Promoting What We Have

I’ve entitled our message today: “Promoting What We Have.” And we’re going to take a look at four points to boldly sharing with others what God is doing in our life and in our church. I once heard it said that you should appreciate what you have, before it becomes what you had.(1) This is an important observation that can be applied to retaining God’s favor and blessings on a church.

In 1 Thessalonians 5:18, Paul addressed the church in Thessalonica, saying, “In everything give thanks; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.” Paul emphasized how we need to appreciate what we have, and lift up thanksgiving unto God for His numerous blessings; and then in the very next verse, which is verse 19, Paul admonished, “Do not quench the Spirit.” This is what happens if we fail to give thanks for what the Lord has done. If we fail to recognize what God is doing in our midst, and forget to acknowledge and praise Him for it and forget to declare His gracious works unto others, then His blessings might depart from us.

In our message today, we are going to view a small portion of the account of “The Woman at the Well.” I have noticed that we often gravitate toward the first part; where Jesus offered the Samaritan woman “living water.” Now, the first part of the account has tremendous merit in explaining salvation; however, the second half teaches us about appreciating and promoting what God has done in our life. So, let’s go ahead and get started by looking at point number one.

Step One: Realizing What We Have (vv. 25-27)

25 The woman said to Him, “I know that Messiah is coming” (who is called Christ). “When He comes, He will tell us all things.” 26 Jesus said to her, “I who speak to you am He.” 27 And at this point His disciples came, and they marveled that He talked with a woman; yet no one said, “What do You seek?” or, “Why are You talking with her?”

Point number one is “Realizing What We Have.” Now, I’m not going to be focusing on verse 27, which deals with prejudice towards the Samaritans and women; but instead, I’m going to have us hone in on the spiritual application of verses 25-26. In verses 7-8 of this chapter, we see that Jesus had been speaking with the Samaritan woman at the well while “His disciples had gone away into the city to buy food.” And we see here how they were still talking as the disciples returned. In that lengthy amount of time the woman had not yet realized with whom she was speaking.

In verse 26, we see that Jesus finally made the Samaritan woman aware of who was really in her midst. The reason why she had not yet recognized Him as the Messiah is simply because she was not expecting Him. And the lesson here is that Jesus can be right here among us, blessing us with His presence; but if we are not expecting Him, then we won’t recognize Him when He shows up!

We must realize what God has done for us; recognize who is in our midst; and be certain to acknowledge the power and presence of Jesus, the Messiah. We have to be looking for Him, expecting Him, and anticipating Him at all times. In application, if we will look around us and be intentional in pointing out the blessings that we have received, then we will be able to realize that God is truly at work. And being able to recognize His goodness starts with having a grateful heart!

In Philippians 4:6, Paul said to pray with thanksgiving; and in Philippians 4:8, he told us how. He said, “Finally, brethren, whatever things are true, whatever things are noble, whatever things are just, whatever things are pure, whatever things are lovely, whatever things are of good report, if there is any virtue and if there is anything praiseworthy – meditate on these things.” So let me ask you this morning, “Are we, as a body of believers, meditating on the good things of God, and are we focusing on His numerous blessings on this church?” “Are we thankful for what we do have, or are we down in the dumps about what we don’t have?” Keep this in mind as we move on to point number two.

Step Two: Advertising What We Have (vv. 28-30)

28 The woman then left her waterpot, went her way into the city, and said to the men, 29 “Come, see a Man who told me all things that I ever did. Could this be the Christ?” 30 Then they went out of the city and came to Him.