Untitled Sermon

After She Left the Pot Behind

John 4:21–28 (KJV 1900)

21Jesus saith unto her, Woman, believe me, the hour cometh, when ye shall neither in this mountain, nor yet at Jerusalem, worship the Father.

22Ye worship ye know not what: we know what we worship: for salvation is of the Jews.

23But the hour cometh, and now is, when the true worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth: for the Father seeketh such to worship him.

24God is a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth.

25The woman saith unto him, I know that Messias cometh, which is called Christ: when he is come, he will tell us all things.

26Jesus saith unto her, I that speak unto thee am he.

27And upon this came his disciples, and marvelled that he talked with the woman: yet no man said, What seekest thou? or, Why talkest thou with her?

28The woman then left her waterpot, and went her way into the city…

Purpose: Worship will cause us to abandon what we are doing when God speaks to us. True worshipers do not go through the motions but will worship in spirit and in truth. True worship helps us connect with God altering our will to become his will.

Introduction: During this interaction with Jesus something caused this woman at the well to forget why she was there. She left her waterpot behind and went back into the city to tell everyone about the encounter she just had.

Praise and Worship:

Praise: Praising God is the activity in honoring God because of who he is and what he has done for us. Praise is not limited to God but we can praise people as well. Examples of praise in the Bible include: singing, clapping, playing instruments, telling of his goodness, etc.

Worship: Worship is the awed response to the saving acts and praiseworthy character of God. Worship is reserved for God and God alone. Exodus 34:14 tells us to worship no other god for the Lord is a jealous God. An act of worship causes us to submit before God. Praise alone will not get you in alignment with his will but worship will.

Jesus is knew that he needed to go through Samaria so they depart from Judea to reach their destination of Galilee. Now, this was the shortest route but the Jews did not normally go that way because of their contempt for the Samaritans.

Jesus takes a break at the well of Jacob and sends the disciples to the city to buy some food because he was tired and hungry.

This is where he meets the woman at the well. Jesus asks her for a drink, and she responds why is a Jew asking me for a drink. You do not have anything to do with Samaritans.

John 4:10–20 (KJV 1900)

10Jesus answered and said unto her, If thou knewest the gift of God, and who it is that saith to thee, Give me to drink; thou wouldest have asked of him, and he would have given thee living water.

11The woman saith unto him, Sir, thou hast nothing to draw with, and the well is deep: from whence then hast thou that living water?

12Art thou greater than our father Jacob, which gave us the well, and drank thereof himself, and his children, and his cattle?

13Jesus answered and said unto her, Whosoever drinketh of this water shall thirst again:

14But whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst; but the water that I shall give him shall be in him a well of water springing up into everlasting life.

15The woman saith unto him, Sir, give me this water, that I thirst not, neither come hither to draw.

16Jesus saith unto her, Go, call thy husband, and come hither.

17The woman answered and said, I have no husband. Jesus said unto her, Thou hast well said, I have no husband:

18For thou hast had five husbands; and he whom thou now hast is not thy husband: in that saidst thou truly.

19The woman saith unto him, Sir, I perceive that thou art a prophet.

20Our fathers worshipped in this mountain; and ye say, that in Jerusalem is the place where men ought to worship.

About this time the disciples are coming back with food and encouraging him to eat but he refuses. He was tired and hungry until he meets this woman. The disciples thought someone brought him something to eat and he has to explain that his food is to do the will of God and to finish the work.

Different levels of ministry happen simultaneously because of one act of worship

The Woman discovers Jesus: The woman at the well praised Jesus for being a prophet. But once she realized who Jesus was, she dropped the pot and immediately went into the city and told everyone about Jesus. She had a terrible reputation, so they all went out to investigate what was going on.

Jesus receives strength to keep ministering: Jesus When she dropped that pot and left her work, left her thirst, and whatever activities she needed to do with that water Jesus had enough energy to continue to minster to others. Her worship revitalized him.

Disciples learn another lesson: The disciples left a tired and hungry Jesus only to find him ministering to a woman and now a crowd of people and sometimes you must put the food down to finish the work of God. That is Worship!!

We worship because he is worthy. Not because we are asked to.

God is looking for True Worshipers. You cannot be a true worshiper unless you have his spirit and acknowledge who he is. Spirit and Truth…But you can have the spirit and understand truth and not be a true worshiper

We attend church as an act of Worship.

- What is said about our worship when we skip for no reason

- Some only come during events

- Some only come for food

- Some only come on holidays

- Some only come when Pastor is here

We do not read out word because we have a schedule given to us but do it out of worship

We do not fast because a fast is called we do it in worship

We do not give because the lights need to stay on we give because we are true worshipers

We do not schedule our time for Church and outreach because a man tells us to we do it because we are true worshipers.

True worshippers can’t help but sometimes drop their pots in worship and go tell someone about Jesus.

If we are able to come to the house of God and not praise the Lord let alone worship him we need to get to the root of the problem.

When my kids do not worship I do not yell at them I go to God and get direction or lead them to figure out what the root problem is.

Appeal: Open the alters for worship. Let’s go beyond praise and truly worship God and get in alignment with him. If you leave the pot behind and worship God he will meet you and minister to you.