full

The Woman at the Well

Learn how Jesus met the woman at the well with humility, love, and truth, overcoming barriers of race, religion, and morality. Learn to evangelize like Jesus by building genuine relationships, using humility to disarm pride, and focusing on Him instead of religious or social conflicts. Be encouraged to see every person as someone Jesus pursues with living water and life-changing grace.

Scriptures Referenced

John 4:1-26; Romans 7:13-25; 1 Corinthians 12:8; Galatians 3:28; 1 John 1:8-10; Revelation 5:9-10

Key Insights

  • Jesus prioritized a divine appointment over a fruitful ministry area.
  • There’s no one-size-fits-all approach to evangelism.
  • Jesus didn’t focus on religious or moral debates but on real connection.
  • The goal is leading others to a real relationship with God, not religious performance.
  • Regardless of your past, Jesus meets you where you are with love.

Prayer Targets

Please join us in prayer for:

  • A hunger for the Word.
  • Tears for the lost.
  • Testimonies to share.

Get sermons delivered automatically: Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Pocket Casts | YouTube | Your Favorite Podcast App

We would love it if you would consider joining us in person for one of our Sunday gatherings.

Gathering Times

  • Sundays, 9:00 AM
  • Sundays, 11:00 AM
  • Thursdays, 6:00 PM

Contact Info

Springhouse Church
14119 Old Nashville Highway
Smyrna TN 37167

615-459-3421

Additional Resources

CCLI License 2070006

Transcript
Speaker:

Pastor Kevin, I'm speaking about the woman at

Speaker:

the well. This is a bottle of water. It's

Speaker:

my prop.

Speaker:

Here we go.

Speaker:

Yeah. On a more serious note, when

Speaker:

David was sharing, you know, your wife gets a

Speaker:

diagnosis of cancer and go through six

Speaker:

surgeries, and here she is. You can trust him.

Speaker:

Michelle and I looked at each other because we both experienced this

Speaker:

and said, and when he takes them home, you can

Speaker:

still trust him. Because you can.

Speaker:

You can. Yeah. The last time

Speaker:

I was up, six, seven weeks ago, something, whatever it was

Speaker:

I was speaking, I had been assigned

Speaker:

Ezekiel in the Valley of Dry Bones. And I got up and I

Speaker:

complained about that assignment. I, you know, I said this, you know,

Speaker:

once I found out that was what I was going to be speaking about, I

Speaker:

was going, oh, yeah, great. But. And I started a

Speaker:

trend because the next two or three people who were up

Speaker:

kind of followed suit. I, I need to

Speaker:

somewhat make amends this morning and say, I love

Speaker:

this story. I, I,

Speaker:

Kevin had asked us, Pastor Kevin had asked us last year

Speaker:

for some topics that we would like to cover under

Speaker:

Greatest Stories Ever Told. And I think I

Speaker:

sent him five, four, five, six, something like that. I got one,

Speaker:

but it was the one I really wanted. And it's,

Speaker:

and it's this one, the story of Jesus coming to the woman in

Speaker:

Samaria. And I love the fact that it

Speaker:

happens one chapter after another

Speaker:

encounter over in John chapter 3, that

Speaker:

Jesus has with a prominent Jewish leader

Speaker:

named Nicodemus. Last week, Pastor Justin,

Speaker:

where is he? He baptized somebody. Oh, there he is. Okay, over there. I just

Speaker:

wanted to be sure you hadn't snuck out on me. Now, last

Speaker:

week he brought a terrific sermon about the

Speaker:

wedding of Cana, turning the water into wine. And he started

Speaker:

out by, I want to give you some context. So he went back and he

Speaker:

preached through chapter one as well. And I went, you don't have enough

Speaker:

to say about turning the water into wine, do you? So that's why you went

Speaker:

back and did that. But it turned out that he had

Speaker:

plenty to say about both of them, and he, and he melded them together

Speaker:

beautifully. So this week I thought, well, I'll go

Speaker:

back and do chapter three as well. Well, I'm not going

Speaker:

to, but,

Speaker:

But I love the juxtaposition. I'll talk about it a couple of times.

Speaker:

The juxtaposition of this prominent

Speaker:

religious Jewish leader coming to Jesus and the way

Speaker:

Jesus shared with him and ministered to him, and then

Speaker:

this Samaritan woman and Jesus coming to her

Speaker:

in the way that he ministered to Her.

Speaker:

I love the

Speaker:

juxtaposition there.

Speaker:

Jesus left an area of fruitful

Speaker:

ministry. In fact, it says, we're going to read it here

Speaker:

in just a minute, that he was making and baptizing more

Speaker:

disciples than John, than John the Baptist was. He left an

Speaker:

area of fruitful ministry, not because of opposition,

Speaker:

but because he had a divine appointment

Speaker:

in a little town called Sychar. It's the only time it's ever mentioned in

Speaker:

scripture, and it may still exist, but it

Speaker:

not Sychar anymore. That's lost to history.

Speaker:

With an unnamed woman. And we

Speaker:

don't know her name, but God does.

Speaker:

Jesus wasn't just telling a parable.

Speaker:

He wasn't just blowing smoke when he talked about

Speaker:

leaving the 99 and going after the 1. He did

Speaker:

it, and he's still doing it. He still

Speaker:

does it. Okay, I want you to stand with me. It's going to be kind

Speaker:

of a long reading, but it's a good story. It's really

Speaker:

good.

Speaker:

Now Jesus learned that the Pharisees had heard that

Speaker:

he was gaining and baptizing more disciples than John,

Speaker:

although in fact, it was not Jesus who baptized,

Speaker:

but his disciples. So he left Judea and went

Speaker:

back once more to Galilee. Now he had to go

Speaker:

through Samaria. So he came to a town in

Speaker:

Samaria called Sychar, near the plot of ground

Speaker:

Jacob had given to his son Joseph. Jacob's

Speaker:

well was there. Jesus, tired as he was from

Speaker:

the journey, sat down by the well. It was about

Speaker:

noon when a Samaritan woman came to draw water.

Speaker:

Jesus said to her, will you give me a drink?

Speaker:

The Samaritan woman said to him, you are a Jew

Speaker:

and I am a Samaritan woman. How can you ask me

Speaker:

for a drink? For Jews do not associate with

Speaker:

Samaritans. Jesus answered her, if you knew

Speaker:

the gift of God and. And who it is that asks you for a

Speaker:

drink, you would have asked him, and he would have given

Speaker:

you living water. Sir, the woman said,

Speaker:

you have nothing to draw with, and the well is deep.

Speaker:

Where can you get this living water? Are you greater

Speaker:

than our Father Jacob, who gave us the well and

Speaker:

drank from it himself, as did also his sons

Speaker:

and his livestock? Jesus answered, everyone

Speaker:

who drinks this water will be thirsty again.

Speaker:

Whoever drinks the water I give them will never

Speaker:

thirst. Indeed, the water I give them will

Speaker:

become in them a spring of water welling up to

Speaker:

eternal life. The woman said to him, sir,

Speaker:

give me this water so that I won't get thirsty and

Speaker:

have to keep coming here to draw water. He told

Speaker:

her, go Call your husband and come back.

Speaker:

I have no husband, she replied. Jesus said

Speaker:

to her, you are right when you say you have no

Speaker:

husband. The fact is you have had five

Speaker:

husbands and the man you now have is not your

Speaker:

husband. What you have just said is quite true,

Speaker:

sir. The woman said, I can see that you

Speaker:

are prophet. Our ancestors worshiped on

Speaker:

this mountain. But you Jews claim that the place

Speaker:

where we must worship is in Jerusalem. Woman

Speaker:

Jesus replied, believe me, a time is

Speaker:

coming when you will worship the Father. Neither on this

Speaker:

mountain nor in Jerusalem. You

Speaker:

Samaritans worship what you do not know. We

Speaker:

worship what we do know. For salvation is from the

Speaker:

Jews. Yet a time is coming and has now

Speaker:

come when the true worshipers will worship the Father

Speaker:

in the spirit and in truth. For they are the kind of

Speaker:

worshipers the Father seeks. God is spirit,

Speaker:

and his worshipers must worship in the spirit. And

Speaker:

in truth. The woman said, I know

Speaker:

that Messiah called, called Christ is coming. When

Speaker:

he comes, he will explain everything to us.

Speaker:

Then Jesus declared, I the one speaking

Speaker:

to you. I am he. Father, I thank you for your

Speaker:

word. I pray for the presence of the Holy

Speaker:

Spirit. I pray, Father, that the Spirit would be

Speaker:

manifest in each person here, giving us ears to

Speaker:

hear, hearts to understand. And I pray, Father, that you would filter

Speaker:

the things that. That come out of me and that

Speaker:

truth would go forth in Jesus name. Amen.

Speaker:

This last week for me has

Speaker:

sort of been a Wayne Berry week.

Speaker:

Yeah. First of all, we

Speaker:

had lunch together. I am a name dropper. I

Speaker:

had lunch when we married. And then

Speaker:

secondly, while we were there, he had a cassette tape that he

Speaker:

wanted me to hear. And in fact, he wanted me to hear this cassette

Speaker:

tape so much, he brought a cassette player to

Speaker:

the. To load it to me just in

Speaker:

case. And it's a good thing he did.

Speaker:

I was listening to it and I'd heard really everything on

Speaker:

it. And a lot of it, I had

Speaker:

a lot of it. I already had recorded in other forms and could

Speaker:

hear it. But one of the songs really

Speaker:

caught me. And it was a song that Wayne wrote

Speaker:

called Word about Jesus. And great

Speaker:

song. It's a terrific song. The full title of it is probably

Speaker:

how come you never say a word about Jesus?

Speaker:

But what really got me was the introduction to the song,

Speaker:

which I will never forget.

Speaker:

I did the introduction. It was not one of my better moments.

Speaker:

And it went on for about two minutes.

Speaker:

I opened up by saying, this song's about witnessing

Speaker:

and I'm the world's worst,

Speaker:

you know, I mean.

Speaker:

And I spent the next Two minutes, just kind of stuttering and

Speaker:

saying, you know and I know and you know, about

Speaker:

50 times. And I finally ended up with,

Speaker:

there's this guy at work and he comes in

Speaker:

almost every day and says, what do you know? And I

Speaker:

hate it when he says, what you know, because

Speaker:

I know what I know. And I don't, you

Speaker:

know, and

Speaker:

I don't. I don't shout out something really great like Jesus

Speaker:

is Lord or Jesus loves you, Bill.

Speaker:

Instead I usually say,

Speaker:

you know, don't you see, I was brought up in a.

Speaker:

In a church culture that was very much about witnessing and

Speaker:

testifying. And, you know, you're supposed to go out there and you're supposed to just

Speaker:

lay it on the line with them.

Speaker:

And it did. It bothered me every day when Bill would say,

Speaker:

what you know. Now, it probably would not have been a very

Speaker:

good idea to stand up in the middle of the Social Security

Speaker:

office and yell, jesus is Lord maybe once.

Speaker:

But he says this every day. And

Speaker:

it probably would have been a pretty good idea

Speaker:

to say, jesus loves you, Bill.

Speaker:

Only I would not have said, jesus loves you, Bill.

Speaker:

I would have said, jesus loves you, Bill. And you need to get that through

Speaker:

your reprobate skull before you split hell wide open

Speaker:

and fry for eternity.

Speaker:

Amen.

Speaker:

This passage that we have read

Speaker:

is how Jesus does it. Perfect

Speaker:

example of

Speaker:

how to witness. The first thing that

Speaker:

he does is he empowers this woman by asking her

Speaker:

for help. You

Speaker:

give me a drink. Kind of dry. I could

Speaker:

use a drink here. We tend to

Speaker:

start off by letting them know that they need our help because

Speaker:

we know what's wrong with them and we can tell them what's wrong with them

Speaker:

and we got the answer. And eventually

Speaker:

we might actually get around talking about Jesus. But first of all, let's fix you.

Speaker:

We need to flip that mentality. We need to turn it on

Speaker:

its absolute head.

Speaker:

News flash. With the way the church acts

Speaker:

in our culture, also known as

Speaker:

arrogance, the last thing

Speaker:

the world is going to respond to is us telling, as

Speaker:

a know it all attitude. Really,

Speaker:

I'm going to say this in this service, too. I bet some of you got

Speaker:

it. But I'm not talking to you. So, Holy Spirit, if you hear,

Speaker:

you know, I'll drive down the road, sometimes I'll see a bumper sticker or

Speaker:

I'll see a, you know, license plate. Sometimes I don't know. In

Speaker:

fact, there was a guy in the first service, had the tattoo. It says,

Speaker:

don't tread on me. And you know,

Speaker:

and I know what they're Saying is, get out of my way

Speaker:

and don't mess with me and everything. There was a guy,

Speaker:

I saw this last week who had taken it up a notch.

Speaker:

He had a bumper sticker and had a snake on it that kind of had

Speaker:

a, you know, a sort of grin on it. And it said,

Speaker:

tread on me, come on, make

Speaker:

my day kind of thing. That's our mentality,

Speaker:

you know, we tend to go out with, okay, yeah, come on,

Speaker:

bring it, big boy. Hey, you got Satan, I got God. Bring it, come

Speaker:

on. Humility is

Speaker:

so disarming

Speaker:

because as soon as we come with,

Speaker:

guess what they come with.

Speaker:

But when you come with humility, like, can you help me?

Speaker:

I need your help. Let's start at that point.

Speaker:

Jesus with this woman uses the metaphor of living

Speaker:

water to draw deeper into the conversation.

Speaker:

He used a metaphor with Nicodemus. Does anybody know what it was?

Speaker:

Born again. That's right. Have to be born again.

Speaker:

Draw Nicodemus deeper because that's, that's what

Speaker:

each have their, each has their own path. And

Speaker:

Nicodemus walked an intellectual path which,

Speaker:

you know, some might deride. I know I was kind of brought

Speaker:

up in the culture that, you know, if you, if you had more than an

Speaker:

eighth grade education, you were kind of suspicious. We were, we were sort of suspicious

Speaker:

of you. But I'm glad,

Speaker:

I'm glad that that's a legitimate path. If it weren't a legitimate path,

Speaker:

we'd all have to learn Greek and Hebrew to read the Bible. But

Speaker:

God, you know, has brought people in who have the ability to

Speaker:

translate and do things for us. And had Nicodemus

Speaker:

not come this way, and Jesus went,

Speaker:

finally said Nicodemus, let me explain it to you plainly,

Speaker:

intellectually, but plainly, if we had not had him there,

Speaker:

we would not have. This is the intellectual

Speaker:

explanation. Plainly. God loves the world

Speaker:

so much that he gave his one and only

Speaker:

son that whoever believes on it would

Speaker:

not die, but have everlasting life.

Speaker:

So, you know, I'm glad that way.

Speaker:

This woman just simply wanted something to drink.

Speaker:

This woman was simply interested in getting some water.

Speaker:

And so that's how Jesus came with her.

Speaker:

What, what you're interested in, what your needs are, the way that you're going,

Speaker:

that's the way we're going to, that's where we're going to start. Because you can

Speaker:

start from anywhere to get to God.

Speaker:

She was simply interested. There is no one size fits all.

Speaker:

So that's the first thing we need to know. You know, somebody.

Speaker:

It may have been, and I don't Think it was the case. In fact, I

Speaker:

think Bill was a Christian. But now that I look back on it. But,

Speaker:

you know, some. It may have worked with some people to go,

Speaker:

jesus loves you, and you need to get that through your thick skull before, because

Speaker:

you're going to hell. Otherwise. That may be what works with some people. That's not

Speaker:

what's going to work with a lot of people. And it's not size fits

Speaker:

all. There's no script except the

Speaker:

Holy Spirit. And we may not have

Speaker:

the perfect metaphor to bring to the

Speaker:

conversation, but living water should flow, not

Speaker:

vinegar.

Speaker:

Jesus said, the water that I give them will become

Speaker:

in them a spring of water welling up into eternal life.

Speaker:

And that's. I don't know about you,

Speaker:

I don't like the smell of vinegar,

Speaker:

but if it's around, I can smell it.

Speaker:

And when it's coming forth, they can smell it.

Speaker:

And then the woman says something that always brings a smile to my face.

Speaker:

I mean, I just have to kind of go, oh, yeah, right.

Speaker:

Are you greater than our Father Jacob?

Speaker:

I mean, think about that for a second. She's talking

Speaker:

to God and going, are you greater than

Speaker:

Jacob? You know, and it would have been. It would have been

Speaker:

easy. Jesus was not offended

Speaker:

nor distracted by that comment. And we

Speaker:

often get so easily offended, so easily distracted.

Speaker:

All it takes is just, you know, a little and we're

Speaker:

gone. Not in the moment anymore. We've

Speaker:

lost point on where we're going.

Speaker:

And it's because we tend to come with an attitude of war rather than an

Speaker:

attitude of humility. We somehow think that the

Speaker:

disastrous approach of the Crusades will somehow work this

Speaker:

time. I think this time it'll turn out good

Speaker:

if we do it that way.

Speaker:

Jesus comes with love. I mean,

Speaker:

who doesn't love love?

Speaker:

In fact, it's what everybody's searching for.

Speaker:

And we know where it is. And the term may be born again,

Speaker:

or the term may be living water, but what it is, is

Speaker:

it's Jesus and it's love.

Speaker:

And he was. He was a revolutionary. He was

Speaker:

a radical revolutionary.

Speaker:

Jesus was not intimidated by social norms.

Speaker:

He was talking with a woman who did not know him.

Speaker:

Now, in our culture, that's not a big deal. Guys do it all the time

Speaker:

or try to do it. You know, if the woman's got any set, she just

Speaker:

kind of goes, yeah, whatever. But you know that.

Speaker:

But there are cultures, and not just. Not just the culture of Jesus today,

Speaker:

there are cultures in the world right now where that's a big, big no,

Speaker:

no. And yet

Speaker:

Jesus wasn't. He was totally

Speaker:

disregarding or disrespectful of the cultural norms because

Speaker:

I'm sure this was not something he did all the time, but God had told

Speaker:

him something and that that's more important

Speaker:

than what the culture around us tells us to do. But

Speaker:

it's not just the world that intimidates with social norms. The church

Speaker:

does as well. I

Speaker:

wonder. I wonder if God

Speaker:

had pause when giving the law or having.

Speaker:

What's that guy's name? Paul. Having Paul write some

Speaker:

of the things that he wrote. I wonder if God stopped

Speaker:

and thought, they need to know this,

Speaker:

but they're going to turn it into something it was never intended to be.

Speaker:

Think about that for a second, because that's what we do with it.

Speaker:

The scripture does not instruct us to. To

Speaker:

confront the lost with. To convict the lost

Speaker:

of their sin. That's the job of the Holy Spirit. Jesus

Speaker:

says when he comes, he will convict the world of sin and

Speaker:

righteousness and judgment. That's his job.

Speaker:

Our job, actually. How many of you like to bring bad

Speaker:

news? How many of you like to

Speaker:

bring good news? How many of you just don't give

Speaker:

a flip? I'd always

Speaker:

rather bring good news than bad news.

Speaker:

And we're called to share the gospel of the kingdom,

Speaker:

so. Well, now we're also called to tell people to repent.

Speaker:

To repent means to change your mind, change your

Speaker:

mind about something. And yes, there are things that.

Speaker:

That the world needs to change their mind about in terms

Speaker:

of morals and

Speaker:

other stuff. There are things that I need to change my mind about.

Speaker:

There are things that you need to change your mind about,

Speaker:

but those are just things.

Speaker:

The thing that they really need to change their mind about is how they

Speaker:

think about God. Not sure

Speaker:

if he's there or not. No, I. He is there.

Speaker:

I don't know that he loves. He does love me.

Speaker:

Well, I don't know how Jesus fits all the. Jesus came

Speaker:

and gave his life for me. That's.

Speaker:

That's repentance. That's. That's changing our mind

Speaker:

about things. When I was a. When I was. When

Speaker:

I was a pastor. Yeah, when I was a pastor. Kevin's in charge

Speaker:

now, and if you got a problem, talk to him. If you're a woman, talk

Speaker:

to Barbie. It's that cut and dried.

Speaker:

My number's now unlisted.

Speaker:

But I would try to travel. I traveled incognito

Speaker:

as a pastor. And nothing

Speaker:

against those who. That's not what they're called to. Do,

Speaker:

you know, those who. Because of the structure

Speaker:

that they're in are required to wear a collar. Or those who

Speaker:

feel like they're supposed to dress in a certain way that kind of says,

Speaker:

you know, man of God, woman of God. You know, because there are places, there

Speaker:

are times where people go, man, I really need a man. Oh, there's

Speaker:

one, you know, and that's okay. There's times to be

Speaker:

identified. But I would travel incognito because as soon as

Speaker:

somebody found out I was a pastor, you

Speaker:

could see. You could see them rifling the files and go, what have I said

Speaker:

to this guy? You know, what am I not going to say to this guy

Speaker:

in the future? And the wall's there. You

Speaker:

can't. You can't really get through it that way.

Speaker:

Jesus was not intimidated by social norms.

Speaker:

Jesus was also not concerned with race or ethnicity.

Speaker:

Back in the 80s. A lot of you already know this.

Speaker:

I lived for a while in Zimbabwe, which was just

Speaker:

north of it. Borders South Africa.

Speaker:

South Africa's south, obviously. Zimbabwe is just to the

Speaker:

north of it. And it was a period of apartheid.

Speaker:

And for those of you who don't know what apartheid is, it

Speaker:

was a political system that separated the races from each other

Speaker:

legally. You know, if you're this race, this is what you'll do. And if

Speaker:

you're this race, this is what you'll do. And it was a big deal as

Speaker:

far as the world was concerned. A lot of countries were

Speaker:

boycotting South Africa and all kinds of things.

Speaker:

In fact, interestingly enough, it occurred to me in the first service

Speaker:

that the one country that

Speaker:

was the major trading party was South Africa. So they could get around things

Speaker:

was Israel, which is where Jesus is at this

Speaker:

moment right now.

Speaker:

And they had. They had racial classifications in South Africa,

Speaker:

but probably the most despised were those of

Speaker:

mixed race, as they called them.

Speaker:

That's who the Samaritans were to the Jews.

Speaker:

See, interesting enough, most of the Samaritans were Jews,

Speaker:

but they were not able to trace their ancestry back

Speaker:

the pure line of those returning from

Speaker:

Babylon. It astounds

Speaker:

me that some who

Speaker:

claim to be Christians can make an issue of race.

Speaker:

First of all, if you believe in Adam and Eve,

Speaker:

then we're all mixed race. We all came, we

Speaker:

all got the same daddy, the same mommy back

Speaker:

there somewhere. And also,

Speaker:

Jesus died for all over. In

Speaker:

Revelation, chapter five, there's this scroll, and

Speaker:

it's got seals on it. And no one's found who's

Speaker:

worthy to open the seals. And John is weeping because the

Speaker:

seals can't be opened. And then he's told, don't weep

Speaker:

anymore. The lion of the tribe of Judah, the Lamb of God,

Speaker:

has been found worthy. And a song breaks

Speaker:

out in heaven. You are worthy to take the scroll

Speaker:

and open its seals because you were slain. And with your

Speaker:

blood you purchased for God persons from

Speaker:

every tribe and language

Speaker:

and people and nation.

Speaker:

You have made them to be a kingdom and priests to serve our God.

Speaker:

And they will reign on the earth from every tribe

Speaker:

and language, people and nation. And then

Speaker:

there's, you know, there's Galatians 3. 28. In Christ,

Speaker:

there's neither Jew nor Greek. There's neither slave nor free. There's neither

Speaker:

male nor female. You're all one in

Speaker:

Christ.

Speaker:

And yet some of

Speaker:

us don't feel that way.

Speaker:

I was at least 30 years ago. It was more than that.

Speaker:

I remember bringing a sermon over in the old

Speaker:

sanctuary about

Speaker:

race. Had

Speaker:

several people leave the church after it.

Speaker:

What you're saying it's okay

Speaker:

for us to be together? Can't be.

Speaker:

Jesus was not put off by any of this.

Speaker:

The Samaritans were despised. And even she

Speaker:

said, you know, you're a Jew, I'm a Samaritan. You guys don't have anything to

Speaker:

do with us. Jesus didn't fall for it.

Speaker:

He didn't get into a discussion. He didn't talk about, oh, well, let

Speaker:

me tell you why I'm talking. No, he just said,

Speaker:

if you knew who you were talking to, you'd ask me and I'd give you

Speaker:

living water. Is that even on the subject? Yes, it is on

Speaker:

the subject.

Speaker:

Okay, let's get into the good ones. Now, there's two more.

Speaker:

He was not put off by her morals.

Speaker:

There's a reason why she was coming in the heat of the day

Speaker:

to draw water. All the other women came early in

Speaker:

the morning when it was cool. She came in the heat of the day.

Speaker:

I have learned, as I've gotten older,

Speaker:

some things about women.

Speaker:

Yeah, See, the early service crowd was a lot older, so

Speaker:

a lot more of the guys went, yeah, yeah, you know,

Speaker:

But I've learned some things about women, actually.

Speaker:

And one of the things that I've learned about women is

Speaker:

they're mean.

Speaker:

They have a tendency to be mean. Michelle

Speaker:

is the exception. Just

Speaker:

wanted to say, but they're mean. They hold a grudge

Speaker:

sometimes. You know, they can be ra.

Speaker:

And so this woman had a reputation.

Speaker:

And so when it came time to go to the well, all the other women

Speaker:

are going to the well. And there's a reason why she didn't Go with them.

Speaker:

Keep from getting her face scratched.

Speaker:

And she's finally intrigued enough.

Speaker:

She still doesn't get it, but she's finally intrigued enough. Go, yeah, I want

Speaker:

some of this. I want some water. You know, you don't have to understand everything

Speaker:

about God to want God. You don't have to understand

Speaker:

everything about Jesus to want Jesus. The important thing is that

Speaker:

you want him. And so she says, yes,

Speaker:

I'm in. Give me this water so that I won't have

Speaker:

to keep coming here to draw water.

Speaker:

And when she does, he

Speaker:

shines a light on her morals. He doesn't condemn them, he just shines a

Speaker:

light on them because they're

Speaker:

not what this conversation is about.

Speaker:

Had he began going, yeah, you know, well, let's talk about

Speaker:

that here for a minute, then the conversation would

Speaker:

have never gone where it was supposed to ultimately end up.

Speaker:

You're right. When you say you have no husband, go and call your husband.

Speaker:

Come back, oh, you don't have a. Well, you know, you're right. The fact is

Speaker:

you've had five husbands, and the man that you're. You're with right

Speaker:

now, he's not your husband. Even what you have just said is

Speaker:

quite true. In fact,

Speaker:

rather than going, and so, yeah, we need to talk about this because, yeah,

Speaker:

I bet somebody, he goes, I commend your truth.

Speaker:

I commend your truthfulness. I just want

Speaker:

to note that it's true.

Speaker:

God hasn't told me to give you all the details

Speaker:

about what a sinner I am, but

Speaker:

take my word for it, I am.

Speaker:

Paul writes in Romans, chapter seven,

Speaker:

the things that I want to do, the

Speaker:

things that I know to do, I don't always do them.

Speaker:

And the things that I don't want to do, the things I know I shouldn't

Speaker:

do, every now and then I.

Speaker:

Yeah, I do. Am I right, Justin? Yeah.

Speaker:

Every now and then I do those. What a wretched man I

Speaker:

am. Who can possibly save me from this?

Speaker:

Well, actually, I do know who. That's what he says.

Speaker:

When I came back to the lord in the 70s,

Speaker:

there were quite a few. There were a lot of people who would kind of

Speaker:

say, well, now, that was before Paul was saved. After

Speaker:

Paul was saved, that wasn't his condition anymore.

Speaker:

They lied.

Speaker:

Jesus tells the woman, you know, yeah, you. You

Speaker:

don't have a husband right now. You've had five, and you got a guy, but

Speaker:

he's not your husband. That's a word of

Speaker:

knowledge, and that is a

Speaker:

supernaturally revealed piece of knowledge.

Speaker:

According to First Corinthians 12, 8. It's available to all

Speaker:

believers. And

Speaker:

when I say supernatural revealed, it's not like, you know, a parent and a child.

Speaker:

You know, when you were a little child, you do something, and you.

Speaker:

And how your mom knew, how your dad knew

Speaker:

it was just a mystery. And they say, well, I have eyes in the

Speaker:

back of my head. Well, you know, that was not true

Speaker:

either. What they were actually saying is, you're

Speaker:

just not very good at it. You know, I can

Speaker:

catch you pretty easily. And besides, I've already been there and done that.

Speaker:

But God gives sometimes a supernatural

Speaker:

word that's kind of like, oh, my

Speaker:

goodness, you know, the Lord just. Just read my mail. And it's

Speaker:

never given for a floor show.

Speaker:

It's never given for a performance. Lots of maze people here.

Speaker:

Yes. The amazing ministry of Mr. Amaze,

Speaker:

you know, can tell you these things. He gives it

Speaker:

for a purpose, and he gave it here

Speaker:

for a purpose, a godly purpose.

Speaker:

So he's not sidetracked by her

Speaker:

morality. That's not the issue right

Speaker:

now. It's not where he's taking her. And then

Speaker:

here's a pretty big one. He's not put off by her

Speaker:

religion. He's not sidetracked by her religion.

Speaker:

And this is where most of us, we run off the rails.

Speaker:

Yeah. As soon as she realized

Speaker:

that she was speaking to a prophet, she had a question about

Speaker:

religion.

Speaker:

And I believe there was a measure of sincerity in her question. For years, I

Speaker:

kind of could hear her saying it. Our fathers worshiped here. You Jews

Speaker:

say we're supposed to worship over there. Which is it? You know, But I don't

Speaker:

think she said it that way. I think there was some sincerity there. I

Speaker:

really want to know. You know, we've been worshiping here, but I've heard

Speaker:

it's supposed to be over here. You know, what is it?

Speaker:

And Jesus replies with one of the most

Speaker:

powerful declarations, proclamations in all

Speaker:

of Scripture. Woman, believe

Speaker:

me, a time is coming when you will worship the Father. Neither

Speaker:

on this mountain nor in Jerusalem. You Samaritans worship

Speaker:

what you do not know. Worship in Samaria was set up by the

Speaker:

Northern kings because they were afraid, politically,

Speaker:

people would leave them and go to the southern kingdom if they had to

Speaker:

worship in Jerusalem. We worship what we do know

Speaker:

for salvation is from the Jews. Yet a time is coming and has

Speaker:

now come when the true worshipers will worship

Speaker:

the Father in spirit and in truth. For they are

Speaker:

the kind of worshipers the Father seeks. God is

Speaker:

spirit. His worshipers must worship in spirit.

Speaker:

And in truth,

Speaker:

some might argue, well, yeah, no, I mean, he. He said right there, you. You

Speaker:

Samaritans got it wrong. We got it right. No, we didn't.

Speaker:

No, he didn't. I mean, yes, they.

Speaker:

The Jews were doing according to what Moses had said, the Samaritans

Speaker:

worshiping according to what the northern kings

Speaker:

had said. But Jesus didn't say one was wrong and one was right.

Speaker:

In fact, he said, the time is coming and is now here.

Speaker:

When that doesn't matter.

Speaker:

When. That's not the point.

Speaker:

So what is the point? Well, this actually brings us to the

Speaker:

point. And the point is this. And it's so

Speaker:

beautiful. I know that Messiah

Speaker:

is coming. When he comes, he will explain everything

Speaker:

to us. And then Jesus declared, I

Speaker:

the one speaking to you.

Speaker:

That's me. That's what this whole

Speaker:

conversation is about. We had the

Speaker:

opportunity to go off the track here and off the trail here and down the

Speaker:

bunny trail there, but we stayed on the road. And this

Speaker:

is what it's about.

Speaker:

I said, this was a Pastor Wayne week for me. I don't

Speaker:

usually look at stuff on Facebook, but occasionally I'll get an email

Speaker:

saying, you might want to look at this. And most of the time I don't.

Speaker:

But if it's Wayne, occasionally I will. And I did.

Speaker:

And Wayne had posted something like this. He said,

Speaker:

a Dear Kingdom cohort of mine said,

Speaker:

when the pulpit has been traded for a podium.

Speaker:

He said, I'll add, the

Speaker:

church at large has a serious problem.

Speaker:

He was completing the sentence, when the

Speaker:

pulpit has been traded for a podium, the church at large has a serious problem.

Speaker:

He was also speaking prophetically

Speaker:

because all you have to do is look around, kind of go,

Speaker:

oh, that's where we are.

Speaker:

Another brother asked for an explanation, said, are you talking

Speaker:

about something specifically? And this just interestingly enough,

Speaker:

was a brother who post a lot of

Speaker:

political stuff and opinions and social stuff. Are you talking about something

Speaker:

specifically? And he asked for an explanation.

Speaker:

And I know this brother and I know that he has a soft heart. And

Speaker:

when I was his age, I was just as dumb as he is.

Speaker:

But I responded to him and I said, oh, so many things.

Speaker:

We were talking about trading the pulpit for a podium,

Speaker:

offers of prosperity doctrine,

Speaker:

social issues, personal opinion,

Speaker:

which, quite frankly, I think those are the same thing

Speaker:

because most of what we feel about social issues is our personal opinion. You

Speaker:

may go, oh, no, Pastor. Everything I believe about social issues is what

Speaker:

God thinks.

Speaker:

Really? Oh, really?

Speaker:

Yeah. Those things

Speaker:

that so easily draw people away, draw people

Speaker:

to themselves, draw people to focus on Them

Speaker:

and away from Jesus.

Speaker:

I, I

Speaker:

guess about the third time through this outline, getting

Speaker:

ready for this morning, this hit me and I'm just going to say

Speaker:

it. I'm going to put it up here and we're going to post it on

Speaker:

Facebook. And so, you know, it's true,

Speaker:

as the church grows in political power and influence,

Speaker:

it declines in spiritual power and influence.

Speaker:

And historically it's true. I mean,

Speaker:

I grew up as a child in the 50s and in the 60s and the

Speaker:

50s and 60s, the church had great influence on

Speaker:

the culture in the nation. And then in the early 70s, we

Speaker:

decided to get political

Speaker:

and you know, our influence in the

Speaker:

halls of power, if you will, of this world has been on the

Speaker:

ascendancy ever since. And the number of people who claim

Speaker:

Jesus Christ as their savior and attend church has been on the decline

Speaker:

ever since early 70s. Go,

Speaker:

go back and check it out.

Speaker:

The real issue is

Speaker:

this. The spirit and truth

Speaker:

issue is always

Speaker:

not what we think about these other things. That's not

Speaker:

the issue. We don't stand before God to hear

Speaker:

him say, well, now there was, let's see how you

Speaker:

what your opinion was on this. And it's

Speaker:

only one question. You know my son,

Speaker:

you know, my son, God isn't even

Speaker:

interested in real religion. He's interested in real

Speaker:

relationship.

Speaker:

Besides, what we think about. Our thoughts are not his thoughts.

Speaker:

His ways are not our ways.

Speaker:

But both our thoughts and our ways can become more like

Speaker:

him, but only as we stay focused on Him. See,

Speaker:

we tend to think we have this kind of thing. Well, if I got the

Speaker:

right opinion about all these issues, I'll be closer to

Speaker:

Jesus. No, you won't.

Speaker:

You get closer to Jesus and all this stuff will

Speaker:

fall into place where it's supposed to be.

Speaker:

Worship team, you can come out. This woman

Speaker:

was the wrong gender, she was the wrong

Speaker:

race, she was the wrong culture, she

Speaker:

was the wrong morality, she was

Speaker:

the wrong religion.

Speaker:

Yet Jesus came to her in person.

Speaker:

And apart from his disciples, she's the only one

Speaker:

recorded in scripture. Jesus plainly

Speaker:

revealed himself. I am

Speaker:

He, I am the Christ.

Speaker:

You got something to say, brother? Oh, you're just gonna sing?

Speaker:

Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah. Okay, yeah, I'll

Speaker:

get there in a second. If you

Speaker:

don't,

Speaker:

no matter what you've done, no matter

Speaker:

which side of issues you come down on,

Speaker:

I've had people, I've had people literally say to me,

Speaker:

I don't know how anybody can be a Democrat and call himself a Christian.

Speaker:

And I've actually had others say, I don't know how anybody

Speaker:

can be a Republican and call themselves a Christian. And I

Speaker:

don't answer that question because they don't. They're not. They don't want

Speaker:

an answer. It's a rhetorical point that they're making.

Speaker:

But if. If you wanted an answer, I got one.

Speaker:

The reason you don't know how anybody could be that other

Speaker:

party and be a Christian is because you don't know

Speaker:

what it is to be a Christian.

Speaker:

You don't know what that means,

Speaker:

because it's not about this stuff.

Speaker:

It's about Jesus. No matter what you've done,

Speaker:

no matter where you come down on particular things or whatever,

Speaker:

if he came to this woman and everything was wrong about

Speaker:

her, he'll come to you.

Speaker:

He's offering you living water as well.

Speaker:

That's just too good to be true. You're just

Speaker:

in the world. In the world,

Speaker:

virtually everything that sounds good is too good to be true. But in the

Speaker:

kingdom, the half has never yet been told.

Speaker:

It's just. We only have a glimpse of what

Speaker:

good actually is.

Speaker:

With those who are going to minister, come forward, if you would stand with me.

Speaker:

We're going to. We're going to do a song here that.

Speaker:

It's probably been 20 years since we've done this song.

Speaker:

And I didn't say anything to Jonathan and

Speaker:

Brittany about it, but just

Speaker:

early service, they started playing it and I went, whoa,

Speaker:

who told you to do that? And we know who told them

Speaker:

to do it. It was God. If you're here, you need

Speaker:

prayer for anything. These brothers and sisters,

Speaker:

all these sinners down here,

Speaker:

they'll pray with you. God will hear.

Speaker:

Let's do this. Let's do this song.

Next Episode All Episodes Previous Episode

About the Podcast

Show artwork for Springhouse Church Sermons
Springhouse Church Sermons
Life Happens Here

Listen for free