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In today's episode, we will hear Jesus ask a man, what we might think is the world's dumbest question. Take it easy, I'm not saying that Jesus asked dumb questions. But at first glance, it seems like it. He asks a man who has been an invalid for 38 years, if he wants to be made well. It's a seemingly outrageous question right? Except sometimes it needs to be asked. Sometimes we've gotten used to our brokenness. We become friends with our hopelessness. It becomes part of our identity. So do you want to be made well?

Perhaps it's time to say yes.

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In the last part of John 4, we find a story. I'm calling it a "seventh hour" story. It's a story of Jesus healing a man's dying son, with just a word, from long distance. The healing took place at the seventh hour. And I imagine that forever after when this family would rehearse God's faithfulness they would share their seventh hour story. A time when God came through even before they knew He came through. A time when they were given a word from Jesus and they responded. 

So just ask yourself, "what's my seventh hour story?" If I don't have one, perhaps it's because I haven't responded to His Word?

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Before we jump into the miracle of John 4, Jesus' second sign. I just want to make sure we understand the connection between Jesus and the Word. This connection goes beyond metaphor into the land of mystical.  It goes beyond symbolic into the land of supernatural.  There is this connection between Jesus, who is called the Word, and the Word which we call our Bible. So everytime we open this book it can be like sitting down with Jesus, no matter what page we are on.  

So here's what I want you to do for just a few moments, even before you listen, I want you to picture yourself, with Jesus, wherever you would be the most at ease, walking by a stream in the forest.  Catching up over a grande coffee. And I want you to imagine, listening to, learning from and leaning into... HIS WORDS!

And then you gotta listen to me. Sorry! :)

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Our teaching series at Calvary is unpacking four portraits of a Jesus-apprentice. This episode is my message on courageous leaders. When we love someone more than we love ourselves we do courageous stuff. Courage isn't the absence of fear, it's the presence of heart. And if we define leadership as bossing the best, or even accomplishing the most, we may be settling for false finish lines. 

Bottom line, our world today needs courageous leadership...and you, every you listening can be a courageous leader!

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John 4 contains an amazing story full of life-giving themes. It's all about soul-thirst and the hunger of our hearts to live for a worthy mission. It's all about city-revivals and turning the world upside down. It's all about worship and Jesus' mission to find people who will truly worship him.

And it's all about sharing the treasure of Jesus with people living in the margins of life. Who might you share that treasure with in the coming days?

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In John 4, we find a story of something Jesus "had to do." What is your "have-to-do?" The greek word translated as "had to" is often a word that signifies a divine necessity. Perhaps it was a divine necessity for Jesus to go through Samaria. God had a divine appointment set up for Jesus with a woman in Samaria. 

So here's the deal. Our story is shaped by our have-to. What I have to do defines me. Jesus was defined by the have-to of Father God. The heart of the Father compelled him to compassion and because of love, he had to share the gospel, the good news. So ask yourself, "What is my have-to?"

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Jackie Hill Perry says this about Jesus, “He is so much greater than the greatest thing and so much more glorious than the most glorious glory the eyes could see. Knowing this, He becomes the aim of all our doing.” He is so much greater. As we finish up John 3, the words give us an opportunity to simply ponder the greatness of Jesus and ask (and maybe even answer) the question, "Jesus are you the one?"

Because if the answer is yes. I can't think of a more important question to answer. Because if he really is the one, if he really is who he claimed to be, then he is the single most significant person who ever lived (and still lives)! He is preeminent in everything.

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John 3:16 is probably the most famous verse in scripture. And not only is it famous, it's great! It gives a one-sentence tweetable summary of the good news that leads to a great life on the Jesus way. It's the beginning of our journey on the way of Jesus, the very beginning. And what is at the beginning? God's love. Like I said in the last episode, "you are God's beloved masterpiece." And few short verses describe the love part of beloved masterpiece, than John 3:16.

You are relentlessly pursued by a lavishly gracious God who is all-in on you. And just so  you don't miss it. You aren't the only one. In fact, you probably have an enemy or two, who is loved like that by God, as well. I needed to hear that! Who knows what you might discover in this greatest, most famous verse?

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As we journey on the Jesus-Way, we are going to unpack four different portraits of a Jesus-apprentice. A Jesus-Apprentice is a Beloved Masterpiece, a Courageous Leader, a Bridge-Builder, man our country needs bridge-builders today and an apprentice of Jesus is a front-yard missionary. Those last three, courageous leader,  bridge-builder and front-yard missionary, there's a lot of doing in those right? And the Jesus-way definitely involves an all-in doing. But beloved masterpiece, that's a bit more about being...not just what we do, but who we are. And do you understand that who we are is all wrapped up in what God is doing.

You are God's beloved masterpiece! A unique creation loved passionately and persistantly by a God who is all-in on you!

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In John 3, a man comes to Jesus looking for something more. He sensed in his spirit that Jesus might show him the way to something more. But Jesus' words confused him just a bit. Jesus said, if you want something more, "You must be born again." What in the world does that mean? It means that in Jesus, God offers us something more that's so radically different that it's like being born all over again; like starting over and being delivered into a whole new world, for a whole new life. It's not just more of the same old, same old. It's not just like before only better. It's not cosmetic or marginal; you are on your way to a breathtaking,  supernatural, eternally new life. 

Are you looking for something more?