How Deep Is My Well

Intro:

Many of us as Christians find ourselves in an emotional vacuum

• We look for God to move the same way He has moved for us in the past…

• If he used a sling and a stone to defeat the enemy then we need to send our boys in Iraq a sling shot and tell them to lay down those pesky guns!

• If the harp of David eased the soul of Saul then let’s throw the piano out the window!

• If he fed us manna from heaven than that t-bone steak can’t be from God!

• If he healed blinded eyes with mud then let’s take mud pies to all of the brail clinics!

It’s is easy for us to hold onto the experiences, emotions, thoughts, and memories of the past! – They are tangible

• We saw them

• We remember them

• We feel them

But faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word of God

• True faith penetrates what we have seen

• True faith walks circles around what we can remember

• When true faith enters the room it sits on the throne and what we feel must take a reverencing bow to what God knows

We have faith

• In spite of our past

• In spite of our present

• Because it is from God

Body:

I. As the Samaritan woman came to the well

• she was going through the routine

• she was feeling just like she always did

• she was thinking some of the same thoughts she always thought

• she was on her way to a well that was limited

• she was headed toward a water supply that would one day run dry

• she wasn’t expecting anything out of the ordinary

• she wasn’t looking for anything more than a natural supply

II. As the master spoke of living water

• He was offering something different from the past

• He was giving a promise that was limitless

• He was establishing spiritual principles

• It doesn’t matter what you have done in the past

• It doesn’t matter who you have been in the past

• It doesn’t matter who people think you are

• It only matters if you draw from the well that never runs dry

III. Living water comes from a place deeper than…

• any drill can excavate

• any talent can imitate

• any devil can duplicate

• any emotions can replicate

• any mind can fabricate

IV. We talk about…

• coveting earnestly the Gifts of the SPIRIT

• producing the Fruits of the SPIRIT

• being sealed by the SPIRIT unto the day of redemption

• walking in the SPIRIT

• being led by the SPIRIT

• worshipping God in SPIRIT and in truth

• letting our SPIRIT groan when we don’t know how to pray

Illustration: “The Soul Test” - 3 volunteers (body, soul, and spirit)

V. The Soul Is A Reactor – Reacting to what you feed it!

• David fed by the flesh with Bathsheba – Psalm 51

• Peter fed by the flesh with denial - Luke 22:61, 62

“And the Lord turned, and looked upon Peter. And Peter remembered the word of the Lord, how he had said unto him, Before the cock crow, thou shalt deny me thrice. And Peter went out, and wept bitterly.”

• Jesus fed by the spirit with obedience – Luke 23:33, 34

“And when they were come to the place, which is called Calvary, there they crucified him, and the malefactors, one on the right hand, and the other on the left. Then said Jesus, Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do. And they parted his raiment, and cast lots.“

Illustration:

There was a documentary years ago about a missionary that had went overseas. While in this poor, African country the cameras were showing us a glimpse as to how the villagers lived. With each passing swipe of the camera you could see another swelled belly, another skeleton with skin waiting to breathe their last breath. As the camera went to the adults who had made it somehow to an older age, I noticed how each and every person had bone ornamentation around their necks and bone piercing throughout their body. Their ears were pierced with bone…their noses were pierced with some type of ornamentation. Some type of branding had been placed as a symbol on their arm. As I watched the screen I observed the missionary open his bible and begin teaching with an interpreter to these village natives. Mothers carried their dying children to the meeting, and even the men began to sit at the missionary’s feet. Tears began to roll of the face of the dying people as they heard for the first time the message of hope, the message of healing, the message of life, the message of Jesus Christ! The documentary soon changed to show the same village a few years later. The people who once had no hope now had a church in the middle of their village and their very own native pastor. As the pastor came to the camera and began to speak through an interpreter you could feel the anointing of the Holy Spirit penetrate the airwaves and as tears of great joy rolled off his cheek down his face. As the tear fell down this man’s face my eyes caught glimpse of the same bone earring that I had seen before the same ornamentation that his culture had taught him was ok. The spirit of the Lord began to deal with my heart.