Crossing Barriers: Finding True Satisfaction in Christ

• Encounters with Jesus / Barriers [00:26:29 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor introduces the sermon series and the theme of Jesus crossing social and religious barriers, referencing previous encounters with Nathaniel and the woman at the well.
• Soul Satisfaction [00:30:05 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor explains that Jesus is the 'only true satisfier of the soul' and that people often seek satisfaction in competing things.
• Scripture Reading ([John 4](https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=John+4&version=KJV)) [00:31:11 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor reads the passage of Jesus meeting the Samaritan woman at the well, highlighting the cultural tensions between Jews and Samaritans.
• Crossing Barriers [00:34:26 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor explains how Jesus deliberately traveled through Samaria and spoke to a Samaritan woman, defying cultural, religious, and gender norms to connect with her.
• Living Water / Spiritual Thirst [00:41:25 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor analyzes the shift from physical thirst to spiritual need, explaining how Jesus uses the concept of 'living water' to expose the woman's deeper soul need for satisfaction.
• Conviction and Shame [00:43:31 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor describes Jesus' approach as surgical, gently exposing the woman's history of relationships to reveal the root of her shame and insatiable thirst for identity.
• Modern Application of Barriers [00:39:46 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor applies the text to contemporary life, noting that while barriers have become more subtle (based on appearance, class, or past actions), Jesus still cuts through them.
• Idolatry and Spiritual Thirst [00:46:55 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor explains that seeking satisfaction in career, image, or pleasure is biblically idolatry that leaves the soul insatiable, tired, and empty.
• Defense Mechanisms and Conviction [00:48:01 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor draws parallels between the Samaritan woman's topic-shifting and modern avoidance of counseling or uncomfortable truths, noting Jesus' persistence in exposing deeper needs.
• The Identity of Jesus (I AM) [00:50:29 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor highlights Jesus' explicit declaration 'I am he,' connecting it to the burning bush and Psalm 23 to establish Jesus as the 'Great I AM' and the source of eternal life.
• Surrender and Testimony [00:54:21 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor uses the image of the woman leaving her water jar to illustrate surrendering burdens, leading to an urgent, albeit sometimes 'obnoxious,' desire to share one's testimony with others.

• Sermon Illustration [00:27:13 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor shares a personal anecdote about his childhood friend 'Kenny,' a rough, non-religious baseball player who was the 'last person' he expected to see in church. He describes receiving a call from his father that Kenny and his wife had joined their church, and later observing Kenny's transformed countenance, illustrating how Jesus can change even the most unlikely individuals.
• Sermon Illustration [00:42:30 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor illustrates the physical labor of drawing water by describing a well that may have been 75 feet deep, requiring one to walk, lower a bucket, fill it, and carry it back for various uses like bathing and washing.
• Sermon Illustration [00:43:31 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor uses a medical analogy, comparing Jesus' dialogue to a surgeon using a scalpel to precisely and cautiously get to the root of the woman's shame rather than just treating symptoms.
• Sermon Illustration [00:46:12 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor uses an analogy of well depth increasing (from 75 to 125 to 150 feet) to illustrate how the woman's search for satisfaction through successive relationships became more exhausting and wearying.
• Sermon Illustration [00:52:44 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor shares a personal anecdote about being at a dentist office with no magazines, feeling the strange discomfort of being alone with his thoughts without his phone, illustrating how people today avoid being alone with their minds just as the woman tried to avoid her spiritual reality.

• Pastoral Charge [00:56:39 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor asks the congregation to identify specific individuals in their lives who are unlikely to receive the gospel, starting with self-reflection.
• Pastoral Charge [00:56:13 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor commands the congregation to actively share their personal testimony with others.

[00:08:59] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_00]
[00:08:59] First Presbyterian Church of Mooresville where our mission is loving God loving people and making disciples it's my joy and pleasure to welcome you here today to see you all now take this moment to welcome one another into worship today all right my friends let us continue with our time of worship beginning with a call to worship from psalm 63 you can find it in your bulletin or you can follow along on the screen oh god you are my god
[00:11:12] I seek you. My soul thirsts for you. My flesh faints for you, as in a barren and dry land where there is no water. Therefore I have gazed upon you in your holy place, that I might behold
[00:11:30] your power and your glory. For your loving kindness is better than life itself. My lips shall give you praise. And please join me now in our prayer of invocation. Creating God, we yearn for your presence and hunger and thirst for your righteousness. Satisfy us by the power
[00:11:55] of your spirit, yet keep us restless to seek your will as we follow where Christ may lead. Amen.
[00:12:05] I invite you now as you are able to stand as we sing our first hymn, 439, Jesus, Lover of My Soul.
[00:12:11] Let us now affirm our faith together using the Apostles' Creed, and I would ask you, O Christian, what is it that you believe?
[00:15:15] I believe in God the Father Almighty, Maker of heaven and earth, and in Jesus Christ, His only Son, our Lord, who was conceived by the Holy Ghost, born of the Virgin Mary, suffered under Pontius Pilate,
[00:15:29] was crucified dead and buried he descended into hell the third day he rose again from the dead he ascended into heaven and sitteth on the right hand of god the father almighty from thence he shall come to judge the quick and the dead i believe in the holy ghost the holy
[00:15:49] catholic church the communion of saints the forgiveness of sins the resurrection of the body and the life everlasting.
[00:15:58] Amen.
[00:15:59] You may be seated.
[00:16:05] As you can see of the many announcements in your bulletin, I have very little for you.
[00:16:10] And so the only thing really to, a couple of things to highlight is the membership.
[00:16:14] We have our next slate of new members and families joining us coming in August.
[00:16:19] And so if you are present here today, interested in becoming a member and you're not already, there's still time to have a meeting with Pastor Dave, ask more questions about the church and our mission and ministries here
[00:16:32] and to join up with the church family.
[00:16:35] And if it's okay, don't feel the rush if you don't.
[00:16:37] In the next three years, we'll invite the next slate of new members and there'll be plenty of time for you when that time comes.
[00:16:43] But just a kid, obviously it's a joke.
[00:16:46] But until then, highly encourage you to reach out to us, either me or Pastor Dave.
[00:16:50] We'd love to meet with you, answer any questions that you might have.
[00:16:54] And lastly, on behalf of the Prayer Shawl team, in the back, in the basket, there are some prayer cloths.
[00:16:59] we invite you to take some for yourself or to take one to someone else who might be in need as a gift in ministry on behalf of the prayer team.
[00:17:07] With that being said, and before we enter into a moment of prayer, I was informed right before the service started that as of last night or a few evenings ago, the Holhauser family and I believe Laura Lee,
[00:17:22] so a relative of theirs passed away suddenly from a widow maker heart attack.
[00:17:27] Franklin. Franklin Holhauser. So if you know Franklin Holhauser, if you know the family, I highly encourage you to reach out to them and keep them in prayer for sudden death is a terrible thing. So let's enter into a moment of prayer together. Lord, we just thank you for
[00:17:44] this church family and this place for us to gather together under your name, under your refuge. And we ask, Lord, that you fill this space, fill this sanctuary with your presence. We pray, Lord, for
[00:17:57] the family of Franklin Holhauser for this sudden death and we just pray Lord that you would minister to them and be with them God and have mercy we ask Lord that you be with all those
[00:18:09] who are grieving these days for multiple types of losses and grief and we just thankful Lord that we can come to you at any time and in any place. Church family let us now take this opportunity as we
[00:18:23] approach the throne of grace to silently confess our sins to God Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me, a sinner.
[00:18:54] Lord, we know that we are weak and needy.
[00:18:58] We are but flesh and bones.
[00:19:00] Really, we are but dust.
[00:19:03] And we ask, Lord, that you remember that.
[00:19:06] Remember that we are but earthen vessels, prone to break, prone to wander, and have mercy.
[00:19:15] You alone are the God of mercy.
[00:19:17] and we pray, God, that you forgive us, cleanse us, restore us, and give us hope again that we can always trust we can come to you, we can confess, and we can be safe as you hear us and restore us.
[00:19:35] I lean on the words of Psalm 36 that says, Your steadfast love, O Lord, extends to the heavens, your faithfulness to the clouds, and you save humans and animals alike.
[00:19:47] you are gracious oh lord so we thank you for that grace and mercy that is new for us every single morning lord i pray over our service and time today that you please receive our worship receive
[00:20:02] the attention of our minds and our hearts as we come before you may we be still still in our in our souls to receive all that you have for us whether in prayer whether in music and song
[00:20:16] whether in the giving of your word that Pastor Dave will give us in a moment.
[00:20:21] We pray, Holy Spirit, that you open our eyes and ears and our hearts to understand and receive what you are trying to teach us, what you are trying to show us.
[00:20:32] May we be a people who are in tune with you and see what you are doing and desire what you desire.
[00:20:40] I pray, O Lord, over every brother and sister present here today.
[00:20:44] All those within the hearing of my voice, Lord, I pray that they would know you better and better every day.
[00:20:51] Whatever that may look like in their stories, I don't know.
[00:20:55] But I pray, God, that where there is hurt and pain, there would be your healing and comfort.
[00:21:00] Where there are those who are in need of a miracle, they would witness the miracle maker.
[00:21:05] Those who are feeling alone, isolated, set aside, that they would be seen and loved by God.
[00:21:17] Father, for all of us who are just stressed and tired, and weary. God, may we have rest, be it in our families, be it in our communities, in our homes, in our workplaces. May we have rest. Rest in you. Rest in the faith. Rest in your grace. Rest in
[00:21:39] love. Rest. Because only you can give us the rest that our souls are so hungry and thirsty for.
[00:21:46] father i pray for first presbyterian church for all the new families and soon to be members thank you god for the the fruitful season we are experiencing here and we give you glory we pray
[00:22:00] that all may feel welcome here and may find a home here and that we may be a people that represents your heart in every way shape and form in every service in every group and study and ministry
[00:22:13] all that we do may it bring you glory for you alone are holy and worthy of it all be with us be with your church and all those who call on your name that we all might witness
[00:22:28] the goodness of God in this day and in this life we pray all these things in the most holy name of Jesus and together we pray what he taught his disciples to pray our father who art in heaven
[00:22:41] hallowed be thy name thy kingdom come thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven give us this day our daily bread and forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors and lead us not into temptation but deliver us
[00:22:59] from evil for thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever amen and amen please stand as you are able as we sing our next hymn 471 as the deer

[00:23:13] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_01]
[00:23:13] So our scripture passage this morning is John chapter 4, verses 4 through 30.
[00:26:29] We are in a sermon series, Encounters with Jesus, and we're working our way through the book of John.
[00:26:38] I open before diving into John 4 by asking you to consider something.
[00:26:45] Think of someone in your life who seems most or least likely to walk through the doors of a church.
[00:26:55] Is there someone in your life that you think in your mind that's the last person in the world that would ever come to faith in Jesus Christ, become a Christian?
[00:27:05] I think we have those lists.
[00:27:07] Maybe a family member, maybe a co-worker, maybe someone in your community.
[00:27:13] I think back I had a phone call years ago from my dad, and he said, Dave, do you remember Kenny, who you played baseball with?
[00:27:21] I'm like, oh, of course I know Kenny.
[00:27:23] and he said he and his wife just joined our church and I said to my dad I think we're thinking of two different Kenny's and he said oh no and he described Kenny I'm like well the Kenny that I
[00:27:37] remembered as a teenager I played little league with him he was the man child that was full grown in sixth grade that we're all afraid to to bat against in little league in high school he set
[00:27:47] the new school record for home runs varsity baseball he's a bit of a redneck a little bit rough I only once one summer on a summer league I we were to drive ourselves to the games and I
[00:28:02] went in his car and I remember at once seeing his odometer or his speedometer going 108 miles per hour that was the last I ever traveled with him to a away game but but Kenny he was a nice guy
[00:28:15] not the least bit religious you know he was the captain of the team and he'd used that position to steal equipment from the baseball team that the Kenny I knew was the last person that I would
[00:28:29] ever imagine setting foot in a church a couple years later I'm visiting home I'm at a church service I see Kenny and his wife I'm a little bit skeptical still and I think well oh now I know why
[00:28:42] he's in church because his wife had grown up in our church and then as I started engaging with Kenny I realized his countenance was different he's still Kenny but something was happening he he was certainly different than the Kenny I remembered in high school and I recognized
[00:29:02] God was doing a work in his life when you grow up in a small town you know everybody and i was noticing there's something different now about kenny and we've been working our way through encounters with jesus a couple weeks ago remember the connection to nathaniel
[00:29:19] and the question was raised how could a messiah ever come out of nazareth that's the last place that a messiah would come from well this week we connect jesus with his encounter at the well the woman at the well and the question was raised how could the messiah ever go into a
[00:29:39] place like samaria even more so how could he connect with a woman like this the big idea i want to get across from our passage is this jesus intentionally crosses barriers to reveal himself as the only true satisfier, let that sink in.
[00:30:05] Jesus intentionally, he goes out of his way.
[00:30:08] He intentionally crosses barriers to reveal himself as the only true satisfier of the soul.
[00:30:16] As we look at the passage this morning, if you truly open your heart, you and I can recognize that things compete for our souls, yes?
[00:30:26] the places we seek soul satisfaction. I'm going to say a prayer we'll read the passage together. It's a little bit longer passage but I promise you it's very engaging and please join me now as we come
[00:30:39] before the Lord in prayer. Heavenly Father I thank you for the gift of your word and I do ask this morning through your Holy Spirit that you bring this word to life Lord minister to our hearts, minister
[00:30:53] to our minds. May we not only gain a deeper understanding of this passage but through that understanding, Lord, may we draw closer to you. We give this time to you now, and we pray these things in Jesus' name. Amen. John 4, beginning with verse 4,
[00:31:11] but he, Jesus, had to go through Samaria. So he came to a Samaritan city called Sychar, near the plot of ground that Jacob had given to his son, Joseph. Jacob's well was there, and Jesus tired out by his journey was sitting by the well. It was about noon. A Samaritan woman
[00:31:32] came to draw water and Jesus said to her, give me a drink. His disciples had gone to the city to buy food. The Samaritan woman said to him, how is it that you, a Jew, ask a drink of me, a woman of
[00:31:46] Samaria? Jews do not share things in common with Samaritans. Jesus answered her, if you knew the gift of God and who it is that is saying to you give me a drink you would have asked him and he
[00:32:01] would have given you living water the woman said to him sir you you have no bucket and that the well is deep where do you get that living water are you greater than our ancestor Jacob who gave
[00:32:13] us the well and with his sons and his flocks drank from it Jesus said to her everyone who drinks of this water will be thirsty again, but those who drink of the water that I give them will
[00:32:25] never be thirsty. The water that I will give will become in them a spring of water gushing up to eternal life. The woman said to him, Sir, give me this water so that I may never
[00:32:38] be thirsty or have to keep coming here to draw water. Jesus said to her, Go, call your husband and come back. The woman answered, I have no husband. Jesus said to her, You are right in
[00:32:51] saying, I have no husband, for you have had five husbands, and the one you have now is not your husband. What you've said is true. The woman said to him, Sir, I see that you are a prophet.
[00:33:03] Our ancestors worshiped on this mountain, but you say that the place where people must worship is in Jerusalem. Jesus said to her, Woman, believe me, the hour is coming when you will worship the Father neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem. You worship what you do not know. We worship what
[00:33:21] we know for salvation is from the Jews. But the hour is coming and is now here when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth. For the Father seeks such as these to
[00:33:34] worship him. God is spirit and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth. The woman said to him, I know that the Messiah is coming who is called Christ. When he comes he will proclaim
[00:33:49] all things to us jesus said to her i am he the one who is speaking to you just then his disciples came they were astonished that he was speaking with a woman but no one said what do you want or
[00:34:03] why are you speaking with her then the woman left her water jar and went back to the city she said to the people come and see a man who told me everything i've ever done he cannot be
[00:34:16] the Messiah, can he? They left the city and were on their way to him. This is the word of the Lord.
[00:34:26] Again, Jesus intentionally crosses barriers to reveal himself as the only true satisfier of the soul. First point I want to make, I'm going to draw from verses four through nine. The first point I want to make is this. Jesus crosses barriers with purpose. He has a purpose here.
[00:34:48] He takes a path that nobody took back then.
[00:34:51] At least his people didn't take.
[00:34:54] The Jewish mindset.
[00:34:55] Verse 4, it says, Jesus had to go to Samaria.
[00:35:02] Now, he's speaking here geographically.
[00:35:05] He's not speaking here geographically because if you looked at a map back then, there were a lot of routes that would take people to Jerusalem that went around Samaria.
[00:35:16] and almost all of the Jewish folk went around Samaria and there was such deep hostility between Jews and Gentiles or Jews and Samaritans that they felt if they were to even brush up alongside a Samaritan person that they were they would be spiritually defiled hence they went
[00:35:39] around again these deep divisions they ran deep because of their history if you understood between the the jews and the samaritans the samaritans had left the jews and had intermarried and so they had a syncretism type religion where they did believe in the first five books of the old
[00:35:58] testament but that was it they hadn't received the prophets they had intermarried they were into idolatry they had even set up their own place of worship you see that referred to here in the passage near the is a hill near the the well of jacob and the jews said there was one it was
[00:36:20] revealed to them that there was one true place of worship so you had all of this happening yet the text says jesus had to go through samaria not geographically speaking but he had to in the sense of divine necessity he had to go not because the road forced him it was because
[00:36:47] grace compelled him now there's the path that he took that others wouldn't take there's also a conversation that nobody expected. So Jesus, not only does he travel into Samaria, he initiates a conversation with a Samaritan woman. And his words are really simple. He simply says,
[00:37:15] give me a drink. Jesus in his humanity, he's tired, he's thirsty, and he finds this well, the water to be the connecting point. And yes, he's connecting at a human level, at a physical level, but his desire is to go deeper. He's there for a purpose. Now, the woman's astonished.
[00:37:40] You know, why are you, a Jewish man, speaking to me, a woman? And on top of that, she's Samaritan.
[00:37:46] We learn later on in the passage that the disciples, although they didn't question Jesus, they were equally astonished why is he talking to her back then according to rabbinic ancient literature married men or men in general were not allowed to speak with women in public
[00:38:05] not even their own wives a one text even said it's forbidden to give a woman any greeting he's not only greeting this woman we never learn her name he's not only greeting but he's asking
[00:38:18] for water. He's going to share the same container. Anyone from Jesus's culture where he was raised would have said, this defiles you, Jesus. This makes you unclean. But he goes there with a purpose in mind. None of this seems to matter to Jesus. He uses his own thirst as a
[00:38:40] point of connection. One additional detail. You folks notice the hour? It's noon. It's the heat of the day. Back then, whether you're in Jerusalem or in Samaria, women would go to the well in groups
[00:38:57] and they would go either early in the morning or later in the day, but rarely at noon at the heat of the day. So she was probably, what the passage is hinting at here, is she was probably ostracized
[00:39:14] by her community and she's avoiding others. She's wanting to be alone and she's carrying some type of shame. Jesus is very clearly aware of what she's carrying. So we have this conversation.
[00:39:32] He goes to a place no one would go. He has a conversation no one would expect. I asked the question to you and myself this morning, where do these type of barriers show up today? We draw our
[00:39:46] barriers, yes? Maybe in this culture, 50 years ago, they were more black and white, literally, more clear. But we have our subtleties, don't we? I love, Tim Keller once said, folks, no time has ever caught up with Jesus. Some like to say, well, you know, Jesus was
[00:40:08] progressive in his day, almost as progressive as we are today when it comes to issues like women.
[00:40:13] keller's saying no at no point in history have we ever caught up to jesus when it comes to breaking barriers or this gender race appearance class whatever that may be we build our walls he cuts
[00:40:30] through them he did then he does now what might that look like today we do it more subtly maybe based on the way people look or the way people dress or who people know or what people have
[00:40:44] accomplished. We even put up walls based on what people have done in their past. We've labeled them and we'd certainly have our list. I do. That's the last person that I would ever think would come to
[00:40:58] faith or step foot in a church. Yet Jesus crosses every barrier we construct. I'm going to move on in the passage. There's some dialogue that takes place. We're going to focus on verses 10 through 18 we see here jesus uses physical thirst to expose a deeper soul need so she meet he meets
[00:41:25] the woman at the well at a very human level but he does so to expose a a deeper soul need he's wanting to get her from the physical to the spiritual so in this next exchange he shifts his
[00:41:41] language, he says, if you knew the gift of God, meaning he's ready to give her something far greater than ordinary water, if you knew the gift of God, he's shifting to the spiritual.
[00:41:56] What does he call this quality of water? Do you remember? Living water. If you knew the gift of God, and he starts speaking in terms of living water, and she is trying to track with him, but
[00:42:10] she's thinking this living water is more like magical water. As he's describing this water, she's thinking, oh, he's speaking of the type of water, maybe today, like a spigot or a fountain where she doesn't have to. Did you know back then that the well may have been like 75 feet deep?
[00:42:30] Can you imagine the type of labor that would take to lower a bucket? First, you have to walk to the well, then you have to lower the bucket, and then you fill the bucket, and now you have to carry it
[00:42:39] back to your family and the the water is used for all sorts of different things bathing and washing and cleaning and so she's thinking he's talking about this magic water if she could see what we
[00:42:51] have access to today she'd be like that's amazing you know the she's thinking this something that would relieve the labor and become more convenient so she says sir give me this water so that i may
[00:43:07] never be thirsty or have to keep coming here to draw water. The desire is sincere, but it's still surface level. She's speaking in terms of physical, not spiritual. Jesus is speaking renewal language.
[00:43:24] Now, I want to shift from this gracious or from the surface desire to a gracious exposure.
[00:43:31] Jesus now in this dialogue begins behaving like a surgeon. You know, medically speaking, my mind doesn't quite work that way but a good doctor has to be precise and cautious yes you don't rip around when you're when someone's open on the table and so he begins like a surgeon to go places
[00:43:50] that are very delicate and he's wanting to get to the root of her shame and and and as we read this dialogue it can come across as harsh because he's getting to the root not the symptom but to the
[00:44:04] root and as he gets there it's painful for us to hear but i want to make it really clear he's not pushing the woman away if you can picture the tone of jesus he's not looking to condemn this woman in
[00:44:17] any way he's looking to convict her to help her see what the root of that shame is he's wanting to draw her in so you have to picture this tone it's not you know sometimes when we read the term
[00:44:30] woman, it sounds like, you know, very harsh. And he's saying woman in a very compassionate, loving way. So this is where Jesus makes the breakthrough. He lifts the curtain of her personal life with a simple command, go call your husband. He knows something she doesn't know
[00:44:52] that he knows. Now she answers him. Technically, she's telling the truth, right? How does she respond? I have no husband. And Jesus says that that's very true because you've had five and the one you live with is not your husband. You got some live-in arrangement right now. Can you imagine
[00:45:15] she's already carrying the shame. Jesus goes to a very delicate soft place and he's doing it in a way just very cautiously, very clearly, cleanly using that scalpel. She's caught off guard. Now i'm trying to put it in today's terms what what she's saying to her and this is my best attempt
[00:45:42] he's saying to this woman you are deeply thirsty and you're drawing from the wrong well you've been seeking life identity security intimacy you've been seeking belonging through relationships but none of these wells have quenched your thirst you're alone you're tired you're thirsty
[00:46:12] you think a warm body codependency is going to help and each you know each new husband is like the well's gone from 75 feet down to 125 feet down to 150 feet down she's getting more tired
[00:46:24] and more weary jesus goes there now that naturally raises the question for you and me what wells do you run to take a moment to consider that can you relate with a woman at the well in any way
[00:46:41] where do you lower the bucket of your soul hoping to find satisfaction because we do that don't we where do you go where do you dip that bucket where do you work hard it might be tied to career it
[00:46:55] might be tied to image it might be tied to pleasure and i find people that they they go to these places seeking, you know, it can be called biblically idolatry, putting something in the place of God or above God, and as you seek that to satisfy your soul, you end up, the thirst is
[00:47:12] insatiable, and you end up more tired, and more thirsty, and more empty, and more lonely. There are wells that will never satisfy you, and they will leave you thirsty, which leads, as the dialogue continues, verses 19 to 26, Jesus reveals himself as the true source of satisfaction.
[00:47:40] He does it very clearly in this passage. He's explicit in his identity. We get to the heart of worship. As Jesus exposes the deeper thirst in this woman's life, she feels the weight of conviction, and her defense mechanism kicks in. Now, maybe you can relate with her. I can.
[00:48:01] has anyone ever touched a soft spot gone somewhere that you don't want to something you don't want to talk about i know people who won't go to counseling because they're afraid of what might come out
[00:48:11] in a counseling session yes it's a defense mechanism i don't want to go there i don't want to dig that up and jesus goes there and what does she do she changes the topic can you relate
[00:48:26] she shifts the topic oh and she's amazed that he knows things about her so he's like you must be a prophet give me some you know our people worship on the mountain here by the well your people
[00:48:39] worship uh in jerusalem you know that's like a centuries-long debate where do you stand on this explain to me and jesus saying hey first of all the the worship is genuine true worship but he redirects her yeah i understand the question you're asking but let me bring
[00:48:57] you back into the space. He tells her, the hour is coming. That phrase, the hour is coming.
[00:49:08] What do you think he means by that? The hour is coming. He's talking about his death and his resurrection. Saying the hour is coming when where you worship is not the issue. It's not about a
[00:49:24] place. It's about a person. With his death and resurrection, you know, there are all of these things in scripture, prophecy leading to Jesus coming, the temple being torn down, but Jesus being the temple through faith in Jesus, through the power of the Holy Spirit, you and I are
[00:49:43] worshiping where Jesus is present, where two or three are gathered, right, in his name. It's not a building. Yeah, we build churches. Jesus now redirects her towards himself. Unable to fully grasp his words the woman shifts the conversation to the future and she says i know the messiah is
[00:50:05] coming she kind of kind of gets what he's saying i know the messiah is coming when he comes he will explain everything to us you know samaritans believed in the first five books of the old
[00:50:17] testament they saw messianic prophecy in those in the book of the law so hey when that day happens He'll explain to us everything, and then Jesus makes it unmistakably clear.
[00:50:29] He says, I am he, the one who is speaking to you.
[00:50:35] Literally, he says, I am.
[00:50:38] Where do you find that in the Old Testament, the phrase I am?
[00:50:42] It's from the burning bush.
[00:50:44] God revealing himself to Moses as I am.
[00:50:48] He's the great I am.
[00:50:50] In the New Testament, Jesus embraces, especially you see in the book of John, There are seven great I am statements where Jesus embraces the title of God.
[00:50:59] He's saying, I am God.
[00:51:02] The Old Testament, Psalm 23.
[00:51:04] The Lord is my shepherd.
[00:51:06] Some of you have this memorized.
[00:51:07] I shall not want.
[00:51:08] He maketh me to lie in green pastures.
[00:51:10] He leadeth me beside the still waters.
[00:51:12] What does he do?
[00:51:14] By the still waters, my soul.
[00:51:20] He quenches that spiritual thirst.
[00:51:24] Jesus comes along saying, I am he.
[00:51:26] I am.
[00:51:27] I am the good shepherd he's saying I am God I nurture you I comfort you I am the source of eternal life I am the living water that's what Jesus is conveying to this woman he reveals his
[00:51:49] full identity he hasn't done that yet he didn't do that with last week with Nicodemus a religious Pharisee he says you need to be born from above but he doesn't say I am he doesn't say that with
[00:52:01] the disciples as they're following him he's now very explicit i am to a woman that we don't even know her name that's been married five times living with her boyfriend living in samaria to even talk with her and share a jar here jesus is breaking every barrier intentionally
[00:52:22] to connect with this woman he knows exactly what he's doing which leads to me once again I want to ask a question what religious mindset hides you from surrender as Jesus goes to that place that she doesn't want to go she tries to shift the topic I mean in today's world I find
[00:52:44] it's so helpful when my children were younger when we'd send them to camp because at camp they couldn't use their phones and they'd have to unplug and what do we do just the other day I
[00:52:56] was at the dentist office no one's sitting there and they no longer have magazines in the racks because everyone's all plugged in and I'm sitting there alone with my thoughts.
[00:53:08] It's such a strange feeling, right?
[00:53:09] We're never alone with our thoughts, are we?
[00:53:12] We want to put on our headphones.
[00:53:15] We want to plug in.
[00:53:18] Jesus got this woman alone.
[00:53:20] What does he do when he's alone with you?
[00:53:21] Are there places you won't go?
[00:53:23] Do you hide behind things?
[00:53:24] You can hide behind religion.
[00:53:26] I go to church every week.
[00:53:27] I do good deeds.
[00:53:29] You can hide behind comparisons.
[00:53:31] Well, I'm a better person than so-and-so.
[00:53:33] That's for sure.
[00:53:34] there are all sorts of things we can hide behind religious debates and traditions and styles of worship jesus's call this morning is to redirect you towards the ultimate source of healing and satisfaction and that's himself he's so clear now these last four verses a point i want to make
[00:54:00] here is jesus produces the immediate response of a satisfied soul this woman by her actions we see she surrenders. Her heart is touched. Her heart is changed. Jesus sticks with her even when she tries to divert. He redirects her, says, I'm he. I'm God. I'm the Messiah. Now notice that I'm
[00:54:21] labeling this an abandoned burden. You can read this passage and lose a very significant detail, a subtle. But in her response to her encounter with Jesus, she does something profound.
[00:54:36] She rushes back to her village.
[00:54:38] Do you notice what she leaves behind?
[00:54:41] The jar.
[00:54:43] It says it in the passage.
[00:54:44] She leaves the water jar behind, the very burden she came to carry.
[00:54:47] It's a symbol of her daily exhaustion that's now forgotten.
[00:54:53] She sees it.
[00:54:54] It's light bulb.
[00:54:55] She gets the big picture.
[00:54:57] She leaves her jar behind.
[00:54:59] All that labor in the heat of the day.
[00:55:02] And she's rushing back to share what she had just witnessed.
[00:55:05] Now, she's also rushing back.
[00:55:07] you know look at the transformation of heart she came to the well filled with shame wanting to be alone ostracized from her community she's rushing back without a band I don't know I don't know if
[00:55:20] it's just boldness or it's just excitement whatever it be there are folks in this room that can testify that when the Lord changed your heart you might have at some point found yourself being a
[00:55:30] little almost obnoxious in your faith you know ready to witness to everyone because you want someone else to experience what you experience and that's what she wants and somehow and I think it's by the power of God somehow when she goes back to the village as she's explaining hey I
[00:55:45] just met I just met someone who knew everything about me could he be the messiah could this be the messiah and they saw something in her that intrigued them and they went she said come and see
[00:55:56] you know some in this room may feel like oh my testimony is not very profound it's not I'm not that articulate in how I convey it. I just have a boring testimony. We're called to be faithful.
[00:56:13] And whatever the Lord has done in your life is unique to you. You have a story to tell, but the pressure isn't about what we do. We're just faithful to say, hey, come and see. Point
[00:56:23] to the Savior. Yes? You see that in the passage this morning. Here's the gospel call. Here's the take home. This is what Jesus does. He crosses barriers. He reaches those who seem most unlikely.
[00:56:39] And I asked you to think of other people. That person might actually be you. You yourself. Maybe you're religious, but you've never fully let go. He awakens our thirst. He reveals himself as the one our souls were made for. He satisfies our deepest needs, not only personally. He provides
[00:57:00] for you, but eternally. And then he sends us back into our world with that same invitation.
[00:57:09] Come and see. I was lost, but I've been found. I was blind, now I see. Let's close this time in prayer.
[00:57:20] Heavenly Father, I thank you for the gift of your word. I thank you for the testimony of this unnamed woman that your son touched the heart of, transformed her life. Lord, may that encourage each and every person in this room there may be a person either watching online or in this room
[00:57:38] that think that may think i've done things that if anyone knew they wouldn't accept me lord your son cuts through even that and lord for those of us who have our mental list may we not
[00:57:52] get discouraged may we trust that you can break through places that we simply can't may we not underestimate the power of prayer nor the power of of just simply sharing our testimony and pointing to your son jesus lord as we leave this place this morning may we be
[00:58:12] challenged may we be encouraged may we not be pushed away but drawn in by your son and his message we pray these things in his name jesus christ our lord and savior amen come thy fount
[00:59:18] jesus this morning redirects us as we go towards our own wells seeking soul satisfaction he redirects us towards himself, the living water.
[00:59:30] As we leave this place, may the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, may the love of God our Father, may the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with each and every one of you, now and forever.
[00:59:39] Amen.