Latest / Women At The Well: REJOICE / Episode 19 - GRACE- Trading Your Water Jar for God's Grace

Transcript

Episode 19 - GRACE- Trading Your Water Jar for God's Grace · Women At The Well: REJOICE

• 0:26
  SPEAKER_00: Good morning and welcome to Women at the Well Rejoice.
• 0:31
  SPEAKER_00: Sisters, it is such a blessing to meet you at the well this morning.
• 0:37
  SPEAKER_00: Today we're gathered in gratitude because God has given us grace.
• 0:42
  SPEAKER_00: He has allowed us to see a brand new day, another opportunity to receive His love, His mercy, and His presence.
• 0:55
  SPEAKER_00: You know, we are blessed, not because everything in our life is perfect, but because God's grace is sufficient.
• 1:05
  SPEAKER_00: As the word reminds us in 2 Corinthians 12 9, it says, And he said to me, My grace is sufficient for you, for my strength is made perfect in weakness.
• 1:20
  SPEAKER_00: Therefore, most gladly I would rather boast in my infirmities that the power of Christ may rest upon me.
• 1:30
  SPEAKER_00: Sisters, get your Bibles, get your coffee, your tea, and your lemon water.
• 1:36
  SPEAKER_00: And don't forget that we are at the well and we are getting ready to rejoice.
• 1:44
  SPEAKER_00: Let us pray.
• 1:47
  SPEAKER_00: Father God, we come to you today, just as we are.
• 1:53
  SPEAKER_00: Perhaps we're a bit tired, a bit hurried, and we're carrying joys filled with the weight of this world.
• 2:04
  SPEAKER_00: Father, we thank you that you are already here waiting for us at the well now of judgment.
• 2:11
  SPEAKER_00: But Lord, we thank you with a gaze of pure love and intentionality.
• 2:15
  SPEAKER_00: Father God, we just thank you.
• 2:17
  SPEAKER_00: We open our hearts to truly understanding your grace.
• 2:22
  SPEAKER_00: Help us to quiet the voices of loud enough and do more, so that we can hear your voice calling us beloved.
• 2:31
  SPEAKER_00: Lord, we ask that this time would be more than just words.
• 2:35
  SPEAKER_00: Let it be a divine encounter where our thirst meets your living water.
• 2:42
  SPEAKER_00: Father, we invite your Holy Spirit to move among us, restoring what is broken and refreshing what is dry.
• 2:50
  SPEAKER_00: Thank you, Lord, that we don't have to earn our place here.
• 2:54
  SPEAKER_00: We sit at your feet, ready to receive, and we thank you for your grace and your mercy.
• 3:01
  SPEAKER_00: In Jesus' precious name we pray.
• 3:04
  SPEAKER_00: Amen.
• 3:05
  SPEAKER_00: Well, sisters, no matter what we're carrying into this moment, yesterday's burdens, last season's pain, or even this morning's worries.
• 3:18
  SPEAKER_00: We are so blessed that we can lay it down at the well.
• 3:22
  SPEAKER_00: Because here in God's presence, we don't just find water, we find grace upon grace.
• 3:31
  SPEAKER_00: As you might have figured out already, our title is Grace.
• 3:35
  SPEAKER_00: Grace is defined as unmerited favor.
• 3:39
  SPEAKER_00: But in the contents of the woman at the well, it looks like intentionality.
• 3:47
  SPEAKER_00: Let us turn to Exodus first 34, 6.
• 3:51
  SPEAKER_00: Exodus 34 and 6.
• 3:57
  SPEAKER_00: This is one of the most foundational passages on grace in the entire Bible.
• 4:02
  SPEAKER_00: It reads, And the Lord passed before him and proclaimed, The Lord, the Lord God, merciful and gracious, long suffering and abounding in goodness and truth.
• 4:19
  SPEAKER_00: In that verse, we can see God's own character.
• 4:25
  SPEAKER_00: He describes himself as merciful and gracious.
• 4:30
  SPEAKER_00: He's slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness.
• 4:37
  SPEAKER_00: This means grace is not just something God gives.
• 4:42
  SPEAKER_00: But think about this.
• 4:43
  SPEAKER_00: Grace is who God is.
• 4:46
  SPEAKER_00: Let us look a little bit more deeply at God's grace.
• 4:51
  SPEAKER_00: If you notice that in John 4, and I like sticking with the woman at the well, the woman went to the well at noon.
• 5:02
  SPEAKER_00: It was the hottest part of the day, and likely to avoid the whispers and judgments of other women.
• 5:09
  SPEAKER_00: We know about that.
• 5:10
  SPEAKER_00: We know how catty we can be as women sometimes.
• 5:14
  SPEAKER_00: She was carrying the weight of five fellow marriages.
• 5:20
  SPEAKER_00: Anybody had more than one fellow marriage beside me?
• 5:24
  SPEAKER_00: And a current situation that didn't fit the social norms.
• 5:29
  SPEAKER_00: Today, we might not be carrying water jars at noon, but we do carry the weight of perfectionists, burnout, the imposter syndrome, and the scars of past choices.
• 5:44
  SPEAKER_00: You see, we often hide our noonday struggles behind curated social media feeds or busy schedules, hoping no one sees the thirst underneath.
• 5:58
  SPEAKER_00: As a woman in this day and age, you are often expected to be everything to everyone.
• 6:07
  SPEAKER_00: It can be very exhausting.
• 6:09
  SPEAKER_00: You see, there is no such thing as a superwoman.
• 6:13
  SPEAKER_00: But God's grace is extended to you in three specific ways.
• 6:21
  SPEAKER_00: And that's what we want to talk about.
• 6:24
  SPEAKER_00: God is a restorer.
• 6:27
  SPEAKER_00: You see, when you feel like you failed as a mother, a daughter, a professional, or a friend, grace steps in to say, your value is found in him, not in your output.
• 6:42
  SPEAKER_00: And that's really good.
• 6:45
  SPEAKER_00: Our grace is found in God, but not in our output.
• 6:50
  SPEAKER_00: Not what you do, not what you can do, but it's found in God.
• 7:01
  SPEAKER_00: In a world that is quick to cancel and slow to forgive, God's grace is a constant invitation to start over.
• 7:12
  SPEAKER_00: It is new every single morning.
• 7:15
  SPEAKER_00: Check out Lamentations 3, 22, and 23.
• 7:19
  SPEAKER_00: It'll bless your heart.
• 7:22
  SPEAKER_00: And then God is a restorer.
• 7:25
  SPEAKER_00: Remember, he told them that he was going to give them back what the locals had took?
• 7:30
  SPEAKER_00: Woo! When you feel that you fell as a mother, a daughter, or a confessional, or even a best friend.
• 7:41
  SPEAKER_00: Grace steps in to say, I got you.
• 7:46
  SPEAKER_00: I've had you all the time.
• 7:49
  SPEAKER_00: Then as living water, you don't have to keep digging empty wells of validations or achievements.
• 7:58
  SPEAKER_00: That's something that throws many women off.
• 8:03
  SPEAKER_00: You don't get the validation of who you are in the workplace.
• 8:08
  SPEAKER_00: You've done all this work, but yet Susie Q, you know what I mean.
• 8:15
  SPEAKER_00: She gets the achievements, she gets the promotion, she gets the validation, but you've done all the work.
• 8:27
  SPEAKER_00: See, grace is the permission for you to stop thriving and simply receive God.
• 8:36
  SPEAKER_00: This is something that you're not working for.
• 8:40
  SPEAKER_00: This is something that God is willing to give you.
• 8:44
  SPEAKER_00: It can feel frustrating because we are so conditioned to earn everything.
• 8:50
  SPEAKER_00: We're conditioned to earn that paycheck, earn that promotion, earn that good reputation.
• 8:56
  SPEAKER_00: But that's the idea of a free gift.
• 9:01
  SPEAKER_00: It feels like a trick or a rhythm.
• 9:05
  SPEAKER_00: You see, we don't have to do all that.
• 9:08
  SPEAKER_00: So, since we're so conditioned to do all these things, because God's gift is free, it's puzzling to us.
• 9:17
  SPEAKER_00: It's like, oh, that really, really can't be true.
• 9:20
  SPEAKER_00: But to make it make sense, we have to stop thinking of grace as a reward.
• 9:27
  SPEAKER_00: It's not.
• 9:28
  SPEAKER_00: And start seeing it as a relationship.
• 9:32
  SPEAKER_00: Here is the practical breakdown of how you can actually accept grace just as it is.
• 9:40
  SPEAKER_00: Now, you can't drink if you don't admit you're thirsty.
• 9:45
  SPEAKER_00: Accepting grace starts with a moment of radical honesty.
• 9:49
  SPEAKER_00: It's looking at the wells you've been digging, trying to be the perfect woman, trying to fix your past, trying to control your future.
• 9:59
  SPEAKER_00: But then one day you wake up, you look in the mirror, and you're tired.
• 10:04
  SPEAKER_00: Then you realize I can't do this on my own.
• 10:07
  SPEAKER_00: And I'm actually tired of trying.
• 10:10
  SPEAKER_00: You know, uh, I have to say that I felt that way one morning in my marriage.
• 10:18
  SPEAKER_00: I had tried everything, tried to be the perfect wife, just tried everything.
• 10:25
  SPEAKER_00: And I just realized that, you know, I'm tired of trying.
• 10:29
  SPEAKER_00: I can't do this.
• 10:31
  SPEAKER_00: Well, the practical step is prayer.
• 10:34
  SPEAKER_00: And I chose to pray a lot.
• 10:36
  SPEAKER_00: Believe me, I had a lot to pray about, especially in that marriage.
• 10:42
  SPEAKER_00: See, prayer doesn't have to be fancy, it's just saying, God, I'm exhausted and I can't fix myself.
• 10:50
  SPEAKER_00: And sometimes it takes failing over and over and over again before you realize that you can't fix you.
• 11:01
  SPEAKER_00: Only God can do this.
• 11:04
  SPEAKER_00: Then we can tell God, God, I need everything you're offering me.
• 11:08
  SPEAKER_00: I need it.
• 11:10
  SPEAKER_00: I appreciate and I'll thank you.
• 11:13
  SPEAKER_00: What can I do?
• 11:16
  SPEAKER_00: In the story, the woman literally left her water jar behind.
• 11:21
  SPEAKER_00: That jar represented her own way of surviving, her efforts, her shame, and her physical labor.
• 11:28
  SPEAKER_00: Accepting grace is an exchange.
• 11:31
  SPEAKER_00: You give God your guilt for the things you've done, your shame for the things done to you, your unforgiveness for people you can't seem to forgive, your lies because you were trying to protect yourself, your judgmental thoughts, because you had to feel like you were better than anybody else in order to keep going.
• 12:02
  SPEAKER_00: Just give all that junk to God.
• 12:05
  SPEAKER_00: He owns it, it belongs to him.
• 12:10
  SPEAKER_00: So you're thriving, but need to be good enough.
• 12:13
  SPEAKER_00: In return, he gives you his peace and his righteousness.
• 12:18
  SPEAKER_00: You don't feel righteous immediately.
• 12:21
  SPEAKER_00: You simply choose to believe that he has covered your mess with his mercy.
• 12:27
  SPEAKER_00: Now, this is where a lot of us get stuck.
• 12:30
  SPEAKER_00: We want to feel forgiven or feel worthy before we think we've accepted it.
• 12:37
  SPEAKER_00: Grace is a legal fact, it's not an emotional state.
• 12:43
  SPEAKER_00: Remember, if someone gives you a gift, it is yours the moment you take it.
• 12:49
  SPEAKER_00: Whether you feel like you deserve it or not, whether you want the gift or not, the moment you take it, it belongs to you.
• 12:58
  SPEAKER_00: To accept grace, you simply agree with God.
• 13:04
  SPEAKER_00: What the voices in your head says, you're a failure, you respond with, or you can, respond with, I feel like a failure, but God's grace, hey, says I'm his child.
• 13:21
  SPEAKER_00: It's just as simple.
• 13:23
  SPEAKER_00: Whatever makes you feel unworthy, undecisive, you turn that thought back into God.
• 13:35
  SPEAKER_00: God says, I am wonderfully made.
• 13:40
  SPEAKER_00: God says I am his child.
• 13:44
  SPEAKER_00: See, accepting grace isn't a one-time event.
• 13:48
  SPEAKER_00: It's going to be a daily posture.
• 13:50
  SPEAKER_00: It's waking up every morning and deciding that today's mistakes are already covered, and yesterday's is already gone.
• 14:01
  SPEAKER_00: This is the grace of God.
• 14:09
  SPEAKER_00: As revealed in Exodus 34,6, He is naturally merciful, low to anger, and abounding in love.
• 14:19
  SPEAKER_00: And well, this grace looks like intentionality.
• 14:24
  SPEAKER_00: He has one out of his way to meet that woman, brother, just as he speaks to me too and your friends.
• 14:40
  SPEAKER_00: The prince should be everything to everyone.
• 14:43
  SPEAKER_00: The free up women fell down.
• 14:49
  SPEAKER_00: We have business schedules and social media.
• 14:53
  SPEAKER_00: God's grace makes these troubles by acting as your story.
• 15:07
  SPEAKER_00: He's offering a constant invitation to start open and accounts of culture.
• 15:20
  SPEAKER_00: He's giving you permission to stop five, for validation, and simple with clean grace.
• 15:30
  SPEAKER_00: You've got to accept it.
• 15:35
  SPEAKER_00: It's a relationship and it's changed.
• 15:38
  SPEAKER_00: And you must accept it.
• 15:40
  SPEAKER_00: Because God loves you, He cares with you.
• 15:45
  SPEAKER_00: And every morning you wake up, His grace and mercy on you.
• 15:51
  SPEAKER_00: Heavenly Father, we thank you for meeting us here at the well.
• 15:56
  SPEAKER_00: We're so grateful that you are a God of intentionality, that you see us in our noonday heat, under the weight of our jars, and you father, you don't look away.
• 16:08
  SPEAKER_00: Thank you for seeing us.
• 16:12
  SPEAKER_00: Naked, uncovered, you just see us.
• 16:16
  SPEAKER_00: Thank you, Lord.
• 16:18
  SPEAKER_00: Lord, we lay down the burdens we've been carrying, the perfectionist that makes us tired.
• 16:26
  SPEAKER_00: It exhausts us.
• 16:28
  SPEAKER_00: The shame that silences us and the striving that never seems to be enough.
• 16:34
  SPEAKER_00: Lord, we trade our heavy jars in for your living wildly that runs deep and that just will overflow us.
• 16:43
  SPEAKER_00: Lord, help us to remember that your grace is not a reward we don't have to earn it, but it's a relationship that we must rest in you.
• 16:53
  SPEAKER_00: When we wake up tomorrow, remind us that our mercies are brand new and that our identities is found in your love, not in what we do, how much we achieve, how well we look.
• 17:06
  SPEAKER_00: It's just found in you.
• 17:08
  SPEAKER_00: And thank you for being our restorer, our safe harbor, and our source of joy in everything else.
• 17:20
  SPEAKER_00: Lord, we leave this moment changed, choosing to agree with what you say about us, that we are seen, we are known, and we are truly, deeply loved, Father God.
• 17:32
  SPEAKER_00: We are deeply loved by you.
• 17:37
  SPEAKER_00: And I thank you, Lord.
• 17:39
  SPEAKER_00: I thank you for your grace that truly, truly keeps us going every day.
• 17:45
  SPEAKER_00: In Jesus' wonderful name we pray.
• 17:48
  SPEAKER_00: Amen.
• 17:49
  SPEAKER_00: Sisters, as we are preparing to leave this well, I have rose your hopes, and I thank you so much for joining me here this morning.
• 17:57
  SPEAKER_00: As we leave the well today, remember that the water joy you came with doesn't have to be the one you carry home.
• 18:04
  SPEAKER_00: You are walking away with something far more sustainable than your own effort.
• 18:09
  SPEAKER_00: Remember that.
• 18:10
  SPEAKER_00: It's not in your effort, it's in him.
• 18:13
  SPEAKER_00: Carry your truth.
• 18:14
  SPEAKER_00: You are not defined by your noonday struggles or the whispers in this world.
• 18:20
  SPEAKER_00: You are defined by the one who sits at the well and chose you.
• 18:26
  SPEAKER_00: You must keep your posture because when the whale of expectation starts to feel heavy this week.
• 18:35
  SPEAKER_00: Take breath and remember the exchange.
• 18:40
  SPEAKER_00: You're striving for his peace.
• 18:43
  SPEAKER_00: You must stay refreshed because this wasn't just a one-time drink.
• 18:48
  SPEAKER_00: You've got to drink from this well daily.
• 18:50
  SPEAKER_00: The well is always open and the grace is always flowing.
• 18:56
  SPEAKER_00: If the Lord says the same, I will see you next Wednesday morning.
• 19:02
  SPEAKER_00: I'm hope.
• 19:03
  SPEAKER_00: You're hope.