From Empty to Overflowing
(Expected the Unexpected — Week 3)
John 4:5–30 (NLT)
Theme: “Sometimes the greatest gifts God gives us come through the interruptions we never planned. At a well in Samaria—and in the middle of our own lives—Jesus shows up to turn emptiness into overflowing life.”
INTRODUCTION — CHRISTMAS NEVER GOES AS PLANNED
Every December, without fail, we all make plans.
We have lists, schedules, menus, travel timelines, Christmas programs, presents to wrap, and at least one Amazon package we forgot we ordered.
Christmas is supposed to be predictable.
And yet… Christmas never goes exactly like we picture it.
And honestly?
Some of the most meaningful Christmas moments come from the interruptions.
Maybe it’s the conversation you didn’t expect.
The person who reached out that you haven’t heard from in years.
Maybe it’s the moment you slowed down long enough to breathe, and God spoke to you when you weren’t even praying—just surviving the week.
Christmas reminds us of the unexpected.
Mary wasn’t expecting an angel.
Joseph wasn’t expecting a pregnant fiancée.
Shepherds weren’t expecting an angel choir at 3 a.m.
Wise men weren’t expecting to follow a star into another nation.
But this is what God does:
He steps into ordinary moments with extraordinary purpose.
And that’s exactly what happens in John 4.
The Samaritan woman wasn’t expecting a Christmas miracle—
but she got one anyway.
Because Jesus does for this woman what He often does for us during the Christmas season:
He interrupts our routine… to redirect our story… and restore our soul.
SETUP TO THE PASSAGE
Commentators discuss that this woman was simply going about her day, making a trip she’d made hundreds of times before. But this time, Jesus was waiting for her.
She went for water.
Instead, she encountered the Messiah.
She went spiritual empty and left spiritually overflowing with living water
Just like we go into the Christmas season looking for gifts, peace, rest, meaning…
And Jesus often gives us something entirely different—
something deeper that we didn’t even know to ask for.
READ JOHN 4:5–9 (NLT)
1) Jesus Steps Into Our Ordinary Moments
She’s not praying.
She’s not in worship.
She’s not expecting a miracle.
She’s gathering water—
a chore she had done a thousand times.
And Jesus shows up there.
Not at the temple.
Not at a revival meeting.
At a well.
At noon.
At the hottest, most inconvenient time of day.
Christmas is the reminder that God shows up in the ordinary.
Not in a palace—but in a barn.
Not in royalty—but in poverty.
Not announced by kings—but by shepherds.
The Incarnation tells us:
God steps into our moments even when we think are beneath His attention.
Christmas Illustration: The Messy Living Room
You know that feeling when the Christmas season hits and you look around your living room and think,
“We were supposed to decorate today… why does it look like we got robbed?”
But somehow, in the middle of scattered ornaments, a half-decorated tree, kids fighting over who gets to hang the star, and a cup of cocoa spilled on the rug—
you suddenly get this wave of joy.
Of peace.
Of “this is my life, and I’m grateful.”
You didn’t plan the moment.
You didn’t schedule it.
It just arrived.
Jesus specializes in arriving in the interruptions.
Illustration:
You know, this reminds me of a real story published a few years ago in Reader’s Digest about a single mom in Michigan who was trying her best to make Christmas special for her kids.
Everything that could go wrong… did.
She got the tree up, stepped back to admire it, and the stand broke.
The tree fell—lights, ornaments, everything crashing onto the floor.
She fixed it, stood it back up…
and it fell again.
Three times.
By the third time she was done.
Just overwhelmed.
She stepped outside to catch her breath and wipe away a few frustrated tears.
Her neighbor—someone she barely knew—noticed her standing in the cold.
He walked over, helped her fix the stand properly, then went back to his house.
A few minutes later, he returned with a box of decorations they didn’t use anymore and said,
“We thought maybe you and your kids could use these.”
That simple, unexpected act of kindness led to a friendship…
and eventually, her first time back in church in years.
Later she said,
“I thought the tree falling ruined everything. But it ended up being how God brought me back to Him .”
Application
What if the interruptions in your life this season aren’t accidents…
but invitations—Jesus sitting at your well in the middle of your day, ready to rewrite your story.”?
Proverbs 16:9, “We can make our plans, but the Lord determines our steps.”
“On one normal, ordinary day, Philip wasn’t looking for a ministry moment — he was just following God’s direction. The Holy Spirit sent him to a random desert road... no context, no explanation, no plan. And right there, in what seemed like the middle of nowhere, he runs into an Ethiopian official reading Isaiah, confused and searching for truth.
Philip didn’t plan that conversation.
He didn’t go looking for it.
He didn’t schedule it in his day planner.
But God arranged it.
And Philip was willing to step into the moment — even though it was unexpected, inconvenient, and completely unplanned. And that one conversation changed that man’s eternity.” Read Acts 8:26-40
What if the conversation you weren’t planning on… is the very one the Holy Spirit is leading you into? What if the person who frustrates you, inconveniences you, or interrupts you is actually the person Jesus wants you to see with compassion — because He’s already been working on their heart?
Just like Philip on that desert road, the Samaritan woman wasn’t expecting an encounter either. But Jesus showed up in her ordinary moment and changed everything.
2) Jesus Offers What We Didn’t Know We Needed
Read John 4:10–15
She came thirsty for water…
but Jesus introduces a different kind of water—
Living Water.
The Bible says:
“She quickly answered Jesus with the best response: ‘Please, sir… give me this water!’ ”
This is what Christmas is:
We celebrate a Savior who gives us what we didn’t know we needed.
Mary didn’t know she needed to carry the Son of God.
Joseph didn’t know he needed faith that big.
The world didn’t know it needed a Savior born in a manger.
Illustration: The Unexpected Gift
Ever get a Christmas gift you didn’t ask for, but it became your favorite?
Maybe someone gave you gloves, and you thought,
“Gloves? Really?”
And then you’re outside shoveling snow at -25° in Tok and you’re like,
“These gloves are the greatest thing that ever happened to me.”
The Samaritan woman didn’t ask for Living Water.
She didn’t even know such a thing existed.
But the gift Jesus offered her became her entire story.
There was a story a few years back that ABC News ran about a 10-year-old boy named Jordan from Tennessee. He was just like any kid at Christmas — he had his heart set on one toy.
A robot.
That’s all he wanted.
His family had been struggling, and he’d been battling kidney failure, but on that day, none of that was on his mind. He just wanted to feel normal, to open a present, to get that robot he’d seen on TV.
A local charity was hosting a gift event, and volunteers would “adopt” a child’s wish list. Jordan’s name was chosen by a man who had been following his story, but Jordan didn’t know that.
So on the day of the event, Jordan walked in expecting a small moment of joy — just a toy.
But instead of handing him the robot, the volunteer knelt down and said,
“I’m not here to give you a toy…I’m here to give you a kidney.”
Everything stopped.
Jordan’s mom burst into tears.
People in the room were speechless.
Jordan walked in looking for a toy…
and walked out with a second chance at life .
“Sometimes we come to God asking for something small — something temporary — and Jesus responds with something eternally life-changing.
The Samaritan woman came for water, but she was empty… and Jesus offered her Living Water that she could not contain.
Jordan came for a toy… and he received healing.
That’s the heart of our God — He gives us not just what we want, but what we truly need.”
Application
Some of you walked into Christmas this year spiritually dry.
Hurting.
Tired.
Discouraged.
Running on fumes.
And Jesus says:
“I have Living Water for you. Let Me restore you.”
The apostle Paul writes in Romans 15:13, “I pray that God, the source of hope, will fill you completely with joy and peace because you trust in him. Then you will overflow with confident hope through the power of the Holy Spirit.”
The question is not whether He offers it.
The question is whether we’ll say what she said:
“Please, sir… give me this water.”
3) Jesus Redeems the Parts of Us We Try to Hide
Read John 4:16–27
When Jesus brings up her past, He doesn’t shame her.
He invites her into healing.
The study notes say:
“Jesus didn’t treat her with disgust. He confronted her sin with love… Jesus offered her the opportunity to have a new life.”
That’s what Christmas is all about—
not pretending everything is fine,
but God stepping into the mess of our stories.
Christmas Illustration: The Broken Ornament
Every family has that one ornament that has been glued back together.
It’s cracked.
It’s chipped.
It’s not perfect.
But every year it makes it onto the tree—
not because it’s beautiful
but because it’s part of the story.
Jesus looks at the broken pieces of our lives with the same love.
He doesn’t throw them away.
He restores them.
He puts them back on the tree, not hidden in the back—
but in a place of honor.
The Samaritan woman wasn’t pushed aside.
She was commissioned.
She becomes the first evangelist in her entire region.
And her love for Jesus went out overflowing. You see…
4) When Jesus Redirects Your Life, Others Notice
Read John 4:27-30
The woman left her water jar—
the very reason she went to the well—
and ran back to her village.
That’s the power of an encounter with Jesus:
You forget what you thought you needed, because you found what you truly needed.
She tells everyone,
“Come and see the man who told me everything I ever did!” (John 4:29)
And the Scripture says the whole village came to meet Him.
Application
When Jesus redirects your story, people will see it.
Your kids will see it. (Take a bottle of soda water and start to shake it)
Your spouse will see it.
Your coworkers will see it.
Your community will see it.
Not because you’re perfect—
but because you’re different.
Because the Living Water is bubbling up inside of you.
(Open the Bottle) And when you let it come out, people tend to notice, People tend to get wet
JESUS IS STILL INTERRUPTING WELLS AND MANGERS
Just like the well in John 4,
the manger in Bethlehem was an unexpected place for God to show up.
But He showed up anyway.
He’s still doing that today:
in your home,
in your workplace,
in your prayer life,
in your discouragement,
in your busyness,
in your Christmas season that maybe hasn’t gone as planned.
Jesus interrupts us not to inconvenience us,
but to redeem us and redirect us.
A few years ago, USA Today and CBS News reported a Christmas morning moment at a Waffle House in Douglasville, Georgia.
A server named Ben was working the holiday shift — nothing glamorous, nothing special, just doing his job. A single mom and her little boy came in for breakfast. She apologized to Ben and said they never ate out on Christmas… but her son had asked if they could do something “different” that year because he missed his dad, who had recently passed away.
Ben listened, nodded kindly, and kept serving tables.
Nothing flashy.
Nothing dramatic.
Just compassion in an ordinary moment.
Another customer sitting nearby overheard the conversation. Without saying a word, he quietly went up to the register, paid for their entire meal, and left a $1,000 Christmas tip for the single mom and her son.
When the manager found out and handed her the receipt, she broke down crying.
She said,
“We came here today because we were hurting… and God met us here.”
It wasn’t a church service.
It wasn’t a Christmas program.
It was a Waffle House.
A simple, ordinary “well” moment.
But Jesus showed up anyway — through the kindness of a stranger.
She later told reporters,
“This changed our whole Christmas. God reminded us He sees us .”
“That’s what Jesus still does. He interrupts us — not to inconvenience us, but to redeem us and redirect us. He meets us at wells… He meets us in mangers… and yes, sometimes He meets us in a Waffle House on Christmas morning. Because there is no place too ordinary for the Savior to step in and pour out Living Water.”
Christmas is the reminder that
God arrives where we least expect Him… to give us what we most desperately need.
CONCLUSION — WHAT IF THIS CHRISTMAS IS YOUR WELL?
What if this Christmas, Jesus is waiting at your well?
What if He’s ready to speak into the places you’d rather avoid?
What if He’s ready to refresh your soul?
What if He’s ready to redirect your story in ways you never imagined?
The only question is:
Will you make room for Him in the interruption?
Just like she did, you may need to set your water jar down.
You may need to let go of the thing you thought was your mission.
You may need to allow Him to speak into the places you guard.
But if you do—
Living Water is waiting.
ALTAR MOMENT
Today, if you feel spiritually dry…If you’re feeling Empty
If you’re tired…
If you feel like you’ve been carrying shame or brokenness…
If Christmas has been overwhelming instead of joyful…
Jesus is waiting at the well.
And He’s offering to overflow you with Living Water.
Come, respond.
Come, open your heart.
Come, let Him redirect your story.
Closing Prayer
“Jesus, today we come before You acknowledging that sometimes we really do feel empty.
Empty from the pace of life…
Empty from battles we didn’t see coming…
Empty from carrying more than we were meant to carry.
But Lord, our emptiness is not the end of our story.
Because You are the God who fills.
You are the God who pours out Living Water.
You are the God who takes us from empty to overflowing.
So we ask You now — fill us again.
Fill the places that are dry.
Fill the places that are hurting.
Fill the places we’ve tried to handle on our own.
And don’t just fill us to the top, Lord…
overflow us.
Overflow us with Your love, Your hope, Your peace, and Your Spirit — so much so that it splashes onto the people around us.
Let our families see it.
Let our coworkers feel it.
Let strangers encounter it.
Let those who are thirsty recognize the Living Water in us and be drawn to You.
God, make us vessels that carry Your presence into ordinary moments — into wells, into workplaces, into homes, into places we never expected.
And as You overflow our lives, may others be changed because of what flows out of us.
Thank You for meeting us today.
Thank You for stepping into our story.
And thank You that with You, we never stay empty.
In Jesus’ name we pray,
Amen.”
Benediction
“Church, as we leave today, remember this:
God does not send you out empty.
The same Jesus who met the woman at the well goes with you into every moment of your week.
May His Living Water fill you, refresh you, and overflow from your life so that others may see Him in you.
And now—
May the Lord bless you and keep you.
May the Lord smile on you and be gracious to you.
May the Lord show you His favor and give you His peace.
May His presence overflow in you,
may His joy spill out of you,
and may His love splash onto every person you meet.
Go in the strength of the Lord,
filled and overflowing.
Amen.”
_________________________
i Adapted from a true story published in Reader’s Digest’s “Christmas Miracles” collection of real-life holiday stories.
ii ABC News. “Boy Gets Much More Than a Christmas Gift.” December 23, 2015.
iii USA Today. “Customer leaves $1,000 tip for single mother on Christmas.”
CBS News, Dec. 28, 2017.
