No Filter: I am Known and Loved by God

Jesus doesn't want to just brighten your day, He wants to change your life.

It is easier to hide from our mistakes than to face them, because it takes courage to admit our faults. However, Jesus wants to address our deep-rooted problems, to unveil them, and to have us confront them in order to bring deliverance.

The good news is that even though God sees and knows all our faults and issues, He is not looking to judge or condemn us; rather, He wants us to bring our issues to Him so that He can heal us.

Jesus does not disqualify us because of our parents, our citizenship, our skin color, or because we don’t look or speak a certain way. The same way He chose to love the Samaritans is the same way He chooses to love you – despite what environment you may come from. Jesus will risk it all to come and meet you where you are struggling or hurting.

Jesus, in His encounter with the Samaritan woman, shows us how He expects us to treat others. You may not see and know others the way God does; but you don’t have to, because all He requires us to do is to love them.

The same way Jesus chose to love the Samaritans despite what others said — the same way God loves you despite your faults, is the same way we are commanded to love others.

This week, let’s consider those who have come alone to the well, and instead of overlooking them, let’s tell them about a man who knows us inside and out yet chooses to love us anyway.

Speaker: Vanessa McIntosh

Text: John 4:1-18

Context

Message

In John chapter four, as Jesus is traveling through Samaria, He stops to rest and encounters a Samaritan woman at Jacob's well in the town of Sychar. He asks the woman, who comes to draw water, for a drink. This request is significant because Jews typically avoided interacting with Samaritans due to long-standing ethnic and religious animosity.

In their interaction, Jesus showed love by engaging her with respect, revealing His divine nature, offering her eternal life, and empowering her to be a witness, all while overlooking the societal prejudices and her personal history. He saw her worth and her potential, and that transformative love led her to a new life.

By the end of their encounter, the woman was so overjoyed that she left her water jar and rushed back to her town, proclaiming to the people, "Come, see a man who told me everything I ever did. Could this be the Messiah?" Many Samaritans from that town believed in Jesus because of her testimony. They then went to see Jesus themselves and invited him to stay. He remained with them for two days, during which many more come to believe because of His own words.