Names of God | Week 5 | Caleb McMains | Message

Congratulations. You just spoke some Hebrew. You can go home today taking that victory. Yahweh Rapha, the Lord who heals.

What I wanna get out of the way before we really dive into what it means to have a God who heals is I want to address the tension that we could feel in this room. And it would be that when we hear that God is the Lord who heals, we could get into the mindset and start thinking,

well, maybe that doesn't make a lot of sense. Like, is he really a God who heals? I've I've seen people who have been sick. I've experienced a sickness and illness and disease. And I've prayed for healing. I've prayed that God would heal my mind. I've prayed that God would heal my mom, my dad, my grandmother,

my son, my daughter, but for some reason that didn't happen. And what I want to address in this moment is if you've been if you spent any time knowing Jesus and walking with Jesus and growing in your relationship with Jesus, that

it's not always the case that physical healing is what we're talking about. That there is a spiritual element to healing. And what I wanna propose to you in this moment is that we have a God who cares so deeply about the spiritual, about the heart, about the soul and that he is in fact the Lord who heals.

So what I'd love for do for us is I'd love to pray for our time. So you guys bow your heads, close your eyes, and let's pray. Dear Jesus, we come to you in this moment. We come to you in this space that you will just speak to us. That'll be your words

changing us. Will you transform us from the inside out as we begin to see that you are in fact the Lord who heals. We love you, Jesus. We thank you for this time. We thank you for this space to be here, to worship you, to praise you in your heavenly name. Amen.

Recently, my wife and I, we bought a house and it was a really exciting time for us. We took some steps to get there. We had to do a few things. We made a couple sacrifices.

One of the things we did was we we didn't renew our lease on our apartment and we had asked my in laws if we could move in with them. So we moved in with my in laws, and I know for some of you that is like your version of hell and you would absolutely never do that, but for me, it was wonderful. My father-in-law cooks. He loves his smoker.

He cooked often, so we ate we ate like kings. It was fantastic. And so we we did this. We moved in with them and this they agreed to it and everything and this was all before we realized we were pregnant.

So once we were glad the deal was already made that so they couldn't go back on it, but they were actually more pumped than we thought because they're like, yeah, grandbaby in the house. So when we moved out, there were actually a lot of tears from them, but a lot of joy from us. And so we we get into

their house and we go through this process of saving because it seems like this is the only logical explanation and possibility for us to actually be able to save and purchase a home. So after we were there for about a year,

we had sold a couple of kidneys, saved up enough, and we're able to purchase or get to a place where we could purchase a home. And so we started to go through this process of looking at homes and we got our realtor and we got our mortgage broker and we started getting really excited

because what was really cool for me and my wife is we started to picture ourselves out of our in laws house, which was fine, but we had one little bedroom and we were ready to go get our place. And so we started to picture ourselves in a home.

And it was really exciting for us because it was just going to be us. It was going to be our family. We were gonna raise our little girl. We got really excited and so we started getting into looking at homes and going into them and starting to really picture what our family was gonna look like. And by the grace of God, we were able to find a home here in Arizona, here in this area because one thing we didn't wanna do was leave this place. We love this church. We love this community and to be here was so important to us and God opened the possibility for us to do that which we were incredibly thankful for.

And so we we got into this house and we were able to move into it and we started to do some things inside, but after we had bought the house, something happened. Something changed. In fact, something changed in me. It was almost like a flip of a switch

because what was once really exciting for me and I was really amped up about this house and my wife and I were always talking about it, all of a sudden, dare I say it, I started to hate this house.

And that's a really bad place to be after you signed all the paperwork and everything is all done deal and you can't really go back on it. I was googling like crazy how to get out of this and it was not looking good for me. And it was really this thing inside me that one thing got a hold of my heart and it started to change my view of this house.

And I'm gonna say what this thing is and you guys are gonna laugh about it, but it still hits home a little bit for me and it seems small, but I had this issue where this house didn't have a garage.

And it really started to bother me. It started to really get into my skin and I was I started to look at this house and all of a sudden this one thing that this really seemed to be a really big deal for me, that this house didn't have a garage, which I didn't realize how much I wanted a garage until I realized I wasn't gonna have a garage.

And all of a sudden, I looked at this home and all my joy was gone. All of a sudden, what was once incredibly exciting for me

became something I didn't even wanna think about. It got so bad to the point that when I thought about the house, when I had to go to the house, when I had to go inside of the house, when people said congratulations, good job, I love it, you got a house, how wonderful.

Everything in me was cringing on the inside because I was just like, no. This wasn't supposed to be how it was. I wasn't expecting this to be the way it's gonna be.

And it was in this moment that I started to realize God was showing me something in my heart because it got so bad to the point where when my wife and I would sit down and she would be all excited and she would be like, yeah, can you see us doing this? And we'll put this on the wall and this is how we'll decorate. Maybe we can paint the wall this color. I would just sit there and be like, uh-huh.

Yeah. Yeah. We could probably do that. And she would look at me and she'd like, what's wrong? I was like, babe, we don't have a garage. And she's like, well, you cool it about the garage.

I'm like, it's a garage. Like, don't like, what's your deal with the garage? I was like, babe, I don't know. It's just it's destroying me. I don't get it. I don't know why, but this is the thing that is not making this enjoyable at all. And it was during this season that God was revealing something in my heart.

He was beginning to real reveal in me that I had a predetermined picture of what I thought my first home would look like. And the moment God didn't deliver on that, all of a sudden I was like, man, I don't know if I don't know if this is really what God had for us.

Man, I don't know if this is really what it's supposed to look like.

And then it dawned on me, isn't that us? Isn't that you? Isn't that me? Isn't that a condition that has been plaguing humanity since the beginning of time? That we can be in this moment of awe and wonder and just be like, yes, God is moving and he's providing and he's my victory and it's great and I love it.

To flip of a switch in a moment, we're like, man, I don't know. I don't know if God really knows what he's doing. Isn't that us? Don't we find these moments where it's like, oh yes, I just got married and it's beautiful and I can't wait to spend the rest of my life with my spouse.

And then a few months later, some trouble comes, some bitter moments happen. You're like, man, was this really who God had for me?

It's that moment where you're pregnant and you're excited and you're like, yes, God, this is this is what we've been praying for. And then in a moment you find out the baby's not gonna make it. There's a miscarriage. You're like, no, God. Are you really there?

We go through these moments. We go through these good times and these bad times and these hard times and these bitter times and these wonderful times, but is that really the life that Jesus

says we're gonna have this side of heaven? Is that we're just gonna be on this whirlwind of emotion going from praising God to not being happy with God to being stoked about what God is doing to wondering if he's even working? Is that really the life that Jesus had promised? May I propose to you that maybe, just maybe,

it's not. And so what we're gonna do is we're gonna dive into a couple of stories in scripture that are gonna help you and I understand, but more importantly, be transformed by the God who heals. And all of this comes into our big idea here. And it's this, it's that God is more concerned with the condition of my heart

than he is my circumstance.

It's not that he doesn't care about the circumstance. He cares about it all. He cares what you're going through. He feels your pain. He knows your hurts. Oh, but he's after your heart. Oh, he's after your soul. He wants to know you that personally, that intimately.

And so we're gonna look at a couple of stories where you're whether you know Jesus, whether you've been following Jesus for a really long time,

and you've been going through this journey of God revealing in you parts of you just like me where he's revealing in me that there's parts of me that maybe have not fully surrendered to his goodness and what he has for me and that regardless of where I live or the circumstance I'm in that he's still king,

what are the areas of my life that I have not given that to him?

We're gonna look at a story that helps us live that out, live through that. And if you're in this room and you've never given your life to Jesus and you're kinda in this room and you're like, yeah, you know, I'm here for the first time trying to figure out this church thing, this God thing, this Jesus thing, I don't understand it all. We're gonna look at another story

where, oh, that's you. Oh, when we see that Jesus, Jesus is after your heart. So if you have your bibles, I'd love for you guys to open up to the book of Exodus.

Exodus is in the old testament. If you have your physical bible, I'm giving you ample amounts of time to get there. Get that out. If you got the bible app on your phone, pull that out too. I want the word of God in front of you. Don't don't let this just be a place where you come and you see some scripture on the screen. Let this be a place where you are transformed by the word of God because I believe it has the power to do so. So get the word of God in front of you. We're gonna be in Exodus chapter 15. So try to find that. But before we jump into our Exodus story, we need to understand a little bit about what we're going to read.

And whenever I look at old testament stories, I really like to imagine how things work, how things are happening, and how it's all unfolding.

And the issue with that, with this particular story, is if you've ever seen the movie Prince of Egypt by DreamWorks, they've totally ruined it for me. It's a phenomenal movie, but it's the only thing I think about when I think about the story that we're about to look at, and it's the Exodus story. It's the Israelites who are enslaved

by the Egyptians, and they are working, and they are being belittled and dehumanized, and they it is a tragic scenario. And so the Israelites,

God's people are enslaved by the Egyptians. And if you know anything about slavery, it's not good. We don't we don't like that. It's not good for the people in slave. It's just we don't want that. Thankfully, we're on the other side of that in our today's culture, so that's fantastic.

So the Israelites, they're like crying to God. They're like, we're God's people. How could we be enslaved? How could we be so oppressed? How is this happening? God, hear our cries.

So what ends up happening is God reveals himself to a man named Moses. And he does so in a pretty miraculous way. He does it through a burning bush that isn't actually burning it up, which is pretty crazy. But he goes to Moses and he's like, Moses, you're gonna let my people go. You're gonna get my people out of slavery and you're going to free them. You are the person to do that. And Moses is like, no. No. No. God, it's not gonna be me. God's like, no. Like I said it was gonna be you. And if that's a testament to anything for you and me, it's like, don't say no to God if he's trying to get you to do something because you're just gonna end up losing that fight.

So why even try? So Moses like, alright, God. I guess I am gonna do it. And so he goes to Pharaoh, the Egyptian ruler, and he's like, hey. It's that moment where Moses like, let my people go. And Pharaoh's like, no. No.

Why would I do that? They're building everything. It's great. They fan palm trees and stuff over us. Like, we're loving it. So Pharaoh's like, no. And so through a series of unfortunate events, God is like, I'm I'm going to free my people and Moses, you are going to get them out of there. And so the bible calls these plagues and these 10 plagues

become get brought upon the Egyptians and at the end of the tenth one, the pharaoh was finally like, fine. I'm done.

I'm done. Moses, get them out of here. Get all the Israelites out of here. We've seen the power of your God or whatever's going on, like just get them out of here. We can't handle this anymore. We can't have this.

And so Moses like, okay. So the Israelites, they pack up and they head on to their journey out of slavery and they find themselves at a crossroads. They find themselves in between the Red Sea, a big body of water,

and the Egyptian army behind them. Because at some point in their journey on the way to the Red Sea, the Egyptians were like, wait a second, who's building the pyramids now? We gotta go get them back. And so the Egyptians changed their mind and the Egyptian army is now chasing the Israelites. And they're stuck.

They're like, where are we gonna go? We either try to swim across the Red Sea and drown or we go back to slavery.

And it's this moment that is absolutely burned into my mind. If you've never seen the movie, I'm sorry. Prince of Egypt, insane. It's this moment where Moses does what God tells him to do and the water is split down the middle and it just like walls of water with a pathway down the middle all the way to the other side.

It would have been a spectacle. It would have been absolutely amazing. It would have been this moment that you could never erase from your memory. I wasn't there. You weren't there. They were there. All I've got is the depiction that DreamWorks has in their movie, and that alone is still mind boggling to me.

They would have seen this greatness, the hand of God working. And so they make it across

the the Red Sea on dry ground. They go all the way across and they look behind them, and the Egyptian army is still following them. And this is the moment where the water comes down and God wipes out the Egyptian army. And for the first time in generations, the Israelite people are free. For the first time in generations,

they were oppressed, they were belittled, they were dehumanized. And on now, for the first time in history, they are free. And it was all at the hand of God. And so where we're gonna pick up the story is right after that. What happens after that? What happens when the Israelites are now free

and they continue their journey into this place called the promised land? And so where we're gonna pick up the story is Exodus 15 verse 22. So if you're at 15, just go down a little bit. Look for that really small number, 22, and that's where we're gonna start. Because verses one through 21

is important for us to understand because this is the Israelites praising God for everything. This is the moment. This is I just gave my life to Jesus moment. This is I just saw the hand of God work in a miraculous way, and they are praising and praising and praising praising,

and it goes on and on and on for 21 whole verses, And they just keep singing and praising and praising. They could not think of anything else to do except to praise God. It was an incredible moment for them. One that would be unforgettable, the hand of God delivering them from Egyptian rule.

And that's where we pick up the story. Exodus 15 verse 22.

If you haven't gotten there by now, all hope is probably lost for you and you should come back next week and try again.

Exodus fifteen twenty two starts with this. Then Moses led the people of Israel away from the Red Sea, and they moved out into the Desert Of Shur. They traveled into this desert for three days without finding any water.

When they came to the oasis of Marah, the water was too bitter to drink, so they called the place Marah, which means bitter, very creative. Then the people complained and turned against Moses, what are we going to drink? They demanded.

So Moses cried out to the Lord for help and the Lord showed them a piece of wood. Moses threw it into the water and this made the water good to drink. It was there at Marah that the Lord set before them the following decree as a standard to test their faithfulness. He said, if you will listen carefully

to the voice of the Lord your God and do what is right in his sight, obeying his commands and keeping all his decrees, then I will not make you suffer any of the diseases I sent on the Egyptians, for I am the Lord who heals.

After leaving Marah, the Israelites traveled on to the oasis of Elim where they found 12 springs and 70 palm trees. They camped there beside the water. Oh, do you not read that story and just think, what are they thinking? They're three days out.

They just saw God split the Red Sea. They walked across it. The Egyptian army no longer can get them. They were once slaves. Now they're free. And in three days time, they're thirsty, they need some water, they come to this water source, they taste the water, and they're like, oh my gosh, we can't drink this water, it's bitter, it's probably Arrowhead.

And they're just like, what are we gonna do?

Arrowhead's the worst.

They're three days out of seeing the most incredible thing I could imagine them seeing. And in just three days time, they get to some water that they can't drink. Granted, they are incredibly thirsty. But their first reaction is, God, really? They complained against Moses, which means in turn complained against God. What?

You read that story and you're like, come on guys, God got you through all the other stuff, don't you think he's gonna take care of you here? But then you look at yourself and you look at your life and you're like, wait a second, oh, that's me.

How often have I gone through life and been praising God for what he's done in my life only to find myself complaining and wondering if God is ever gonna show up again?

It's not too far fetched to think that maybe, just maybe the Israelites had forgotten that, oh my goodness, God delivered us from that, but maybe he won't deliver us from this. Maybe he won't provide us this. Maybe this is where we die. He gets us through the Red Sea. He gets us out of Egypt, but it's here where we die of thirst.

It's like, really? You think you think that's how God's gonna get you think that? Oh, but that's our issue. That's something we struggle with. It's so hard for us to see past the current circumstance that is before us.

And I love what this reveals about God because it was in this moment that God took an opportunity to reveal himself to the Israelite people in a new way. That he told Moses to take a piece of wood and to throw it in the water and it made the bitter waters sweet.

To show the Israelites, I'm with you. I won't just heal the water, I'm in the process of healing your soul because there's a part of you that in your complaining and in your frustration that is revealing that you have not fully realized that I'm with you through and through,

that I am the God who has promised to get you to the promised land and so there is nothing that will stop that. And God is showing his people, his character, that he is Yahweh Rapha. For the follower of Jesus in this room, oh, how important it is for us to remember where God's taken us from, where we've been.

So that when the moment does come and you're like, man, is God gonna get me through this? Oh, you can remember, oh, but he got me through that. Oh, he got me through that bitter moment. That divorce was nasty, but he got me through it. I lost my dad, but he got me through it. Is he going to be faithful? Yes, church.

He is Yahweh Rapha. And what I love about the Old Testament is there's something beautiful that happens all throughout the Old Testament. There's always these analogies about water because water is this life source that we need. Water is very important to our survivability here on earth.

So drink water, it's very important. But he uses water because water is something we're gonna always need to consume. Right? And so Jesus, when he comes on the scene, which we're about to jump into, we're about to look at a story where we see Jesus. Oh, we see Jesus and we see his wonder and we see his beauty.

But we see Jesus start talking about water. But don't you find it interesting that it was a piece of wood

that God told Moses to throw into the water? That it was a piece of wood that would make the bitter water sweet? Wouldn't it be a piece of wood that a man named Jesus would be crucified on to make the bitter moments of life, dare I say it, sweet,

that he would take on the sins of this world, take on your brokenness, my brokenness, your sin, my sin so that we could be free,

so that we could be saved, so that our hearts can be transformed, so that nothing that comes our way is going to cause us to waver in our faith because we know that we have Jesus, wouldn't it be a piece of wood that Jesus dies on? And so what I'd love to do is I'd love to fast forward. We're gonna fast forward many many years

and we're gonna go to Jesus is now on the scene. So if you have your bibles, you're gonna just fast forward, you're gonna go all the way to the book of John. The book of John is in the New Testament. The New Testament is all about the life of Jesus.

It's all about what Jesus is doing. It's all about the establishment of the church. Like we are about to read about a man who has changed history.

That the reason we sit here today is because of this man. And so John chapter four, we're gonna read about a woman. Now this woman doesn't really know God, doesn't really know who Jesus is. She kinda knows of. And maybe you're in this room and that's you. You're like, yeah, I I kind of I've kinda heard of God. I've kinda heard of this faith thing, and I'm here, and I'm trying to figure it out.

And maybe what brought you here is you're like, man, maybe there is some merit to this. Maybe there is something about this that can actually give make me feel free, make me feel like I can stop trying to go after the next thing.

Because apart from Jesus, that's all we're trying to do is we're just trying to go for the next thing and the next thing and the next thing, and that's this woman. And so in John chapter four, I love for you guys to join me in reading four,

starting in verse four. This is Jesus and it says, had to go through Samaria on the way. Eventually he came to the Samaritan village of Cinchar, near the field that Jacob gave his son Joseph.

Jacob's well was there. Jesus, tired from the long walks, sat wearily beside the well about noon time. Soon, a Samaritan woman came to draw water and Jesus said to her, please give me a drink. He was alone at the time because his disciples had gone into the village to buy some food. The woman was surprised,

for Jews refused to have anything to do with Samaritans.

She said to Jesus, you're a Jew. I'm a Samaritan woman. Why are you asking me for a drink? This woman was all kinds of confused. She's like, I don't get it. This doesn't make sense. Jesus, you shouldn't even be talking to me. You're Jewish. I'm Samaritan. This doesn't work. But listen to Jesus' reply.

It was probably really weird for her to hear this. Jesus says, if you only knew the gift God has for you and who you are speaking to, you would ask me and I would give you living water. She's super confused and she can only think of the practical and she responds with, but sir, you don't have a rope or a bucket

and this well is very deep. Where would you get this living water? And besides, do you think you're greater than our ancestor Jacob who gave us this well? How can you offer better water than he and his than he and his sons and his animals enjoyed?

Jesus, just keeping going with it. He replies, anyone who drinks this water will soon become thirsty again. But those who drink the water I give will never be thirsty again. It becomes a fresh bubbling spring within them, giving them eternal life.

I love this woman's reply because she still is focused on physical water. She hasn't quite caught on what you and I know is that Jesus is talking about something more than just water.

And she goes, please sir, the woman said, give me this water, then I'll never be thirsty again and I won't have to come back to get water. She's like, eternal thirst quencher, I'm in. No more water for me, I can drink Diet Coke forever.

But Jesus comes out of left field it seems like and in verse 16 he says, go get your husband, Jesus told me. I don't have a husband, the woman replied.

Jesus said, you're right. You don't have a husband for you have had five husbands and you aren't even married to the man you're living with now. You certainly spoke the truth.

She's a little like stressed out. She's like, sir, the woman said, you must be a prophet. So she changes the subject entirely. So tell me, why is it that you Jews insist that Jesus is the only place of worship while we Samaritans claim it's here on Mount Jerusalem, our where our ancestors worshiped? Jesus replies,

believe me, woman, the time is coming when we will no longer where it will no longer matter whether you worship the father in on this mountain or in Jerusalem.

You Samaritans know very little about the one you worship, while we Jews know all about them. For salvation comes through the Jews, but the time is coming indeed. It's here now when true worshipers will worship the father in spirit and truth.

The father is looking for those who will worship him that way for God is spirit. So those who worship him must worship in spirit and in truth. The woman said, I love this. I love this just reveals where her heart's at. The woman said, I know the Messiah is coming,

the one who is called Christ. When he comes, he will explain everything to us. Then Jesus, in just a few words, says, I am the Messiah. It is in this moment Jesus is having an encounter with a woman who has no idea what's going on.

She wants an explanation for it all. She's trying to figure out life. She's been trying to figure it out with her relationships. She's coming back for water time and time again. She has to do it at a certain time of day so that people don't see her. Her life is kinda in turmoil.

And she's having this moment with Jesus and she's like, man, one day since you're like so well knowing and a prophet and you know all the sins and the things that are going on in my life, she's like, one day this will all be explained to us.

This woman thought she needed an explanation. How many of us go through life and we go into church and we're like, I just need everything to be explained to me. But Jesus knew something, she didn't. Jesus knew this woman needed an encounter with him. Jesus knew this woman needed living water. It is not explanations

that heal the soul. It is an encounter with Jesus. It is Jesus who is the ultimate healer. When God says, I am Yahweh Rapha, Jesus says, that is me.

I am the ultimate fulfillment. I have come to heal all. I have come to heal this world so that you and I can have a relationship with the one true God so that in my soul, in my heart, I can be transformed from the inside out like a bubbling spring to have living water.

Oh, the promise of Jesus goes so much further than, oh, let me just quench your thirst. Oh, let me just make everything perfect. It goes to the core.

Because it's faith in Jesus to receive the living water, to be transformed from the inside out is what Jesus is after, and it is what God is saying when he says, I am Yahweh Rapha. It is Jesus who will heal every single one of us. What blows my mind is that this type of healing is not circumstantial.

This type of healing does not matter what we're going through. This is a kind of healing that doesn't make sense. When the bible says it will give you peace without understanding that we just won't get it, it won't make sense, it's because Jesus has transformed you from the inside out. And that is the ultimate healing.

And I began to think about this and I'm like, man, I I I know people who live this out.

You ever wonder like, hey, is this Jesus thing real? How how does this really happen? Oh, you start to meet people who are living their faith in such a way where you're like, Jesus is real because of the way they're living. Jesus is real because their heart's been transformed. Jesus is real because there's no way in our own human efforts we could ever be that

we could ever be that at peace. Whether we're going through the bitterest moments we could ever imagine,

or we're praising Jesus for the moments that we've been able to experience that have been great joy. It is the transformational power of Jesus that allows you and I to be able to go through each and every one of those moments

the peace of Jesus. There was a good friend of mine, his his name was Matt Hamilton. Maybe you know maybe you know the name, maybe you know the family, long time rock pointer. He served in middle school with me. And when I think of the transformational power of Jesus, when I think about Yahweh Rapha, the Lord who heals, oh,

oh, Matt Hamilton embodied this in such a way that I am so grateful for to know him. Matt Hamilton, if you didn't know, he he lost his father when he was a young boy. And what that kind of stirred in him when he was young is that he wanted to be a father who was there for his kids.

His father wasn't able to see him grow up and one of his great desires was to raise his family, raise his kids to know the Lord and to see it happen.

And not too long ago, Matt was sitting across from a doctor who looked at him and said, you have cancer. He heard the words none of us ever want to hear. He heard the words that some of us have heard, whether it was for a family member, someone you know, maybe yourself. But he heard these words

and all of a sudden, every little thought of what he thought his life was gonna look like was now being radically changed.

And in the process of the cancer taking root and things started to take a turn for the worst And things just started to get worse and the treatment started. And when treatment started, things started to look hopeful. There was this moment where like, yes, I think we're gonna see a miracle on earth.

But then like life so often does in a flip of a switch it was like, nah, this is not looking good. It was amazing how one day the text could come in and be like, things are looking good for Matt. And the next day it's like, no, it's not.

And I remember going over to Matt's house and I was sitting next to him. I was just talking to him and kinda listen to him talk, seeing how he was doing. And there was this smile on his face as he's talked about his life, as he talked about his family,

as he talked about everything that was going on. There just seemed to be something about him that was like, dude, you're way too calm about this.

Oh, but Matt had Jesus.

And Matt knew something that, man, I don't know if we all know.

Matt Matt totally and completely knew who his father was, who his king was, who his Lord was. That no matter what came his way, he was like, God's got me. God's got my family.

This is a man living his nightmare. His greatest fear was to not see his kids grow up and to not be able to raise them in which they would know the Lord that he loves so dearly.

Oh, he was going through it, but yet he had a peace. After talking to his wife a little bit and getting to know him and his family, Something Matt always said was, man, to die is to gain. And we actually see that in scripture where it talks about when we love Jesus, when we give our life to Jesus, sometimes the ultimate healing

is to pass from this place to go be with the father.

Oh, and boy is that a hard pill to swallow. But Matt knew something.

He knew that no matter what God's got him. We were hoping for a physical healing. But for Matt years ago there was a spiritual healing that happened in his heart and his soul that Jesus transformed him from the inside out so that when this moment came, oh, his faith didn't waver.

And even though Matt did not get to experience life the way he thought, that he did not get to experience raising his kids and seeing them grow up into being fearless followers of Jesus even though it didn't look the way he thought it looked. Oh, the power of Jesus and the faithfulness of God. Because of the way he lived

and the way he loved his father and the way he was transformed in his life, his wife, his kids, they are all so in love with Jesus. I have a wonderful picture to show you. This is his two youngest kids being baptized, church. They lost their father

whose only hope in life was to raise them in such a way where they would love the Lord. And while he didn't get to see it, here, oh, they love the Lord. They love this church.

And so for you church, for you and for me,

that only happens with the power of Jesus. It's always been Jesus. It will always be Jesus.

It's Jesus who died on that cross to take on the bitterness of life so that you and I don't have to. He conquered death so that even in the wake of death, we can say to die is the gain because I have the living water, because I have the spirit in me, because it's Jesus who has transformed me.

Some of you in this room came to church looking for an explanation, but instead you got an encounter with the one true God who says, do you want the living water? Are you tired? Are you weary? You sick of trying to figure it out on your own? You don't need an explanation. You need Jesus.

Jesus offers the living water free and completely in no need of any kind of effort or goodness. Jesus did not die on the cross so that you could work hard to try to be right with God. Jesus died on the cross. He gave his life.

He took on the bitterness of life. He took on your sins and mine. And he conquered death so that we could know him, so that we could spend eternity with him, so that on this side of heaven, no matter what comes our way, we can live in such a way where we know who our Lord, who our king, our savior, who our messiah,

who our healer is. If that's you in this room and you're like, I want that water. I want the living water. I wanna be transformed from the inside. I want the life of Jesus.

I'm gonna invite all of us to close our eyes, bow our heads, but if that's you, I'm gonna invite you to throw your hand up and just say something like this. Throw your hand up as a physical representation of what is happening in your soul, that Jesus is beginning a work in your heart, that regardless of the circumstance,

you can find peace in Jesus. Just say something like this. Nothing crazy, magical about it. Is a surrenderance to the one true God. Say, Jesus, I need you. Jesus, I'm tired of doing it on my own. Jesus, I believe that you are God.

That you gave your life for me.

That I am broken, that I am a sinner, but you are good and that you took it all and that you conquered death. Jesus, give me your living water. Jesus, fill me with your spirit. Jesus, transform me from the inside out. Jesus, thank you. Jesus, I confess with my mouth and I believe in my heart that you are Lord.

Jesus, I wanna lift up this room to you. I wanna lift up anybody in this room who just gave their life to you. Jesus, will you do a work in their life that you will begin to show them that you are who you say you are, that you are the one true God, that you have many names, but you are Jesus.

You are messiah. You are savior. You free us from our chains. You take our brokenness. You take on the bitterness of life, and you make us sweet. Jesus, you are king. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you, Jesus. You are our maker in your heavenly name. Amen. Church, let's stand and let's worship the name of Jesus.

Amen. Our God is worthy of his name. Hey. Can we celebrate as a family anyone who decided to join the family of Jesus today? Amen. If you made that decision, go to rockpoint.io

and do us a favor and click the say yes to Jesus tab. We have people that would love to connect with you and help you in your journey of faith. Thanks for joining us online this weekend. Let us know if we can help you in any way. Make sure to follow us on social media and connect with us on rockpoint.io

for prayer and everything happening here at Rock Point.