God’s Answer For A Thirsty World John

Sermon. God’s Answer for a Thirsty World

John 4:5-26

Introduction: Jesus travel from Judea on his way to Galilee. Jesus is compelled to go through Samaria. We find Jesus being wearied with his journey, sat by the well at Sychar. John gives us important items about the humanity of Jesus. He tells us how he sat as a way worn traveler, hungry and thirsty at Jacob's well. The disciples had gone into the city to buy food. Somehow this important story has been given to provide for us lessons on personal evangelism. Jesus understanding the assignment of the church, allows us see evangelism 101 in action.

As story is told of a family conversation, "One Sunday as they drove home from church, a little girl turned to her mother and said, "Mommy, there’s something about the preacher’s message this morning that I don’t understand." The mother said, "Oh? What is it?" The little girl replied, "Well, he said that God is bigger than we are. He said God is so big that He could hold the world in His hand. Is that true?" The mother replied, "Yes, that’s true, honey." "But Mommy, he also said that God comes to live inside of us when we believe in Jesus as our Savior. Is that true, too?" Again, the mother assured the little girl that what the pastor had said was true. With a puzzled look on her face the little girl then asked, "If God is bigger than us and He lives in us, wouldn’t He show through?"

Is Jesus shining through us? Are we telling people about salvation through Jesus Christ? Or let me rephrase, are we getting out in highways and hedges and sharing the gospel with the lost world?

1. Be led by the Spirit. In Jesus’ example, we see a compelling desire. He senses God leading him to a certain place. (v. 4) HE HAD TO GO THROUGH SAMARIA. We in the church expect people to come to us, when Jesus commanded us to “go” to them. We need to (1) Start from where people are. People are thirsty and sooner or later we will find them looking for water. (2) Start from lower than they are – Jesus asked for a drink. Human nature wants to exalt its self-image and look down on others. Intimidating the lost with lofty religion does nothing but turn them away. We are only beggars telling other beggars where we found bread. So, Jesus said, (v. 7-9) WILL YOU GIVE ME A DRINK? Sensing her discomfort, Jesus asked her for water. But she was too streetwise to think that all He wanted was a drink. “Since when does an uptown fellow like you ask a girl like me for water?” She wanted to know what He really had in mind. Her intuition was partly correct. He was interested in more than water. He was interested in her heart.

2. Be Open to The Holy Spirit. Pray That the Holy Spirit Help Us Push the right buttons. a) Water – immediate interest b) Husband – deep hearted interest, lonely c) Soul thirst – for something real and meaningful, fulfilling, enriching. Jesus mentions LIVING WATER. The language was familiar to her as it had been used by the prophets of Old. Jeremiah had mentioned the “fountain of living waters.” The prophets looked forward to a time when “living waters shall flow from Jerusalem” (Zech. 14:8; Ezek. 47:9). The living water spoke of that which provides cleansing, spiritual life, and the transforming power of the Holy Spirit. John applies these themes to Jesus Christ as the living water, which is symbolic of eternal life, mediated by the Holy Spirit from Him. Jesus used the woman’s need for physical water to sustain life in the arid region in order to serve as an object lesson for her need for spiritual transformation. In this simple phrase, there is everything she needed to be saved. He told her what it was, "the water of life". He told her who controlled it, He did. He told her how to get it, "ask Him", and "receive it".

3. Be caring and compassionate Friend. This friendly conversation exposed the right button. If you know what has deep meaning or interest to them, you have a starting place. You need to know what they believe about the Word of God and Jesus so you will know what you must work with. Someone who doesn’t believe the Bible is the word of God will not be convicted or convinced by the Scriptures.

Illustration: One day, in 1888, Alfred Nobel picked up the morning newspaper and read his obituary. It was his brother who had passed away, but an over-zealous reporter, who had failed to check the facts, wrote that the world saw Alfred Nobel as the inventor of dynamite, an armaments manufacturer, a merchant of death. Because of this unusual chance to see his life as others saw it, Nobel resolved to make clear his true desire for peace. He arranged that the income from all his fortune would fund an award to be made to those persons who did the most for the cause of peace. And so, today we remember Alfred Nobel not as an arms merchant, but as the founder of the Nobel Prize for Peace.