Woman at the Well

Open Story: 

pray with me before we look at God’s word

Message - 

SCRIPTURE: JOHN 4:4-15 , 26-29

for context:

Leading up to this passage Jesus has been spending time in the land of Judea and he began to make his way back to Galilee, this journey is roughly 70-100 miles and would’ve taken roughly three to five days and so we pick up this passage in the middle of that journey starting in verse four

Scripture: John 4:4-15 , 26-29

Read: John 4:7-13

And he had to pass through Samaria. So he came to a town of Samaria called Sychar, near the field that Jacob had given to his son Joseph. Jacob’s well was there; so Jesus, wearied as he was from his journey, was sitting beside the well. It was about the sixth hour. A woman from Samaria came to draw water. Jesus said to her, “Give me a drink.” (For his disciples had gone away into the city to buy food.) The Samaritan woman said to him, “How is it that you, a Jew, ask for a drink from me, a woman of Samaria?” (For Jews have no dealings with Samaritans.) Jesus answered her, “If you knew the gift of God, and who it is that is saying to you, ‘Give me a drink,’ you would have asked him, and he would have given you living water.” The woman said to him, “Sir, you have nothing to draw water with, and the well is deep. Where do you get that living water? Are you greater than our father Jacob? He gave us the well and drank from it himself, as did his sons and his livestock.” Jesus said to her, “Everyone who drinks of this water will be thirsty again

We go to what we know to be filled

When Jesus says that everyone who drinks of this water will thirst again, the woman would’ve been probably been like DUH everyone knows that. The woman had probably been coming to this well since she was a little girl bringing water back to her village. And everyday she has to come back for more water because they have run out and become thirsty.

The thing is, the woman was not frustrated with coming back everyday to get water because it was all she ever knew. she just kept coming back to this same well to be filled and satisfied each day. The woman only saw the need in front of her and filled that need with what she knew.

So many of us have played this out in our own lives and yet we never search for anything different. Jesus isn’t just talking about water but he is talking about the physical world, he is saying everything you think will satisfy you will only work for a time.

We all have different wells we run to in order to feel full.

For some of us we run to relationships with a boyfriend or girlfriend so that we can fill the need of being desired.

We can feel insecure about who we are and run to popularity and to more friendships to feel accepted or loved.

We can feel heavy from life events and run to drugs to soften the pain they are experiencing right now.

We might feel like the world is overwhelming and so we go to social media as a distraction from real life

We feel guilty for sin and run to religion thinking if we are good enough the guilt would go away.

Some of you might’ve felt like you just haven’t been able to connect with God so you ran to Hume because you’ll experience God different there

Whatever it is, we all have wells we are running to and the truth is everyday we feel like we need another hit or another kick of that same feeling to satisfy us.

The world leaves us searching for satisfaction

READ: John 4:14-15

but whoever drinks of the water that I will give him will never be thirsty again. The water that I will give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life.” The woman said to him, “Sir, give me this water, so that I will not be thirsty or have to come here to draw water.”

Jesus offers us a life of satisfaction

Jesus isn’t offering a replacement for her physical water he is not offering her a way to not have to come back to this place… He is offering something so much more! he is showing her that whoever receives his teaching will receive unlimited access to God. He is promising the Holy Spirit to come to all who believe.

Jesus does not offer us a way to not have to eat food or drink water… As cool as it might sound, it doesn’t do anything for us when we are dealing with the death of a family member or a broken heart from a failed relationship. What Jesus offers is a remedy for life’s struggles.

Psalm 107:9

Says “For He (God) has satisfied the thirsty soul and he has filled the hungry soul with what is good”

He is showing that he is enough for the thirsty soul.

Maybe you have been going to the same well since you were a little kid. Jesus is offering you a new well with new water that doesn’t leave you empty and dissatisfied but one this continually fills you up from the inside out. God does not leave you empty wanting more but

John 15:4

Says “Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit by itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in me.”

The fruit of the spirit is Love joy peace patience kindness goodness faithfulness gentleness and self control.

Who doesn’t want a life marked by these things?

We these fruits don’t come about by going to church on Sundays and Wednesdays and leaving the personal relationship behind, but they come through drinking of the living water which is daily obedience and communion with God.

Jesus offers us a life of satisfaction

READ: John 4:26-29

When she realized what Jesus was offering her and saw who she was, she left what was most important to her to go share what she had heard.

Before Hume you might’ve left home with some wells that you were going to and you went to Hume and made a decisions for Jesus. Whether that was a rededication or a first time decision you made some sort of decision for Jesus.

You might’ve been fired up for the first week or so and now the excitement is wearing off, those old wells are right there everyday telling you to come get some water and to come be filled up

Now you aren’t spending as much time with God your not having as many conversations about your faith and you wonder “God where have you gone?”

God is right hear right now calling you to a life of satisfaction.

God does not move in a different way at camp than he does hear, we are just giving him more of our time and attention when we are there which gives him more space in our life to fill us up

Leave those old water pots and let the lord fill you up.

We have to destroy the old wells and let God fill us up.

Close:

If you do not know Jesus and feel like you’re in this constant search for something to work or fill you up, Jesus offers us the remedy for all of our life’s struggles and hardship. He offers a remedy for the brokenness that we feel from others as well as a remedy for the trouble we bring on ourselves. Jesus offer you eternal life with him in heaven through the forgiveness of sins. If you have never heard of this hope then please come have a conversation with me or another leader after the service.

And for you who are believers in the room, what are the wells you are drawing from to find satisfaction and fulfillment?

If you are bouncing form one relationship to the next ask yourself why, if you are stuck in a cycle of substance abuse ask yourself why whatever it might be in your life ask yourself why do i desire this thing so much?

Once you’ve identified it, look at scripture and let Gods word transform your heart and mind through spending time with him.

PRAY

John 4:4–15 “And he had to pass through Samaria. So he came to a town of Samaria called Sychar, near the field that Jacob had given to his son Joseph. Jacob’s well was there; so Jesus, wearied as he was from his journey, was sitting beside the well. It was about the sixth hour. A woman from Samaria came to draw water. Jesus said to her, “Give me a drink.” (For his disciples had gone away into the city to buy food.) The Samaritan woman said to him, “How is it that you, a Jew, ask for a drink from me, a woman of Samaria?” (For Jews have no dealings with Samaritans.) Jesus answered her, “If you knew the gift of God, and who it is that is saying to you, ‘Give me a drink,’ you would have asked him, and he would have given you living water.” The woman said to him, “Sir, you have nothing to draw water with, and the well is deep. Where do you get that living water? Are you greater than our father Jacob? He gave us the well and drank from it himself, as did his sons and his livestock.” Jesus said to her, “Everyone who drinks of this water will be thirsty again, but whoever drinks of the water that I will give him will never be thirsty again. The water that I will give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life.” The woman said to him, “Sir, give me this water, so that I will not be thirsty or have to come here to draw water.”” , John 4:26–29 “Jesus said to her, “I who speak to you am he.” Just then his disciples came back. They marveled that he was talking with a woman, but no one said, “What do you seek?” or, “Why are you talking with her?” So the woman left her water jar and went away into town and said to the people, “Come, see a man who told me all that I ever did. Can this be the Christ?””