the yeast of the Pharisees and the Sadducees and Herod. And he was talking about the things you let in your heart that take over and needing to see a sign versus just believing in God with that child. hob-like faith. And so he said, be careful of the yeast. And they looked at each other and said, it's because you forgot to pack bread. Not that deep. Even in this passage that we just read, it's striking to me, and maybe not to you, but it's striking to me the detail that while he is changing a lady's life, all they can think about is lunch. And I'm not saying that they're bad.

I'm not saying that they should have been fasting. I'm not really even saying that I would have done and eat better. Because after I preach to you, I'm going to eat lunch too. I'm not going to try to get somebody saved at Chipotle after I preach. I'm going home to eat. That's all I'm going to do. I'm a preach to you. I'm going to go home and eat. So I'm not criticizing the disciples. I'm just taking a moment to pause and say that in the scriptures, a lot of times Jesus was thinking a little bit deeper than the disciples. And I bring that up to ask the question, is Jesus thinking a little bit more deeply about your situation than you are thinking about your situation in this moment. And does he see it like you see it? Does he see it like you see it? With my kids,

I have to be okay with the fact that my disciples, Abby Graham and Elijah, all right? I don't have 12. Three is enough for me. I don't know how he put up with 12. He had 12 these little children run around. I'll sit on the right hand. You didn't bring the bread. You know, what would you do if you had 12 of those? I have three, and I love them deeply, but they frustrate me greatly. Now, one thing I learned, any of you all got little kids? Little kids?

When they get a little older, they will pick on you, and they'll start making fun of you, and it is completely normal to the developmental task of the child to start making fun of dad, Because that's how the child differentiates and individuates. I don't know if that's a word or not. I just went with it. Made me sound deep. Individuate. You've got to individuate so you can matriculate.

Pontificate. What was I saying? Oh, how my kids! They love me. Listen, we have a home of respect. Sometimes in trying to do humor, I don't want to give you the wrong example. Our home is very respectful, very loving, very warm, and they love me. I think they look up to me.

I think I'm the best day that they ever have. They say that on Father's Day. But on many occasions, the only time they get along is when they band together to beat up on me. And I'm cool with that, because I'm Christ-like. And if I have to hang here on this cross to unify these three kids that are fighting all the time, so y'all can make fun of how old I am. I'm not ashamed of age, by the way. Okay?

So, oh, you're getting old. Old is the goal. I didn't die. What did you do? Old is the goal. Let's make a t-shirt or a fanny pack or something that says, old is the goal. Wear it with pride.

Yeah. Yeah. But they make fun of me, classic dad, they say. Classic dad, just like dad to say that. Did you hear dad saying that? They made fun of me this summer on vacation. You know, so many wonderful memories that I could tell you about, but let me tell me about this one. Every time they wanted to go swim in the ocean, I went.

Holly didn't go. I went. Just pointing out, she is not always the more person. perfect parent. But guess what? Because I went in the ocean, I was subject to their mockery. Here's what kept happening. Every time we'd go out. Every time we'd go out. Every time we go out, every time we go out to the ocean, within 10 minutes, I'd be saying, come back in. You're too far out. You're too far out. Come back in. Classic dad. They're rolling their eyes. Dad, come on, Calm down. Abby is hanging on my back. And I'm telling Elijah and Graham, come back in. You're too far out. There's an undercurrent. There's nobody else out here but us. That means we're not very smart. This is not a good time to swim in the ocean. Come back in. I can't see you out there. I know you can swim. I know you're taller than me, but I'm your dad. Come back in. That's too far out. Come back in. And Abby's hanging on my back. And she says, dad, calm down. It's not that.

deep. So I put her down. And after she thrashed around for a minute, because she's not on my back anymore, standing on the solid rock, you know how we get arrogant. We think we're so great and so good, and we can do it. But really, it's what we're standing on. And when I put her down, when I put her down, she thrashed around a little bit. And I said, it's deeper than you think. is deeper than you think. The disciples found out how deep it was when Jesus left to be in heaven, and they had to do the things that they had seen him do without him there to correct them when they messed it up. Now, Peter, if you cut off an ear, it stays off. Jesus isn't around to put it back on. One time they went to go cast out demons, they'd seen Jesus cast out demons, so went to cast out demons,

and they couldn't do it. They came back, said, why can't we do it? We saw you do it. He said, this kind comes out only by prayer and fasting. You thought it was the motions. You watched how I put my hand or you listened to what I said or maybe you copied my voice inflection. It's not at that level. It's deeper than you think. We just read a text that seems to be about 40 verses on something as simple as a beverage service. 40 verses on something that happens every day when you go to a restaurant or right when you go

to your fridge. Forty verses. Now, why I love to revisit old scriptures isn't because I want to week off from studying. It's because the same thing that we do in our lives we often do with the Word of God. We skim. We skim. We scroll. We skim and we scroll.

We don't really know anybody. We just skim and we scroll. We don't really read any news stories. We skim the headlines and we scroll to the next one. So we develop entire ideologies and belief systems on what happened and judgments on people because we skim and we scroll. Like the Pharisees, by the way, in the first few verses I read, they heard Jesus is baptized and more disciple more people than John the Baptist. And Jesus wasn't even the one personally doing

the baptism. But since when did the truth get in the way of a fun rumor? They start talking, they start moving, and Jesus goes to Samaria. Now, this passage on one hand is a geographical description of how Jesus traveled to Galilee, where he based his ministry. But it's deeper than you think. For instance, did you know that most Jews, instead of going straight through Samaria, if they were going to Galilee, would go around Samaria, and it took twice as long, but they didn't go through Samaria because the Bible even said it, did not like or associate with the Samaritans. And you read that and you think, well, that's wrong. That sounds like they're bigots. That sounds like they're racist. That sounds like they're religious classes. That sounds like

they have an issue. And they do. But to really understand even the depth of why they walked around Samaria, instead of going through it, you'd have to break it down and go all the way back to 700 BC. So this is seven centuries before Jesus showed up to talk to this woman and understand how the religious environment of Samaria had been populated with those who did not worship the true God. And so when they were taken out of Samaria, which was the northern kingdom, it was a divided kingdom, Israel was a divided kingdom, and the division ran deep because the moment they were

taken out of their homeland, some other people were brought in. When they came back, they started marrying and mixing, and so many of the people who were in Samaria worshipped other gods. So when the Jews didn't want to associate with the Samaritans, it was because they didn't want to get dragged down by the customs of the Samaritans, not because they were so dysfunctional in their heart that they didn't like them. And now you begin to see through the eyes of the Jewish people why they avoided that certain place called Samaria.

And you begin to understand why in your life you avoid. certain things as well. Why don't you finish things? Why don't you start new things? Why won't you love again? Why won't you trust again? Why can't you express yourself? Why don't you come to church? It's deeper than it seems, and it's deeper than you even think. Be very careful about your rush to judgment concerning someone whose journey you have not shared. Be very careful about your rush to judgment concerning someone whose journey you have not shared. careful. God hates divorce. Be very careful. Hiding something that resembles more the kind of bigotry that the Pharisees were known for underneath what sounds spiritual from a situation that has already broken the heart of the person whose wounds you were pouring salt into. I think I lost

87 percent of the church. Next week will be a good week to come. Be plenty of seats. This preaching is not a crowd-building preaching. No, no, no, no, no. Just stay up abstract here. Pastor, talking to us about heaven when we die and streets of gold and mentions of glory. Don't talk to me about my attitude. I don't want to talk about my attitude. I know I got a bad attitude, but I love the Lord. I'm not happy, but I got joy. I said that last week. That's a Christian saying, I don't, I'm not, we're not happy, but we got joy, praise God. Said with the meanest, ugliest look on your face you ever saw in life. That's the Christian equivalent of, I don't like you, but I love you. That's the Christian equivalent of that, you know. I don't like you, but I love you with the love of the Lord. I'm not

happy, I'm miserable, I'm terrible to be around, but I'm going to heaven when I die. I hope not, because I was going to go too, and I don't really want to be around you there, too, for all of eternity for 10,000 years, bright shining as the sun. So in this passage, one of the things that I want you to see is not only the fact that Jesus went through Samaria when he didn't have to and most people didn't, but that he did not explain to his disciples his reason for doing so. He let them go get lunch and explained it later. This is one of my definitions of peace, letting God explain it later. So as I'm going through an experience in life, trusting God enough, to let him explain later.

It takes no faith to move on an explanation. It takes all the faith in the world to do what the disciples did and go get lunch while Jesus talks to a lady that he has no business talking to. In at least three categories, I will list them for you. She is a she. He is a he. This he is a rabbi, and rabbis are not permitted to talk to women in public. Strike one, Jesus. She is a Samaritan. He is a Jew. I already told you right there in plain sight in the text that Jews and Samaritans have no dealing. That's number two. Number three, as we found out in the text, she has a questionable, at best, reputation. He is the holy spotless lamb of God, and he's not even married. Jesus didn't have kids. How could he have kids when he had to put up with Peter? He had no more room for anybody to look after and straighten up after.

Jesus is talking to someone. He has no business talking to in a place that he has no business going. And it's deeper than you think. Say that out loud. It's deeper than you think. Pulse check. Look at your neighbor. Say it's deeper.

All right. So Jesus is sitting by a well talking to a woman and the disciples don't know why. She's sitting by a well talking to a woman. Disciples don't know why. He's sitting by a well talking to a woman. The disciples don't know why. Got it? Uh-huh, uh-huh, uh-huh.

And everything in the text is something you can see. You can see the woman. You can see the well. You can see the woman, the well. You can see the woman's jar that she's going to get the water from. You can't see Jesus' jar because he doesn't have one. Because she is one, but she doesn't know that yet. I'm telling you, the Bible's deeper.

You know, it said it happened at noon. Did you see that? You probably didn't even pay attention to that. It's noon. It's the sixth hour. And she's coming out there at noon. Why at noon? That's the hottest time you could have. If you have to work hard to get this water and carry it, the worst time you can do it is in the heat of the day. And this is not exactly a friendly climate. You know, where the Bible happened, it gets some pretty hot conditions. Something in her life, which we find out is that she's been from man to man to man to man, to man, either past

surround like an object or because of some choice of her own. We don't know, but she's there in the heat of the day to avoid the melting, penetrating gaze of others who would speak of her as she did it. It's deeper than you think. When you do things, why you do things, is deeper than you think. There's a reason she's there at noon. There's a reason you do it at noon. It's deeper than you think. What time did Jesus die? the cross. Go study your scripture. You'll find out he died about the sixth hour, which is at noon. Is it a coincidence that she came to get her water out of her shame at the same time that he would later die for her shame to take it away? Or is John pointing to something? John's gospel is amazing,

y'all, because he has these signs. He gives these signs to prove that Jesus is who he says he is. And so all of the signs in John's Gospel are pointing not to the miracle themselves, but to the one, the man, the God, the Spirit, who created all things that are seen. Oh, I love it, I love it, I love it, I love it. It's deeper than you think, y'all. Slow down. Stop reading your Bible so fast and stop skimming it, And every once in a while, just sit like Jesus did at the well. Just sit.

Wonder why at noon. I wonder why it happened at noon. I wonder why John took the time to stop by and say, it happened at noon. We don't really need a chronological journal of everything that happened on the journey. Just get to the point. He said, no, you need to know it's at noon. Because you need to know that this woman was ashamed because you might feel ashamed of some things that happened in your life. Either things you did or things others did, but you need to know that.

at noon one Friday that there is a man who hung on a cross and they stretched him why and hung him high, but he didn't stay where they put him, and you're not staying where they put you, and you will not die in this situation because he lives. I can face tomorrow. Stuff like that you need to know is deeper than you think. So try this out next time you're judging somebody. Just say, it's deeper than I think. It's deeper than I think. Or else you'll get into this thing of behavior modification.

Why didn't Jesus tell this woman to stop having so many different men before he told her he would give her living water? Why didn't he say, go fix these issues, and I'll give you this resource? Why didn't Jesus give this woman a list of things she can, could do so she wouldn't have to keep going to these bad relationships over and over. At the very least, she doesn't know how to select the right man, at the very least. And why didn't he fix that? That's exactly how we think, right? Okay, this is my sermon. You like the sermon in a sentence. This is it right here. We solve it on the level we see it. We solve it on the level we see it.

And that's why I wanted to talk to you about happiness. Because you can see the well, you can see the woman. But what you can't see is what is happening within that Jesus points to and says, I want to fix that. I want to work on that. And until you understand this principle in Scripture, you will slap a religious label on behavior modification methods that will keep you coming back to the wrong well to be happy. I hope you like to hear me preach, but I don't want for you to need me to preach. I don't want you to need me to preach.

What if I decide to go, what if I decide to go, what if I decide to go, uh, what if I decide to go be a construction worker? Huh? What are you going to do then? What if Holly decides we need to hike the Appalachian Trail for nine months? If I'm gone for nine months, what are you going to do? You're just going to not fight the devil for nine months? I don't want you to need an external voice to experience an inward transformation.

Now, this part of my sermon is really bad for job security, because I'm telling you this, that you have within you. I don't think you understand what you have within you, because everything I'm seeing people do to try to get happy these days is an outside thing. but it's an inside job. But you're doing outside stuff. Because you keep trying to solve it on the level that you see it. So you see people who look happy. You see people who look ecstatic, people who look successful, people who look like they got it all together. And so since you see the objects that they post to give the illusion of success,

and I think they're compensating, because I think if you're. really possess it, you don't even need to post it. That's what I think. That's what I think. I think the lady's up for tests too much. That's what I think. That's what I think. But it's deeper than I think. Because we don't really see what they struggle with. We don't really see what they struggle with. So you try to fix what you see, but you don't really understand what you're struggling with, what they're struggling with. All right. Stop having arguments. Married people, wave at me. Wave at me like it was the best decision of your life you made when you said I did. Oh, wasn't it now? Teach you something real quick.

Anybody newly married? Like, just, I mean, just still got the plastic wrap on the thing, you know, don't even know if this, where's this go, you know? Still figuring out. Look at her. I'm doing a quick, quick favor, all right? Send me a little gift card or something after this, because this is really good. You pay a lot of therapy bills over this what I'm about to give you. She's deeper than you think. Don't get boring and stop being curious about who she really is, because you haven't really even met her yet. You got it? You're welcome. Oh, hey, hey, hey. And you, daughter of God, look at him real quick. Just look in his eyes. Look deep in his eyes. At times in the coming years, if he's sitting there with a blank look on his face, you know, just drooling and you're like, what is he thinking?

Let me tell you something. Absolutely nothing. No, no, no, no, no. That's the stereotype. Oh, the women are complicated. The men are simple. Men are not simple. He's way deeper than you think. So if you see a man struggle with anger, you will just label it as racist. What if he's really afraid? What if he's really afraid? Me and mom were talking about something that my dad did the other day. One time when he freaked out, and we were laughing because we started listening all the times he freaked out.

Classic dad. And we were bonding over laughing at him. And he's in heaven now, so it doesn't hurt him. He's way less dysfunctional than us down here now, so we say whatever we want about him. Got his wings and stuff, but down here you didn't have any wings. Down here, he would freak out. And she looked at me and said something that I thought was so profound. She said, I think any time somebody made him feel stupid, I think a lot of the stuff that

he did that we categorized as him being hateful was him feeling like at the core that he was made to feel stupid, which would make total sense since he didn't have the opportunity to even finish to eighth grade. he would go through his life feeling like everybody knew something he didn't know. So anytime now he gets an indication that you know something I don't know, I feel weak. So since I feel weak, I've got to act strong. Errogate people are the most insecure people. Strong people and whole people are humble people.

They can receive feedback. You see in the text in John Chapter 4 how the Samaritan woman is so defensive? Why? Can I get a drink? You don't even have a job. Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa. Just trying to make conversation, lady. I am a rabbi. Man, Nicodemus just came to see this guy at night in John 3. Now he's having to deal with a woman who he's not even supposed to be talking to, and in their eyes, she's not worthy to talk to him, and he's having to put up with this. But he keeps talking to her. He keeps talking to her. And for years I read this text, I thought that Jesus was discussing or debating with the woman, but he wasn't. It wasn't a debate. He wasn't discussing. He wasn't debating. He was digging, digging, digging. Will you give me a drink? You're not supposed to have anything to do with me.

We don't even like y'all. I understand all that. I understand that you're suspicious based on your history. I understand all that. But keep going. Will you give me a drink? And remember, all of this is happening, y'all. If you really love the Bible, check this out at Jacob's well that he gave Joseph, which is

amazing because Joseph was thrown in a well at one time in his life. by his brothers who left him there to die and then sold him into slavery. And then at the end of his life, his father, Jacob, said, I'm going to give you one more ridge of land than I gave your brothers in Genesis 48. And in that ridge of land is right where Jesus showed up hundreds of years later. And it says that the well that Jacob gave Joseph was there. Isn't that awesome? This has been happening for a long time.

Jesus didn't just set up this the night before. Think I'll stop by Samaria and talk to the woman. He was thinking about this woman from the very moment that Joseph was getting blessed with the well from his father. And you've got to know in your life that God has been busy behind the scenes. God is not surprised by this season of your life. God did not even randomly let you click on this sermon. You did not choose this sermon, and neither did the algorithm. God took the algorithm.

He said, I need them to watch a sermon three months ago, so that when they opened their YouTube on Sunday morning, there will be in their algorithm a word that they need to adjust their direction so that their life can be on course. What kind of joy would you have and peace would you experience if you internalize the truth that God has been busy all along and on the surface. Your life seems absolutely ridiculous. And on the surface, your situation is very scary. And you look like someone who is just going out to get water. You look like someone who just came to church with your mom. You look like someone

who just came today because that's what we do. And that's on the surface. But it's deeper than you think. It's deeper than you think. God brought you here in this moment in time to remind you that there is a well on your land. As a matter of fact, I want to point something out to you. The land belonged to Joseph, so the spring under it did too. The land belonged to Joseph, so the spring under it did too. Jacob paid a hundred pieces of silver for that land, and underneath the land was a spring. And underneath the spring, when the spring came up through a well, it was able to refresh and restore. God sent me to tell you that when Jesus paid for your salvation, you don't just get the field. You get the spring too. He didn't just be.

die so you can go to heaven one day. You get what's under it too. When he claimed this is mine and took your life, he didn't just come to give you a ticket to heaven. He came to give you bread at the presence of your enemies and green grass in the valley and joy, unspeakable and full of glory. I don't just want the land. I don't just want heaven. I don't just want salvation when I get there. I need Jesus right now. Living water. Living water. Springs of living water. So not just the land, but the spring is yours. And God is saying, I don't just want the external parts of you.

I don't just want your behavior to get better. I want what's inside. Jesus died for what is inside. That's the gospel, that if you believe in his name, that from within you, somebody say, within. Just get that word right there. in your spirit within within you think if you get a better well you'll be happy or like the woman you don't even have a jar see how fixated we are on what we can see and the level you see it

determines the level you solve it that's why you keep clicking on all the videos that tell you how to be happy by eating more pizza and doing less cardio. Because it's clickbait, because that's the world. Keep you coming back when you get thirsty again. You hear me? So we keep clicking on stuff, trying stuff. How many y'all did at least three diets already this year, and it's not even November yet? It's all right. I've done it too.

Because the next thing is going to fix it. The next thing. Oh, it's my macros. Oh, it's my micros. Oh, it's my... You know what? I'm saying you can count all of that that you want on the outside and it's wonderful and all of this thing is wonderful and all of that stuff is great. But have you ever stopped to wonder what's under it? Or are you running around like me last week with a plunger? That's the story I told last week. Every deep thing I said in the sermon. The only thing I heard anything about was, that was funny when you yelled at your kids about the toilet. Because I told this story, it was embarrassing and I'm still embarrassed by it. But after plunging this toilet and yelling at the kids who did this in the toilet and left it and shut the lid, and after trying to fix it and I couldn't fix it, I found out that it wasn't their fault and it wasn't the toilet's fault and that the pump was broken. And the only way for me to fix the situation was to deal with it at the level that I couldn't see it. So that means I could have taken their phone for a week. You shouldn't have done that in that toilet.

That is unlawful for a man to do in that toilet. And then you at least should have told me that it didn't flush. It wasn't that. It was backed up somewhere else. You can yell, you can scream, you can fight, you can buy, you can try, you can cry, you can do all of it that you want to. But you're going to keep coming back and keep getting thirsty. Yeah, she said, I got five men that I tried.

Still thirsty. And the one I'm with now I'm not sure about. And Jesus is like, good. because now you've probably given up on the idea that you will be happy when you have someone. Maybe now you're ready to admit it's deeper than you think. I can't figure this out on my own. I can't structure my way into this structure is awesome. I can't schedule my way into this.

Scheduling is awesome. I can't shop my way into this. Shopping is awesome. Waiting for Holly to say amen. Don't be a hypocrite now. You know, you know, there's stuff at my door every day. But that's not what makes Holly happy. That's not what's going to make you happy.

Not in a way that's going to be lasting. It's deeper than you thought. Now, sometimes it's not that deep. Not everything is so deep. Not everything as deep as you make it. Man, I feel like the devil is fighting me with the spirit of exhaustion. that you stayed up till 4 a.m. watching Netflix. That's the spirit of Netflix. Those are different, right? You know that. Oh, no, man, I'm just anxious all the time. But I guess seven cups of coffee before 7.30 a.m. is not the best way to fight anxiety.

I cancel the spirit of caffeine in the name of Jesus. I break every yoke of caffeine in the name of Jesus. But if you drink it, you can't be delivered from it if you just keep drinking it. And I'm preaching to myself because sometimes I'm like, God, I'm so anxious. I don't know what to do. I feel like the devil's just coming at me. It's like, it's not the devil. It's Diet Coke. And I do not need any comments about Aspartame and how I'm going to die.

I'm going to heaven when I die, and I'm ready to see Jesus at any time. And I enjoy the delicious taste of Diet Coke, and it's deeper than you think. And I like it. I like it. Classic dad. Calm down. We're swimming fine. Calm down.

What's the big deal? Calm down, preacher. You're up here yelling and shouting and screaming and all this stuff. It doesn't take all that. We don't need all that. It's not that deep. Okay, Abby. You touch.

Life will eventually put you in a situation where you will from that point forward know your need for something. for something to stand on. These waters are deeper than you think. I was processing with a young man the other day said, I don't get depressed people. Why would you want to be depressed? As if depression was a desire. It's a disease. It's a disease. You understand a lot of the mental health issues that we're dealing with right now? It is not as if these people are selecting. There are behaviors. There are inputs. But at the heart of that, can we we take a moment to try to understand what's really going on in their life, in your life,

while you're at it? Would you stop being so hard on yourself? You're doing pretty good, after all. I think y'all need therapy, because only three people clap. I think y'all need therapy. I can't pay for the whole church to go to therapy, y'all. 75, 75. That's a lot of hours. I can't do it. I can't do it. I can't do it. You're going to have to hear me say this from the stage. because some of you're not going to let anybody else say it to you. You are trying to solve stuff at the level. You see it, but it's deeper than you think, and you can't see anything but the symptom. So you keep stuffing the symptoms, numbing the symptoms, shopping through the symptoms,

screaming in other people because of the symptoms. I'm sorry, y'all, but sin is deeper than you think. You don't preach enough about sin in this church. I wish you preach more about sin. Well, I guess you do is something you're an expert in. Preach about sin. A lot of the sermons where I hear that are so preaching against sin, they're just skimming it. All they're doing is saying, all right, you are committing adultery.

Stop that. How I stop committing adultery? When at the heart of me doing this is something that you haven't taught me to deal with. Stop. You know, like we had the youth services this week in the church. It was awesome. And, well, I tell you what, you kind of wish you could have a session with just the fellas so you could do a whole thing on porn.

Don't look at me. You brought your kids in here. There's E-Kids. You should have dropped them off. It is not my fault. You don't trust your kids with our volunteers. They're certified. All right?

You made that decision. But I wish I could. I wish I could do a whole thing with the boys about porn. Because I think I have a bigger message to give them then. Don't. We're so surface-level. in church. Sex is dirty and nasty and gross and ugly, so save it for your husband. Right?

Huh? Nobody taught me that the Holy Spirit would help me in my struggle with that. Nobody ever taught me that there are patterns I can put in place. Nobody ever taught me that I need more than just prayers. I need people to help me when I'm weak. Nobody taught me that. All you want to do is stand over, defeated people, and discourage them even more. But it is, you know, It's deeper than you think. Don't be depressed. Six-part series. Starts next Sunday.

Part one. Don't. Part two. Be. Part three. Depressed. What's the next three weeks going to be? I'm going to say that again.

Louder. But it's deeper. He came out there at noon because she was ashamed. And he died at noon because she was ashamed. And he comes to you right out in the light to show you. what I'm really dealing with. He's digging. You're digging. Can I have water? Why are you asking me for water? Just like a man. And he's digging. And he's digging. Because I know underneath this attitude, I know underneath this sorrow is a deep disappointment that what you thought would quench your thirst,

what you thought would satisfy your soul, didn't work. That who you thought you thought would Thought would never let you down, broke you in pieces. And I know that, he says, and I see that. And you keep trying to solve it on the level. You see it? Now let's solve it on the level that he sees it. It's deeper than you think, Abby. That's all I know to tell you.

I kept telling y'all to come in, not just because of what was happening in that moment. But you remember at Cinnamon Beach two summers earlier? spring break, and we're out there and the riptide comes. You remember when y'all all start swimming in and I told you afterwards? I think we almost all just died. I was scared. I didn't act scared while we were out there. Y'all, we were out there on spring break two years before this, and I just absolutely lost

track of where we were, and none of us could touch. Not Elijah, not Graham, not Abby, not me. Holly's in the house doing a puzzle. The smart happy room. And I got them all in, man, but it was a minute where anybody almost ever drowned before? Anybody ever almost drowned with your three kids out there? And you can't get them all in? So when I'm yelling this summer, I'm remembering that spring break.

I'm not just yelling because you're too far out there now. I still feel in my cells. If I close my eyes, I can remember thinking about, oh, God, this is it. And sometimes what you're dealing with right now isn't what you're dealing with right now. It's deeper than you think. And Jesus can help you deal with that. He didn't tell the woman I'll meet you in heaven one day. He said, go get your husband.

She said, I don't have a husband. He said, I know you've been with five and the one you have now is not your husband. She said you're a prophet. She thought he was a prophet because he spoke to her past. I think he was a prophet because he knew her future. He knows the plans he has for you. He knows the plans he has for you and is deeper than you think. He knows how he's going to redeem this season in your child's life.

And what he's doing is deeper than you think. The Lord said to me the other day, you need to start respecting the roots. All you ever look for in life to praise me for is the stuff that you can see above the surface. praising me more for the things I am doing deeper in your life. Start praising me more for things I'm teaching you. You hear me that you can carry forward. Start praising me more for things that I will explain later. So praise God now for what he will explain later. That's a faith principle. I praise you now. You can explain it later. I praise you now. I'll understand it later.

I praise you now, I'll get it later. I praise you now. It hurts right now, but it'll heal me later. I praise you now because it's a groundwork. I praise you now because it's a foundation. And after all, if God is building something awesome in my life, the first thing he will do is dig. So that's not the devil.

That's Jesus digging it out, because you've got a well on the inside. You got something special on the inside. You got something awesome on the inside. Somebody shout out of it. loud, I got it. High five, somebody say, I got it. I got it on the inside. I got it on the inside. Don't look at my bag. I'm not talking about that. Don't look on what's on my back. I'm not talking about that. I'm not talking about anything you can see. I'm not going to solve it

at the level. People can see it. I'm done trying to impress people. I'm done smiling through stuff that I need to work through. I'm done putting spiritual cliches over things that God wants to do a deep work to help me recover from. I want this water. Come on. I want this water. I want this water. The one that won't make me thirstier. I want this water.

The one that's not poison. I want this water. I want the one that comes from you, God. I want the real thing. I don't want the substitute. I don't want the stand in. I don't want the sixth man. I want the seventh man.

I want Jesus. Open your mouth. Why? And it's feeling. Because it's deeper than you think. It's deeper than you think. I got bad news. The problem is deeper than you think.

There's no seven steps to fix it. It's called sin, and it's the human condition. It's worse than they told you. It's not just get your act together and be happy when you do. That's the bad news. The problem is deeper than you think. I got good news. So is the power.

So is the power. If the problem is deeper than you think, so is the power. It won't run out. The patience of God will not run out. He'll sit here all day if that's what it takes. He will sit here all day. He will dig all day until he uncovers the real you.

He will do. past layers of pretension. He will dig past every persona. He will knock over everything you've propped up to try to keep you from being seen. He'll strip away every fig leaf. He'll come until that thing in your life that was standing up, that was erected as a facade, is torn down and all you have left is faith. And what he said to the woman is true for you. It's deeper than you think. It's going to be not a well that you can see. It's going to be a well from within. I wonder what you've been praying for. I wonder what you've been searching for.

The kingdom of God is within you. The spirit of God is within you. And just when you think you've reached your end. Now, whoever this is for, I knew that I needed to say it before I got up. And I would not be able to eat my lunch without saying this. So you listen. You've been telling God how deep the well is. He's trying to show you how deep his grace is.

Here it is. That's the word. That's the word. The grace is deeper still. If the fear runs deep, the faith runs deeper still. You see it? If the shame runs deep, the grace runs deeper still. It's deeper than you think.

It's deeper than you think. imagine, according to him who is able to do immeasurably more, it is deeper than you think. Those seeds that you're sowing that you don't think anybody notices, they are going in the soil right now, you respect that rooting process, you continue to water everything that you've planted with your tears, and you trust God to explain it later. It is deeper than you think. By the time Jesus gets done with this woman, she goes back to her village in Samaria, and she brings all the men back with her so they can meet Jesus. What God is doing in you right now is not about you.

It's about what God is going to do through you in the future. And you need to get off of this well today and begin to move in the direction of His Word for your life. The disappointment runs deep, but His grace runs deep. By your head, receive the living water today. Oh, Father, what a truth. that it's not about which mountain we worship on. It's not about what jar we brought. It's about what water is on the inside of us.

Oh, I bless you for showing me that again this week. I needed to know it this week, God. I start thinking, oh, I've got to get more money put away. Then I'll feel safe. Oh, I've got to get this person straightened out. Then I'll have peace. Oh, I got to get this calm down. I just got to make it through this season.

I got to finish this. And you told me to stop and sit by the well. and remember what is within me. And to call it out of these men and women, everyone's standing. The Spirit of God is in you. The favor of the Lord is on you. The hand of the Lord is upon you. The promise of God over your life, I call it to the surface now in Jesus' name.

The problem is deeper than you think. The promise is greater than you know. And I'm telling you, it's not coming one day, it's here right now. I'm telling you there's a well within you. right now. There is a well within you right now. There is a well. Well, if you enjoyed today's podcast, there are a couple things I'd love for you to do. Make sure to subscribe, rate, and review this podcast. You can also help us reach others by investing today at elevation church.org slash give. And thanks again for joining us on the Elevation Podcast.

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