Getting Ready for Easter (3 Drink Deep)
GETTING READY FOR EASTER
#3: Drink Deep
Pastor Greg Henneman
March 18, 2007
Text: John 4:1-42 (The Woman at the Well)
Key Idea: Jesus can quench your thirst!
Goal: To persuade us to drink deep of Jesus’ Spirit!
INTRODUCTION
· Promote Newcomer’s Class on April 2
· Promote Easter Musical on April 1. Easter April 8. Invite people to church with you.
I believe that we need to laugh a lot. We live in a crazy world with so many problems, that we need to lighten up once in a while and just laugh. So in case you haven’t laughed much this week, I want to share with you 20 Ways to Maintain A Healthy Level Of Insanity. Pastor Dan emailed these to me a few weeks ago. Actually, I won’t read all 20. I’ll just give you 10 Ways to Maintain A Healthy Level Of Insanity.
1. At Lunch Time, Sit In Your Parked Car With Sunglasses on and point a Hair Dryer at Passing Cars. See If They Slow Down.
2. Page Yourself Over The Intercom. Don't Disguise Your Voice.
3. Put Your Garbage Can On Your Desk And Label It "In."
4. Put Decaf In The Coffee Maker For 3 Weeks. Once everyone has gotten over their caffeine addictions, switch to Espresso.
5. Finish All Your sentences with "In Accordance With The Prophecy."
6. Five Days In Advance, Tell Your Friends You Can't Attend Their Party Because You're Not in the Mood.
7. Have Your Co-workers Address You By Your Wrestling Name, Rock Bottom.
8. When The Money Comes Out The ATM, Scream "I Won! I Won!"
9. When Leaving The Zoo, Start Running Towards The Parking Lot, Yelling "Run For Your Lives, They're Loose!"
10. Tell Your Children Over Dinner. "Due To The Economy, We Are Going To Have To Let One Of You Go."
Turn in your Bibles to John 4. We’re getting ready for Easter by studying the Gospel of John. Not all of John by any means –just a few key characters and themes.
We began by learning how to strengthen our faith. Faith is the key theme of John’s Gospel. He says in 20:30 "Jesus did many other miraculous signs in the presence of his disciples, which are not recorded in this book. But these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name."
Life and faith are two key themes in John. Do you want life? Then believe in Jesus! Not in some superficial sense but in the sense of stepping out and following Christ with your life! I showed you the video clip of Indiana Jones where he takes the leap of faith over this chasm to get to the chalice that holds the living water that will cure his father. Remember that? He takes the step of faith and he discovered that the support was there!
That’s what faith is, John says. You stop standing at the edge just talking about it, but you take the step! You do it! Faith is more than talk. Faith is more than feelings. It’s something you do!
I ask you: Have you stepped out and really started to follow Jesus?
We used the acrostic GROW…
Get new habits.
Relate to new friends.
Own up to your struggles.
Walk with Christ.
I’m excited that many of you are attending the SOD this month. Our classes have almost doubled because so many of you are attending. And it’s not too late to join if you want. You’ll see the classes listed in your program: a parenting class, an OT class, and a life of Jesus class. It’s a great opportunity for you to get new habits, relate to new friends, and grow! That’s how we strengthen our faith!
And then we looked at John 3 – a man named Nicodemus.
Old Nic has his act together! He’s cultured. He’s successful. He probably has his nice wife and nice kids and three-camel garage. He’s moral and meticulous and erudite! And Jesus basically says, “Nic, you’re dead! You’ve got no pulse! I can give you life!”
So we talked about our spiritual pulse. You may be like Nic. You look good. You’re successful. But maybe you’re spiritually dead. Jesus said, “You must be born again!” Just as you were born once into physical life you can be born again into spiritual life! How’s your pulse?
So –as we get ready for Easter, let’s strengthen our faith. Let’s check our pulse. And thirdly, today, let’s drink deep!
Take out your outlines that are part of your program and turn to John 4, if you haven’t already.
In John 4 Jesus meets a woman. He meets a woman at a well. In those days they didn’t have indoor plumbing so they couldn’t just turn on the faucet and get water. They had to go to a well someplace and get the water in a bucket.
When you think about it, water is amazing. For one thing…
A. Amazing Qualities of Water
1. The basic requirement of life.
I got online this week and learned a few things about water. I think most of us know that water is essential to all known forms of life. Without water, you can’t have life! Not only that but water has the amazing quality that it…
2. Expands when frozen.
Water actually gets lighter when it freezes into ice. Think of that! Solid ice is lighter than liquid water! That’s why it floats and stays on top of the water. Almost every other substance is the opposite. Almost every other substance contracts when frozen and the solid form is heavier than the liquid. You say, “Greg, so what?” Here’s what! If ice was heavier than water then it would sink. It would kill all the life at the bottom of the lake. The whole lake would be more likely to become ice from top to bottom and it would not entirely melt during the summer! It would change the whole atmosphere of the earth!
The problem is, water is so common and so abundant, that we just take it for granted. We don’t realize how amazing it is! And I tell you what: I would have called you crazy if you would have said, “Greg, I am going to bottle water and sell it, and become a billionaire!” What? What a stupid idea! Why would anybody buy your bottled water when they can just go to their sink or refrigerator and get water there?”
It’s amazing! I have to admit that even my wife and I are now buying bottled water. Sometimes I shake my head and think, “We’ve been suckered into this too!”
Water was even more important in the Bible days than it is today. That’s because they didn’t have easy access to water the way we do. Oftentimes they lived in the desert where water was extremely hard to get. So water was extra precious to them.
So Jesus meets this woman at a well and they have a conversation about water. JOHN 4:1-10. READ AND COMMENT…
Here Jesus makes two astounding claims…
B. Astounding Claims of Jesus
1. He is God’s gift!
2. He offers “living water!”
John 4:10 Jesus answered her, “If you knew the gift of God and who it is that asks you for a drink, you would have asked him and he would have given you living water.”
Now “living water” was used to describe running water. Water in a bucket or water in a well might become stagnant and dirty. But running water from a fresh spring was called “living water.”
The woman probably thought, “Well you’re a rather ungrateful guy! You’re kind of arrogant! You claim to be God’s gift and that you have living water to give me. So why do ask me for a drink? Why don’t you just go get your own water!”
READ AND COMMENT ON 4:11-13.
What an astonishing offer! What an…
C. Astonishing Ways to Live
Jesus says: Are you thirsty? Come to me and…
1. Drink deep!
I can quench your thirst! I can satisfy that longing in your soul!
You know what the problem is? We’re drinking all the wrong stuff trying to get happy! We’re drinking alcohol. We’re drinking sex. We’re drinking work. We’re drinking money.
Jesus says: Those things won’t quench your thirst! I can give you water that’s like a spring of water welling up inside you!
Notice what happens next. Jesus says in verse 13…
John 4:13 Jesus answered, “Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again, but whoever drinks the water I give him will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life.”
READ 4:13-26.
Here is Jesus, the Son of God, the Image of God, talking with a woman (contrary to custom). She’s a Samaritan woman. Jews despised Samaritans. Not only that, but by most standards she’s immoral. She’s been divorced five times and now is living with a guy!
Does Jesus condemn her? Does Jesus bash her? No! He offers her living water! He says, “Come to me and drink deep! I can quench your thirst!”
Last time I said that Clarkston is full of Nicodemus’ –men and women who have their acts together and seem so successful. But I bet that there are many “women at the well” in Clarkston too!
You feel used and abused, disrespected. Maybe you’ve made some mistakes that you really regret and you feel like, “Jesus wouldn’t talk to me.” All you want is to be loved and to be known! But you feel like you’re on the outside looking in. Rejected, unaccepted, never quite able to be good enough!
Maybe you feel like this woman in the video… [PLAY VIDEO OF WOMAN AT THE WELL].
Maybe you’re experiencing pain in your own private jail. Maybe you’ve been drinking the wrong kind of water in all the wrong places. But all you’ve been trying to do is to quench your thirst! You want to be loved! You want to be known!
Jesus says, “Come to me and drink deep!”
Did you notice how Jesus gently confronted her? He said…
John 4:16 He told her, “Go, call your husband and come back.”
She said, “I have no husband.” Jesus said, “Uh huh. You’ve had five husbands and are currently living with a guy who is not your husband.”
Why did Jesus do that? Was he being mean? No. He wanted this woman to…
2. Deal with baggage!
It was her baggage that was screwing up her life! She was trying to quench her thirst in all the wrong ways, and Jesus wanted her to quit drinking stagnant water and drink deep of his sweet, life-giving water!
Maybe you have baggage that you need to deal with today? Jesus isn’t being legalistic. He’s not trying to take your fun away. The smartest, happiest, healthiest thing you can do is to deal with your baggage. Come clean with it. Confess it. And drink deep of life-giving water!
Notice how the woman tries to divert Jesus. He says I know you’ve been married five times and are now living with a guy who’s not your husband. What does she do? She changes the topic in a hurry! She says, “Sir, I can see that you are a prophet.” And then she engages Jesus in this theological debate. “We Samaritans say that God wants us to worship on this mountain (Mount Gerizim). You Jews say that God wants us to worship in Jerusalem.”
It’s classic! Don’t get too personal! Let’s not talk about my problems or my sins! Let’s argue about the Bible instead! You see how practical Jesus is? Jesus always gets personal! Following Jesus isn’t about debating doctrine; it’s about obeying him and enjoying his life-giving water!
Jesus says, “Believe me, woman, it’s not about where you worship. It’s about how you worship! God wants us to…
3. Worship authentically!
John 4:24 “God is spirit, and his worshipers must worship in spirit and in truth.”
This is amazing! This is astonishing! Jesus says, “Drink deep! I have sweet, satisfying, life-giving water for you! I can get you in touch with the spiritual, invisible, God! I can quench your spiritual thirst!” LET’S PRAY.
“Lord, what an astonishing life you offer us! We thank you for the amazing qualities of water and how it’s the basic requirement of life. But we thank you even more for the astounding claims of Jesus, how he is God’s gift and how he offers “living water!” We praise you for the astonishing life you offer us! We drink deep! We deal with our baggage. And we worship authentically. In Jesus’ name. Amen.”
Key Idea: Jesus can quench your thirst!
Goal: To persuade us to drink deep of Jesus’ Spirit!
EXTRA MATERIAL:
Len
One evening an old Cherokee told his grandson about a battle that goes on inside people. He said, "My son, the battle is between two "wolves" inside us all.
One is Evil. It is anger, envy, jealousy, sorrow, regret, greed, arrogance, self-pity, guilt, resentment, inferiority, lies, false pride, superiority, and ego.
The other is Good. It is joy, peace, love, hope, serenity, humility, kindness, benevolence, empathy, generosity, truth, compassion and faith."
The grandson thought about it for a minute and then asked his grandfather: "Which wolf wins?"
The old Cherokee simply replied, "The one you feed."
Now with them (and with us today) water can be good and bad. Water can be life-giving and life-threatening.
Transition: Bible talks a lot about water.
· Chaotic waters of creation; body surfing can be dangerous
· Fighting over Abraham’s and Jacob’s wells
· Crossing the Red Sea
· Crossing the Jordan into the Promised Land
· No sea in the new heavens and earth! But river of life flowing through the city!
· Jesus talked about water…
GETTING READY FOR EASTER
#3: Drink Deep
Pastor Greg Henneman
March 18, 2007
Text: John 4:1-42 (The Woman at the Well)
In our series in the Gospel of John we’ve been encouraged to strengthen our faith and to check our pulse. Today Jesus invites us to drink deep!
A. Amazing Qualities of Water
1. The basic requirement of life.
2. Expands when frozen.
B. Astounding Claims of Jesus
1. He is God’s gift!
John 4:10 Jesus answered her, “If you knew the gift of God and who it is that asks you for a drink, you would have asked him and he would have given you living water.”
2. He offers “living water!”
John 4:10 Jesus answered her, “If you knew the gift of God and who it is that asks you for a drink, you would have asked him and he would have given you living water.”
C. Astonishing Ways to Live
1. Drink deep!
John 4:13 Jesus answered, “Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again, but whoever drinks the water I give him will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life.”
2. Deal with baggage!
John 4:16 He told her, “Go, call your husband and come back.”
3. Worship authentically!
John 4:24 “God is spirit, and his worshipers must worship in spirit and in truth.”
Next week: “Stop Looking for Loopholes” (John 9)