Westwinds

The calling of Jesus "requires" something of us – but not as a calling that simply takes something "from" us. Rather, the calling of Jesus requires something of us the way a seed requires water and sunlight. Just like a seed requires water and sunlight to grow and flourish, Jesus requires us to become vulnerable. Jesus asks us to go into the places to be with people we could never imagine being with. Perhaps these risks we must take are the very things "required" for us to grow and flourish in the way of Jesus.This last week of "The Host" is a culmination of conversations we have been having together for the past few weeks about hospitality, calling, and mission. However – beyond giving hospitality, answering calling, and responding to the mission of God – this calling of Jesus will always ask us to also be willing to receive the same hospitality from others. These practices are not just about being "for" others and "for" God. These practices are about learning to be "with" others and be "with" God. These practices are about presence.

The global Christian faith is built upon thousands of years of tradition and a history of people learning how to follow Jesus in their own places, times, and cultural contexts. However, this global movement of faith started in just one singular place... in Galilee, where Jesus was from.Biblical scholars and historians estimate the vast majority of Jesus' life and ministry was spent in this small, singular part of the world, around a small handful of towns surrounding the Sea of Galilee. Years before Jesus' final journey to Jerusalem, most of the Gospel accounts take place in this tiny region of the world.Jesus' life was profoundly local. He lived among a specific people, in a specific place, at a specific time. For centuries, the mission and message of Jesus has called many believers to unknown destinations and distant lands. What if the calling of God is often much simpler? What if the calling of God asks us to start right where our feet already are?

In the Book of Matthew, Jesus commissions his disciples to "go and make disciples of all nations," but only after walking with them through years of ministry, healings, casting out demons, and demonstrating his love through death and resurrection. Before he says "make disciples," he promises his Spirit – and that this Spirit will go with them into "Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth."As the disciples were empowered to go and "make disciples," some were tempted to ask, "who is the greatest among us?" Jesus reveals this is the wrong kind of question to ask. Instead, Jesus invites his followers to embrace a new kind of power – a power not simply found the miracles, healings, or strength... but a power discovered in the midst of weakness.

EPISODE TITLEThe One Who Sits With UsEPISODE SUMMARYJesus was always eating with people.Throughout the Gospels, meals become places where barriers disappear, outsiders are seen, and people who were rarely treated as equals suddenly find themselves sharing space with Jesus.This week, we explore the hospitality of Jesus through his encounter with the Samaritan woman in John 4. She approaches the well expecting to be ignored by a Jewish man. Instead, Jesus speaks to her, sees the pain behind her story, and invites her into a relationship marked by dignity and compassion.But the invitation of the message isn't simply to become more hospitable.Before we can offer the hospitality of Jesus to someone else, we have to learn how to receive it ourselves.Jesus chooses to sit with us. He sees us. He knows our weakness. And he earnestly desires our presence.KEY TAKEAWAYS• Sharing a meal in Jesus' world communicated belonging, dignity, and equality.• Jesus' hospitality consistently crossed social, religious, and cultural boundaries.• The Samaritan woman expected invisibility, but Jesus chose to see and engage her.• Jesus' knowledge of her past is better understood through compassion than condemnation.• Receiving is an important part of hospitality. Jesus asks the woman for water before offering her living water.• We don't earn God's presence through spiritual maturity or good behavior.• Learning to welcome others begins by trusting that we ourselves have already been welcomed by Christ.• Communion reminds us that Jesus doesn't merely tolerate our presence—he desires to sit with us.KEY MOMENTS00:00 What Part of Jesus' Story Do You Love?02:21 The Meals We Often Overlook04:06 Why the Table Mattered06:07 The Meaning of Hospitality07:45 Jesus: A Friend of Strangers08:24 Why Jesus Went Through Samaria10:01 Meeting the Woman at the Well12:08 "Go Get Your Husband"15:17 Seeing Her Story With Compassion16:21 Jesus Invites Her Into His Life17:37 Why Receiving Can Be Difficult19:08 God's Presence Isn't Earned21:11 Receiving Before Giving21:33 Jesus Desires Our Presence22:17 The One Who Sits With Us23:48 The Wide Open TableSCRIPTURE REFERENCESJohn 4:1–42Luke 22:14–20Ephesians 3:18–19Genesis 1:26–27REFLECTION QUESTIONWhat might change if you stopped imagining Jesus as someone you have to convince to welcome you—and began trusting that he already desires to sit with you?CONNECT WITH USThe hospitality of Jesus begins with an invitation: to be seen, known, and welcomed into his presence. As we learn to receive that kind of love, we can begin to extend it more freely to the strangers, neighbors, friends, and unexpected people we encounter every day.Subscribe to the podcast, share this episode with someone, and stay connected with Westwinds Church as we continue exploring what the hospitality of Jesus can look like in our lives.

How do you know what you're called to do when everything is demanding your attention?Our feeds can put the needs of the entire world in front of us at once. We encounter war, politics, suffering, outrage, advertising, entertainment, and endless opportunities to care. Eventually, many of us find ourselves exhausted, apathetic, or unsure what we're actually supposed to do with our lives.In the final week of Look T(Here), we explore the connection between attention and calling.Throughout Scripture, God's people developed practices that resisted the systems trying to define who they were and what their lives were for. Pharaoh told Israel their value was found in what they could produce. God called them something different. Jesus later stripped away layers of religious complexity and returned to something remarkably simple: love God and love your neighbor.Maybe calling isn't usually about discovering one enormous thing you're supposed to accomplish.Maybe it's learning to faithfully inhabit the life God has already given you.KEY TAKEAWAYS• Too much access to the world's suffering can leave us exhausted or numb.• God has not called us to carry every burden we encounter.• Our attention affects our ability to discern what God may actually be calling us toward.• Calling exists within the ordinary domains of our lives—our relationships, resources, work, communities, and responsibilities.• Sabbath was a practice of resistance that challenged Pharaoh's definition of human worth through production.• Every cultural system has its own version of calling and formation.• Jesus simplifies the calling of God's people around loving God and loving our neighbors.• Giving our attention to God creates space for God to reshape our desires.• Most of our lives will not be defined by dramatic moments of calling, but by ordinary faithfulness where our feet already are.KEY MOMENTS00:00 Attention Shapes Desire, Desire Shapes Life03:24 Living in an Attention Economy06:15 Why We've Lost Touch With Calling07:05 A Tour Through the Algorithm10:45 Compassion Fatigue and Compassion Apathy12:00 God Hasn't Asked You to Carry Everything12:31 Calling in Your Actual Life20:42 Called to Be a Kingdom of Priests21:19 Pharaoh's Calling vs. God's Calling22:18 Sabbath as Resistance25:14 Jesus Announces His Calling28:04 The Greatest Commandment29:05 Every System Has a Call30:38 When Distraction Drowns Out Calling31:03 Your Newsfeed Gives You the World31:58 Faithful Where Your Feet Are32:21 Resisting What Is Forming Us33:15 Giving Our Attention to GodSCRIPTURE REFERENCESExodus 19:3–6Deuteronomy 5:12–15Isaiah 61:1–2Luke 4:16–21Matthew 22:34–40REFLECTION QUESTIONWhat has God actually entrusted to you—and what would it look like to become more faithful right where your feet are?CONNECT WITH USYou don't have to carry the whole world.Following Jesus often begins much closer to home: with the people, responsibilities, resources, and places already in front of us.If this message was meaningful to you, share it with someone and stay connected with Westwinds as we continue learning how to give our attention to God and live faithfully in the lives we've been given.